Recipe 16.15. Adding and Removing Members of a GroupProblemYou want to add or remove group members. SolutionUsing a graphical user interface
Using a command-line interfaceThe -addmbr option adds a member to a group: > dsmod group "<GroupDN>" -addmbr "<MemberDN>" The -rmmbr option removes a member from a group: > dsmod group "<GroupDN>" -rmmbr "<MemberDN>" The -chmbr option replaces the complete membership list: > dsmod group "<GroupDN>" -chmbr "<Member1DN Member2DN ...>" Using VBScript' This code adds a member to a group. ' ------ SCRIPT CONFIGURATION ------ strGroupDN = "<GroupDN>" ' e.g., cn=SalesGroup,ou=Groups,dc=rallencorp,dc=com strMemberDN = "<MemberDN>" ' e.g., cn=jsmith,cn=users,dc=rallencorp,dc=com ' ------ END CONFIGURATION --------- set objGroup = GetObject("LDAP://" & strGroupDN) ' Add a member objGroup.Add("LDAP://" & strMemberDN) ' This code removes a member from a group. ' ------ SCRIPT CONFIGURATION ------ strGroupDN = "<GroupDN>" ' e.g., cn=SalesGroup,ou=Groups,dc=rallencorp,dc=com strMemberDN = "<MemberDN>" ' e.g., cn=jsmith,cn=users,dc=rallencorp,dc=com ' ------ END CONFIGURATION --------- set objGroup = GetObject("LDAP://" & strGroupDN) ' Remove a member objGroup.Remove("LDAP://" & strMemberDN) DiscussionSince there are no restrictions on what distinguished names you put in the member attribute, you can essentially have any type of object as a member of a group, which makes groups very useful. While OUs are typically used to structure objects that share certain criteria, group objects can be used to create loose collections of objects. The benefit of using group objects as a collection mechanism is that the same object can be a member of multiple groups, whereas an object can only be a part of a single OU. Another key difference is that you can assign permissions on resources to groups because they are considered security principals in Active Directory, whereas OUs are not. This is different from some other directories, such as Novell Netware, where OUs act more like security principals. See AlsoRecipe 16.13, MSDN: IADsGroup::Add, and MSDN: IADsGroup::Remove |