Security Configuration and Analysis overview
Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2
Security Configuration and Analysis overview
Security Configuration and Analysis is a tool for analyzing and configuring local system security.
Security analysis
The state of the operating system and applications on a computer is dynamic. For example, you may need to temporarily change security levels so that you can immediately resolve an administration or network issue. However, this change can often go unreversed. This means that a computer may no longer meet the requirements for enterprise security.
Regular analysis enables an administrator to track and ensure an adequate level of security on each computer as part of an enterprise risk management program. An administrator can tune the security levels and, most importantly, detect any security flaws that may occur in the system over time.
Security Configuration and Analysis enables you to quickly review security analysis results. It presents recommendations alongside of current system settings and uses visual flags or remarks to highlight any areas where the current settings do not match the proposed level of security. Security Configuration and Analysis also offers the ability to resolve any discrepancies that analysis reveals.
Security configuration
Security Configuration and Analysis can also be used to directly configure local system security. Through its use of personal databases, you can import security templates that have been created with Security Templates and apply these templates to the local computer. This immediately configures the system security with the levels specified in the template.
For more information, see Security Configuration and Analysis.