1.1 Glossary

This document uses the following terms:

Active Directory: The Windows implementation of a general-purpose directory service, which uses LDAP as its primary access protocol. Active Directory stores information about a variety of objects in the network such as user accounts, computer accounts, groups, and all related credential information used by Kerberos [MS-KILE]. Active Directory is either deployed as Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) or Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS), which are both described in [MS-ADOD]: Active Directory Protocols Overview.

administrative template: A file associated with a Group Policy Object (GPO) that combines information on the syntax of registry-based policy settings with human-readable descriptions of the settings, as well as other information.

client-side extension GUID (CSE GUID): A GUID  that enables a specific client-side extension on the Group Policy client to be associated with policy data that is stored in the logical and physical components of a Group Policy Object (GPO) on the Group Policy server, for that particular extension.

computer-scoped Group Policy Object path: A scoped Group Policy Object (GPO) path that ends in "\Machine".

curly braced GUID string: The string representation of a 128-bit globally unique identifier (GUID) using the form {XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX}, where X denotes a hexadecimal digit. The string representation between the enclosing braces is the standard representation of a GUID as described in [RFC4122] section 3. Unlike a GUIDString, a curly braced GUID string includes enclosing braces.

domain: A set of users and computers sharing a common namespace and management infrastructure. At least one computer member of the set has to act as a domain controller (DC) and host a member list that identifies all members of the domain, as well as optionally hosting the Active Directory service. The domain controller provides authentication of members, creating a unit of trust for its members. Each domain has an identifier that is shared among its members. For more information, see [MS-AUTHSOD] section 1.1.1.5 and [MS-ADTS].

Extended Administrative Template (ADMX): A pair of files that combines information on the syntax of registry-based policy settings with human-readable descriptions of the settings, as well as other information. The first file contains the language-neutral description of each setting, while the second file contains the language-specific information.

globally unique identifier (GUID): A term used interchangeably with universally unique identifier (UUID) in Microsoft protocol technical documents (TDs). Interchanging the usage of these terms does not imply or require a specific algorithm or mechanism to generate the value. Specifically, the use of this term does not imply or require that the algorithms described in [RFC4122] or [C706] have to be used for generating the GUID. See also universally unique identifier (UUID).

Group Policy Object (GPO): A collection of administrator-defined specifications of the policy settings that can be applied to groups of computers in a domain. Each GPO includes two elements: an object that resides in the Active Directory for the domain, and a corresponding file system subdirectory that resides on the sysvol DFS share of the Group Policy server for the domain.

Group Policy Object (GPO) path: A domain-based Distributed File System (DFS) path for a directory on the server that is accessible through the DFS/SMB protocols. This path will always be a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path of the form: "\\<dns domain name>\sysvol\<dns domain name>\policies\<gpo guid>", where <dns domain name> is the DNS domain name of the domain and <gpo guid> is a Group Policy Object (GPO) GUID.

Network Access Protection (NAP): A feature of an operating system that provides a platform for system health-validated access to private networks. NAP provides a way of detecting the health state of a network client that is attempting to connect to or communicate on a network, and limiting the access of the network client until the health policy requirements have been met. NAP is implemented through quarantines and health checks, as specified in [TNC-IF-TNCCSPBSoH].

policy setting: A statement of the possible behaviors of an element of a domain member computer's behavior that can be configured by an administrator.

registry: A local system-defined database in which applications and system components store and retrieve configuration data. It is a hierarchical data store with lightly typed elements that are logically stored in tree format. Applications use the registry API to retrieve, modify, or delete registry data. The data stored in the registry varies according to the version of the operating system.

registry policy file: A file associated with a Group Policy Object (GPO) that contains a set of registry-based policy settings.

scoped Group Policy Object (GPO) path: A Group Policy Object (GPO) path appended with "\User" for the user policy mode of policy application, and "\Machine" for the computer policy mode.

tool extension GUID or administrative plug-in GUID: A GUID defined separately for each of the user policy settings and computer policy settings that associates a specific administrative tool plug-in with a set of policy settings that can be stored in a Group Policy Object (GPO).

user-scoped Group Policy Object path: A scoped Group Policy Object (GPO) path that ends in "\User".

MAY, SHOULD, MUST, SHOULD NOT, MUST NOT: These terms (in all caps) are used as defined in [RFC2119]. All statements of optional behavior use either MAY, SHOULD, or SHOULD NOT.