Startup Extends Active Directory To Linux Systems

KingFishKingFish
edited February 2005 in Science & Tech
Centrify Corp. has released DirectControl, a Microsoft Active Directory-based program that enables network administrators to use AD's identity, access and policy management for not only Windows, but also Unix and Linux systems.
According to Centrify CEO Tom Kemp, with DirectControl "administrators can reduce management costs associated with user account management, strengthen security throughout their organization and improve user productivity through the consolidation of multiple user IDs without having to go in and make costly changes to either their AD or Unix/Linux infrastructures."

Of course, this kind of integration can be done by hand using Server 2003, Microsoft's Services for Unix 3.5 and OpenLDAP on Linux. With this approach though, administrators must manually configure the user objects for the Linux users.

Other commercial products, such as Vintela Inc.'s Vintela Authentication Services, require changes to be made to the existing Linux identity and password management programs. Vintela's solution is to migrate users to AD, while Centrify's approach enables AD administrators to manage Red Hat Linux, Solaris, VMware ESX, and HP/UX users without having to modify the native Unix and Linux identity management systems, Kemp said.
Source: eWeek

Comments

  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited February 2005
    nice..... very very nice...

    you know, active directory is probably very underrated. It is actually an amazing thing. There are whole markets that could be revolutionized by AD.....
  • KwitkoKwitko Sheriff of Banning (Retired) By the thing near the stuff Icrontian
    edited February 2005
    Geez, prime, how much is MS paying you to shill? ;D

    I'm dying to get AD set up in our office, but first I'm trying to get my boss to switch the nearly half of our office still using Win98 to at least Win2K. That's about an easy a task as converting Thrax to a liberal. ;D
  • CycloniteCyclonite Tampa, Florida Icrontian
    edited February 2005
    I'm with prime. AD is a wonderful thing.
  • KingFishKingFish
    edited February 2005
    Oh yes, AD is quite good. I think it's underrated too. Combine active directory with group policy editor and you can manage the network quite nicely and easily. That along with PCAnywhere is what I consider the tools I cannot do without.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited February 2005
    But the real untapped potential comes when you use AD as an ldap server and you start writing custom PHP or .net code that uses AD as the ldap service - you can administrate users on your local intranet as well as customer databases, or authentication, etc. For example, if i wanted to make short-media a domain, I could tie vBulletin in to use active directory as the user database for authentication. Then, if I wanted to tie in a particular user with my local network, it would be easy to do. We could do all kinds of crazy things like user home directories, etc.
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