In direct integration, Linux systems are connected to Active Directory without any additional intermediaries. Indirect integration, on the other hand, involves an identity server that centrally manages Linux systems and connects the whole environment to Active Directory of the server-to-server level.
Active Directory is Not for Linux Of course, one may wonder if Active Directory itself can be used for Linux management. Unfortunately, the traditional directory service was designed specifically to manage Windows systems and their users.
Can I add Linux computers to Active Directory?
Microsoft’s Active Directory (AD) is the go-to directory service for many organizations. If you and your team are responsible for a mixed Windows and Linux environment, then you probably would like to centralize authentication for both platforms. I’ll cover how to add Linux computers to an Active Directory domain .
Joining a Linux system to an Active Directory domain allows you to get the best of both worlds. The process is very simple and can be scripted using Bash or automated using Ansible, especially during the system’s initial setup.
So, does Active Directory have a DNS server?
Microsoft Active Directory environment with DNS server installed in Domain controller and a DHCP server running separately on a different host. All are running on Windows Server 2008 R2. DNS is configured to accept only Secure updates. Two Linux devices running Debian Stretch operating system.
For the purposes of this article, we have used Fedora Core 1 as a Linux operating system, Windows Server 2003 (in native mode) as the Active Directory Controller, and Microsoft’s Services for Unix 3.5 to simplify the extension of the schema.
What is Active Directory authentication in Linux?
In most environments, the Active Directory domain is the central hub for user information, which means that there needs to be some way for Linux systems to access that user information for authentication requests.
This begs the inquiry “What are the best practices for using Active Directory to authenticate users?”
The way I would like it to work would be to add AD users to a group – say linux administrators or linux webserver, and based on their group membership they would/would not be granted access to a particular server.
Does Linux have a directory server?
Linux does have directory server called Open. LDAP, but it requires good understanding and admin skills.