Overview

Windows PowerShell

Windows PowerShell is an extremely powerful management technology that introduces a true management shell for Windows. However, compared to existing shells, e.g. C Shell and Bourne shell, Windows PowerShell is by far more powerful. Read this summary about what PowerShell brings to the table.

Group Policy

Group Policy is a mature, powerful and scalable management technology introduced in Windows 2000. Group Policy makes it possible to administer any size of networks and comes out-of-the box with more than 2400 configurable settings, including everything from registry settings to security and software installation. Group Policy is built into the operating system and is extensible. Group Policy Extensions seamlessly extend Group Policy with new functionality without adding complexity or new management solutions that need to be managed.

Specops Command overview

Specops Command = Windows PowerShell through Group Policy

The Specops Command MMC Snap-in displaying script assignments in a Group PolicySpecops Command is a true Group Policy Extension and thus it is for the first time possible to use Windows PowerShell to manage any number of computers and users in a centralized and cost effective manner. The administrative interface for configuring the script assignments in Specops Command is an MMC snap-in that extends the Group Policy Object Editor which is started from the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC).

Since Group Policy is a technology that is already used in almost every organization today, there is virtually no learning curve and customers can instead focus on leveraging the new possibilities introduced with Specops Command instead of learning and deploying a new management solution.

Another major benefit of Specops Command being implemented as a Group Policy Extension is that compared to using logon or startup scripts, Specops Command can execute both during logon/startup and after the logon/startup at every Group Policy refresh interval. Thanks to this there is no need to wait for the users to logon/logoff or restart their computers to manage them.

Feature list

Here is a list of the main features of Specops Command.

  • Automatic Windows PowerShell installation
  • Windows PowerShell snap-in management
  • Credential elevation
  • Execution feedback
  • Custom feedback
  • Undo Scripts
  • Integration with PowerGUI
  • VBScript Support
  • Targeting
  • Scheduling
  • Script signing
  • Reporting

Page last modified on December 03, 2007, at 09:21 PM