ADAC was first introduced in Windows Server 2008 R2 as a tool
for managing directory objects, such as users, groups, computers,
organizational units, and domains. ADAC was designed to supersede the
Active Directory Users And Computers snap-in for the Microsoft
Management Console (MMC) by providing an enhanced management
experience that uses a rich graphical user interface (GUI).
Built upon a foundation of Windows PowerShell, ADAC has been
enhanced in Windows Server 2012 with new functionality, including the
Windows PowerShell History Viewer, which makes it easier to transition
from GUI-based administration of Active Directory to automated
management using Windows PowerShell scripting.
The different user-interface features of ADAC, shown in Figure 1, include the
following:
-
Breadcrumb bar Displays the
location of the currently selected object within Active
Directory. You can use this bar to quickly navigate to any
container within Active Directory by specifying the container’s
path in one of the following forms:
-
A Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) path,
such as LDAP://ou=Seattle Users OU,ou=Seattle OU
OU,dc=corp,dc=contoso,dc=com
-
A distinguished name (DN), such as ou=Seattle Users
OU,ou=Seattle OU OU,dc=corp,dc=contoso,dc=com
-
A hierarchical path, such as Active Directory Domain
Services\corp (local)\Seattle OU\Seattle Users OU
-
Navigation pane Allows you
to browse Active Directory using either the list or tree view,
as described in the next sections.
-
Management list Displays
the contents of the container that is currently selected in the
navigation pane.
-
Preview pane Displays
various information about the object or container that is
currently selected in the management list.
-
Tasks pane Allows you to
perform different tasks on the object or container that is
currently selected in the management list.
List view is one of two views available in the ADAC navigation
pane. You can use it to browse Active Directory for the objects or
containers you want to administer. In list view, you can use Column
Explorer, shown in Figure 2, to quickly
explore the contents of containers within the hierarchical structure
of Active Directory.
List view also maintains a Most Recently Used (MRU) list of
the last three containers you accessed. Figure 1 indicates that
the most recently accessed container was the Domain Controllers
container in the corp.contoso.com domain, followed by the Computers
and Builtin containers in the same domain. You can use the MRU list
to quickly return to a container you were working in, simply by
selecting the appropriate MRU list item in the navigation
pane.
List view can also be customized by adding nodes you might
need to frequently access, similar to how favorites can be used in
Internet Explorer or in the File Open/Save dialog box of Windows
Explorer. Customizing ADAC list view will be demonstrated later in
this lesson.
Tree view, shown in Figure 3, is the other
view available in the ADAC navigation pane. Tree view presents a
hierarchical representation of directory containers similar to that
used in the Active Directory Users And Computers MMC snap-in.
Also shown in Figure 3 is the
Overview page of ADAC, which includes the following tiles:
-
Welcome tile Provides links
you can click to learn more about using ADAC, administering an
Active Directory environment built on Windows Server 2012, and
ask your questions in an online forum on TechNet, as well as
other useful resources
-
Reset Password tile Allows
you to quickly reset the password for a user account.
-
Global Search tile Allows
you to quickly search the selected container or the global
catalog for objects and containers you need to administer
