Line One
asked on
Export GPO's to do a comparison on what is different from default, compare to other GP0's
I would like to export GPO's from different servers to compare the setting and also to compare to default GPO. The idea would be that I would have a 'default GPO' column and then beside it a column each for GPO's spewed out from different servers so I could quickly see what the differences were between the various GPO's. It would be a big bonus if the settings that were changed from default were somehow distinguished/were the only ones exported.
Thanks in advance for any assistance in this.
Thanks in advance for any assistance in this.
ASKER
Thanks but these all seem to relate to when the GPO's are on the same server/domain. I need to compare GPO's on different domain's for quality control purposes. We want to make sure that our policies are consistent throughout all our client sites. The sites have nothing in common organizationally - they are different firms, different physical locations, completely separate networks. What we want to do is somehow export the GPO's from each site and compare their settings to make sure we have the same policies applied at all the different sites. So for instance at all our sites there may be a GPO called TS Policies. We want to make sure that all the settings are the same for TS Policies at all sites.
I haven't tried this but GPO Reporting Pak has various features such as:
- Selectively report on settings by policy area and select GPOs by links within Active
- Ability to quickly compare settings between live and/or backup GPOs in the same or different domains/forests
- Perform exports across multiple domains in a forest, allowing a full reporting of settings across multiple domains
- Selectively report on settings by policy area and select GPOs by links within Active
- Ability to quickly compare settings between live and/or backup GPOs in the same or different domains/forests
- Perform exports across multiple domains in a forest, allowing a full reporting of settings across multiple domains
ASKER
It looks good but price - over 1K - is out of our budget. Any other thoughts?
I haven't tried this but...
Beyond Compare, $60. http://www.scootersoftware.com/features.php
They have a XML Tidy add on http://www.scootersoftware.com/support.php?zz=kb_morerules
HTML Tidy reformats the lines of .html files in a consistent style.
XML Tidy does the same for .xml files.
XML Tidy Sorted will sort elements in XML Nodes.
You could export the gpos as xml files then compare them.
Beyond Compare, $60. http://www.scootersoftware.com/features.php
They have a XML Tidy add on http://www.scootersoftware.com/support.php?zz=kb_morerules
HTML Tidy reformats the lines of .html files in a consistent style.
XML Tidy does the same for .xml files.
XML Tidy Sorted will sort elements in XML Nodes.
You could export the gpos as xml files then compare them.
ASKER
Thanks. I will take a look and report back.
ASKER
Still trying to find time to test this. Thanks for your patience.
@lineonecorp
Did you try the solution at ID: 41772290?
Did you try the solution at ID: 41772290?
ASKER
I tried 'search Experts Exchange' for 41772290 - just this question showed up. How do I search by ID?
It's on this page.
Using Beyond Compare and XML Tidy
Using Beyond Compare and XML Tidy
ASKER
Still trying to find time to test this. Thanks for your patience.
ASKER
http://www.scootersoftware.com/features.php - looks like it tells me whether the contents of two files are the same - not what I want. I want a categorized 'difference' spreadsheet-like. So the program has to understand something about GPO's.
http://www.scootersoftware.com/support.php?zz=kb_morerules
Again this doesn't look like it would know how to highlight different polices in each GPO.
If I am missing something please explain how you think they would do that. Perhaps you could export a couple of GPO's from different systems - same level of OS would be most useful - and see for yourself how it would work.
http://www.scootersoftware.com/support.php?zz=kb_morerules
Again this doesn't look like it would know how to highlight different polices in each GPO.
If I am missing something please explain how you think they would do that. Perhaps you could export a couple of GPO's from different systems - same level of OS would be most useful - and see for yourself how it would work.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
Thanks for persistence. This looks good.
You're welcome, lineonecorp. I'm glad to help you. Have a nice day/night...
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/71a9034c-0184-4662-b30c-337218713149/tools-for-comparing-gpo?forum=winserverGP
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/itpro/mdop/agpm/identify-differences-between-gpos-gpo-versions-or-templates
https://redmondmag.com/articles/2016/01/25/microsoft-group-policy-analysis-tool.aspx