The GPMC is absolutely the primary tool that Active Directory administrators use to work with Group Policy settings. This console is critically important to your role as a Windows Server administrator. In addition to giving you a glance into the console where we will be spending so much time over the course of this book, I hope this chapter prompts you to start thinking outside the box about other server management duties in the future. Using the RSAT package on a regular workstation can completely change your server security stance.

Join me as we dive next into the meat and potatoes of Group Policy—the common tasks that you will be required to handle on a daily basis.