diff --git a/perl-xCAT/xCAT/Utils.pm b/perl-xCAT/xCAT/Utils.pm
index 2a67659bf..689b7d16d 100644
--- a/perl-xCAT/xCAT/Utils.pm
+++ b/perl-xCAT/xCAT/Utils.pm
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ use POSIX qw(ceil);
 use File::Path;
 use Socket;
 use strict;
+use Symbol;
 use warnings "all";
 require xCAT::InstUtils;
 require xCAT::NetworkUtils;
@@ -31,7 +32,7 @@ require xCAT::NodeRange;
 require DBI;
 
 our @ISA       = qw(Exporter);
-our @EXPORT_OK = qw(genpassword);
+our @EXPORT_OK = qw(genpassword runcmd3);
 
 my $utildata; #data to persist locally
 #--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -865,6 +866,64 @@ sub remove_cron_job
     return (0, "");
 }
 
+#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+=head3    runcmd3
+    Run the specified command with optional input and return stderr, stdout, and exit code
+
+    Arguments:
+        command=>[] - Array reference of command to run
+        input=>[] or string - Data to send to stdin of process like piping input
+    Returns:
+        { exitcode => number, output=> $string, errors => string }
+=cut
+sub runcmd3 { #a proper runcmd that indpendently returns stdout, stderr, pid and accepts a stdin
+    my %args = @_;
+    my @indata;
+    my $output;
+    my $errors;
+    if ($args{input}) {
+        if (ref $args{input}) { #array ref
+            @indata = @{$args{input}};
+        } else { #just a string
+            @indata=($args{input});
+        }
+    }
+    my @cmd;
+    if (ref $args{command}) {
+        @cmd = @{$args{command}};
+    } else {
+        @cmd = ($args{command});
+    }
+    my $cmdin;
+    my $cmdout;
+    my $cmderr = gensym;
+    my $cmdpid = open3($cmdin,$cmdout,$cmderr,@cmd);
+    my $cmdsel = IO::Select->new($cmdout,$cmdin);
+    foreach (@indata) {
+        print $cmdin $_;
+    }
+    my @handles;
+    while (@handles = $cmdsel->can_read()) {
+        foreach (@handles) {
+            my $line;
+            my $done = sysread $_,$line,180;
+            if ($done) {
+                if ($_ eq $cmdout) {
+                    $output .= $line;
+                } else {
+                    $errors .= $line;
+                }
+            } else {
+                $cmdsel->remove($_);
+                close($_);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    waitpid($cmdpid,0);
+    my $exitcode = $? >> 8;
+    return { 'exitcode' => $exitcode, 'output' => $output, 'errors' => $errors }
+}
+
 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 =head3    runcmd
diff --git a/xCAT-server/lib/perl/xCAT/ADUtils.pm b/xCAT-server/lib/perl/xCAT/ADUtils.pm
index b03ee69aa..957a2ef10 100644
--- a/xCAT-server/lib/perl/xCAT/ADUtils.pm
+++ b/xCAT-server/lib/perl/xCAT/ADUtils.pm
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ package xCAT::ADUtils;
 use strict;
 use MIME::Base64;
 use Encode;
-use xCAT::Utils qw/genpassword/;
+use xCAT::Utils qw/genpassword runcmd3/;
 use IPC::Open3;
 use IO::Select;
 use Symbol qw/gensym/;
@@ -456,13 +456,14 @@ sub add_user_account {
     $ldif =~ s/##USERSHELL##/$shell/g;
     $ldif =~ s/##B64PASSWORD##/$b64password/g;
     my $dn = "CN=$fullname,$ou";
-    my $rc = system("ldapsearch -H ldaps://$directoryserver -b \"$dn\"");
+    my $retdata = runcmd3(command=>["ldapsearch","-H","ldaps://$directoryserver","-b" ,"$dn"]);
+    my $rc = $retdata->{exitcode};
     if ($rc == 0) {
         return {error=>"User already exists"};
     } elsif (not $rc==8192) {
-        return {error=>"Unknown error $rc"};
+        return {error=>"Unknown error $rc:".$retdata->{errors}};
     }
-    $rc = system("echo '$ldif'|ldapmodify  -H ldaps://$directoryserver"); 
+    $retdata = runcmd3(input=>$ldif,command=>["ldapmodify","-H","ldaps://$directoryserver"]); 
     return {password=>$newpassword};
 }
 =cut
@@ -511,7 +512,8 @@ sub add_host_account {
     my $b64password = encode_base64($newpassword);
     my $ldif;
     my $dn = "CN=$nodename,$ou";
-    my $rc = system("ldapsearch -H ldaps://$directoryserver -b $dn"); #TODO: for mass add, search once, hit that
+    my $retdata = runcmd3(command=>["ldapsearch","-H","ldaps://$directoryserver","-b","$dn"]); #TODO: for mass add, search once, hit that
+    my $rc = $retdata->{exitcode};
     if ($rc == 0) { 
         if ($changepassondupe) {
             $ldif = $machineldifpasschange;
@@ -519,7 +521,7 @@ sub add_host_account {
             return {error=>"System already exists"};
         }
     } elsif (not $rc==8192) {
-        return {error=>"Unknown error $rc"};
+        return {error=>"Unknown error $rc: ".$retdata->{errors}};
     } else {
         $ldif = $machineldiftemplate;
     }
@@ -528,9 +530,11 @@ sub add_host_account {
     $ldif =~ s/##REALMDCS##/$domain_components/g;
     $ldif =~ s/##DNSDOMAIN##/$dnsdomain/g;
     $ldif =~ s/##NODENAME##/$nodename/g;
-    $rc = system("echo '$ldif'|ldapmodify  -H ldaps://$directoryserver"); 
+    $retdata = runcmd3(input=>$ldif,command=>['ldapmodify','-H',"ldaps://$directoryserver"]); 
     substr $nativenewpassword,0,1,'';
     chop($nativenewpassword);
+    #if ($retdata->{exitcode} != 0) {
+    #}
     return {password=>$nativenewpassword};
 }
 
@@ -572,6 +576,7 @@ sub krb_login {
 
 
 
+
 sub find_free_params { #search for things like next available uidNumber
     my %args = @_;
     my @needed_parms = split /,/,$args{needed_params};
diff --git a/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/activedirectory.pm b/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/activedirectory.pm
index 6364a3cba..7fac50a4d 100644
--- a/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/activedirectory.pm
+++ b/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/activedirectory.pm
@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@ sub handled_commands {
 }
 
 sub process_request {
-    $ENV{LDAPCONF}='/etc/xcat/ad.ldaprc';
+    $ENV{LDAPRC}='/etc/xcat/ad.ldaprc';
+    $ENV{HOME}='';
     my $request = shift;
     my $command = $request->{command}->[0];
     $callback = shift;