Book Image

Mastering Windows Group Policy

By : Jordan Krause
5 (1)
Book Image

Mastering Windows Group Policy

5 (1)
By: Jordan Krause

Overview of this book

This book begins with a discussion of the core material any administrator needs to know in order to start working with Group Policy. Moving on, we will also walk through the process of building a lab environment to start testing Group Policy today. Next we will explore the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) and start using the powerful features available for us within that interface. Once you are well versed with using GPMC, you will learn to perform and manage the traditional core tasks inside Group Policy. Included in the book are many examples and walk-throughs of the different filtering options available for the application of Group Policy settings, as this is the real power that Group Policy holds within your network. You will also learn how you can use Group Policy to secure your Active Directory environment, and also understand how Group Policy preferences are different than policies, with the help of real-world examples. Finally we will spend some time on maintenance and troubleshooting common Group Policy-related issues so that you, as a directory administrator, will understand the diagnosing process for policy settings. By the end of the book, you will be able to jump right in and use Group Policy to its full potential.
Table of Contents (12 chapters)

Exploring the GPMC

You now have the knowledge to be able to open the GPMC in about a hundred different ways, and from all kinds of different places. If you've been following along with your own server or test lab, I am sure you have already spent some time poking around inside the console to take a look at what screens and options are available, but we are going to take a look together as well. Throughout the rest of this book, we will be making continual use of the GPMC, so the majority of learning about this console will be through direct experience. Even so, we can't wrap up a chapter about the GPMC without actually looking inside the GPMC, so let's do that together now.

The GPMC is made up of two primary window panes. The left side is an organizational tree where you will find the different layers of Active Directory administration—Forests, Domains, Sites...