Top Reasons

Enterprise Organizations are Integrating their Unix and Linux Platforms with Active Directory through Vintela Authentication Services . . .

More than 500 companies, and more than 3 million installed seats, use Vintela Authentication Services

1. Enables Centralized Authentication and Single Sign-on 

2. Helps Organizations Comply with Industry Regulations

3. Leverages the Secure and Compliant Authorization and Access Capabilities of Active Directory across Mixed Platforms

4. Provides a Foundation for Simplified Identity Management

5. Offers Extensive Cross-Platform Support

6. Offers a Safe and Controlled Path for NIS Migration and Directory Consolidation

7. Integrates with Other Identity Management Tools and Platforms

8. Easy to Implement and Use

9. Provides Enterprise Group Policy

10. Offers Significant ROI

1.    Enables Centralized Authentication and Single Sign-on
Vintela Authentication Services natively integrates Unix and Linux platforms and applications with the secure and compliant Kerberos and LDAP authentication capabilities of Active Directory. This means that a single identity in AD can provide a Kerberos credential for authentication to non-Windows systems including:

• Unix and Linux platforms (see the complete list of supported platforms)
• Applications that rely on OS-based authentication
• SAP, Siebel, Oracle, and DB2
• Open-source single sign-on solutions such as OpenSSH, PuTTY, Apache, and Samba
• Any application that is GSSAPI-enabled
• Any application that is Kerberos-aware

2.    Helps Organizations Comply with Industry Regulations
A common theme of virtually every regulation or internal security initiative is securing user access to valuable corporate resources and data. Vintela Authentication Services helps organizations control and safeguard the access of network resources and applications by leveraging Active Directory’s native capabilities for non-Windows systems that may not enjoy the same benefits. It provides a more secure and compliant alternative to Network Information Service (NIS). Examples of industry regulations and standards include:

• Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)
• Healthcare Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
• The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB)
• Statement on Auditing Standards No. 70 (SAS 70)
• Title 21 Code of Federal Regulations (21 CFR Part 11 FDA)
• European Data Protective Directive

3.    Leverages the Secure and Compliant Authorization and Access Capabilities of Active Directory across Mixed Platforms
Active Directory’s combination of Kerberos and LDAP, along with the user and group management capabilities provided by AD, provide an unbeatably secure and compliant authorization and access infrastructure for Windows resources. Vintela Authentication Services allows that infrastructure to natively extend to Unix and Linux platforms and many Unix/Linux-based applications. Through Vintela Authentication Services, Unix and Linux systems functionally become “full citizens” in Active Directory.

4.    Provides a Foundation for Simplified Identity Management
Vintela Authentication Services provides the enabling technology to allow organizations to simplify identity management based on an existing investment in Active Directory. Through the product, AD-based identity management solutions—such as those for provisioning, password management, and auditing and reporting—from Quest and other vendors, can naturally extend to non-Windows systems. In addition, Vintela Authentication Services can dramatically simplify an existing meta-directory or synchronization solution by allowing a high number of systems to participate in an AD-based identity management infrastructure rather than a more cumbersome, expensive, and difficult to manage synchronization scenario.

5.    Offers Extensive Cross-Platform Support
Vintela Authentication Services fully supports the widest range of Unix and Linux platforms in the industry. Each platform has been validated and tested with the full functionality of Vintela Authentication Services. For a complete list of supported Unix and Linux platforms and OS versions visit the supported platforms list.

• Solaris
• HP-UX
• AIX
• RedHat Linux
• SuSE Linux
• Fedora Linux
• Debian Linux
• VMWare ESX Server

6.    Offers a Safe and Controlled Path for NIS Migration and Directory Consolidation
Vintela Authentication Services provides a number of powerful capabilities that streamline the process of joining Unix/Linux systems and users to the AD domain and facilitate migration from multiple authentication mechanisms, identities, and directories to a single Active Directory-based infrastructure for all systems and users. These tools and features provide organizations with the flexibility to implement the solution at their own pace and specific to their own unique requirements augmented by the safety of roll-back capabilities and “what if” testing prior to going live. These features and tools include:

• Ownership Alignment Tool
• Unix Personality Management
• Mapped User Mode
• RFC 2307 NIS Map import Wizard
• RFC 2307 NIS Map Editor

7. Integrates with Other Identity Management Tools and Platforms
Due to its standards-based approach to identity integration, Vintela Authentication Services seamlessly integrates with AD-centric identity management tools and security platforms such as Microsoft Identity Integration Server (MIIS). Through this strategy—with all Unix and Linux identities as part of the Active Directory domain—any standards-based tool for provisioning, password management, audit, reporting, Group Policy management, or role management that works with AD will also work for those non-Windows systems that have become “full citizens” in AD through Vintela Authentication Services. Quest solutions that provide this level of integration include:

• ActiveRoles Server
• Quest Password Manager
• Quest Reporter
• InTrust for Active Directory
• Group Policy Manager
• Quest Privilege Manager for Unix
• Quest SafeKeeping

8. Easy to Implement and Use
Vintela Authentication Services includes all of the tools necessary for robust, safe set up and migration from previously disparate Unix identity stores and authentication mechanisms to Active Directory. Vintela Authentication Services:

• Installs on networks with minimal disruption to users and administrators
• Addresses mixed network environments with low, no, or high network bandwidth
• Continues to operate even if Active Directory or network components fail
• Includes both schema-based and "schemaless" options

9. Provides Enterprise Group Policy
Vintela Authentication Services’ Group Policy capabilities radically transform the way administrators perform configuration management tasks on Unix and Linux machines.  Rather than "touching" each machine, changing configuration scripts manually, with these Enterprise Group Policy capabilities modeled on Windows Group Policy, administrators can now author a Unix or Linux policy once, automatically apply and enforce that policy on the targeted systems.  One change affects many systems. The product provides powerful Group Policy features extended to Unix and Linux including:

• File copying and customization
• Scripts
• Client-side extension interface
• ADM template extensibility
• Integration with Quest Group Policy Manager
• Cron, sudo, and a number of other powerful policies

10. Offers Significant ROI
Simply eliminating the need to manage and maintain multiple Unix/Linux identities, identity stores, and authentication mechanisms provides significant ROI for users of Vintela Authentication Services. However, the opportunities for increasing operational efficiency, compliance, and security extend beyond directory consolidation and migration. Other areas of ROI available through Vintela Authentication Services include:

• Streamlined password management
• Elimination of NIS
• Centralized authentication
• Streamlined provisioning and de-provisioning
• Many identity management support tasks can be handled by the Windows help desk rather than more expensive Unix IT staff
• Reduced reliance on expensive and cumbersome synchronization solutions

*This product includes software developed by SAP AG