PowerShell has increased in popularity quite a bit over the past few years. I recall my initial reaction to Jeffrey Snover’s ‘Monad Manifesto‘ that was published back in 2002 or so. It was quite revolutionary. Over the years it has been exciting to see it take form. The learning curve elicits different emotions in different folks. Everything from excitement and enthusiasm to FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) and the age old “UGH… I have to learn something new again!”. Well, if you aren’t up for learning there are likely other professions out there! Kidding of course. Although there is some learning curve the pay back is amazing.
The SDM Software Group Policy Automation Engine (GPAE) is a practical interface for managing Group Policy settings that allow you to build custom solutions and workflows. It is PowerShell-based but it is practical. This means, if you are new to PowerShell, and have a Group Policy task you would like to automate, the GPAE provides the means to achieve that goal without having to be a PowerShell expert. You will learn more PowerShell along the way.
I really wanted to introduce some turorial type videos on GPAE, that I’ve been creating to help folks get through the basics. Those basics consist of:
- Connecting to a Group Policy Object with GPAE
- Connecting to a container in that GPO (e.g. Windows Configuration/Security Settings/Local Policy)
- Connecting to a setting (e.g. “Allow log on locally”)
There are more details along the way to becoming proficient in GPAE, but between the User Guide provided with the product, the Object Reference help file outlining everything you can do with the GPAE and now these tutorial videos, you should be off to a good start.
Check out the ‘GPAE Tutorials‘ playlist on our YouTube Channel.
Enjoy
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