How do I set the ManagedBy property on a GroupPrincipal

Question

I'm creating and updating Groups in Active Directory using the GroupPrincipal class in System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement. When creating and updating, I also need to be able to set the ManagedBy property that you are able to set in the Managed By tab in the groups properties in the AD management console.

Can it be done programatically?

Answer 1

Take a look at this page. This is one of the best tutorials on AD in c#.

Some code that should work(untested) :

    string connectionPrefix = "LDAP://" + ouPath;
    DirectoryEntry dirEntry = new DirectoryEntry(connectionPrefix);
    DirectoryEntry newGroup = dirEntry.Children.Add
        ("CN=" + groupName, "group");
    group.Properties["sAmAccountName"].Value = groupName;
    newGroup.Properties["managedBy"].Value = managerDistinguishedName;
    newGroup.CommitChanges();
    dirEntry.Close();
    newGroup.Close();

Answer 2

You could extend the GroupPrincipal class and provide a ManagedBy property using the ExtensionSet method.

Answer 3

You cannot do this directly, unfortunately - but you can get access to the underlying DirectoryEntry and do it there:

PrincipalContext ctx = new PrincipalContext(ContextType.Domain, "YOURDOMAIN");

UserPrincipal toBeModified = UserPrincipal.FindByIdentity(".....");
UserPrincipal manager = UserPrincipal.FindByIdentity(ctx, "......");

DirectoryEntry de = toBeModified.GetUnderlyingObject() as DirectoryEntry;

if (de != null)
{
    de.Properties["managedBy"].Value = manager.DistinguishedName;
    toBeModified.Save();
}

I can't test it right now - but I think this should work ok.