Hyena and the Browser Service
Hyena depends on the Windows Browse list for its 'Servers' object in the left window. Unlike the 'Computers' and 'Domain Controllers' objects, which come directly from Active Directory (AD), Windows doesn't offer a function to quickly retrieve only servers. For this reason we use a legacy function to extract the list of servers from the Windows Browse list.
Note: A common misconception is that the 'Computers' object in Hyena only contains workstations, when in fact it is a list of all computer accounts in AD.
As Windows has moved away from using the Browse List, we've seen a few changes with newer operating systems that affect the 'Servers' object in Hyena. Mainly, the Computer Browser service is now stopped by default in Windows 7/8 and Server 2008. One solution to this issue is to start the Computer Browser service, and set it to Automatic so it starts after each reboot. You'll want to do this on the system running Hyena, as well as on any 2008 servers or Domain Controllers.
If you are in an environment where use of the Computer Browser service is not allowed, we've put together a list of alternate methods to get a list of servers:
1. Right-click on the 'Computers' object for the domain and choose Query Active Directory > Computer(Detailed). Then filter the OS column for the word 'Server'.
2. Navigate through the Containers/OUs to the location where your servers reside in Active Directory (assuming your servers are grouped together in an OU or OUs).
3. Create an OU in the directory and place all of your servers into this OU structure (then manage them with option #2).
4. Create a static Object Grouping under File > Manage Object View. The limitation to this method is you have to manually add all of your servers, and you must add/remove them over time as this is not a dynamic list.
5. Create an AD query to filter for computers with 'Server' in the OS description. Go to File > Manage Object View > AD Queries, change the Query Type to 'Container/OU Contents'. Click the New Query icon and enter a Query Name of 'Servers'. Check the box to Include subcontainers and sub-OUs in search, then paste this into the LDAP Search Filter box:
(&(objectCategory=computer)(objectClass=computer)(operatingSystem=*server*))
Click OK to save the new query. To run this query right-click on the Containers/OUs object for a domain and choose Query Active Directory > Servers.
AD Attribute Management
One of the drawbacks to the conventional method used by Hyena and nearly all Microsoft applications when managing Active Directory objects is the presentation of a dialog box to request user input. Some of the disadvantages to the standard GUI dialog for managing Active Directory include:
- Active Directory offers many more additional properties (attributes) than can be displayed on most GUI interfaces.
- Limited options exist for managing the attributes for multiple directory objects at the same time, resulting in lost time performing one-by-one updates.
- Extended schema attributes will not usually be available in Microsoft or 3rd party utilities.
- Tools for direct access to AD attributes such as ADSI-Edit are difficult and clumsy to use.
- Scripting solutions offer only a non-interactive method of updating directory objects.
Hyena's Active Directory Attribute Management functions are designed to overcome these limitations and provide new capabilities for direct access and manipulation of AD objects. By utilizing advanced techniques and optimized directory access functions, this capability greatly enhances AD management, especially where multiple attributes need to be modified on a large collection of directory objects.
To access the attribute management function, right click on any directory object, and select "Manage Directory Attributes" from the menu.
To see how to use this powerful feature, including how to replace all or part of one directory attribute with another (for example, putting the first few characters of the last name field into an email address), see Hyena's Help file section "Active Directory > Active Directory Attribute Management".
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