The Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) is without a doubt the primary and most common interface that Active Directory (AD) administrators use to work with anything and everything related to Group Policy. In this chapter, we will explore the functionality inside the GPMC and get a feel for working within this console.

The GPMC is installed by default on all of your Domain Controller (DC) servers, but in a security-conscious environment it is common practice to limit access and logins to DCs, so we are also going to take a look at some other options for using the GPMC that don't involve the need to touch one of the DCs. 

The following topics will be covered in this chapter:

• Technical requirements
• Launching the console locally
• Accessing Group Policy remotely
• Exploring the GPMC