Q: List all AD computer account & create a new one based on the last entry

PowerShell Help
1

Hi NG,

I’m trying something that I thought of to be simple :slight_smile: but somehow issn’t to me.

I need to create new AD computer accounts based on the last account found in the AD.
In our company we have a strikt naming convention which should make it easy to create new accounts based on the last one.

Our naming schema is somehting like: USLAXDT123456

The last 6 digits are running numbers. So basically I only need to iterate this by 1.

My first approach would be to select -last 1 of the AD acccounts.
Split the name from the number. ($var = USLAXDT123456.remove(0,7)
Iterate the number… somehow maybe like this:
$var += 1

Then bring the string part back together with the number.

Is there an easier way to do that?

Regards

Christian

2

Hi Christian,

Think you’re heading on the right lines. For splitting the number from the letters, you can also use .substring, and for working out the next number, Measure-Object with the -maximum parameter is your friend.

Happy to give an example if you’d like. :slight_smile:

3

Here’s one way to do it. The match is to make sure you only get relevant computernames. The while-loop adds zeros if neccessary.

$numbers = Get-ADComputer -Filter * | ? {$_.name -match ‘^USLAXDT[0-9]{6}$’} | Select-Object @{n = ‘number’; e = {int}} | Select-Object -expandproperty number | Sort-Object
$newNumber = [string]($numbers | Measure-Object -Maximum).Maximum
while ($newNumber.Length -lt 6) {$newNumber = “0$newNumber”}
$newName = “USLAXDT$newNumber”

4

Hi again,

@ Tim : Tim thx for your input. I used substring to get only the number that I need

@ Thomas: I got a question about the filter –> $_.name -match ‘^USLAXDT[0-9]{6}$’

What is the $ sign @ the end needed for? With or without I seem to get the same result.

I solved it like this now:

extract the OU from the entry in list

$strOU = $entry | select-object -ExpandProperty OU

Get the AD object with the highest count

$lastADaccount = get-adcomputer -filter * -SearchBase $strOU | where-object {$_.name -match “USLAXDT[0-9]{6}”} | select-object -ExpandProperty name -last 1

split the number from the chars

$strnumber = $lastADaccount.Substring(7)

convert string to integer

$intnumber = [int] $strnumber

interate by one

$intnumber++

combine new AD computer account name

“USLAXDT” + $intnumber

regards

Christian

5

^ and $ matches start and end of string

I’m not sure selecting the last 1 will always return the newest computer account. I would look for the maximum number in existing names instead.

6

Hi again Thomas,

you’re correct :slight_smile: it didn’t return the last one.

I solved it this way:

get-adcomputer -filter * -SearchBase $strOU | where-object {$_.name -match “USLAXDT[0-9]{6}”} | sort name | select -ExpandProperty name -last 1

first I sort it, then get last 1.

This works.

Regards

Christian