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)

Exercises with OUs and links

Enough theory, let's get our hands dirty for a little while. You are now familiar with many of the tasks inside GPMC that are required to be a Group Policy administrator. However, there are other functions associated with these tasks that so far we have been taking for granted. We talk an awful lot about OUs and how your users and computers are going to be magically organized inside of these OUs. You now know how to manipulate GPOs so that they are linked to particular OUs or nested OUs, but who created all of those OUs and how did all of your user and computer objects get sorted into those OUs in the first place? The answer may surprise you: it's the lesser-known tale of the OU Fairy, distant cousin of the better-known Tooth Fairy. Don't take my word for it: if you pull out a magnifying glass and take a look at your own business card...