Active Directory Query

In case you are looking to search particular information in the Active Directory structure, then definitely you have to spend too much time. No doubt, for administrators it is a boring job without the help of structured queries. But by making a proper use of Active Directory query, situation gets lot better as it let you locate users, groups, computers, contacts, OUs, subnets and servers as well. Of the many command-line tools available for Active Directory management with different versions of Windows server, the Dsquery tool is one such utility that can be used as an Active Directory query utility. By using this software explicit search criteria can be run through queries that may even further assist in searching required information quickly. This built-in tool is available if Active Directory domain Services (AD DS) server role is installed.

The dsquery command is run from an elevated command prompt. Following are the steps to open it;

Click Start, right-click Command Prompt and click Run as Administrator.

Following are various syntaxes that are used with the dsquery commands in order to search and explore Active Directory information:

1. Dsquery computer: Finds computer in the directory by matching the search criteria that you specified.
2. Dsquery contact: Finds contacts in the directory matching to the search criteria that has already been specified.
3. Dsquery group: Finds groups in the directory that matches to the criteria being specified. Kindly note that if the defined search criteria in this command proves insufficient, then you must make use of the general version of the query command, dsquery *
4. Dsquery ou: Search and find organizational units (OUs) in the Active Directory data store that actually match the search criteria being specified. Just, in case if the defined search criteria in this command are inadequate, there is option of making use of more general version of the query command, dsquery *
5. Dsquery site: Finds site in Active Directory matching the specified search criteria. However, just like any other dsquery command, in case the predefined search criteria in the command are deficient, then you may also use more general version of the query command, dsquery *
6. Dsquery server: Finds domain controller servers as per the search criteria that a user specifies. However, if a situation arise where the predefined search criteria in this command turn out to be insufficient, then you may use more general version of the query command, dsquery *
7. Dsquery user: Finds user accounts in the Active Directory as per the search criteria. If the predefined search criteria in this command are inappropriate, make use of the more common version of the query command, dsquery *
8. Dsquery quota: Finds quota specifications in the directory data store that matches the specified search criteria. Quota specification is utilized for determining the maximum number of directory objects that a particular security principal can possess in a specific directory partition. If the search criteria that was specified in this command are inadequate, then it is important to utilize he more general version of the query command, dsquery *
9. Dsquery partition: Finds partition objects in Active Directory that matches the specified search criteria. If the predefined search criteria in this command are insufficient, use the more general version of the query command, dsquery *
10. Dsquery *: As per the criteria mentioned in an LDAP query, the query searches for any Active Directory object.