Active Administrator 8.7 - User Guide

Adding a GPO to the repository

Adding a GPO to the repository

During installation, Active Administrator® creates the GPORepository folder, which is located in the Active Administrator folder. When you check in a GPO into the repository, a copy of the GPO is placed in this folder. All changes you make to the GPO are stored in this folder until you choose to publish the GPO or discard the changes.

NOTE: You also can select Group Policy | Group Policy Objects, select a Group Policy object, and select More | Add to Repository. See Managing Group Policy objects.

To add a GPO to the repository

1	Select Group Policy | GPO Repository.

2	Click Add.

3	Select a domain.

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

4	Select a Group Policy, and click Add.

5	Repeat for additional group policies.

6

Click OK.

7	Click Refresh, if necessary.

When the checkout is complete, you can edit the GPO offline. See Editing a GPO offline.

Editing a GPO offline

Editing a GPO offline

Once GPO is in the repository, you can check it out for editing offline. When you are done editing offline, check the GPO in, and publish it to Active Directory®.

To edit a GPO offline

1	Select Group Policy | GPO Repository.

2	Select a domain.

3	Select a GPO, and select Check In/Out | Check Out.

4	Select the checked out GPO, and click Edit GPO.

5	Modify the GPO in the Group Policy Management Editor, and then close the window.

NOTE: To cancel the checkout without applying the changes, select the GPO, and then select Check In/Out | Check In (discard).

6	To check in the selected GPO, select Check In/Out | Check In.

7	Type a comment that describes the changes you made to the GPO.

8	Click Check In.

The GPO is read-only in the repository. The change is not applied to the live GPO until you publish it to Active Directory.

NOTE: Before publishing the GPO, you may want to compare the settings of the GPO in the repository to those in Active Directory by running the Compare Offline GPO to Live GPO report.

9	To publish the edited GPO to Active Directory, select the GPO, and click Publish.

Modeling GPO changes

Modeling GPO changes

Active Administrator® provides increased levels of manageability by way of GPO modeling, which allows you to select a user and computer and view or report on the Group Policy objects that affect those accounts. To get an exact picture of how your actions will affect Group Policy application, you can perform several calculations of what if scenarios, including the addition or removal of these objects from OUs, sites, or security groups, which allows you to quickly view Group Policy object application and errors on remote computers. Recent calculations are automatically saved for easy retrieval at a later time.

Reporting on GPO Modeling allow administrators to see exactly how objects are affected by Group Policy objects and to quickly troubleshoot where application of Group Policies were not handled correctly. Active Administrator provides clear and concise reports that not only show what Group Policy objects are applied, but the effective settings of such policies.

Topics 

•	Creating a simulation

To model GPO changes

1	Select Group Policy | GPO Modeling.

Existing simulations display in a list. You can sort each column in ascending or descending order by clicking on the column heading.

2	Use the tool bar to manage GPO modeling simulations.

 

Table 84. GPO modeling tool bar

Option	Description
Refresh	Refresh the display.
New	Create and run a new simulation. See Creating a simulation.
Run Again	Run a selected simulation.
Copy Simulation	Copy a selected simulation to make changes to create a new simulation. See Creating a simulation.
View Report	View the report for the selected simulation.
Save Report	Save the selected simulation report to an HTML file.
Delete	Delete selected simulations.

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.