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)

Starter GPOs

In your work with Group Policy so far, you have probably noticed the phrase "Starter GPO". Every time that you click to create a new GPO, one of the options on that screen is to select a Source Starter GPO, but the option is initially grayed out. What is that thing?

Starter GPOs are sort of like GPO templates. You, as the primary Group Policy administrator, have the ability to create these special GPOs, called Starter GPOs, and then when junior-level administrators need to build out a GPO containing settings, they can look through the list of Starter GPOs and select one of these preconfigured policies that you put together. This gives you the ability to hand off the grunt work part of creating policies, while ensuring that the settings you always want configured are implemented inside the GPOs from the start. You are providing them with a starting point...