Operations Guide for Microsoft Advanced Group Policy Management 3.0

You can use Microsoft Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM) to extend the capabilities of the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC), providing comprehensive change control and enhanced management for Group Policy Objects (GPOs).

With AGPM you can:

• Perform offline editing of GPOs, so you can create and test them before deploying to a production environment.

• Retain multiple versions of a GPO in a central archive, so you can roll back if a problem occurs.

• Share the responsibility for editing, approving, and reviewing GPOs among multiple people using role-based delegation.

• Eliminate the danger of multiple Group Policy administrators overwriting each other's work by using a check-in/check-out capability for GPOs.

• Analyze changes to a GPO, comparing it to another GPO or another version of the same GPO using difference reporting.

• Simplify the creation of new GPOs by using GPO templates, storing standard settings to use as starting points for new GPOs.

AGPM adds a Change Control folder under each domain displayed in the GPMC, as well as a History tab for each GPO and Group Policy link displayed in the GPMC.

• Overview of Advanced Group Policy Management

• Best Practices for Version Control

• Checklist: Administer the AGPM Server and Archive

• Checklist: Create, Edit, and Deploy a GPO

• Performing AGPM Administrator Tasks

• Performing Editor Tasks

• Performing Approver Tasks

• Performing Reviewer Tasks

• Troubleshooting Advanced Group Policy Management

• User Interface: Advanced Group Policy Management