need help exporting the users previous ou, description, and canomical name to the csv file so i can create a script to reverse it back for DR

Question

here is my code, so im a sysadmin. 21, little coding exp... im trying to develop a script that will move inactive users to an ou, and export logs of their previous ou, description and principal name into a folder that i can then use for reverse engineering another script if i have a disaster.. works great besides the csv part wont export at all. all help is appreciated.

#Import AD Module
Import-Module ActiveDirectory

$ErrorActionPreference = "SilentlyContinue"


$DestOUName = "Disabled Users"
$searchbase = (Get-ADDomain).DistinguishedName
$DestinationOU = "OU=$DestOUName,$searchbase"
$DestOU = Get-ADOrganizationalUnit -Filter "distinguishedName = '$DestinationOU'"

If($null -eq $DestOU)
{
    Write-Host "Creating New Orginizational Unit $DestinationOU"
    New-ADOrganizationalUnit -Name $DestOUName -Path $searchbase
}

If(($null -ne $DestOU) -and ($null -ne $DestOUName))
{
    Write-Host "Orginizational Unit $DestinationOU Exist"
}


$Days = (Get-Date).AddDays(-365)
Write-Host "Days: $Days"

$ProgramFiles = ($env:ProgramFiles)
Write-Host "ProgramFiles: $ProgramFiles"

$Name = "InnerCore"
Write-Host "FolderName: $Name"

$InnerCoreFolder = "$ProgramFiles\'$Name"
Write-Host "InnerCoreFolder: $InnerCoreFolder"

$Result = (Test-path $InnerCoreFolder)
Write-Host "Result: $Result"
Write-Host "Test-Path $(Test-Path $InnerCoreFolder)"

$Users = get-aduser -properties userPrincipalName,LastLogonDate,description -Filter {(LastLogonDate -lt $Days)} -SearchBase $searchbase

# Create Innercore Folder if Result is false, then move users to Dest Ou

if($Result -eq $false)
    {
    Write-Host "Creating a Folder for InnerCore Technologies"
    New-Item -Name "$Name" -ItemType "directory"
    }
if($Result -eq $true)
    {
        Write-Host "($InnerCoreFolder) Already Exist"
    }

  
Write-Host "Moving Inactive Users to $DestOUName"  
foreach ($user in $Users)
    {
        #Get ADUser DistinguishedName/CanomicalName
        #Get ADUser Description
        #Get ADUser OU
    
    $OrigionalCanomicalName = $User.CanomicalName
    $OrigionalDescription = $User.Description
    $OrigionalOU = ($user.DistinguishedName -split ",",2)[1]
    
    Get-aduser $OrigionalCanomicalName,$OrigionalDescription,$OrigionalOU | Select-Object $OrigionalCanomicalName,$OrigionalDescription,$OrigionalOU

    #Move and Disable $User
    $Date = Get-Date -Format "dddd MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm"
    Write-Host "Disabling and Moving: $($user.userPrincipalName), $($user.LastLogonDate), $($user.description)"
    #Set-AdUser $user -Enabled $False -Description "Disabled and Moved on ($Date)|$($user.description)"
    #$User | Move-ADObject -TargetPath $DestinationOU
    }

    #Export Info as a CSV to the InnerCore Folder for Reverse Engineering
    $LogName = "InactiveUsersBeforeChange.csv"
    Write-Host "Logname: $Logname"
    $LogPath = $InnerCoreFolder/$Logname
    Write-Host = "$Logname": $LogPath
    Export-csv -Path "$LogPath" -Name "$LogName"
    Write-Host -ForegroundColor Cyan "exporting a log to the InnerCore folder just in case you need it :)"
    Write-Host -ForegroundColor Green "all done :)"

Hello Sys Ad Zack lol at the moment you're not specifying what to export, only where to. — Abraham Zinala, Apr 30 '21 at 19:24
hi, so what would be the command? i need to export the selected objects — Zack-SysAdmin, Apr 30 '21 at 19:42

Santiago Squarzon · Answer 1 · 2021-04-30T20:44:55.777

There you go Zack, SysAdmin :) I added some comments for you to follow.

$ErrorActionPreference = "Stop" # You really really want to see if anything fails,
                                # specially working with AD. SilentlyContinue is Evil.

$DestOUName = "Disabled Users"
$searchBase = (Get-ADDomain).DistinguishedName
$DestinationOU = "OU=$DestOUName,$searchbase"
# $DestOU = Get-ADOrganizationalUnit -Filter "distinguishedName = '$DestinationOU'"
# this wouldn't work, Filter should be -Filter "distinguishedName -eq '$DestinationOU'"

try
{
    # DistinguishedName is the default input parameter for Get-ADOrganizationalUnit
    # we don't need to use Filter, BUT, if it can't find the OU it will throw so we can use
    # a try {} catch{} to create one OU if it fails!
    Get-ADOrganizationalUnit $destinationOU > $null # Direct stdout to $null so we don't get any output if the OU exist
    Write-Host "Organizational Unit $DestinationOU Exist"
}
catch
{
    Write-Host "Creating New Orginizational Unit $DestinationOU"
    New-ADOrganizationalUnit -Name $DestOUName -Path $searchBase
}

$Days = (Get-Date).AddDays(-365)
Write-Host "Days: $Days"

$ProgramFiles = ($env:ProgramFiles)
Write-Host "ProgramFiles: $ProgramFiles"

$hash = @{
    Properties = 'LastLogonDate','Description','canonicalName'
    Filter = "LastLogonDate -lt '$Days'"
    SearchBase = $searchbase
}
$Users = Get-ADuser @hash

# Create Innercore Folder if Result is false, then move users to Dest Ou

$Name = "InnerCore"
Write-Host "FolderName: $Name"

$InnerCoreFolder = Join-Path $ProgramFiles -ChildPath $Name
Write-Host "InnerCoreFolder: $InnerCoreFolder"

if(-not(Test-Path $InnerCoreFolder))
{
    Write-Host "Creating a Folder for InnerCore Technologies"
    New-Item -Name $InnerCoreFolder -ItemType Directory
}
else
{
    Write-Host "$InnerCoreFolder - Already Exist"
}
  
Write-Host "Moving Inactive Users to $DestOUName"  

$output = [system.collections.generic.list[pscustomobject]]::new()

foreach ($user in $Users)
{
    #Move and Disable $User
    $Date = Get-Date -Format "dddd MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm"
    Write-Host "Disabling and Moving: $($user.userPrincipalName), $($user.LastLogonDate), $($user.description)"
    try
    {
        Set-ADUser $user -Enabled $False -Description "Disabled and Moved on ($Date)|$($user.description)"
        $User | Move-ADObject -TargetPath $DestinationOU

        # If Set-ADUser and Move-ADObject didn't fail it's safe to say that users were
        # Disabled + Moved, hence we can safely add the log of our user to our collection.

        $output.Add(
            [pscustomobject]@{
                UserPrincipalName = $user.UserPrincipalName
                OriginalOU = ($user.DistinguishedName -split ",",2)[1]
                Description = $user.Description
        })
    }
    catch
    {
        Write-Warning $_

        # You can add a secondary log for failures here just in case.
    }
}

#Export Info as a CSV to the InnerCore Folder for Reverse Engineering
$LogName = "InactiveUsersBeforeChange.csv"
Write-Host "Logname: $Logname"
$LogPath = Join-Path $InnerCoreFolder -ChildPath $LogName
Write-Host "LogPath: $LogPath"

if($output)
{
    $output|Export-csv -Path $LogPath -NoTypeInformation
    Write-Host -ForegroundColor Cyan "exporting a log to the InnerCore folder just in case you need it :)"
    Write-Host -ForegroundColor Green "all done :)"
}
else
{
    "No users were moved....."
}

@Zack-SysAdmin Woops, totally missed this `-Filter "distinguishedName = '$DestinationOU'"` I'll edit it in a minute, check my edit — Santiago Squarzon, Apr 30 '21 at 20:38
The filter used to get `$DestOU` should be `"distinguishedName -eq '$DestinationOU'"`. Not with an `=` character — Theo, Apr 30 '21 at 20:43
@Zack-SysAdmin There edit added using `try { }` `catch { }` to help you understand how it works — Santiago Squarzon, Apr 30 '21 at 20:46

need help exporting the users previous ou, description, and canomical name to the csv file so i can create a script to reverse it back for DR

1 Answers1