SugarCRM
For this article we used SugraCRM version 5.2.0a. After installing SugarCRM, login as admin. Click on the Admin link on the top right. Under Users>User Management>Create New User, create a new user with the details:

Fedora Directory Service can be thought of the Active Directory for Linux. It uses LDAP and provides graphical console for configuration. (Source: directory.fedoraproject.org).

First Name: Shekhar
Last Name: Govindarajan
User Name: shekhar.govindarajan
Password: secret
Confirm Password: secret
Status: Active

Note that it is important to use the logon name in Active Directory as the User Name in SugarCRM. The other details can be different. The password you supply here is the SugarCRM password. SugarCRM will try to authenticate the user against the Active Directory as well as this password. If either match, the user is allowed to log in. Typically, you may like to give the users, only the Active Directory password and set the SugarCRM password to something that is known only to you, so that it can be used a fallback during occasions, like when the directory service is down. Next, we will need to tell SugarCRM about our Active Directory. For this click on Admin (top right link). Click on System Settings. Under 'LDAP Authentication Support', check 'Enable LDAP' and then fill in the following details:

Server: ad.pcqlinux.net
Port Number: 389
Base DN: CN=Users,DC=pcqlinux,DC=net
Bind Attribute: userPrincipalName
Login Attribute: sAMAccountName
Authenticated User: CN=Administrator,CN=Users,DC=pcqlinux,DC=net
Authenticated Password: pass@word1

Note that for Server you will need to specify the IP address or the hostname (ad.pcqlinux.net in our case) of the Active Directory. Click on 'Save'. Log out and try login as shekhar.govindarajan with the password as pass@word2 ? the Active Directory password for Shekhar.

Joomla
For this article we used Joomla version 1.5.9. After installing Joomla, login as admin in the Joomla Administration Login. Click on Site>User Manager. Click on 'New'. Type in the following details:

Name: Shekhar Govindarajan
Username: shekhar.govindarajan
E-mail: shekhar.govindarajan@pcqlinux.net
Group: Public Back-end - Manager

Note the the Username must match the logon name of Active Directory. If you want this user to login only using his active directory password you can leave the password fields blank, else the user can login using his Joomla password too. Next, Click on Extensions> Plugin Manager. Click on the plugin named 'Authentication ? LDAP'. On the left, select 'Yes' for Enabled. On the right, under Parameters, type in the following:

Host: ad.pcqlinux.net
Port: 389
LDAP V3: Yes
Negotiate TLS: No
Follow referrals: No
Authorisation Method: Bind and Search
Base DN: CN=Users,DC=pcqlinux,DC=net
Search String: sAMAccountName=[search]
User's DN:
Connect username: cn=Administrator,cn=Users,dc=pcqlinux,dc=net
Connect password: pass@word1

Note that for Host you will need to specify the IP address or the hostname (ad.pcqlinux.net in our case) of the Active Directory. Leave the other fields to their default. Click on 'Save'.