NetIQ Group Policy Administrator 6.8.0.2 Release Notes

March 2016

This service pack improves usability and resolves several previous issues.

Many of these improvements were made in direct response to suggestions from our customers. We thank you for your time and valuable input. We hope you continue to help us ensure that our products meet all your needs. You can post feedback in the NetIQ Group Policy Administrator forum on NetIQ Communities, our online community that also includes product information, blogs, and links to helpful resources.

The documentation for this product is available on the NetIQ website in HTML and PDF formats on a page that does not require you to log in. If you have suggestions for documentation improvements, click comment on this topic at the bottom of any page in the HTML version of the documentation posted at the NetIQ Group Policy Administrator NetIQ Documentation page. To download this product, see the NetIQ Group Policy Administrator Product Upgrade website.

What’s New?

The following outline the key features and functions provided by this version, as well as issues resolved in this release:

Support for Merging GPOs

NetIQ Group Policy Administrator includes support for merging the settings of two GPOs. Merging GPOs that have the same settings, or a few settings each, can lead to reduced complexity, making maintenance and troubleshooting simpler and less time-consuming. You can merge all kinds of Group Policy settings including:

  • Software settings

  • Security settings

  • Preferences

  • Administrative templates settings

  • Scripts settings

  • Folder redirection

  • Name resolution policy

  • Policy-based QoS

GPOs from any supported operating system can be merged.

Support for PowerShell Scripts

NetIQ Group Policy Administrator now supports using PowerShell scripts to automate group policy administration. The biggest benefit of this feature for administrators is the simplicity and ease of programming.

Group Policy Infrastructure Status Report

NetIQ Group Policy Administrator includes a new report that allows you to identify GPOs that are out of sync across domain controllers in the same domain. This check can be made at the domain or GPO level from the GPA Console on all supported operating systems including Windows 2008 or later.

Support for SQL 2014

NetIQ Group Policy Administrator includes support for installing and using the GPA repository database on SQL 2014 servers.

Installing This Version

To install this version, run Setup.exe on each GPA Server, GP Repository, and GPA Console computer.

For more information about how to install or upgrade GPA, see the user guide on the Group Policy Administrator documentation Web site.

IMPORTANT:GPA now requires the following prerequisite versions:

  • Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package (x86) (or x64 for GPA Console)

  • .NET Framework 4.0

  • PowerShell 2.0

The prerequisite checker installs these updated versions if you select that option.

Addressed Issues

This service pack corrects an installation failure found in GPA version 6.8. (ENG340846)

This service pack also includes all of the following fixes provided in GPA versions 6.8 and6.8.0.1:

  • Resolved an issue where the GPO Difference Report did not work as expected. (ENG277960)

  • Resolved an issue where there was a delay in establishing a connection to the Repository on Windows 2012 computers. (ENG336041)

  • Resolved an issue where incorrect OUs were listed in GPO links. (ENG336347)

  • Resolved an issue where the GPO Difference Report showed incorrect differences for Google Chrome ADMX settings. (ENG337751)

  • Resolved an issue with the Offline Mirror wizard where the import operation failed when OUs with a large number of users were included for GPO import. (ENG337095)

  • Resolved an issue where the settings report showed an error for a GPA console with multiple domains that had multiple ADMX cultures. (ENG334818)

  • Resolved an issue where the installer needed an account with the SQL sysadmin role to upgrade the server. (ENG335003)

  • Resolved an issue where the trusted domain in the GPA Repository was shown as an untrusted domain when the registry value EnumCurDomainOnly was set. (ENG337718)

  • Resolved an issue where the Deny "View Category" permission was set for the category during an Offline Mirror wizard operation if the corresponding organizational unit in AD had Deny" Send A"s or Deny""Receive A"s permissions. (ENG338640)

  • Resolved an issue where the Schedule GPO Export wizard took a long time to complete the Add GPOs operation when there were a large number of GPOs in a category. (ENG337769)

  • Resolved an issue where enumerating a category with a large number of GPOs in the Add Notifications wizard took a long time. (ENG337729)

  • Resolved an issue with the Offline Mirror wizard where the operation failed when importing OUs that contained a comma character. (ENG338137)

  • Resolved an issue where a runtime error occurred when a target GPO was selected from the Synchronization tab of a master GPO. (ENG339346)

  • Resolved an issue with the Offline Mirror wizard where the import operation failed and the wizard stopped unexpectedly when OUs with a large number of users were excluded from the GPO import. (ENG337093)

  • Resolved an issue where RunOfflineMirror stopped unexpectedly when the OU had a large number of AD objects. (ENG340190)

  • Resolved an issue where the GPA-CONSOLE-NODES-VISIBILITY-MANAGEMENT group name was hard-coded. (ENG339767)

  • Resolved an issue where the group policy preferences of a source GPO were not migrated properly to the new GPO. (ENG339863)

  • Resolved an issue where the Offline Mirror Wizard stopped unexpectedly while importing GPOs from sites. (ENG340502)

  • Resolved an issue where the RunOfflineMirror only imported a site if it was linked to a GPO. (ENG340680)

Contact Information

Our goal is to provide documentation that meets your needs. If you have suggestions for improvements, please email Documentation-Feedback@netiq.com. We value your input and look forward to hearing from you.

For detailed contact information, see the Support Contact Information website.

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