Staging Group Policy Deployments

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Microsoft® Windows® Server 2003 Group Policy provides powerful capabilities for deploying configuration changes across the enterprise. As with any other change within the enterprise, Group Policy deployments and ongoing updates require careful planning and testing to ensure a highly available and secure infrastructure. By using features included in the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC), you can create a test/staging/production deployment process that ensures predictability and consistency during Group Policy deployments.

In This Chapter

Overview of Group Policy Staging

Creating the Staging Environment

Synchronizing the Staging and Production Environments

Testing Group Policy in the Staging Environment

Preparing for Deployment to Production

Deploying Staged GPOs to the Production Environment

Additional Resources for Staging Group Policy Deployments

Related Information

• For more information about Group Policy and GPMC features and capabilities, see "Designing a Group Policy Infrastructure" in this book.

• For more information about using IntelliMirror to create a managed environment "Planning a Managed Environment" in this book.