Working with Group Policy Modeling and Results

The group policy snap-in for the Server Management Console contains two other elements useful in examining group policy on the SBS network. Group policy modeling gives system administrators a chance to see how group policy would be applied to users and computers under different conditions without having to actually make those changes. Group policy results takes a look at how policy was actually applied to a given user/computer combination given the current policy configuration.

Both tools allow you to view the information in a report similar to the GPO settings screen shown previously in Figure 20.8. The next two sections detail how to generate the modeling and results reports.

Creating the Modeling Report

To create a group policy modeling report, follow these steps:

1.	In the Server Management Console, expand Advanced Management, Group Policy Management, and Forest.
2.	Right-click on Group Policy Modeling and select Group Policy Modeling Wizard.
3.	In the first page of the wizard, click Next.
4.	In the Domain Controller Selection page, make sure that the correct domain name is listed; then click Next.
5.	In the User and Computer selection page, shown in Figure 20.10, select a user and computer to model, or select the SBSUsers and SBSComputers OUs to model the entire network. Enable the check box next to Skip to the Final Page of This Wizard Without Collecting Additional data and click Next. Figure 20.10. The Group Policy Modeling Wizard can simulate a single user and computer or groups of users and computers.
6.	In the Summary of Selections page, click Next.
7.	Click Finish to close the wizard.

Now you can view the report in the console window, shown in Figure 20.11. The upper portion of the report lists the information used to generate the report; then it lists the GPOs that would be applied to this user on this computer and the locations of those GPOs.

Figure 20.11. The group policy modeling report summary shows the GPOs that would be applied to a user and computer.

When you click on the Settings tab, you can view the policy elements that would be applied and which GPO provided those settings, as shown in Figure 20.12.

Figure 20.12. The group policy modeling report Settings tab shows the policy settings that would get applied.

Creating the Results Report

The key difference between the Modeling report and the Results report is that the Modeling report is a simulation, but the Results report is based on actual group policy processing and requires the equipment being processed to be active on the network.

Note

With Windows XP SP2 defaults, workstations have remote administration blocked in the Windows Firewall by default. For you to use the Group Policy Results Wizard against a Windows XP SP2 computer, you need to enable remote administration through the Windows Firewall. Microsoft KB article 840634 (http://support.microsoft.com/?id=840634) has instructions for allowing this exception. Use Method 2 or Method 3 in the article so that you can restrict the IP addresses the firewall will allow to connect. You can also enable this globally on the network through group policy.

Follow these steps to create a group policy results report:

1.	In the Server Management Console, expand Advanced Management, Group Policy Management, and Forest.
2.	Right-click on Group Policy Results and select Group Policy Results Wizard.
3.	In the first page of the wizard, click Next.
4.	In the Computer Selection page, click the Another Computer radio button and click Browse to select the computer to use for the report. After the computer has been selected, click Next.
5.	In the User Selection page, select the domain userid and not the local userid. Click Next.
6.	In the Summary of Selections page, click Next.
7.	Click Finish to complete the wizard.

The Summary and Settings sections of the report look similar to the Modeling Report sections, with one key difference. The data in the Results report shows the actual settings on the workstation and gives the specific times the settings were applied.