ds commands - need help

cany anyone shed some light on how to learn the ds commands and things like csvde etc? ive read stuff which ive googled, technet, my mspress book, cbt nuggets and i still cannot get it into my head!

can anyone shed some light on how to learn these commands?
or is it not necessary to know them for the exams and just know which are available and for what use?

cheers

Find more posts tagged with

SAVE $250 on Your Microsoft Boot Camp — Use Code "EXAM26"

Exclusively for TechExams members for Infosec Boot Camps starting before April 30, 2026

View Microsoft Boot Camps

Comments

geekie

or is it not necessary to know them for the exams

No, it's very necessary to know these commands for the 290 exam. I had a few questions relating to them if I remember rightly.

I'd say the best thing to do is just practice using them and you shouldn't have much trouble picking it up.

agustinchernitsky

Just know what you can do with them... don't learn them by hard...

ie "what command would you use to modify a user with least admin effort?"

dsmod

ie 2: "You need to modify all users that members of one group, how do you do it with less admin effort?"

dsquery | dsmod

ie 3: "You want to know when was the last time a computer account logged on"

dsget -computer xxx

Vogon Poet

I found the Syngress book to be most helpful with these commands.
dsadd
dsget
dsmod
dsmove
dsquery
gpresult
whoami
cmdkey
The trouble some people get into when using them is forgetting to put an object after them. Ask yourself, "What am I trying to dsadd?"
Ex. dsadd user, dsadd computer, dsadd group
Using them will get you used to some of the switches and LDAP naming convention so you don't get tripped up on a tricky question.
Syngress also briefly covers csvde and ldifde.
Hope that helps.