User List - export to Excel, display parent OU?

Question

Adaxes team,

I'm on version 2017.1 / 3.8.14218.0.

I am exporting a list of users (~880) to an Excel file using the Admin Console. I am manually selecting the properties to export ("export only specific properties") since I don't need all attributes of each user in the Excel file.

I'm trying to get each user's OU listed with their account, but that does not seem to be working.

I've tried the following attributes (listed here using "Name" / LDAP Name format):
"Organizational Unit" / ou
"ParentDN" / adm-ParentDN
"ParentName" / adm-ParentName

None of these is exporting the users' OUs.
Their OUs are obviously contained within the full DN of each user, but that would require additional manipulation through Excel in order to make it more "end-user friendly," I'm trying to avoid needing to manually process the file to extract the OU into another column.

Obviously the OU name / path is known to the program, so I'm not sure why it won't export with one of the above values?

Even if I try exporting all properties for a user (i.e. I do not check the "export only specific properties" option), I still do not get the user's OU tree except listed in the DN.

If this is not currently possible in the software, can I request this as a feature for a future release?

Answer 1

Hello,

The thing is that adm-ParentDN and adm-ParentName are not actual attributes. These are calculated values, and currently you cannot export them using built-in functionality. Starting from the next version of Adaxes, 2017.2, it will be possible with the new Reports subsystem that is currently under development.

As for ou, this attribute is in no way related to the location of the user account in AD. It is a simple string (text) attribute that you can use to store the Organizational Unit of the user within your organizational structure. For example, its value can be Sales - APAC and EMEA.

Until the new version becomes avaialble, you can use scripts for this purpose. For example, you can create a script that exports the necessary properties of the users to a CSV file that is then sent by e-mail or saved to a certain file share. Also, you can create a Custom Command that executes the script on a certain OU, domain or container. In this case, you'll be able to select a container and execute the Command on it in order to export information on all users located there. If you need a script sample, can make one for you.

Comments

Got it, that makes sense. What I'm actually trying to do is clean up old / inactive users (last logon time more than 6 months ago); I believe I've seen example scripts to help pull a CSV of that? I had already run a search and then added all of the users to my Basket and I was then exporting from that Basket, but if the OU tree isn't provided in a way that is easy to parse then I guess I'll have to start over with a script.

I want my end result to be a file (ideally Excel, but I can turn a CSV into Excel) that I can hand to a secretary and ask them to send e-mails to the managers of the various inactive users based on the OU they are in. Unfortunately, the "Manager" relationship for most of the users in AD is not accurate, but they are 99% organized into OU by the building they work in. Each building has a manager that the secretary can look up and contact.

I'll see if I can find an existing script on the forum and adapt that to my needs.

Answer 2

I think you should try ZetExcel in this case.