Export LDAP/GC query to CSV

PowerShell Help
1

Hi guys,

I can’t figure out how to export the results of a global catalog query to csv.
This is my code:

$root = [ADSI]"GC://DC=domain,DC=forest,DC=com"
$search = [ADSISearcher]$root
$search.Filter = "(&(objectclass=computer))"
$computers = $search.FindAll()

foreach ($computer in $computers)
{
$PC = $computer.getdirectoryentry()
$PC.name
$PC.distinguishedname
}

But this generates the name and below the distinguishedname, but no table or list.

Is there a way to export this to csv?

2

I found one way, but other ideas are also welcome!


$root = [ADSI]"GC://DC=domain,DC=forest,DC=com"
$search = [ADSISearcher]$root
$search.Filter = "(&(objectclass=computer))"
$computers = $search.FindAll()
foreach ($computer in $computers)
{
$PC = $computer.getdirectoryentry()
New-Object PSObject @{'name'=$PC.name.value;'distinguishedname'=$PC.distinguishedname.value} | export-csv D:\export.csv -append
}
3

You’re on the right track! f you only need the unique computername and the distinguished name you could use a hash instead.

$root = [ADSI]"GC://DC=domain,DC=forest,DC=com"
$search = [ADSISearcher]$root
$search.Filter = "(&(objectclass=computer))"
$computers = $search.FindAll()
$hash = $null
$hash = @{}
foreach ($computer in $computers)
{
   $PC = $computer.getdirectoryentry()
   $hash.Add($PC.name.value, $PC.distinguishedname.value)
}
$hash | Export-Csv D:\export.csv -append

Sorry for the bad formatting but the forum editor sucks when it comes to code… :frowning:

4

Here’s a version of the same thing using custom objects:

$root = [ADSI]“GC://DC=domain,DC=forest,DC=com”
$search = [ADSISearcher]$root
$search.Filter = “(&(objectclass=computer))”
$computers = $search.FindAll()
$output = @()
foreach ($computer in $computers)
{
$PC = $computer.getdirectoryentry()
$props =@{‘name’=$PC.name.value;‘distinguishedname’=$PC.distinguishedname.value}
$obj = New-Object -Type PSObject -Prop $props
$result = $result + $obj
}
$result | Export-Csv D:\export.csv -append

5

Joakim, did you run your code and check the output? Neither of your examples seem to work.

In the first example you output a hash-table to csv. This works but it only gives you the information about the hash-table, not the actual information that is in the hash-table. You should only export objects to CSV. In your second example you tried this, however where you went wrong was trying to add the objects together. Objects cannot be added together. You were almost there however, and you can see below a simple change to your last example returns the expected output.

$root = [ADSI]"GC://DC=domain,DC=forest,DC=com"
$search = [ADSISearcher]$root
$search.Filter = "objectclass=computer"
$computers = $search.FindAll()
foreach ($computer in $computers)
{
   $PC = $computer.getdirectoryentry()
   $props =@{'name'=$PC.name.value;'distinguishedname'=$PC.distinguishedname.value}
   New-Object -Type PSObject -Prop $props
} | Export-Csv export.csv -append

Also note that it is unnecessary to use the ampersand and brackets in the LDAP filter if you are only filtering by a single property. I also removed the $Output variable as it was not being used anywhere.

This could even be done from the console in a single line:

$([adsisearcher]"objectclass=computer").FindAll() | select @{L="Name";E={$_.properties["cn"]}},@{L="DistinguishedName";E={$_.properties["distinguishedname"]}} | epcsv C:\results.csv -NoTy

Not the prettiest but just wanted to show that it is possible (I used aliases and shortened parameter names on purpose, that’s what one-liners in the console is all about!). This syntax assumes you’re searching a single domain that your computer is joined to though, so if you need to specify addition subdomains I don’t think you’d be able to do that with just one line of code.