Customer Reviews

Microsoft® Windows® Group Policy Guide

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

At over 700 pages, everything you want to know about Group Policies (GP) is at your fingertips. Covering every aspect of GPs from concept introduction to advanced troubleshooting on all supported Windows platforms (including Windows Server 2003 SP1), any administrator of any level will walk away from this book with a more clear and advanced understanding of the information than what they started with.

Along with foundational GP concepts, everything you need to know about deployment, client hardening, user and computer management, software deployments, and troubleshooting are here. The information does not stop with just configurations for the Windows platform, but covers the Microsoft Office suite as well. Beyond the in-depth administrative information, complete overviews of add-in security templates, creation of custom GP templates, and GPMC scripting are also well documented. The included CD-ROM has every template and tool discussed in the book, as well as many very useful utilities not directly mentioned but of value.

Don't let the size of the book discourage you. Although large, the topics are well presented, well labeled, and what you're looking for is easily found from the table of contents or the index. What makes this book even more usable is the in-page topic links. In every chapter, ever time a concept is presented where you need to understand the foundation, a "More Info" box is presented telling you where in the book to turn for the underlying principals. That little addition makes this book not just a start to finish text, but an as-needed reference that you will keep readily available.

Any administrator of any level that works in any way with Group Policies should pick this up.

I got this because it was recommended to me. Plus I couldn't live without Stanek's Windows Server 2003 Inside Out and he's a coauthor of this so I was fairly certain it would be worthwhile. Initially, I spent most of my time in the first few chapters as will most admins. The first chapter covers how group policy works with solid depiction of default policy and what it should/shouldn't be used for. The next chapter drills into everything you need to know about GPO creation, linking, delegation, RSoP, and GPMC. Chapter 3 is where I finally learned how GP processing and refresh work from low to high - something even Moskowitz's book doesn't do a good job of detailing. There's also detailed discussion on copy, import, backup, and restore - again something not covered well in Moskowitz's book. Chapter 4 is about deploying Group Policy with design considerations, best practices, and migration details. Chapter 5 is about hardening clients and servers using policy. I would have paid the cover price for these 5 chapters (200+ pages) alone. The rest of the book drills chapter by chapter into nearly every area of policy, policy optimization, policy customization (550+ pages).

After visiting Darren's website and exchanging emails, I bought the book. Sure I've got other GPO books on the shelf (and the table and the floor) but this book as quickly became "THE" number one book I use. Just in the first few days with this book, I was able to resolve 4 of those annoying non-critical items that mean nothing to end-users but annoyed me every time I saw it occur. And in the days after that, I was not only able to get many other backlogged GP items resolved, but even threw in some razzle as well. I especially found their discussion of the GPMC and RSOP modeling very helpful - I've been struggling to master both (and with those other books) and with the short time with the book, I've picked up both quickly. I'm by no means a master on this (yet) but getting there quickly and this book has and will help. Writing style is short, crisp and to the point - the kind I like. The only negative is that my co-workers keep stealing it! :)

Been using for several months, took some time just to find the book as I never seen the likes at book stores. Book takes what you see from GP and puts it into a book so you dont have to stare at screends as much. I use the eBook as the organization of the book does not flow so well and is not that great as it seems to just ramble on. Only makes more sense to use the pdf version on a laptop anyway with all the searching for keys and values... Should have included the GP and and how it links to the Registry (ie changing this in GP changes this in Registry; it does exist on microsofts site and you wouldve thought it would in the book - I did not find). Book includes default settings so, for those of us who mess around there, thats a good bonus. A definite must have for those working in the Windows security realm

This is a well written book. There is a ton of good information regarding group policy that you will not find anywhere else. The book comes with a resource CD which contains the book in PDF format, which is nice to have. I would recommend this as a must for any windows admin.

I have found this book to be a great resource as I customize our network/station access. It is well written.

If you're buying a group policy management book, this is the one to buy.. these guys are the real deal when it comes to GP expertise.

Leave it to MS-press to take two well known Group Policy guys, Dereck and Darren and basically make a book that bores you to death. The whole book seems not to have any real "flow." It just rambles from here to there, putting out information which might be useful, if only there were some order to it. If you're looking for a better guide on Group Policies, Jeremy Moskowitz's book, "Group Policy, Profiles and Intellimirror" is a better bet. It's shorter, more consise and has a unified "flow" which can't be beat.

In short, if you're crazy for MS-press books, go ahead and get this one. Else, save your money and go for the title from Moskowitz instead.

I made a great purchase in Amazon, the books are brilliant and delivery was very fast.