Help, comment, suggestion - PowerShell newb

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nodgiles Posted: 01-26-2012 5:48 PM

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I just started diving into powershell and am quickly becoming heavily addicted. I decided to try and simplify the new-user import process in our company. Currently our admin has to manually enter each new user. This is what I came up with:

#Import requierments
Import-module ActiveDirectory
Add-PSSnapin Quest.ActiveRoles.ADManagement

#Define alias
$user=import-csv "C:\Book1.csv" | select-object *,@{l='sAMAccountName';e={$_.'First Name'+"."+$_.'Last Name'}}
$manager=import-csv "C:\Book1.csv" | select-object *,@{l='Manager';e={$_.'Reporting To'}}

#Import CSV and modify columns
import-csv "C:\Book1.csv" | select-object *,@{l='name';e={$_.'First Name'+" "+$_.'Last Name'}},
@{l='displayName';e={$_.'First Name'+" "+$_.'Last Name'}}, @{l='sAMAccountName';e={$_.'First Name'+"."+$_.'Last Name'}},
@{l='userprincipalname';e={$_.'First Name'+"."+$_.'Last Name'}}, @{l='givenName';e={$_.'First Name'}},
@{l='surName';e={$_.'Last Name'}}, @{l='department';e={$_.'Dept'}}, @{l='departmentNumber';e={$_.'Cost Center'}},
@{l='extensionAttribute10';e={$_.'Reporting To'}},  @{l='physicalDeliveryOfficeName';e={$_.'Office Number'}} |

#create the user and add common properties
new-aduser -AccountPassword (ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText "abc-123.col" -Force) -Enabled $true `
-Path "OU=New Hires,OU=Departments,DC=company,DC=pri" -company "Company" -scriptpath "LogonScript"

#Add users to groups
$user | % {add-ADGroupMember -Identity "TestGroup1" -Member $_.'sAMAccountName'};
$user | % {add-ADGroupMember -Identity "TestGroup2" -Member $_.'sAMAccountName'};
$user | % {add-ADGroupMember -Identity "TestGroup3" -Member $_.'sAMAccountName'};
$user | % {add-ADGroupMember -Identity "TestGroup4" -Member $_.'sAMAccountName'}

#Add users manager
import-csv "C:\Book1.csv" | % {set-qaduser -identity $_.'Last Name' -manager $_.'Reporting To'}

Now, I know there are probably a hundred better ways to do this, but its working for me, and as my first script, Im stoked!

I have one flaw though... Im getting hammered with errors on users that have names over 20 characters long. I know this is because of the limit in pre-2000 logon. What I would like to do is find a way I can determine the character count, and if over 20, use FirstInitial+LastName instead of the default first.last. I dont even know where to begin or if its possible due to the way I set up my script.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

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JJTETZLO replied on 01-27-2012 3:58 PM

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I don't have any experience coding for ActiveDirectory, but here's a quick-and-dirty example of how to adjust strings based on length.  Maybe it'll help.

$derp = "" | Select FirstName, LastName

$derp.FirstName = "Sylvester"
$derp.LastName = "McMonkey-McBean"

if ($derp.FirstName.Length + $derp.LastName.Length -gt 20)
{$name = $derp.FirstName.SubString(0,1) + "." + $derp.LastName}
else
{$name = $derp.FirstName + "." + $derp.LastName}

$name

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nodgiles replied on 01-30-2012 3:16 PM

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This is great however Im not sure how to use it with my current script. If I use your example as is, it runs for the noted user. The issue here is I have many users I need to import, and so I'll need a way to express multiple users for the First and Last name values

some things I tried:

$fName=import-csv "C:\Book1.csv" | select-object *,@{l='givenName';e={$_.'First Name'}}
$lName=import-csv "C:\Book1.csv" | select-object *,@{l='surName';e={$_.'Last Name'}}

$derp = "" | Select FirstName, LastName

$derp.FirstName = $fName
$derp.LastName = $lName

__________________________________________________________________

$derp = "" | Select FirstName, LastName

$derp.FirstName = import-csv "C:\Book1.csv" | select-object *,@{l='givenName';e={$_.'First Name'}}
$derp.LastName = import-csv "C:\Book1.csv" | select-object *,@{l='surName';e={$_.'Last Name'}}

Am I on the right track?