Windows Server 2012 : Planning, implementing, and managing Group Policy (part 7) - Viewing infrastructure status, Creating GPOs

3. Managing Group Policy

Managing Group Policy in an Active Directory environment is a broad topic that has many different aspects. The upcoming sections cover a few of the following basic tasks:

• Viewing infrastructure status

• Creating GPOs

• Managing GPO links

• Configuring security filtering

• Backing up and restoring GPOs

Viewing infrastructure status

A new feature of the GPMC in Windows Server 2012 is the Status tab shown in Figure 6, which provides information about the status of Active Directory and SYSVOL replication. The status information displayed on this tab can be either of the following:

• The status for all GPOs if the node for the domain is selected

• The status for a particular GPO if the node for that GPO is selected

Figure 6. Viewing the status of SYSVOL replication to monitor Group Policy health.

Creating GPOs

By using the GPMC, you can create GPOs either from scratch or from a Starter GPO. You can also create a new GPO so that it is

• Linked to an OU, a site, or the domain by right-clicking on the container and selecting New.

• Unlinked to any container in Active Directory by right-clicking on the Group Policy Objects node and selecting New.

New GPOs are enabled by default, but afterward you can disable the GPO’s:

• User Configuration settings

• Computer Configuration settings

• All settings

Once you create a GPO, you can open it in the Group Policy Management Editor and configure the GPO’s policies and preferences:

• Policies These are settings that Group Policy enforces for users or computers targeted by the GPO. The types of policies include the following:

  • Administrative Templates, which are registry-based settings that are written to a special area of the registry on client computers

  • Windows Settings, which include the Security Settings described earlier in this lesson

  • Software Settings, which can be used to install applications for targeted users or computers

• Preferences These are settings you can use to modify configuration settings for features of Windows operating systems or applications that are not Group Policy-aware.

Note

MORE INFO Group Policy settings reference

Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 include hundreds of new Group Policy settings. For detailed information about all of the different Group Policy settings you can configure for these platforms, search the Microsoft Download Center for the Group Policy Settings Reference for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.