Mac Windows Integration

How to Integrate Mac Computers with a Windows Enterprise Network

Likewise Enterprise connects Mac OS X computers with Microsoft Active Directory to integrate them with a Windows enterprise network. The result is that you can centrally manage all your computers -- both Mac OS X workstations and servers as well as Windows computers -- from a central location. Likewise gives you the technology to authenticate Mac users with their AD domain credentials, centrally manage both Windows and Mac user identities, control access to enterprise resources, apply group policies to Mac computers, and specify Mac desktop preferences.

Kerberos for Mac

Likewise authenticates Mac users and groups with Kerberos 5. If your Mac OS X users have been authenticating through a difficult-to-manage ad hoc Kerberos key distribution center or NIS, you can consolidate your authentication systems with Active Directory to ease the burden of managing multiple identity management systems, a time-consuming process that can leave security holes.

Likewise's ability to connect Mac machines to an Active Directory domain immediately makes Active Directory's authentication architecture available to Mac OS X computers. Because Active

Directory functions as a Kerberos key distribution center, Likewise can validate Mac user names and passwords -- including those based on NIS -- with the Kerberos 5 authentication protocol.

Kerberos lets users, groups, and computers communicating over an insecure network prove their identity to one another in a secure manner. For more information about Likewise's Kerberos for Mac solution, see Kerberos Authentication for Linux, Unix, and Mac.

Providing the Foundation to Integrate Macs with a Windows Enterprise

It is for good reason that Mac OS X computers are gaining market share on Windows and nearing the tipping point for wide-spread use in the enterprise: a robust and secure underlying Unix operating system that limits exposure to viruses and other security threats, an easy-to-learn yet powerful graphical user interface, and an Intel chip that allow users to run Windows on their Macs.

Likewise effectively gives you the basis to use Mac OS X workstations and servers in your IT enterprise and centrally manage them en masse with Active Directory -- just as you already manage your Windows computers, users, and groups.

For example, Likewise Enterprise provides group policy for Mac to manage a variety of Mac settings from Active Directory, including the built-in Mac firewall.

Likewise also integrates Apple's Workgroup Manager product with Active Directory so you can specify Managed Client Settings (MCX) from AD and manage them as group policy objects.

For more information about how Likewise provides the foundation for Mac OS X Windows integration and interoperability in the enterprise, see Overcoming Barriers to Active Directory Integration.

For more information about how Likewise can solve a wide range of Mac Windows integration issues, see An Overview of Likewise Enterprise Features.

For information about running Unix with Windows in the enterprise, see Unix Windows Integration.