Automating Active Directory® Administration with Windows PowerShell® 2.0

Manage Organizational Units

OUs are cornerstone objects in your AD domain. They provide your directory with some much-needed structure to manage the vast number of objects that it will surely collect over the years. However, another object type provides similar functionality, and because of that there has been some confusion over the years. Container objects can also be used to organization your directory. A few container objects are created by default in an AD domain. In fact, in a default installation, all of the top-level objects are containers. Only one object is an OU, and that's the DC's OU. The primary difference between an OU and a container, however, is subtle. Containers can't have GPOs attached to them. You can attach a GPO at a higher ...