Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 Inside Out

Implementing Group Policy

As discussed previously, there are two types of Group Policy: local group policy and Active Directory group policy. Local group policy applies to a local machine only, and there is only one local GPO per local machine. Active Directory group policy, on the other hand, can be implemented separately for sites, domains, and OUs. Two GUI tools are available to work with Active Directory group policy. You can use the Group Policy Object Editor, which is included with a standard installation of Windows Server 2003, or the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC), which is available as a free download from the Microsoft Downloads center (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads).

When you use either of these tools to create a new GPO ...