Integrating Mac OS X with Active Directory

BANGALORE, INDIA: A key component of any modern computing environment, directory services allow organizations to centralize information  about users, groups, and computing resources. A network-based repository consolidates resources, simplifies system management, and reduces support and administration costs. At the same time, it benefits users by enabling them to access enterprise resources from anywhere on the network. Thus, a directory services infrastructure offers advantages for both administrators and end users.

Of course, the full benefits of directory services can only be realized when all of your desktop, laptop, and server systems are integrated into the same directory services infrastructure. This goal has been difficult to achieve in the past due to the proliferation of proprietary directory services solutions.

With the introduction of the Active Directory (AD) plug-in in Mac OS X v10.3 (Tiger), Apple made a concerted effort to enable IT administrators to integrate Mac OS X clients and servers easily into existing Active Directory infrastructures. While every Active Directory installation is different (especially in the enterprise space), Mac OS X integrates well with the vast majority of them, and with minimum effort.

Whatever combination of Mac, Windows, and Linux systems your organization uses, you no longer need to maintain a separate directory or separate user records to support your OS X systems. Users can move effortlessly between different computers while still adhering to enterprise policies for strong authentication and password-protected access to network resources.

Apple’s support for Active Directory within Mac OS X enables Mac clients and servers to integrate smoothly into existing AD environments, and provides the option of deploying a single directory services infrastructure that can support both Windows and Mac clients.

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