How to configure and share printing under Win 2003

Group Policy is used to configure multiple Microsoft Active directory service user and computer objects from a single point. By default, a policy affects not only the objects in the container that the policy is applied to, but also the objects in the child containers.

Group Policy contains the Computer Configuration | Windows Settings | Security setting under Security settings. You can import preconfigured security templates into policies to complete the configuration of these settings.

Apply Group Policy

The following steps show how to apply Group Policy and how to add a security group to user rights assignment.

• Apply Group Policy to an organizational unit or domain

1. Click Start, Administrative Tools, Active Directory Users and Computers, and then open Active Directory Users and Computers.

2. Highlight the relevant domain or organizational unit, click the Action menu, and select Properties.

3. Select the Group Policy tab.

Note: Multiple policies can be applied per container. The order in which these policies are processed is up from the bottom of the list. If there is a conflict, the last applied policy takes precedence.

4. Click New to create a policy and assign it a meaningful name, such as Domain policy.

Note: Click the Options button to configure the No Override setting. "No Override" is configured for each individual policy, not for the entire container; Block Policy inheritance "is configured for the entire container. If the prohibit overrides and Block Policy inheritance settings conflict, the prohibit overrides setting takes precedence. To configure block Policy inheritance, select the check box in the OU attribute.

Group Policy is automatically updated, but in order to start the update process immediately, you can use the following GPUpdate command at a command prompt:

Gpupdate/force

To add a security group to user rights assignment

1. Click Start, Administrative Tools, Active Directory Users and Computers, and then open Active Directory Users and Computers.

2. Highlight the relevant OU (such as member server), click the Action menu, and select Properties.

3. Click the Group Policy tab, select the relevant policy (such as Member Server Baseline Policy), and then click Edit.

4. In the Group Policy Object Editor, expand Computer Configuration, Windows settings, security settings, local policies, and then highlight user rights assignment.

5. In the right pane, right-click the relevant user rights.

6. Select the Define these policy settings check box, and click Add Users and groups to modify the list.

7. Click OK.

To import a security template to a Group Policy

The following steps show how to import a security template to a Group Policy.

• Import Security Templates

1. Click Start, Administrative Tools, Active Directory Users and Computers, and then open Active Directory Users and Computers.

2. Highlight the relevant domain or OU, click the Action menu, and select Properties.

3. Select the Group Policy tab.

4. Highlight the relevant policy and click Edit.

5. Expand Computer Configuration, click Windows Settings, and then highlight security settings.

6. Click the Actions menu and select Import Policy.

7. Navigate to/security guide/job Aids, select the relevant template, and click "Open".

8. In the Group Policy Object Editor, click the File menu and select Exit.

9. In the container properties, click OK.

Using Security Configuration and analysis

The following steps show how to use Security Configuration and analysis to import, analyze, and apply security templates.

• Import Security Templates

1. Click Start, then run. Type mmc in the Open text box, and then click OK.

2. In the Microsoft management console, click File and select Add/Remove Snap-in.

3. Click "Add" to highlight "Security Configuration and Analysis" in the list.

4. Click Add, Close, OK.

5. Highlight security Configuration and analysis, click the Actions menu, and select Open database.

6. Type the new database name (for example, Bastion Host) and click Open.

7. In the "Import template" screen, navigate to/security guide/job Aids and select the relevant template. Click Open.

• Analyze imported templates and compare them to current settings

1. Highlight security Configuration and analysis in the Microsoft snap-in, click the Actions menu, and select Analyze Computer now.

2. Click OK to accept the default error log file path.

3. After completing the analysis, expand the node title to study the results.

• Apply Security Templates

1. Highlight security Configuration and analysis in the Microsoft snap-in, click the Action menu, and select Configure Computer now.

2. Click OK to accept the default error log file path.

3. In the Microsoft management console, click File, and then select Exit to close Security configuration and analysis.