I did a pretty involved investigation of it last summer: If all you are looking to do is sign on to the operating system (logon in Unix), then you can set up a PAM module to do that.  It’s not too hard, but you do need Kerberos installed on the *nix side, which isn’t always the case by default.  (In Server 2003 setting up a Kerberos trust is even part of the Trust Wizard.)  With 2003R2 or FSU installed, AD can integrate with NIS.  I did a presentation on the topic at DEC last spring—Netpro should still have it up or I could sent it offline.

 

Vintela (now owned by Quest) and Centrify do a lot more and integrate nicely with the ADUC GUIs.  The problem with doing it yourself is in a heterogeneous environment your Unix side is likely to be very heterogeneous in itself, forcing you to multiple solutions to integrate with AD.  Then there’s the question of integrating the web servers (Apache, for ex) and applications.  Also, you need somebody who understands both Unix and Windows authentication.

 

Apple has its own AD integration guide for the Mac but I have not looked into it.

 

But can it be done? Absolutely.  The technology is there.

 

AL

Al Maurer
Service Manager, Naming and Authentication Services
IT | Information Technology
Agilent Technologies
(719) 590-2639; Telnet 590-2639
http://activedirectory.it.agilent.com
---------------------------------------------- 
"Cry 'Havoc!' and let slip the dogs of war"  - Anthony, in Julius Caesar III i. 


From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of joe
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 4:25 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] Acitve Directory & Other OS's

 

The proper answer is to kerberize the non-MS platforms. This is not always that easy, I have known grown men who have started crying trying to do it. Kerberos is not easy to wrap your noodle around. That is why products from Centrify and Vintela are so great for companies, it makes this something that can be done in days, weeks, months instead of years (I am serious, I know of a large company that went a couple of years trying to figure out how to do this well and finally just purchased Centrify products to do it, would have saved a fortune had that decision been made initially and if the product had existed). You especially want to look at these products if you have a multidomain forest (called Multiple-realm in the Kerberos world) or do anything a bit different from the standard such as disjoint namespaces, etc. Also they have Group Policy pieces in their products to help manage the non-MS platform machines which could be extremely helpful.

 

You have other options such as using LDAP in PAM modules but anytimes someone says they are using LDAP for authentication my mind immediately kicks back, LDAP isn't an authentication protocol. Sure it has to authenticate users as part of the accessing of the directory, but that isn't the purpose behind it and there are issues that can crop up when you try to do it like for instance passwords in clear text flying all over the network. You can also look at using SAMBA but last I heard, the integration across the various aspects of the platform were nowhere near what you get out of the Centrify and Vintela products.

 

 

   joe

 

 

 


From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Pennell, Ronald B.
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 1:00 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] Acitve Directory & Other OS's

Let say that I want to have a single logon for my users who use windows and Unix/Linux platforms. 

They must maintain separate user account and passwords.  I would like to combine them into the AD.

 


From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Al Mulnick
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 12:03 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [ActiveDir] Acitve Directory & Other OS's

 

Let's attack from another angle then.  What is the end state of what you're trying to accomplish?  In other words, what is it you want to be able to do with these machines and what does "integrate" mean to you?

 

Al

 

On 1/5/06, Pennell, Ronald B. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Did not find what I was looking for on the Archives.  

 

I realize that this is kind of a broad subject.  But, I guess I can say that most issues can be solved by using "middleware" products

Like SAMBA for unix for file and print.  

 

I know in my present organization, my Linux, Unix servers contain their own directory services (user accounts, passwds, etc.)

They have not been integrated into the AD, therefore we do not have the single sign-on for users.

 

Ron

 

 

 


From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Al Mulnick
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 9:53 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [ActiveDir] Acitve Directory & Other OS's

 

The archives of this list would be a good place to start.  You may also want to check out the web sites of centrify and vintella for additional information about it as well as the samba.org .

 

Al

 

On 1/5/06, Pennell, Ronald B. < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Can anyone point me to information on or related to the following
subject?

Issues when integrating AD with other operating systems?  Unix, Linux,
Mac's


Thanks

R. Pennell
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

List info   : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx
List FAQ    : http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspx
List archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/activedir%40mail.activedir.org/

 

 

Reply via email to