Group Policy

Group Policy

Group Policy is an infrastructure used to deliver and apply one or more desired configurations or policy settings to a set of targeted users and computers within an Active Directory directory service environment. This infrastructure consists of a Group Policy engine and multiple client-side extensions (CSEs) responsible for writing specific policy settings on target client computers.

Designing a Group Policy Infrastructure

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Group Policy enables administrators to manage configurations for groups of computers and users, including options for registry-based policy settings, security settings, software deployment, scripts, folder redirection, Remote Installation Services, and Microsoft Internet Explorer maintenance. By using Group Policy, you can significantly reduce your organization's total cost of ownership. Because of factors such as the large number of policy settings available, the interaction between multiple policies, and inheritance options, Group Policy design can be complex. By carefully planning, designing, and testing a solution based on your organization's business requirements, you can provide the standardized functionality, security, and management control that your organization needs.

For more information, see Designing a Group Policy Infrastructure.

For more information on how to develop and design your Group Policy infrastructure, see Windows Server 2003 Group Policy.