Create and Manage Group Policy Objects

Introduction

The Create and Manage Group Policy Objects module provides you with the instruction and server hardware to develop your hands on skills in the defined topics. This module includes the following exercises:

• Prepare Requirements for Central GPO Store
• Importing GPOs
• Delegate Group Policy Management

Exam Objectives

The following exam objectives are covered in this lab:

• Create a central store
• Manage starter GPOs
• Create GPO links
• Manage multiple local Group Policies

-Backup and restore GPOs

• Create and configure a migration table
• Delegate Group Policy Management

Exercise 1 - Prepare Requirements for Central GPO Store

For organizations that maintain a massive Active Directory Domain network, it’s common to have domain controllers distributed in key geographical locations of the company to ensure fast response times for user authentication. When implementing Group Policy Objects (GPOs) for network users and computers, it becomes a challenge to ensure that administrative templates controlling user and computer settings originate from a common shared folder or a central store. This is to avoid conflicts when more than one domain administrator is in charge of creating and editing GPOs in the domain.

In this exercise, you will first prepare the system requirements to illustrate the concept of a central GPO store. A central GPO store is a shared folder containing policies from which domain controllers in the AD domain use a common set of administrative templates when creating a GPO for either a user or computer.

One of the tasks in this exercise, include the creation of a child domain called APAC-CORP that will be used for importing a GPO backup from the PRACTICELABS.COM domain.

Exercise 2 - Import GPOs

Group Policy Management console allows an administrator to copy group policy settings between domains such as the parent domain and the child domain using Import Settings command. In addition, it can control what Active Directory attributes are migrated using Migration table editor.

Exercise 3 - Delegate Group Policy Management

Management of Group Policy Objects can be implemented by administrators in two ways: 1) by adding the user object as a member of Group Policy Creator Owners group, where a member has complete full control of GPOs created by himself; 2) by using delegation of administrative control either by using a wizard or through Security settings where an administrator can assign granular control of Active Directory objects in an organizational unit.