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)

Creating a new GPO

Creating a new GPO is not rocket science, but walking through some examples will give us the opportunity to discuss some practices surrounding GPO creation that will be good to keep in mind. We have already modified an existing policy, but there is rarely a good reason for modifying the Default Domain Policy; much more commonly you will be creating brand-new GPOs for settings that you decide need to be rolled out to your workforce. Creating GPOs yourself will give you much more control over settings and filtering within your environment.

For this section, we are focusing on creating the object at GPMC level. Under the hood, a GPO is not really a single object but rather a combination of an AD object and some files that sit on the DCs. We will further discuss the "what and where" in Chapter 8, Group Policy Maintenance.

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