Perform common Active Directory tasks easily...

In .NET projects, the need to perform operations against an Active Directory is very common (i.e, authenticating a user). This library aims to abstract common operations against active directory.

Install-Package ActiveDirectoryUtilities

var domainName = "MyDomain";

// Set credentials of the user account that we will use to perform the domain
// the active directory operations. This user must have access to the AD
var operatingUserName = "Admin1";
var operatingUserPassword = "Password";

// Instantiate the class using the variables above
var activeDirectory = new ActiveDirectory(domainName,operatingUserName,operatingUserPassword);

// Authenticate a user
if (activeDirectory.AuthenticateUser("user1", "somePassword"))
{
    Console.WriteLine("You have been authenticated");
}
else
{
    Console.WriteLine("User/Password combination is incorrect");
}

// You may also do it using a static method
if (ActiveDirectory.AuthenticateUser(domainName,operatingUserName,operatingUserPassword,"user1", "somePassword"))
{
    Console.WriteLine("You have been authenticated");
}
else
{
    Console.WriteLine("User/Password combination is incorrect");
}

Note: All methods shown in this section also have a static counterpart.

• bool AuthenticateUser(string userName, string password) - Authenticates a username/password combination against the specified domain

• Populate(bool retrieveDescendants = false, int? depth = null) - Retrieves the Active Directory base organizational unit and optionally retrieves its descendants

• UserPrincipal GetUserByUserName(string userName) - Finds a user by their username. If no user is found, it returns null

• GroupPrincipal GetGroupByName(string groupName) - Finds a domain group by name. If no group is found, it returns null. The groupName may contain wildcards.

• ActiveDirectoryOrganizationalUnit GetOrganizationalUnit(string path = null, bool retrieveDescendants = false,int? depth = null) - Finds all organizational units and optionally their descendants.

  • path is the ActiveDirectory path of the organization unit. If none is provided, the whole ActiveDirectory OU will be returned
  • retrieveDescendants specifies whether or not the function should retrieve the descendants of the unit
  • depth specifies how many levels of descendants the function should retrieve

• List<GroupPrincipal> GetGroupsByName(string filter = "\*") - Finds all domain groups by name. The filter may contain wildcards.

• List<string> GetGroupNames(string filter = "\*") - Only gets the names of the domain groups that match the filter passed

If you would like to contribute, you may do so to the development branch.