Group Policy Objects In Windows Server 2003 Group Part II

You modify GPOs through the Group Policy editor, an MMC snap-in. You can open the Group Policy snap-in directly through the MMC or access it through the properties for the AD container to which you want to link the GPO or whose existing GPO you want to modify.

For example, open the Active Directory Sites And Services console, right-click a site, choose Properties, and click the Group Policy tab. You’ll see all the existing GPOs linked to that site. Or, open the Active Directory Users And Computers console, right-click a domain, choose Properties, and click the Group Policy tab to work with the GPOs linked to the selected domain. Select a GPO and click Edit, and the Group Policy editor opens focused on the selected GPO.

If you open the GP console from the properties for an object, such as a domain or OU, the console is automatically focused on that object. You can configure the console to allow the focus to be changed when the console is opened from the command prompt, but it’s easiest to simply add a GP snap-in for each GPO you want to manage. For example, assume you need to manage a GPO that is linked to a domain, one site GPO, and two OU GPOs. The easiest way to get to all of those is to combine all of them into a single, custom MMC.

To create the custom MMC, select Run from the Start menu. In the Run dialog box, type MMC and click OK. When the MMC starts, select Add/Remove Snap-In from the Console menu and click Add. Select Group Policy and click Add. In the Select Group Policy Object dialog box, click Browse and choose the level at which you want to select the GPO or click the All tab to view all GPOs. Select the GPO you want to add to the console and click OK. Click Finish. Finally, close the Add/Remove Snap-In dialog box and save the console.

For the purpose of this article, we’ll create three test policies. Use the previous steps to add the Test Site Policy, Test Domain Policy, and Test Support GPO to your console. Once you are finished, the console should have three snap-ins added - one for each of the test GPOs.