Active Directory memberof property doesn't contain nested security groups

Question

An AD setup I'm using has users that are stored as members of (multiple) security groups.

I am using software that reads the memberof property of a user to work out access permissions.

In AD Explorer I can see the memberof property of the user shows the immediate security groups they belong to say 'Course - English'. It does not show the parents groups, nested up to say 'ALL Students'.

Is there a reason for this or a way of ensuring all nested groups are shown in the memberof property?

Answer 1

If you're on .NET 3.5 and up, you should check out the System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement (S.DS.AM) namespace. Read all about it here:

• Managing Directory Security Principals in the .NET Framework 3.5
• MSDN docs on System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement

Basically, you can define a domain context and easily find users and/or groups in AD:

// set up domain context
PrincipalContext ctx = new PrincipalContext(ContextType.Domain);

// find a user
UserPrincipal user = UserPrincipal.FindByIdentity(ctx, "SomeUserName");

if(user != null)
{
   var groups = user.GetAuthorizationGroups();

   // enumerate over groups
   foreach(GroupPrincipal gp in groups)
   {
      // do something here....
   }
}

The new S.DS.AM makes it really easy to play around with users and groups in AD!

The .GetAuthorizationGroups() method is the only one around that I know of that will do recursive searches, e.g. find groups that a user is member of by virtue of another group. The pre-.NET 3.5 DirectoryServices stuff doesn't do this - you would have to totally roll your own if you need that.