Key Changes in Group Policy Architecture in WS 2008
By Glenn Weadock on Mon, 02/11/08 - 8:59am.
Now that new Windows technology (in the dual garb of Windows Vista and the Windows 2008 Server) has arrived on the scene, many network planners are taking a closer look at some of the architectural changes that Microsoft has made to the Group Policy structure.
The underlying concept of Group Policy hasn't changed - it's still fundamentally a Great Big Network Registry Editor. Make a setting, and Group Policy enforces it for you from that point forward.
Having said that, the implementation of Group Policy has evolved in several useful and interesting ways:
• New status as an operating system Service
• Network Location Awareness
• Improved log file viewing
• New source file format (ADMX)
• New migration/editing utility
• Central-store management
• Dynamic source file loading
• Multi-language support
• Multiple local Group Policy Objects (GPOs)
I'll explore each of these key changes in future blog posts.
See recent blog posts:
The Look and Feel of Server 2008
Meet Windows Server 2008 'Server Manager' -- your new management cockpit
- About Glenn Weadock on Windows Server 2008
Glenn Weadock is a longtime instructor for Global Knowledge and teaches Windows 7, Server 2008, and Active Directory. He has recently co-developed with Mark Wilkins two advanced Server 2008 classes in the Microsoft Official Curriculum. Glenn also consults through his Colorado-based company Independent Software, Inc. and is technical director of MarketCoach Investment Education Software LLC.
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Note that all of these
Note that all of these changes mentioned were put in place in Windows Vista, so they are not really new to W2008. However, there are a bunch of new features in GPMC that were introduced in W2008, which are probably worth mentioning.
True... it's all Longhorn. But the GPMC is evolving...
Thanks for that correct comment. Most of you probably know that Vista and Server 2008 share the same code base. So, it's no surprise that the advances in Group Policy are going to show up both places. Some, however, are more interesting in the server environment (the central store for ADMX files comes to mind).
Having said that, the version of GPMC that is going to ship with Server 2008 does include something that I've been hoping for for years now: the ability to comment GPO's. You can actually comment GPO's and individual GPO settings. This will be a boon to anyone who has looked at a GPO that someone else has written and said "huh?".
The filtering ability of the GPMC is also much improved in the version that ships with Server 2008. It's still not a proper search facility, but it's getting closer.
Now that Microsoft is unbundling the GPMC from Vista as of SP1, we will probably be able to enjoy these new features on the Vista platform soon after they appear in Server 2008. My bet is that future advances in the GPMC will be downloadable and installable on both Vista and Server 2008 simultaneously. Which is probably as it should be!