Group Policy Training - Live and Online
ABOUT THIS COURSE
Microsoft doesn't have its own course dedicated to Group Policy. Microsoft's own "Official Curriculum" on Active Directory has very little emphasis on Group Policy, which is arguably the most important part of day-to-day Active Directory administration.
Very few other training courses tap deep into the well of Group Policy to really ensure that students can confidently implement this powerful technology. Not only will the concepts be taught in an understandable way, but they are reinforced with demonstrations as well as hands-on labs to get the skills out of the lab and into practice!
This material is battle tested in companies around the world. It's gathered from hundreds of Active Directory and Group Policy administrators managing thousands of servers. And the latest information from Microsoft is provided whenever a new development is on the way.
The Intensive Group Policy Essentials Workshop is primarily meant for:
- Active Directory Architects: This administrator needs to know which sections of Group Policy
should be addressed and which should be avoided for their rollout. - Domain Administrators, Server Operators, and Server Administrators: These professionals
want to plan and manage their Group Policy design the right way, the first time! - Security Administrators: Group Policy touches every single aspect of Active Directory
security. If these administrators have a firm foundation in Group Policy, they can ensure that
security directives are accurately implemented and enforced. - Desktop Support: If you touch a desktop, you need to understand how Group Policy applies and how to troubleshoot it.
- Terminal Services/Citrix/VDI Admins: Dealing with how users interact with the "remote desktop" or "virtual desktop" is just as important. If you need to craft the right experience for your users, you need to understand Group Policy.
HOW IS THIS COURSE DIFFERENT THAN OUR OTHER COURSES
This course has "Intensive" in the name, so come prepared to work. We don't take many breaks, and lunch is provided on the first day so you can lunch while working on your labs. By the time this course is done, you are GOING TO UNDERSTAND Group Policy.
Your confusion working with Group Policy will be alleviated, and your confidence using Group Policy will increase.
It is STRONGLY recommended that everyone takes this course BEFORE advancing to our other courses (GP 2.0 Catchup class and One-Day Advanced).
This course starts out with Essentials, but really quickly dives in to best practices, how-tos, hands-on techniques and exposes "gotchas" you simply cannot get anywhere else.
NOTE: This course is also available as "Three Day Less Intensive" class upon request (Private classes only). Please contact us for details and/or download the PDF for more information.
BRIEF OUTLINE
- GP Overview (and Labs): Group Policy functions, Windows 2000 vs. Windows XP/Windows 2003, Group Policy processing basics, Group Policy levels and precedence, Discussion of where GPOs live (the swimming pool concept), Where does Group Policy apply?, When does Group Policy apply?, Old-school interface, The GPMC—quick tour
- GP Essentials (and Labs): Linking a GPO to multiple levels in AD, Link enabled vs. disabled, Delete vs. unlink, Enforced (No Override), Block inheritance, Priority, Security filtering by Group, Security filtering by advanced properties
- GP Theory (and Labs): What happens when a new GPO is created?, What is GPO versioning?, Why do GPOs get processed?, What happens when Group Policy applies: Initially, In the background for members, In the background for Domain Controllers, During security processing, When moving a User or Computer, When performing manual processing, When processing over slow links, Differences between Windows 2000, Windows 2003, Windows XP, Vista, and Win7, Special processing scenarios: What happens when you move a User or Computer in Active Directory?, When does security get processed?, How do XP and Vista process GPOs differently than Windows 2000?
- Special GP Processing (and Labs): Understanding WMI filters, Can WMI filters be used all types of Active Directory domains?, Supported clients, “Quasi-supported” clients, How to create WMI filters using available tools, Backup and recovery of WMI filters, Loopback Policy processing and modes, Reasons to Use Loopback, Terminal Services Considerations
- GP Troubleshooting (and Labs): Common troubleshooting scenarios, What happens with multiple Domain Controllers?, What to expect from Event Logs, How to enhance Event Log reporting, How to turn up the juice on GPO output, How to troubleshoot at the desktop, A troubleshooting roadmap: Why won’t Group Policy apply!?
- GP Software Installation (and Labs): Windows Installer overview, Understanding Group Policy software installation, How to deploy packages, What are administrative installs?, How to upgrade existing packages, How to deploy Office, How to patch an Office installation, How to customize applications for your environment
- Security Implementation (and Labs): Delegating responsibility for GPO creation and management, Under the hood of Group Policy security, The special default GPOs (Default Domain Policy GPO and Default Domain Controllers Policy GPO), How to recover from damaged default GPOs, How to manage multiple security settings via templates, How to keep users from loading and running rogue software, How to manage multiple servers using the Security Configuration Wizard (SCW)
- Creating the Perfect Desktop with GP (and Labs): Managed Desktop overview, How do you allow users to hop seamlessly from desktop to desktop?, How do you ensure that users always have access to the data they need?, How do you restrict how much disk space a user can utilize?, How do you ensure that a user can recover his own data in a pinch?, How do you quickly rebuild a desktop from scratch?
For extended Outline, please Download Our Brochure
WHAT STUDENTS NEED
- Prerequisites for the Essentials class:
- Students should know how to use Active Directory Users and Computers to create user and group accounts, how to create OUs, and should have a basic understanding of Active Directory concepts.
- About the Hands-On Labs
- While not strictly required, this class is enhanced if the attendees each bring their own laptop to class. This is so we can perform real-world workshop experiments to solidify the concepts learned during the lecture and demonstrations. Each attendee should come to class with a laptop with at least the following specifications:
- Windows XP or greater
- Local administrative logon rights
- Pentium III at 500 Mhz (Pentium 4 at 1Ghz or Pentium Centrino at 1Ghz Recommended)
- 2GB RAM Required (3-4 GB RAM STRONGLY RECOMMENDED)
- 45GB free hard drive space
- USB 2.0 ports that are unlocked such that we're able to install our lab environment
- While not strictly required, this class is enhanced if the attendees each bring their own laptop to class. This is so we can perform real-world workshop experiments to solidify the concepts learned during the lecture and demonstrations. Each attendee should come to class with a laptop with at least the following specifications:
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