Enough theory, let's get our hands dirty for a little while. You are now familiar with many of the tasks inside GPMC that are required to be a Group Policy administrator. However, there are other functions associated with these tasks that so far we have been taking for granted. We talk an awful lot about OUs and how your users and computers are going to be magically organized inside of these OUs. You now know how to manipulate GPOs so that they are linked to particular OUs or nested OUs, but who created all of those OUs and how did all of your user and computer objects get sorted into those OUs in the first place? The answer may surprise you: it's the lesser-known tale of the OU Fairy, distant cousin of the better-known Tooth Fairy. Don't take my word for it: if you pull out a magnifying glass and take a look at your own business card, listed in very small letters under your job description should be the words "OU Fairy". If it's not there, you should set up a meeting with your HR department immediately.

Let's take a few minutes to cover some of the need-to-know items that are necessary for working with OUs, because you'll need to be able to do this in order to make your way through this book and your life as an IT professional.