Windows 2000: Group Policy, Profiles, and IntelliMirror (The Mark Minasi Windows 2000 Series) [Paperback]

Jeremy Moskowitz (Author), Jeremy Moskowitz (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0782128815 | ISBN-13: 978-0782128819 | Publication Date: August 20, 2001 | Edition: 1

Authoritative Answers to All Your Group Policy Questions--And More

If you're stuck troubleshooting a tough Group Policy problem, you'll be thankful for this book. Windows 2000: Group Policy, Profiles, and IntelliMirror helps you harness the full power of these Windows facilities, teaching you, step-by-step, the techniques that will make you, your network, and its users more productive. Hundreds of clear, consistent examples illustrate these techniques in detail--so you stay on track and accomplish all your administration goals. Coverage includes:
* Creating and deploying simple and advanced Group Policies at local, site, domain, and OU levels
* Using Group Policies to deploy and manage Office 2000 and Office XP
* Troubleshooting Group Policies using Support tools, Resource Kit utilities, log files, Registry hacks, and third-party tools
* Modeling and deploying a secure environment with the Security Configuration and Analysis tools
* Setting up Windows 2000 Local, Roaming, and Mandatory profiles
* Setting up, managing, and governing IntelliMirror components with Group Policy
* Assigning and publishing software packages to users and computers using IntelliMirror
* Setting up hundreds of new Windows 2000 Professional machines with Remote Installation Services
* Understanding interactions and migration issues with Windows 9x/NT System Policies and Windows 2000 Group Policies
* Creating custom Group Policies to manage your own desktop applications
About the Series

The Mark Minasi Windows 2000 Series is designed to equip system administrators with in-depth technical solutions to the many challenges associated with administering Windows 2000 in an enterprise setting. The series editor is leading Windows NT/2000 expert Mark Minasi, who selects the topics and authors and develops and reviews each book to ensure that every entry in the series meets your needs and helps you achieve your goals.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

WHAT DOES MARK MINSAI HAVE TO SAY?

[When I was thinking about what titles people would like in my new series], I thought, Group Policies! So I turned to the guy who lives and breathes it—Jeremy Moskowitz.

Jeremy's not only smart and hardworking, he's also tenacious—I almost grew to feel pity for the Microsoft people who initially dodged his incisive Group Policy questions on e-mail, thinking that perhaps he'd just go away and stop asking them why their product didn't work as advertised. He never did go away, and as a result there's stuff in this book that I don't think exists anywhere else in print.

Jeremy shared much of the book's writing with Derek Melber, another GP genius, and enlisted the aid of... well... just about everyone that I know in putting this book together [including Bill Boswell, author of the upcoming Inside Windows .NET Server.]

And the result is a book that is truly "Group Policies, A to Z." But that's not its name; it's Windows 2000: Group Policy, Profiles, and IntelliMirror.

I have turned to this book time and time again as a reference for GP questions, even before the book was generally available (that's the advantage of being a series editor) and I'm not just showing pride of parenthood—well, grandparenthood—when I say that you will really like Jeremy's book.

WHAT SPECIAL FEATURES DOES THIS BOOK HAVE?

For starters, this is simply the most comprehensive book on Group Policy available and the only book to dive into IntelliMirror from a real-world perspective. If that isn’t enough, it has the weight of Mark Minasi behind it, who worked closely with me to ensure all the material was directly relevant to your job tasks and up to Mark’s expected level of excellence.

Additionally, this book is “Ready for Windows.NET and Windows XP.” William Boswell, author of the highly acclaimed “INSIDE Windows 2000 Server” (and upcoming INSIDE Windows .NET Server) contributed extensive commentary on Group Policy differences and additions for Windows.NET and Windows XP. If you get this book, you’ll be one step ahead of the pack when the newest systems arrive.

This book was technically edited by Derek Melber, world-renowned instructor and consultant, who specializes in Windows 2000 and Group Policy. Derek also supplied several key chapters which really round this book out, exploring compatibility issues with Windows NT, 95 and Windows 2000.

Purchasing the book enables you do download a free “Web Appendix” which details “Which Group Policies correspond to which Registry settings.” This invaluable guide will be incredibly useful when you try to figure out what a specific policy’s function is, and which Registry key it manipulates.

From the Author

I wanted to write this book to ramp up those who have never deployed Group Policies by showing, step-by-step how to create and deploy some useful initial Group Policies. For those already familiar with Group Policy exposure, I wanted this book to dive in to the finer points of Group Policy administration, such as using Group Policy filtering, Inheritance Blocking, No Override, and Loopback Policy Processing.

If you’re troubleshooting a Group Policy problem, I feel this book excels in detailing where to start your search. You can discover precisely how a Group Policy is created, how it replicates to additional systems, and when and how it is finally applied to your client systems. Every step of the process is detailed, with real-world mechanisms for troubleshooting and debugging should you hit a snag.

If you’re tasked with rolling out one, one hundred, or one thousand applications across your environment, this book will show you how to package your applications for deployment as well as walk you though exactly how best to target the application. If you are deploying custom applications, this book will show you how to create your own custom policies to control and manage the applications you are deploying, or even the applications already deployed.

If any of these tasks falls within your responsibility, you’ll likely start off using this book as a learning guide, then continue to use it as a desk reference when your tasks and needs evolve.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Sybex; 1 edition (August 20, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0782128815
• ISBN-13: 978-0782128819
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,442,268 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is what you're looking for!, May 21, 2003

By 

Scandinavian Reader (Stockholm, Sweden) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Windows 2000: Group Policy, Profiles, and IntelliMirror (The Mark Minasi Windows 2000 Series) (Paperback)

I am a Microsoft Certified Trainer and has been working more or less day and night for three years - in labs, in theory, in real-world and in class - with Windows 2000, Active Directory and Group Policy. Earlier this year I invested in a few books concerning these subjects, and was once more thoroughly disappointed. Every one seems to be meant for beginners, and/or for the publishing business: thick, promising books with nothing in them. Said to my collegue: "Perhaps one knows so much nowadays, that you really can't find anything new in books (as opposed to Internet, real-world, lab)," and I actually decided, somewhat bitterly, not to waste any more money on "computer related" literature.

But then I read Moskowitz' "Windows 2000 Group Policy, Profiles, and IntelliMirror" (2001), and is what I hope for every time; here's a writer who's obviously passionate about the subject, who with great theoretical and practical knowledge been working hard to share his knowledge in a clear, no-nonsense fashion.
As you know, these kind of books usually have a common problem: they all tell you the same basics, throw in some pseudo-advanced details, and - most importantly - avoid the tough nuts. What's so liberating with Moskowitz' work, is that he indeed tells you the basics, just to make sure you follow him, then he goes one step further, along the way he throws in some real nuggets for technicians, and cracks them nuts one after another, like it's never been a problem at all. No-nonsense, easy read, nearly fascinating from the first page to the last. I'm very impressed. This book is extremely useful, a real treasure. If you're at Amazon searching for a book about these matters, you've certainly found what you're looking for.

I myself, will keep my eyes open for further works by Jeremy Moskowitz. Aside of being very experienced and knowledgable, he's also a skilled writer, free from that nudge-nudge-humor which some writers grasp at to make their thick nonsense "easy read"; but still he is easy read, has a laid back dry sense of humor, and writes fluidently. I don't think he's written any other books, though he's been writing for magazines, but I will keep my eyes open. This is truly great work! Perhaps the best in a long time.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars By Far, The Best Book Yet On Group Policy!!, October 17, 2001

By 

J. Peter Bruzzese - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Windows 2000: Group Policy, Profiles, and IntelliMirror (The Mark Minasi Windows 2000 Series) (Paperback)

I was quite impressed at how easy this book makes Group Policies feel. Most books on Group Policy are too confusing but not this one. Chapter One of this book gave a great illustration that used a surf, a landowner and the king to explain how rules can be established and applied. That same illustration was made to fit the OU, Domain and Site relationships for Group Policies.

The book helped me understand inheritance issues better, understand block options and 'No Override' options better and, thanks to the chapter on troubleshooting, I understand how to track down problems with Group Policies, including replication issues.

There are two chapters that cover Intellimirror technology from A to Z and these were great too.

The book was funny, unlike the standard dry tech stuff that take forever to choke down. I was reading it like a novel (which is a little wierd, I know).

I highly recommend it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Resource, August 8, 2002

By 

Jase T. Wolfe - See all my reviews

This review is from: Windows 2000: Group Policy, Profiles, and IntelliMirror (The Mark Minasi Windows 2000 Series) (Paperback)

So many times you pick up a title like this and as you read, you get the feeling that the authors first exposure to the material was as they were writing the book. Complete opposite feeling as you read this title. The material is presented in a knowledgeable, accurate way, with hints, tips and watch-outs thrown in that only someone who has worked with the product would know about.

The author has extended a considerable amount of information on: -- Group Policy Objects, from in-depth explanation to interacting and troubleshooting; -- IntelliMirror, including interaction with Group Policy Objects and client configurations to software deployment using MSI and ZAP files; -- Working with down-level clients (NT / 9x); and more.

There is a chapter in the book on Remote Installation Services, which will introduce you to the technology, but is light on content and a little beyond the scope of the book. Despite this, it is still informative and in no way detractive from the remaining content.

This is a title that you could pickup, read, and upon completion feel very confident in your ability to manage and implement Group Policies and work with IntelliMirror; an excellent addition for any administrator's Windows 2000 library.