Way to cycle registry values via group policy?

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Guest

We've modified a security template and administrative template, based on work at UC-Berkeley, to first expose the registry value to editing by group policy, and then set the REG_MULTI_SZ value with values similar to the following

KdcNames=krb0.domain.com,krb1.domain.com,krb2.domain.co

This is equivalent to running multiple instances of the "ksetup /addkdc" command. The impetus behind all this is that we want to configure our client machines so they can use the outgoing trust we've set up with our MIT Kerberos realm, but that's only vaguely relevant to the issue at hand

The MIT Kerberos administrators would like us to be able to cycle these values, so that client misbehavior won't overload any single Kerberos server. That is, on successive machines, we'd need to be able to set the REG_MULTI_SZ value to one of the 6 possible orders of those three servers; for instance

KdcNames=krb0.domain.com,krb1.domain.com,krb2.domain.co
KdcNames=krb1.domain.com,krb0.domain.com,krb2.domain.co
KdcNames=krb1.domain.com,krb2.domain.com,krb0.domain.co
etc

It would be nice to do this in pseudo-random fashion via group policy; we had intended to use a GPO rather than a login script, though it would be much easier in a login script, just for elegance's sake and because it simplifies our administration, overall, if everything is in one place. However, from what I can tell, group policy administrative templates only offers the most basic if-then-else logic based on the OS version installed on the client. I'm having difficulty finding any documentation on this sort of syntax, which is all over the Microsoft-provided .adm files

#if version >=
SUPPORTED !!SUPPORTED_Win2
#endi

In either case, this probably won't suffice, as our population will be largely Windows XP; not patched to equivalent levels, but still pretty homogeneous, so using OS version as a randomizer won't provide the necessary randomness

Are there any undocumented features, or documented ones I'm unaware of, that could allow us to accomplish this in group policy, or are we going to be forced to revert to using a logon script in this instance? We're using primarily XP clients in a mixed-mode Active Directory forest, with both Windows 2000 and 2003 servers as domain controllers

Thanks for any help

James Ervi
Chapel Hill, NC
 
James,

This is a perfect instance to use WMI filtering. You can then direct client
computers with certain criteria to those servers that are closest to them.
You will need to come up with the WMI criteria, but I am sure there is
plenty to choose from in your environment.

--
Derek Melber

James Ervin said:
We've modified a security template and administrative template, based on
Click to expand...
work at UC-Berkeley, to first expose the registry value to editing by group
policy, and then set the REG_MULTI_SZ value with values similar to the
following:
KdcNames=krb0.domain.com,krb1.domain.com,krb2.domain.com

This is equivalent to running multiple instances of the "ksetup /addkdc"
Click to expand...
command. The impetus behind all this is that we want to configure our client
machines so they can use the outgoing trust we've set up with our MIT
Kerberos realm, but that's only vaguely relevant to the issue at hand.
The MIT Kerberos administrators would like us to be able to cycle these
Click to expand...
values, so that client misbehavior won't overload any single Kerberos
server. That is, on successive machines, we'd need to be able to set the
REG_MULTI_SZ value to one of the 6 possible orders of those three servers;
for instance:
KdcNames=krb0.domain.com,krb1.domain.com,krb2.domain.com
KdcNames=krb1.domain.com,krb0.domain.com,krb2.domain.com
KdcNames=krb1.domain.com,krb2.domain.com,krb0.domain.com
etc.

It would be nice to do this in pseudo-random fashion via group policy; we
Click to expand...
had intended to use a GPO rather than a login script, though it would be
much easier in a login script, just for elegance's sake and because it
simplifies our administration, overall, if everything is in one place.
However, from what I can tell, group policy administrative templates only
offers the most basic if-then-else logic based on the OS version installed
#if version >= 4
SUPPORTED !!SUPPORTED_Win2k
#endif

In either case, this probably won't suffice, as our population will be
Click to expand...
largely Windows XP; not patched to equivalent levels, but still pretty
homogeneous, so using OS version as a randomizer won't provide the necessary
randomness.
Are there any undocumented features, or documented ones I'm unaware of,
Click to expand...
that could allow us to accomplish this in group policy, or are we going to
be forced to revert to using a logon script in this instance? We're using
primarily XP clients in a mixed-mode Active Directory forest, with both
Windows 2000 and 2003 servers as domain controllers.
 
Derek

Excellent thought; I must have had some sort of mental block

Thanks for the suggestion

James Ervi
Chapel Hill, N

----- Derek Melber [MVP] wrote: ----

James

This is a perfect instance to use WMI filtering. You can then direct clien
computers with certain criteria to those servers that are closest to them
You will need to come up with the WMI criteria, but I am sure there i
plenty to choose from in your environment
 
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