The Toad Group Policy Manager provides a facility by which multiple copies of Toad for Oracle within an organization can share the same set of options.  It consists of a Windows Service which runs on a Windows server and publishes subsets of option data to defined groups of Toad users via TCP/IP, and an Editor which is used to define option sets and user groups.  Users can be restricted from changing published Toad options or permitted to alter them.

Using the Toad Group Policy Editor, policies and standards can be distributed throughout a group environment.

The Group Policy functionality consists of three parts:

·         Group Policy Server

·         Group Policy Editor

·         Toad Policy files

The Toad Group Policy Manager is included in the new Toad MSI installer and provides an option for installing separately from the Toad for Oracle 9.1 installation.

The new Toad for Oracle 9.1 MSI installer

There is also a “What’s This” button which provides a summary of what Toad Group Policy Manager is. For a complete document which fully explains the architecture and how to set up and configure Toad Group Policy Manager, there is User Guide which is available both on the Toad for Oracle 9.1 installation CD and also from the Quest web site.

The following diagram will help explain the concept of how Toad Group Policy Manager works.

·          When Toad for Oracle 9.1 starts, if it recognizes it is in a managed environment it calls in to the Policy Server, giving it its computer name or IP address.

·          The Policy Server looks up the name, and if it is in a predefined group of managed users, the Policy Server creates a packet of information and sends it back to the client via TCP/IP. 

Once Toad Group Policy Manager is installed, the Group Policy Editor can be used to nominate the server on which you would like to have Toad Group Policy Manager to run and then you can begin defining Groups and Users following the same concept as Windows Active Directory.

Specify the Windows Server name or IP address 

In order to use Toad Group Policy Management, a file called toad.pdl must be created and installed with each user's instance of Toad for Oracle. This .pdl file specifies the server and port information where Toad for Oracle will look for the Group Policy restrictions.

 
Specify the server location for the PDL file

Groups could be made up of development teams, DBA teams, analysts, etc, all of whom have differing ways in which they use Toad for Oracle and different ways in which they share common assets like formatting templates, version control system access as well as certain Toad options, etc.

  Group Policy Editor being used to add new Groups and Users

The user lookup will allow you to browse the Windows enterprise for different users even if they are in a different Domain. Alternatively, you can specify a computer name if more than one person uses the same desktop.

The next task is to decide what things you would like to share across your group or team by reviewing the list of Managed Items. From here you could make sure the same people have the same Toad Options, are using the same templates or, if you are a DBA, ensuring that Toad users have to enter an Oracle password when they log on.

Managed Items showing Action setting and Value for Toad Options and Settings – in this case PL/SQL Template files being shared across a development team 

The Action settings enable flexibility in how policy settings are deployed to different groups:

·          Don't Restrict - the default. This option leaves the managed item completely unrestricted

·          Publish - Select this to publish a set of settings to the machines. The user can change the settings on this item, but they will be renewed each time Toad is restarted.

·          Restrict - Completely restrict the user from changing the settings made.

The Group Policy file now needs to be saved in to preserve its settings. This is saved as an xml file.

The final stage is to publish the Group Policy file to the server since the Policy Editor may be installed on a desktop machine remote from the server.

The files which are sent to the server when you click the publish button  are:

·          GroupPolicy.xml

·          Zip archives of any files that the group policy server needs to publish to a user group (for example, formatting files, template files, and so on). One zip file is created for every restriction type requiring files that is to be published.

When you launch Toad for Oracle 9.1, the contents of the policy will be posted out from the server and refresh any current Options and Settings.

Toad Options window for a Managed Toad user showing the Team Coding options pre-set and deactivated

Finally, here are two scenarios to help explain how Toad Group Policy Manager will be helpful to you in your organization and enable much improved manageability especially where you have multiple Toad for Oracle users:

Scenario 1

A Development Manager wants to ensure each Project Team member has Toad’s Team Coding feature correctly configured and they have the correct access to the corporate Version Control System. There is also a standard Formatting Template which everyone must use. These options and settings would normally have to be configured separately for each Toad user.

The Development Manager simply uses the Group Policy Editor to select the Windows users in the project team then sets the appropriate Team Coding options, VCS configuration details and location of the Formatting Template through the Toad Policy Editor then publishes the policy out to the Toad Group Policy server.

Each Toad for Oracle 9.1 user has their Options and Settings automatically updated by the Toad Group Policy Manager.

Scenario 2

A DBA wants to set up Toad to have Read-Only data grids for certain users and they also want to be able to prevent all users from saving their passwords.

The DBA simply uses the Group Policy Editor to define two Groups, each with the appropriate list of Windows users. To the first Group, they set the “Use Read Only Queries” Action to Restrict and the Value to True. To both Groups, they set the “Save Oracle Passwords” Action to Restrict and the Value to False (which de-activates the check-box). The changes are then published to the Toad Group Policy server.

Each Toad for Oracle 9.1 user in their corresponding Group then has their Options and Settings automatically updated by the Toad Group Policy Manager.

Additional information is provided in the Toad Policy Editor help file, also available as the GroupPolicyEditor.pdf file.