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 Channel Futures

Best Practices


Active Directory Integration Evolves for Ubuntu 10.10

  • Written by Christopher Tozzi
  • November 24, 2010

Among the most rapidly evolving niches in the Linux enterprise market is integration with Microsoft Active Directory.  We last visited this area back in July 2010, but a lot has changed since then, with new partnerships announced and new software released.  Here are some of the highlights of these developments, with a focus on their relationship to the latest Ubuntu release, 10.10.

Unless you prefer the do-it-yourself approach to AD integration via Winbind and Samba, there are only two major players in this niche: Centrify and Likewise.  The two companies offer a suite of similar products, available in both free-to-use and licensed versions, that “automagically” join Unix-based hosts to a Windows domain and share its resources.

The software behind Centrify and Likewise hasn’t changed too much since we last compared the products in the summer, when both had recently pushed out new releases.  Their channel, however, has evolved in important ways.

Centrify-Canonical partnership

For one, Centrify last week announced a partnership with Canonical that puts its software in the Ubuntu partner repository on Ubuntu 10.04 and 10.10.  That may not be the most exciting happening in the Ubuntu world this year, but its importance shouldn’t be underestimated: Centrify is one of only nine applications in the partner repository, and as such enjoys an opportunity to stand out within the Ubuntu Software Center.

Centrify’s move into the partner repository is also remarkable given the fact that a few months ago it was not available from any Ubuntu repository.  The change means that Centrify has now placed itself on a more even keel with Likewise, which could be installed from the Ubuntu Software Center (and its predecessors) since the time of Ubuntu 8.04.  It also highlights Centrify’s focus on ensuring compatibility with Ubuntu, an area which involved some embarrassing bugginess for Likewise immediately following the Ubuntu 10.10. release.

Likewise and the cloud

Likewise’s strategy, meanwhile, has diverged from that of Centrify in certain respects over the last few months, as the former increasingly focuses on the cloud.  The company announced a new virtual appliance in August, and was full of enthusiasm for the cloud-centric features of Ubuntu 10.10 Server Edition when it debuted last month.  Note, in particular, Likewise’s emphasis on its blog on interoperability between the cloud and other parts of the network:

Gone are the days when it was one server box talking to another server box on the same rack or somewhere across the room. Now physical servers and virtual servers may share the same physical space or are located thousands of miles apart, while still being treated as part of the same network topology.

That’s a huge challenge for systems administrators. How do you coordinate security over that kind of layout? Application communication? User authentication? It was difficult enough when just dealing with different operating systems. Now sysadmins have to manage virtual and cloud-based machines as well.

We’ve yet to see any publicly announced collaboration between Canonical and Likewise in the cloud arena, but it seems a safe bet that this is an area to watch as a new year approaches.  My money is on Likewise unveiling technology to help share resources and authenticate users across a geographically dispersed network involving a variety of different operating systems and hosts.

Whichever directions Likewise and Centrify follow in the future, however, Ubuntu server administrators can take comfort in the fact that the software already available provides a comprehensive solution to AD integration, and represents a huge improvement over the era when hacking Samba configuration files was the only way to make Linux and AD get along.

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Tags: Cloud Service Providers Digital Service Providers MSPs VARs/SIs Best Practices Cloud Open Source

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3 comments

  1. Avatar Richard November 29, 2010 @ 3:25 pm
    Reply

    Mixed system symbiosis does certainly appear to be gelling of late and it’s nice to read articles like this which further raise awareness of what’s on offer.

    It’s more relevant for me as I host a hands-on Linux Integration workshop which revolves around Likewise (Open amp; Enterprise) at it’s core, as such I was indeed aware of the 10.10 *problem* and have resultantly stayed with 10.04LTS (a great release anyway), however, with regard to Samba (amp; CIF’s), we’ve experienced no in-depth config scenarios with mapped Samba shares and cover easy and quick client/server shared folder mappings during the day, admittedly we do skirt around AD somewhat with connectivity being more NT style but it’s no huge admin overhead considering how well and easily it hangs together.
    We also feature inclusion of a Turnkey Linux based PDC which offers MS Samba amp; share authentication/connection O.O.T.B, this too can be easily integrated with AD and pull client creds across quite happily. Likewise Enterprise cell amp; group policy as another really nice module we present during which we highlight how to auto-map Ubuntu client home DIR’s to an NFS box (amont other things).

    If anyone fancies learning some Linux to AD integration skills we offer a full days hands-on workshop for only £99 per student. We cover everything from installing a base Ubuntu desktop OS, Exchange and AD integration via Likewise, Thin Client delivery (LTSP) and even configure our own OpenBSD mail server (if that’s your thing). Our next scheduled session at our own training venue in Leeds (UK) isn’t until March 2011 however we’d be more than happy to come “On-Tour” and visit you. Feel free to get in touch, here’s the course breakdown –
    http://www.mebbi.net/skills-workshop/

  2. Avatar Christopher Tozzi November 29, 2010 @ 9:23 pm
    Reply

    Richard: thanks for stopping by–your workshop sounds great. Out of curiosity, have you worked with Centrify at all or only with Likewise? If you’re familiar with both, is there any particular reason you focus on Likewise in your workshop?

  3. Avatar Richard November 29, 2010 @ 10:38 pm
    Reply

    Hi Christopher,

    No, to be honest I’ve had very little exposure to Centrify and focus on Likewise merely as it’s just how things panned out from pre-workshop evaluation for my own needs. During this period things progressed and via a series of blog posts and forum queries I developed an amicable support dialogue with Likewise, they were incredibly supportive helped me through several aspects of Ramp;D I was struggling with, as such I like to honour their assistance by having their product central to the workshop.
    That said, the flip side is that it is an open world of open technology and it would be ideal if I could develop content to include both (and more) options (As mentioned I do already include both Samba PDC amp; LTSP solutions). It’s already a very busy and finely tuned day but development (like life..!) is a continuing process and I’m happy to refine things if needs dictate. The aim is not just to present one product but to offer choice and a resulting “best solution” based on an attendees different business requirements, budget, skill level and industry technology available.

    Yep, it’s quite a day 🙂

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