microsoft.ad.group module – Manage Active Directory group objects

Note

This module is part of the microsoft.ad collection (version 1.7.1).

You might already have this collection installed if you are using the ansible package. It is not included in ansible-core. To check whether it is installed, run ansible-galaxy collection list.

To install it, use: ansible-galaxy collection install microsoft.ad. You need further requirements to be able to use this module, see Requirements for details.

To use it in a playbook, specify: microsoft.ad.group.

Synopsis

  • Manages Active Directory group objects and their attributes.

Requirements

The below requirements are needed on the host that executes this module.

  • ActiveDirectory PowerShell module

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

attributes

dictionary

The attributes to either add, remove, or set on the AD object.

The value of each attribute option should be a dictionary where the key is the LDAP attribute, e.g. firstName, comment and the value is the value, or list of values, to set for that attribute.

The attribute value(s) can either be the raw string, integer, or bool value to add, remove, or set on the attribute in question.

The value can also be a dictionary with the type key set to bytes, date_time, security_descriptor, or raw and the value for this entry under the value key.

The bytes type has a value that is a base64 encoded string of the raw bytes to set.

The date_time type has a value that is the ISO 8601 DateTime string of the DateTime to set. The DateTime will be set as the Microsoft FILETIME integer value which is the number of 100 nanoseconds since 1601-01-01 in UTC.

The security_descriptor type has a value that is the Security Descriptor SDDL string used for the nTSecurityDescriptor attribute.

The raw type is the int, string, or boolean value to set.

String attribute values are compared using a case sensitive match on the AD object being managed.

See LDAP attributes help for more information.

Default: {}

add

dictionary

A dictionary of all the attributes and their value(s) to add to the AD object being managed if they are not already present.

This is used for attributes that can contain multiple values, if the attribute only allows a single value, use set instead.

Default: {}

remove

dictionary

A dictionary of all the attributes and their value(s) to remove from the AD object being managed if they are present.

This is used for attributes that can contain multiple values, if the attribute only allows a single value, use set instead.

Default: {}

set

dictionary

A dictionary of all attributes and their value(s) to set on the AD object being managed.

This will replace any existing values if they do not match the ones being requested.

The order of attribute values are not checked only, only that the values requested are the only values on the object attribute.

Set this to null or an empty list to clear any values for the attribute.

Default: {}

category

string

The category of the group.

If a new group is created then security will be used by default.

A security group can be associated with access control lists whereas distribution groups are typically associated with mailing distribution lists.

This is the value set on the groupType LDAP attributes.

Choices:

  • "distribution"

  • "security"

description

string

The description of the AD object to set.

This is the value set on the description LDAP attribute.

display_name

string

The display name of the AD object to set.

This is the value of the displayName LDAP attribute.

domain_credentials

list / elements=dictionary

Specifies the credentials that should be used when using the server specified by name.

To specify credentials for the default domain server, use an entry without the name key or use the domain_username and domain_password option.

This can be set under the play’s module defaults under the group/microsoft.ad.domain group.

See AD authentication in modules for more information.

Default: []

name

string

The name of the server these credentials are for.

This value should correspond to the value used in other options that specify a custom server to use, for example an option that references an AD identity located on a different AD server.

This key can be omitted in one entry to specify the default credentials to use when a server is not specified instead of using domain_username and domain_password.

password

string / required

The password to use when connecting to the server specified by name.

username

string / required

The username to use when connecting to the server specified by name.

domain_password

string

The password for domain_username.

The domain_credentials sub entry without a name key can also be used to specify the credentials for the default domain authentication.

This can be set under the play’s module defaults under the group/microsoft.ad.domain group.

domain_server

string

Specified the Active Directory Domain Services instance to connect to.

Can be in the form of an FQDN or NetBIOS name.

If not specified then the value is based on the default domain of the computer running PowerShell.

Custom credentials can be specified under a domain_credentials entry without a name key or through domain_username and domain_password.

This can be set under the play’s module defaults under the group/microsoft.ad.domain group.

domain_username

string

The username to use when interacting with AD.

If this is not set then the user that is used for authentication will be the connection user.

Ansible will be unable to use the connection user unless auth is Kerberos with credential delegation or CredSSP, or become is used on the task.

The domain_credentials sub entry without a name key can also be used to specify the credentials for the default domain authentication.

This can be set under the play’s module defaults under the group/microsoft.ad.domain group.

homepage

string

The homepage of the group.

This is the value set on the wWWHomePage LDAP attribute.

identity

string

The identity of the AD object used to find the AD object to manage.

This must be specified if; name is not set, when trying to rename the object with a new name, or when trying to move the object into a different path.

The identity can be in the form of a GUID representing the objectGUID value, the userPrincipalName, sAMAccountName, objectSid, or distinguishedName.

If omitted, the AD object to manage is selected by the distinguishedName using the format CN={{ name }},{{ path }}. If path is not defined, the defaultNamingContext is used instead.

When using the microsoft.ad.computer module, the identity will automatically append $ to the end of the sAMAccountName if the provided value did not result in a match and did not already have a $ at the end.

managed_by

any

The user or group that manages the group.

The value can be in the form of a distinguishedName, objectGUID, objectSid, sAMAccountName, or userPrincipalName string or a dictionary with the name and optional server key.

This is the value set on the managedBy LDAP attribute.

See DN Lookup Attributes for more information on how DN lookups work.

members

dictionary

The members of the group to set.

The value is a dictionary that contains 3 keys, add, remove, and set.

Each subkey value is a list of values in the form of a distinguishedName, objectGUID, objectSid, sAMAccountName, or userPrincipalName string or a dictionary with the name and optional server key.

The value for each subkey can either be specified as a string or a dictionary with the name and optional server key. The name is the identity to lookup and server is an optional key to override what AD server to lookup the identity on.

See DN Lookup Attributes for more information.

add

list / elements=any

Adds the principals specified as members of the group, keeping the existing membership if they are not specified.

lookup_failure_action

string

Control the action to take when the lookup fails to find the DN.

fail will cause the task to fail.

ignore will ignore the value and continue.

warn will ignore the value and display a warning.

Choices:

  • "fail" ← (default)

  • "ignore"

  • "warn"

remove

list / elements=any

Removes the principals specified as members of the group, keeping the existing membership if they are not specified.

set

list / elements=any

Sets only the principals specified as members of the group.

Any other existing member will be removed from the group membership if not specified in this list.

Set this to an empty list to remove all members from a group.

name

string

The name of the AD object to manage, this is not the sAMAccountName of the object but the LDAP cn or name entry of the object in the path specified. Use identity to select an object to manage by its sAMAccountName.

If identity is specified, and the name of the object found by that identity does not match this value, the object will be renamed.

This must be specified if identity is not set.

path

string

The path of the OU or the container where the new object should exist in.

If creating a new object, the new object will be created at the path specified. If no path is specified then the defaultNamingContext of the domain will be used as the path for most object types.

If managing an existing object found by identity, the path of the found object will be moved to the one specified by this option. If no path is specified, the object will not be moved.

The modules microsoft.ad.computer, microsoft.ad.user, and microsoft.ad.group have their own default path that is configured on the Active Directory domain controller.

This can be set to the literal value microsoft.ad.default_path which will equal the default value used when creating a new object.

protect_from_deletion

boolean

Marks the object as protected from accidental deletion.

This applies a deny access right from deleting the object normally and the protection needs to be removed before the object can be deleted through the GUI or any other tool outside Ansible.

Using state=absent will still delete the AD object even if it is marked as protected from deletion.

Choices:

  • false

  • true

sam_account_name

string

The sAMAccountName value to set for the group.

If omitted, the name value is used when creating a new group.

scope

string

The scope of the group.

This is required when state=present and the group does not already exist.

See Group scope for more information on the various domain group scopes.

This is the value set on the groupType LDAP attributes.

Choices:

  • "domainlocal"

  • "global"

  • "universal"

state

string

Set to present to ensure the AD object exists.

Set to absent to remove the AD object if it exists.

The option name must be set when state=present.

Using absent will recursively remove the AD object and any child objects if it’s a container. It will also remove the AD object even if the object is marked as protected from accidental deletion.

Choices:

  • "absent"

  • "present" ← (default)

Attributes

Attribute

Support

Description

check_mode

Support: full

Can run in check_mode and return changed status prediction without modifying target

diff_mode

Support: full

Will return details on what has changed (or possibly needs changing in check_mode), when in diff mode

platform

Platform: windows

Target OS/families that can be operated against

Notes

Note

  • See win_group migration for help on migrating from community.windows.win_domain_group to this module.

  • This module must be run on a Windows target host with the ActiveDirectory module installed.

  • Some LDAP attributes can have only a single value set while others can have multiple. Some attributes are also read only and cannot be changed. It is recommended to look at the schema metadata for an attribute where System-Only are read only values and Is-Single-Value are attributes with only 1 value.

  • Attempting to set multiple values to a Is-Single-Value attribute results in undefined behaviour.

  • If running on a server that is not a Domain Controller, credential delegation through CredSSP or Kerberos with delegation must be used or the domain_username, domain_password must be set.

See Also

See also

microsoft.ad.domain

Ensures the existence of a Windows domain.

microsoft.ad.domain_controller

Manage domain controller/member server state for a Windows host.

microsoft.ad.membership

Manage domain/workgroup membership for a Windows host.

microsoft.ad.object_info

Gather information an Active Directory object.

microsoft.ad.object

Manage Active Directory objects.

microsoft.ad.user

Manage Active Directory users.

Migration guide

This module replaces community.windows.win_domain_group. See the migration guide for details.

community.windows.win_domain_group

Creates, modifies or removes domain groups.

Examples

- name: Ensure a group exists
  microsoft.ad.group:
    identity: Cow
    scope: global

- name: Remove a group
  microsoft.ad.group:
    identity: Cow
    state: absent

- name: Create a group in a custom path
  microsoft.ad.group:
    name: Cow
    scope: global
    path: OU=groups,DC=ansible,DC=local
    state: present

- name: Remove a group in a custom path
  microsoft.ad.group:
    name: Cow
    path: OU=groups,DC=ansible,DC=local
    state: absent

- name: Create group with delete protection enabled and custom attributes
  microsoft.ad.group:
    name: Ansible Users
    scope: domainlocal
    category: security
    homepage: www.ansible.com
    attributes:
      set:
        mail: [email protected]
    protect_from_deletion: true

- name: Change the path of a group
  microsoft.ad.group:
    name: MyGroup
    scope: global
    identity: S-1-5-21-2171456218-3732823212-122182344-1189
    path: OU=groups,DC=ansible,DC=local

- name: Add managed_by user
  microsoft.ad.group:
    name: Group Name Here
    scope: global
    managed_by: Domain Admins

- name: Add group and specify the AD domain services to use for the create
  microsoft.ad.group:
    name: Test Group
    domain_username: [email protected]
    domain_password: Password01!
    domain_server: corp-DC12.corp.ansible.com
    scope: domainlocal

- name: Add members to the group, preserving existing membership
  microsoft.ad.group:
    name: Test Group
    scope: domainlocal
    members:
      add:
        - Domain Admins
        - Domain Users

- name: Remove members from the group, preserving existing membership
  microsoft.ad.group:
    name: Test Group
    scope: domainlocal
    members:
      remove:
        - Domain Admins
        - Domain Users

- name: Replace entire membership of group
  microsoft.ad.group:
    name: Test Group
    scope: domainlocal
    members:
      set:
        - Domain Admins
        - Domain Users
        - name: UserInOtherDomain
          server: OtherDomain
    domain_credentials:
      - name: OtherDomain
        username: OtherDomainUser
        password: '{{ other_domain_password }}'

Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Key

Description

distinguished_name

string

The distinguishedName of the AD object that was created, removed, or edited.

Returned: always

Sample: "CN=MyGroup,CN=Users,,DC=domain,DC=test"

object_guid

string

The objectGUID of the AD object that was created, removed, or edited.

If a new object was created in check mode, a GUID of 0s will be returned.

Returned: always

Sample: "d84a141f-2b99-4f08-9da0-ed2d26864ba1"

sid

string

The Security Identifier (SID) of the group managed.

If a new group was created in check mode, the SID will be S-1-5-0000.

Returned: always

Sample: "S-1-5-21-4151808797-3430561092-2843464588-1104"

Authors

  • Jordan Borean (@jborean93)