C# Create OU in Active Directory

Question

I'm struggling to create an OU for Active Directory using the code below.

strPath = "OU=TestOU,DC=Internal,DC=Com"

DirectoryEntry objOU; 
objOU = ADentry.Children.Add(strPath, "OrganizationalUnit");
objOU.CommitChanges();

The problem is strPath contains the full path 'OU=TestOU,DC=Internal,DC=net' so using .Children.Add is making the ldap path 'OU=TestOU,DC=Internal,DC=net,DC=Internal,DC=net' which results in an error as the domain obviously doesn't exist.

My question is can I create an OU using strPath without .Children.Add?

I'm not familiar with AD and this is something I inherited from the guy before me.

Answer 1

try this using System; using System.DirectoryServices;

namespace ADAM_Examples
{
    class CreateOU
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Create AD LDS Organizational Unit.
        /// </summary>
        [STAThread]
        static void Main()
        {
            DirectoryEntry objADAM;  // Binding object.
            DirectoryEntry objOU;    // Organizational unit.
            string strDescription;   // Description of OU.
            string strOU;            // Organiztional unit.
            string strPath;          // Binding path.
        // Construct the binding string.
        strPath = "LDAP://localhost:389/O=Fabrikam,C=US";

        Console.WriteLine("Bind to: {0}", strPath);

        // Get AD LDS object.
        try
        {
            objADAM = new DirectoryEntry(strPath);
            objADAM.RefreshCache();
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Error:   Bind failed.");
            Console.WriteLine("         {0}", e.Message);
            return;
        }

        // Specify Organizational Unit.
        strOU = "OU=TestOU";
        strDescription = "AD LDS Test Organizational Unit";
        Console.WriteLine("Create:  {0}", strOU);

        // Create Organizational Unit.
        try
        {
            objOU = objADAM.Children.Add(strOU,
                "OrganizationalUnit");
            objOU.Properties["description"].Add(strDescription);
            objOU.CommitChanges();
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Error:   Create failed.");
            Console.WriteLine("         {0}", e.Message);
            return;
        }

        // Output Organizational Unit attributes.
        Console.WriteLine("Success: Create succeeded.");
        Console.WriteLine("Name:    {0}", objOU.Name);
        Console.WriteLine("         {0}",
            objOU.Properties["description"].Value);
        return;
    }
}
}

Answer 2

The only way to create an object with System.DirectoryServices is to create a DirectoryEntry object to the parent and use DirectoryEntry.Children.Add.

I think your best move at this point is to use the path you have and extract the part you need ("OU=something").

Answer 3

I think your best move at this point is to use the path you have and extract the part you need ("OU=something").

Thanks Steve