Group Policy should not be applied when the connection speed between the domain controller and the computer obtaining the policy falls below a certain threshold. You can configure the settings for slow links, so if your design will include computers obtaining Group Policy across a slow network link, you should plan accordingly. The default slow link rate is 500 kbps (kilobits per second).
The link speed is detected by using Network Location Awareness (NLA) during the preprocessing phase of Group Policy processing. When a slow link is detected, not all group policy components are processed. Table 4-8 lists components and whether each is processed when a slow link has been detected.
You can configure the slow link speed for computers or users in Policies\AdministrativeTemplates\System\Group Policy in either the Computer Configuration or User Configuration container, respectively. The setting, called Group Policy Slow Link Detection, is measured in Kbps.
The setting can also be applied for User Profiles within the Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\System\User Profiles container and is called Slow Network Connection Timeout For User Profiles.
The Do Not Detect Slow Network Connections policy setting disables slow link detection. Processed as client-side extensions, the computer policy can be large, which can negatively affect performance on a slow link. By default, only the Administrative templates and security-related policy settings are processed when a slow link has been detected. The Allow Processing Across A Slow Network Connection setting is used to control processing of these extensions on a slow link.
