Mass Changing Directory Name

[kimboaticus]

Some time ago, I had posted a "How Do I..?" about why when I use the rename function does it sometimes prompt about renaming the users home folders and in other cases it does not. It was pointed out that the directory name must be the same as the User Logon Name in order for this to work. In my orgainization, when accounts are created the prevailing rule is to have the directory name be the users full name, and not be the same as the User Logon Name. In order to facilitate better control over renaming user accounts and their home folders, I would like to change the Directory Name to match the User Logon Name. I have just upgraded to Hyena 6.5 and see the new Manage Directory Attributes function may be able to accomplish this for me. Can someone help me understand how best to make this work? Can I use a variable in the Manage Directory Attributes dialog to reset this value? Cheers!

[kstanush]

Re: Mass Changing Directory Name

What you want to do unfortunately is rather difficult. The cn attribute and other attributes like it cannot be changed like this as they are part of the directory name path. AD does not allow them to be changed. Even if we had a way to put in variables into the new Manage Attributes feature in v6.5, it would not work as this attribute can't be changed.

You can perform a rename in Hyena on the AD object, which does a lot of things to properly fix other related fields.

You might check on www.joeware.net to see if they have a utility to 'rename' an account from a command line.

Sorry that this need keeps out of your grasp...

[kimboaticus]

Re: Mass Changing Directory Name

Doh! My mistake. Its not the Directory Name that needs to be the same, its the Display Name. Is it any easier to change this value?

[This message has been edited by kimboaticus (edited 09-09-2005).]

[kstanush]

Re: Mass Changing Directory Name

Remind me again on what you are trying to do, as I don't think that we care about the display name of the user account when renaming users. Give an example if you could of a typical user account settings and I can test on my end.

We do not allow variables in the new AD Attribute Management function, but plan to work on this in the coming weeks. Once we do, you will be able to select an attribute and put in something like this for a modifiable attribute:

%cn:<4%_howard_%middlename%

This would take the leftmost 4 characters from the cn attribute and the entire contents of the middlename and place it into the attribute.

But for now, you have to type in the new value, and for something like display name, you might as well just use the standard user properties dialog. However, the next/previous buttons are a nice way to modify a lot of objects too.

[kimboaticus]

Re: Mass Changing Directory Name

When a user leaves our company, we disable the account and append zzz_ infront of it so that all the disabled accounts are listed together. We would like to have it so that all the home folders and such also get renamed with zzz_ infront too. However, our ID's have been created with the users full name as the directory name and a shortened form of the users name up to 8 characters, for the logon name. So, I want to go back and modify the accounts so that the display name matches the logon name (and hence the home folder name) so that we can do this. I have done some testing with disabled accounts and it looks to me that it is the Display Name and not the Directory Name after all that counts. For instance I changed the display name of an account to the short form which matches the users logon name and the name of their home folder, in this case dhotarj. The directory name was left as it was which was the same as the users full name. I then selected to rename the account again at which point it asked If I wanted the folder to be renamed too. I was then able to append the zzz_ infront and It worked fine.

[kstanush]

Re: Mass Changing Directory Name

It would help if we could all use the actual AD attribute names when discussing this, so take one of your typical users (or make up a new/typical user) and right click on this user in Hyena, select Listing Views->User (All). Provide the values of these attributes:

cn
displayname
name
samaccountname
homedirectory

Thank you.

[kimboaticus]

Re: Mass Changing Directory Name

cn = Jazz Dhotar
displayname = dhotarj
name = Jazz Dhotar
samaccountname = dhotarj
homedirectory = \\xxxxxxxxxx\dhotarj$

[kstanush]

Re: Mass Changing Directory Name

I was wrong about the rename function using the 'cn', otherwise referred to as the directory name, as the basis on what to rename. It seems that whatever you have selected as the first field to display in the GUI is what the rename is based on. You can control what field is displayed as the first column of the right window and as the primary label in the left window. Whatever was present before typing in the new name is what is used as the 'before' field.

So, you might have the display name as the first field. Just change your displays to match whatever standard you are using so that the first data element displayed for your users matches what you have in your profile, etc. fields.

[kimboaticus]

Re: Mass Changing Directory Name

Oh wow!!! That works like a charm. That saves a whole lot of work! Have I ever mentioned that you guys rock?!?!