AD compare with AD explorer, at what level?

[Peejay62]

Hi,

firstly, I am charmed by the possibility to compare my AD backup with the production status using the AD explorer in V8, very, very usefull. My question, what is the highest level on which I can run this compare?
Given our AD structure, I have to go some levels deep into this structure to start a comparison and that is some kind of problematic in our case at the moment.
In several objects we have attributes that have accidently been changed (all over the OUs in the complete domain). I want to identify them in our complete environment.
So most likely, I want to click the container and start compare.
Is this even possible? I probably can export a container and figure out something with the exported file, but that is not my preferred path (and As I see it an export is taking forever...)
Any suggestions are welcome I you have a way to compare.

Thanks, Peter

[Gostev]

Hi - sure, what you want to do is possible. In Compare mode, we will only show changed and modified objects when you select any given container. Thanks!

[Peejay62]

Hi Anton,

Then I must be doing something wrong..If i choose compare at the container it immediately says 0 objects. I first have to drill down some levels within the tree before I am able to compare and get results.
Will take a look at it first thing in the morning.

Thanks

[Gostev]

Correct, you need to choose a container that actually has some changed objects in its root (and not somewhere in its sub-container structure). Thanks!

[foggy]

Consider this as a sort of a 'folder view'. In comparison mode, you can navigate through the AD tree to the left and see changes to the right. And it also works in search mode, btw.

[Peejay62]

Well, I am now actually busy with it. Selecting compare at a high level doesn't seem to work for me. It immed returns 0 objects. IMO it doesn't drill down in sub maps. An example: OU:businessunit1. 3 subfolders : computers, users, groups. If I click compare at "businessunit" nothing happens. (0 objects changed). selecting "users" starts comparing. The same behaviour if the tree goes deeper...

[foggy]

As said above, it should not drill down into subfolders. Changes are shown for the current container only.

[Peejay62]

ok, I get it.. maybe my question was a bit confusing, I was hoping selecting compare at a high level would compare with a complete drill down into the subtree.. I have an issue with some specific attributes that exist in different members in different subtrees.. Hoping this would at least give me an easy way to indentify them. Our tree structure is something like 20 in the root, each of them containing maybe 5 to 15 subtrees.. This is challenging.
Anyway, I am already very happy for the compare function at all, it already saved some kind of my day.

Thanks, Peter

[Peejay62]

By the way, where do the performance constraints in comparing originate from? Can I do some tweaking to have it run faster? comparing 1500 user objects now estimates@5 hours. It also seems to be taking that time.
thanks, Peter

[foggy]

I have an issue with some specific attributes that exist in different members in different subtrees..

You can search for this attribute and compare all the found objects.

[foggy]

Regarding performance, 5 hours is not expected for this number of users, but everything depends on the actual objects (amount of links, extended attributes, etc). Debug logs should tell what's actually happens during that time so you can open a case.

[Peejay62]

ok. Does anybody know if there is a way to run a AD restore commandline based? I cannot find any reference to that but maybe there is a way. This would be very convenient for the task that lies ahead for me..

thanks, Peter

[veremin]

Does anybody know if there is a way to run a AD restore commandline based?

You mean if Veeam Explorer for Active Directory has its functionality available via commandline or PS commandlets? If so, it currently does not.

[Peejay62]

Ok, i suspected that..
It would be a nice feature enhancement in a future release. Could be of good help if one has to perform a complex attribute restore.

Anyway, I am very happy for the ad explorer right now, saving my day.

thanks, Peter

[veremin]

Thank you for the feedback. We might think about adding the requested functionality down the road.

[vonhawkins]

Hi,
I too request commandline functionality for the Veeam Active Directory Explorer. I like the ability to export elements in LDIF format, which I can then restore in a scripted fashion, but tighter PowerShell integration would be the way to go.

--thanks,
Von