Introduction

We briefly touched on Group Policy in earlier chapters. In this chapter, we'll take an in-depth look at Group Policy in Windows Server 2003. Group Policy is used to manage and control various features and components of the Windows Server 2003 network. Group Policy settings can be used to define users' desktop environments, to specify security settings, and to configure and control application behavior. Group Policy can be used to automatically deploy software to users and computers. You can also use group policies to assign scripts and redirect folders. Policies can be applied to a site, a domain, an organizational unit (OU) or a local computer.

Because Group Policy is used for so many important management functions, it is important for network administrators to be intimately familiar with how Group Policy works, and how they can use it for more flexibility and control of network components.

This chapter starts with a brief review of the basics of Group Policy terminology and concepts, including user and computer policies and Group Policy Objects (GPOs). We discuss the scope and application order of policies, and you'll learn about Group Policy integration in Active Directory. We show you how to plan a Group Policy strategy, and then walk you through the steps of implementing Group Policy. We show you how to perform common Group Policy tasks, and discuss Group Policy propagation and replication. You'll also learn best practices for working with Group Policy, and we'll show you how to troubleshoot problems with Group...