Comparing Centrify Express to Other Free Active Directory Integration Tools

Revelations of a Linux SysAdmin Blog

Linux admin blog Revelations of a Linux SysAdmin wrote the following when comparing free AD Bridge solutions, highlighting the complexities of Samba winbind and the lack of stability of other products:

"There are 3 major ways to join a Linux box to a Windows domain / Active Directory: Samba, Likewise-Open, and Centrify. Here's a quick summary of my experience with all 3:

Samba: Great for serving printers and file shares via the SMB protocol. Far too complicated and overkill for just joining a simple server for domain authentication.

Likewise-Open: Works pretty well for domain authentication, but uses registry hives instead of UNIX-style config files, which makes it kind of a pain to troubleshoot sometimes. I've not been impressed with the stability of this product - it seems to get confused at times and need rejoined to the domain.

Centrify Express: Works very well out of the box for domain authentication, and licenses can be purchased to use group policies and other administrative tasks. Also works very well with Mac OSX."

Ghacks.net

The Ghacks Technology Network wrote this review entitled "Easily connect Linux to a Windows domain" that highlights the issues users have been having with other Active Directory Bridge solutions and was shocked at how easy Express is compared to alternatives:

"The task of joining Linux to a Windows domain can be a challenge. I have covered it before here, but many users have had issues with Likewise Open either not being able to join or not being able to reliably remain joined. Naturally, if you are able to connect successfully with Likewise Open, you should stick with that. But if you are looking for an easier method of joining a domain, I have found a great solution … Centrify Express.

Centrify Express is free tool offered by the company that makes various Single Sign-On tools, of which only Express is available free and easily for the Linux operating system. Once you have used this tool to join a Windows Domain you will be shocked at how easily it is done."

Ninjix's Blog

Technology blogger Ninjix made the switch to Centrify Express and even wrote a Puppet Module for Centrify Express. Ninjix wrote this upon his first exposure to Centrify Express:

"I've been really pleased with Canonical's new partnership with Centrify, one of the big names in Unix/Linux/Mac Active Directory integration. For the last month, I've started to replace Likewise Open on all of our machines at work."

Here are the reasons that Ninjix made the switch from Likewise Open to Centrify Express:

"In short, the Likewise Open that was released for Ubuntu 10.04 LTS was buggy and caused disruptions for our users. It was not ready for an LTS release. User login cache expiry only lasting for four hours stopped my laptop users cold when they tried to work from home. There was also a security update released few months ago that failed to upgrade properly and fouled apt-get.

Looking at the Launchpad site for likewise-open, I still see a lot of important bugs that remain open. It is my personal feeling that Likewise hasn't taken their Ubuntu partnership seriously with the community.

Centrify Express has so far not let us down and "just works". I also like their Unix approach compared to Likewise's Windows registry syntax."

Technology Against You

Blogger David M. Burke wrote this article "Linux and Active Directory Round 2" documenting how he implemented Active Directory and Linux integration that had these requirements:

"It also must be idiot proof. We don't want users saving on the desktop not realizing the desktop is not part of their smb share. It also must be cloneable. There should be absolutely no required interaction with the computer after putting on this image."

The solution he picked?

"I choose to use Centrify for this. Likewise open is another option, but it seemed more buggy and I hate the way you have to configure it."

In an earlier blog post David also said this about Centrify Express:

"Ubuntu 10.04 Server: Centrify worked very well for this. Likewise open has many bugs that annoy me in Ubuntu so that's what really motivated me to try something new. I ran into a little trouble installing it, but after running apt-get -f install it worked fine. Likewise in Ubuntu has a default domain bug and it also doesn't seem to like installing on my Proxmox template for some reason."

"Tell Them, My Song" Blog

Technology blogger Winfried Maus wrote this:

"If you want to authenticate against a Microsoft Active Directory server (which we do at our company), you might want to install Centrify Express on your Linux server. Although Centrify Express is NOT Open Source, I found the free edition of their server to be BY FAR the best and most reliable tool to integrate Linux machines into a Microsoft Windows domain structure."

Workswithu.com

An Ubuntu focused blog called workswithu.com (that is now integrated with the website TheVarGuy.com) did a comparative review of Centrify Express and Likewise Open, and Centrify Express was preferred in more of the categories reviewed. Here is a scorecard of the workswithu.com review based on the category, preferred solution that the reviewer calls out (with "—" being a draw or no clearly preferred solution), and highlighted comments.

Category	Preferred Solution	Reviewer Comments
Installation	—	Reviewer feels both products are "pretty straightforward" installation-wise
Joining a domain	Centrify	"Centrify has the advantage of offering the option to join at install time … "
Out-of-the-box configuration	Centrify	Other solution "is more complicated" and not "out-of-the-box" … prefers Centrify's approach of "having all home folders in the same place"
Customization	—	Centrify "adheres much more closely to a traditional UNIX approach"
Licensing	—	Reviewer does not have strong opinion
Restricting logins	Centrify	Centrify's approach "is a bit better … because it allows access to be granted not only at the group level but also on a per-user basis"
Upgrade path / conclusions	Centrify	"Centrify, with its broader suite of products, offers a bit more flexibility when it comes to upgrading"

In summary, for this review Centrify Express was ahead in four of the categories, did not lose in any category, and drew even in three categories; that is, Centrify Express went 4-0-3 while the other solution went 0-4-3. It should be noted that Centrify Express came up well ahead in this particular review even though only one-third of the Express solution was reviewed. The reviewer only reviewed the DirectControl Express component, and did not review the other two-thirds of Centrify Express — DirectManage Express and our Centrify-enabled open source solutions. The reviewer after the fact realized this, and noted in a comment: "good point about DirectManage Express. I was actually planning to write that up separately (although in retrospect it is definitely worth mentioning as a feature unique to Centrify, so thanks for bringing it up here) — stay tuned."

The VARGuy also subsequently commented about Centrify's partnership with Canonical and drew attention to Centrify Express's better compatibility with Ubuntu:

"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."

Showing My Geek

This blogger wrote a post on "Active Directory authentication for Linux and Mac" and said this about Centrify Express:

"One of my favorite features other than the single login, is that you can authenticate Active Directory users accessing Samba shares at add an easier way to add users, keep track of who has access. … The Centrify Express is free and accomplishes exactly what I was looking for. If you want to integrate Active Directory authentication into you Linux, Unix, or Mac machines check out Centrify Express it may be just what you are looking for."

User Posting on Spiceworks

Here's what one Ubuntu user recently wrote about Centrify Express vis-a-vis another solution:

"I gave Centrify a try and I was very impressed. I did one command and everything was working almost to well. I started checking common problem spots, reviewed what the scripts did in my etc folder, and eyed my DC for weak/failed auth attempts. So far it all looks good … shocking.

I'm not going to make Centrify out to be the best thing since sliced bread … but I was pretty much blown away with the simplicity of the package and the level of integration it provided on an Ubuntu system.

I give this package a strong recommendation."

Here's what another Ubuntu user has to say about making the switch to Centrify Express from Likewise Open for Ubuntu:

"I stumbled upon Centrify this morning on Ubuntu 10.10. Up until now I have been using LikeWiseOpen on our school workstations. I must say that I am really really impressed!"

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Centrify appreciates these journalists and bloggers taking the time to review Centrify Express and we appreciate the kind words highlighted above.