Automating user account membership in another domain

This content might be a bit of a refresher for some, but it is important to always think out of the box when dealing with Active Directory and automation. What a start, right? Here is the question posed: “How do I add a user account from domain A to a group in domain B using ADManager Plus?” The tool being used is not all that important, but the ease of accomplishing the goal is. Instead of trying to ensure that the correct syntax for the other domain used in a script or tool, why not just have a group from domain B have membership in the group you want all users to belong to in domain A? Here is what the moving parts would look like: Domain A

• User1, User2, User3, User4, etc.
• Group1

Domain B

• GroupB

Ensure that GroupB has Group1 as a member. The syntax that you will most likely see in the GUI will look something like DomainA\Group1 and DomainB\GroupB. For the automation, you do not need to worry about the domain B syntax or reference, just add all of your users to the domain A group! Again, I know this might sound simple, but when you are knee deep in a tool or script trying to solve an issue, you might not be able to see the obvious solution right before you. To get a feel for using ADManager Plus yourself, please download it here.