Configuring Policy System Center Essentials

Domain Policy or Local Policy? 

When configuring System Center Essentials for the first time, we need to gather further information in order to setup the server in the best possible way.  In this scenario, you will be asked to configure SCE using “Domain Policy” or “Local Policy”.  Ask yourself the following questions, and the answers will point you to which policy type to use:

Do I have “Domain Administrator” or “Group Policy Administrator” access rights on my domain?
A. Yes – use domain policy
B. No – use local policy

Do I have an existing WSUS 2.0 or 3.0 policy in-place on my domain?
A. Yes – use domain policy
B. No – use local policy

You should only use local policy if you do not have complete control over your domain.  This may be the case if you are a department within a larger organization and cannot obtain the proper permissions to create Domain-level Group Policies.

Remote Control Policy

If you opt for domain policy, you can choose to create a policy for Remote Control.  THis will allow you to remotely take control of managed computers on your network using the SCE Console.  In order for this task to work, you must choose to enable the Remote Control policy in the feature configuration wizard.

Policy Configuration for SBS Premium 2003

SBS Server 2003 ships the ISA Firewall software.  You will need to configure the ISA Firewall in a particular way to work with SCE.  Refer to the following page for steps on configuring the ISA Firewall to work with SCE:  http://sce.editme.com/sbs2003premium   

Troubleshooting

Go to our Troubleshooting page for tips on working around Group Policy issues.