TOM KEMP'S CENTRIFY BLOG

Setting the Bar Even Higher: 100+ Platforms and 200+ Cross-Platform Group Policies

Monday, August 6, 2007

Centrify is very proud to be leading the innovation wave of integrating cross-platform systems and applications together leveraging Microsoft Active Directory. For example, Centrify was the first solution to offer Group Policies for the Mac environment and the first to offer Active Directory Federation Services web single sign-on agents for non-Microsoft web platforms, among many others.

In fact, the innovation runs even deeper: DirectControl is originally based on the very first commercial product to actually integrate non-Microsoft platforms into Active Directory. (Side history lesson: in a past life my co-founders Adam and Paul built a product called DirectoryPlus, which Centrify acquired when we were founded. That became "soup-starter" for our now industry-leading DirectControl solution, which is in use by over 25% of the Fortune 50).

Today we hit two additional milestones that I felt warranted a mention in my Centrify blog.

100+ Platforms

The first milestone is that DirectControl has now uniquely blown by the 100 mark in terms of number of flavors and versions of UNIX, Linux and Mac OS X that DirectControl supports.

(Side reminder: Centrify DirectControl effectively turns a non-Microsoft server, workstation or device into an Active Directory client, enabling an organization to secure that system using the same authentication, access control and Group Policy services currently deployed for its Windows systems. DirectControl supports popular Linux distributions such Red Hat Linux, Novell SUSE Linux, Fedora Core and Debian Linux, as well as popular UNIX platforms such as Sun Solaris, IBM AIX, HP HP-UX, and Silicon Graphics IRIX, plus VMware ESX and Mac OS X.)

The latest release of DirectControl — version 3.0.7, which will be shipping on August 15, 2007 — has extended the industry's broadest list to additional flavors and versions of UNIX and Linux, including:

• Ubuntu Desktop and Ubuntu Server 6.06 and 7.04
• CentOS 2.1, 3.8, 4.4 and 5.0
• Oracle Enterprise Linux 4
• Debian 4
• Scientific Linux 3.0.8, 4.4 and 5.0
• Fedora Core 5, 6 and 7
• OpenSUSE 10.1 and 10.2

See our Supported Platforms page for a complete list of OS versions supported by DirectControl. And no, we don't triple count versions (i.e. the three options of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.0 — AS, ES and WS — to us count as one flavor, not three). And yes, what is listed on our external web page as a supported platform does in fact match what you as a customer can actually download and install today (or in the case of the new OSes listed above, on August 15th) — so no baiting and switching going on here.

But no matter how fuzzy you want your math to be when you count, the bottom line is DirectControl offers the broadest and deepest range of support for cross-platform environments, and analysts agree:

"By extending its authentication and access control to the widest range of non-Microsoft operating systems, Centrify has made Microsoft Active Directory an appealing directory in which to centralize identity management in a multi-platform environment," said Jon Oltsik, Senior Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group.

200+ Group Policies

As mentioned above, our DirectControl solution not only extends Microsoft Active Directory's authentication and access control capabilities across multiple platforms, but we also extend the Group Policy infrastructure as well.

Historically, DirectControl has offered Group Policies for UNIX and Linux systems (targeted mainly at server configuration), for the Mac environment (to enable desktop lockdown), and even Group Policies to configure our own software.

DirectControl 3.0.7 now also makes Centrify DirectControl the first solution that lets security personnel leverage Group Policy to centrally configure the security settings of the popular OpenSSH open source network connectivity tool running on UNIX and Linux systems. Examples of new OpenSSH Group Policies include: controlling who is allowed to SSH to a set of computers; controlling the time allowed for a successful login; displaying a security notice at login; and preventing root user login via SSH. DirectControl also adds Group Policies for the PuTTY open source SSH ("Secure Shell") client for Microsoft Windows. New policies have also been added for the Mac OS platform, including the ability to control login and logout scripts with Group Policy as well as improved mobile user configuration management capabilities.

So the point is we are now adding Group Policies to manage the configuration of popular UNIX- and Linux-based applications. I started adding up the Group Policies we offer for UNIX/Linux systems, the Mac, third-party applications such as OpenSSH and PuTTY, and our DirectControl software, and was impressed that we offer well over 200 Group Policies for cross-platform configuration management — with over 100 for the Mac alone!! And we not only offer Group Policies that apply to computers, but also to users as well. Customers tell us that we run circles around alternative solutions in terms of breadth and depth of policy management, as well as total number, and I think DirectControl 3.0.7 even furthers that lead.

Bottom line: Not only does Centrify lead in the number of platforms we extend Active Directory to, but we also offer the broadest and deepest set of Group Policies for non-Microsoft platforms and applications in the market today.

See and Hear Centrify at LinuxWorld

Finally, if you are in San Francisco the week of August 6, 2007, stop by LinuxWorld at Moscone Center and say hello. Our CTO Paul Moore is a featured speaker and is presenting on "Authentication in a Heterogeneous Environment" on Thursday, August 9. Paul will be examining the technical challenges as well as the compliance and efficiency benefits of centralizing UNIX/Linux identity management within Microsoft Active Directory. I will be participating in the panel discussion "Real-World Interoperability in Heterogeneous Environments" on Tuesday, August 7. And of course we have a booth there as well, and our DirectAudit solution is up for "Best of Show" in the security category, so wish "DA" luck!

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