Is there a tool that lets an end user manage attributes in Active Directory?

Question

There are attributes in Active Directory such as manager and telephone numbers which can get out of date quickly. Is there an open source or inexpensive tool that can help with management of these fields? I'm looking for something that a non-technical person could use, so it has to be safe.

Answer 1

I ended up writing my own in dotnet., it allows the user to update phone numbers, office, job title and address details. Address details are a selectable list of offices which would set all the address details for that office.

Accessing the directory was fairly straight-forward, but I did have to allow access to certain attributes through Delegation for the SELF security descriptor.

I also took it one step further and created a templated address generator which would use the users details from AD to create a set of text, rtf and html signatures for use in Outlook.

Answer 2

rDirectory does it, but it's not free (I don't know how much it costs)

http://www.namescape.com/Products/rDirectory/Standard/Default.aspx

Answer 3

You can hire someone that knows how to program against an LDAP server to build an application for very little money. No more than $1000. That may be the best decision for you since you will get exactly what you are looking for.

Answer 4

You could just use the regular Active Directory Users and Computers snapin (or create an MMC dashboard) - as long as the user has the correct delegated rights - there shouldn't be a problem? (ok, not the most user-friendly tool perhaps).

In Windows XP atleast you can use the built-in search tool to edit attributes in AD for the search results (people, computers and so on) as long as you have those rights. Not sure if this is possible directly from Vista though?

Answer 5

Try ASN Active Directory Manager, the tool supports Active Directory Reporting and Management. Reporting is available for Users, Groups, Computers, Contacts, OUs, GPOs, PSOs and bulk creation and modification feature is available for Users, Groups, Computers, Contacts and OUs.

ASN Active Directory Manager can be installed even in a workgroup machine in the network and multiple domains in the forest can be effectively managed from the workgroup installation. The managed domains are listed in a drop down box at the top of the tool and and can be easily switched to any domains.

Also thumbnailphoto can be set and clear for bulk users through csv import and other advanced options. And the tool makes ease the process of restoring deleted users, groups, contacts, computers and OUs with more advanced options.