Active Administrator 8.6.2 - User Guide

Creating a simulation

Creating a simulation

To create a simulation

1	Select Group Policy | GPO Modeling.

2	Click New.

NOTE: You also can select an existing simulation, and click Copy Simulation to create a new simulation by making minor changes.

3	On the Welcome page, click Next.

4	Browse to select a domain.

5	Browse to select a domain controller.

6	Choose a site for the simulation from the list.

7	Click Next.

8	Select the simulation.

NOTE: The user or computer does not have to be a direct member of a listed group. If the user or computer belongs to a group that is a member of another group, that user or computer is a member of the parent group as well and is listed. NOTE: To reload the list of OUs, click Refresh. All selections are cleared and any newly added OUs appear in the list.

▪	To simulate user policy settings, choose either user or container, and browse to find the user or container.

▪	To simulate computer policy settings, choose either computer or container, and browse to find the computer or container.

9	Select to simulate slow network connection, if desired.

10	Select to perform loop-back process if desired. Choose to merge or replace.

11	Click Next.

12	Optionally, browse to locate the network location to simulate the policy settings for users or computers.

13	Click Next.

14	Select group memberships.

The everyone and authenticated users groups are automatically added to the simulation and cannot be removed. You can add additional groups to simulate group membership changes.

15	Optionally, click Add for user or computer security groups, select groups, and click OK.

16	Click Next.

17	Click Finish.

The simulation displays in a report.

▪	To print the simulation report, right-click in the window and choose Print.

18	Close the report window.

▪	To view the report again, select the simulation, and click View Report.

▪	To save a selected simulation to an HTML file, click Save Report.

▪	To run a selected simulation again, click Run Again.

▪	To delete a selected simulation, click Delete.

Managing GPO backups

Managing GPO backups

Another feature unique to Active Administrator® is the ability to back up an entire Group Policy object (GPO) to a folder structure from where it can be restored if needed. This feature provides a high level of fault tolerance and recoverability that was never before possible with any other tool.

Topics 

•	Backing up Group Policy objects

•	Scheduling a GPO backup

•	Scheduling a purge of GPO backups

•	Comparing Group Policy backups

•	Restoring a Group Policy object

To manage GPO backups

1	Select Group Policy | GPO Backup.

2	Use the tool bar to manage GPO backups.

 

Table 85. GPO backup tool bar

Option	Description
Refresh	Refresh the display.
Backup Group Policy	Back up group policies. See Backing up Group Policy objects.
Restore Group Policy	Restore selected group policies. See Restoring a Group Policy object.
Remove	Delete a selected backup.
Show Settings	Display a selected backed up Group Policy in a report. To print the report, right-click in the window, and choose Print.
Compare	Compare two or more selected Group Policy backups. See Comparing Group Policy backups.
Schedule	Schedule a GPO backup. See Scheduling a GPO backup,
Schedule Purge	Schedule a purge of GPO backups. See .

Backing up Group Policy objects

Backing up Group Policy objects

Back up your Group Policy objects before making any changes. You can restore the backup if a problem arises. You also can create a schedule to back up all the GPOs in selected domains. See Scheduling a GPO backup.

To back up Group Policy objects

1	Select Group Policy | GPO Backup.

2	Click Backup Group Policy.

3	Click Add GPOs.

4	Select a domain.

5	If you do not see the desired domain, click Add Forest and locate the forest with the desired domain.

6	Select the Group Policy to back up, and click Add.

7	Repeat for additional group policies in the selected domain.

8

Click OK.

9	Select the Group Policy, and click Backup.

Scheduling a GPO backup

Scheduling a GPO backup

You can create a schedule to back up all the GPOs in selected domains.

To schedule a GPO backup

1	Select Group Policy | GPO Backup.

2	Click Schedule.

3	To enable scheduling, select the check box.

4	To create the schedule, click Set Schedule, select the schedule type, and click OK.

5	To add domains to the backup schedule, click Add, select the domains, and click OK.

 

NOTE: All the GPOs in the domain are backed up.

6

Click OK.