Likewise Enterprise is an enterprise software solution that improves management and interoperability of Windows®, Linux®, UNIX®, and Macintosh® systems to considerably reduce IT costs and enhance security. Using familiar Windows-based tools, system administrators can easily and seamlessly integrate non-Windows systems with Microsoft® Active Directory™.

Likewise Enterprise key benefits

• Simplifies your network
• Increases operational efficiency
• Improves network security with granular access control
• Improves system configuration
• Centralises administration and reduce costs
• Enables and demonstrates regulatory compliance
• Enforces consistent security policies across the enterprise

Centralise Authentication of your Mixed Network with Likewise Enterprise
Likewise Enterprise is an enterprise software solution that allows seamless integration of Linux®, UNIX® and Mac systems with Microsoft® Active Directory™. Organizations of all sizes running mixed networks and mixed identity management systems (such as non-networked authentication and Network Information System (NIS)) can use Likewise Enterprise to allow UNIX, Linux and other systems/applications to use Microsoft Active Directory for their authentication needs.

You can quickly realize the value of Likewise Enterprise because it is the only solution that allows you to download and deploy to Active Directory with or without schema extensions in less than 5 minutes. Likewise Enterprise will improve the efficiency of your IT staff, strengthen network security and help you comply with regulatory requirements and Sarbanes Oxley.

Active Directory- based Authentication and Authorization for Linux, UNIX and Mac OS X

• Join non-Windows servers to Microsoft Active Directory in less than 5 minutes
• Centralized administration including user provisioning and deprovisioning for Linux, UNIX and Mac OS X.
• Provides a single user name and password for Windows and non-Windows systems.
• Only solution with a flexible deployment model that allows you to extend the AD schema or not – but maintain full product functionality either way
• Support for multiple forests with one-way and two-way cross forest trusts.
• Credential caching in the event of temporary loss of connectivity with the Active Directory Domain Controller.
• Likewise Cell Technology allows custom mapping of an AD-user to a set of UNIX attributes and can provide users with different primary and second group memberships on different machines.

Group Policy-Based Management

• Leader in Group Policy support with 50+ policies – including policies for Security, Authentication and Identification, Logon, Display, Message, Logging and Audit, File System, and Tasks.
• Full Integration with the Group Policy Management Console and Group Policy Object Editor.
• Enables one to many management of UNIX, Linux and Mac configuration settings.
• Consistently implement security settings across the enterprise.
• The only solution that allows you to filter group policies to apply only to specific platforms.

Directory Migration

• Import Linux, UNIX, and Mac OS X passwd and group files -- typically /etc/passwd and /etc/group -- and automatically map UIDs and GIDs to users and groups defined in Active Directory.
• Scripting layer and migration tools allow access to data in transparent fashion regardless of how you deploy.
• Resolve conflicts and ambiguous user names before you commit the changes.
• Generate a Windows automation script to associate the Unix and Linux UIDs and GIDs with Active Directory users and groups.

Reporting and Audit

• Pre-defined reports make it easy to view access privilege for all users, groups, containers, and systems managed with Likewise Enterprise.
• Permits customization of output, including scoping, filtration, column selection, and data limits.
• Directly output data to screen, print, or save to HTML, XML, or CSV formats for use in third party reporting tools such as Excel or Crystal Reports.
• Easily generate a report that displays what settings within group policies are enabled for Linux, UNIX, and Mac OS X systems through the Group Policy Management Console.

Single Sign On for Enterprise Applications

• Enables single sign-on for any enterprise application that supports Kerberos and LDAP including Samba, Apache, SSH, NFS, WebSphere, JBoss, Tomcat, SAP, Oracle, MySQL.
• Built-In support for Apache, SSH, and Samba.
  

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Why Customers Choose Likewise Enterprise

Likewise Enterprise is the leading solution for integrating Linux, UNIX and Mac systems with Microsoft Active Directory. Likewise Enterprise customers include leading enterprise companies in financial services, technology, education, and government industries. Customers repeatedly choose Likewise Enterprise over competitive solutions highlighting the following key features and benefits.

Deploy to Active Directory your way with the flexible modes of deployment
Likewise Enterprise is the only solution with support for extending the Active Directory schema using standard RFC 2307 extensions or configuring Active Directory to store UNIX and Linux information in standard container objects without any schema modifications.

• Only solution that supports updating the AD schema or deploying in non-schema mode for full product functionality without any changes to the AD schema
• Only solution that allows you to install in local mode and generate UID from Windows SID
• Option to store data on actual AD objects or in Program Data container
• Scripting layer and migration tools allow access to data in transparent fashion regardless of how you deploy

Best support for authentication needs in complex Active Directory environments
Likewise Enterprise provides robust support for complex AD environments with Likewise Software Cell technology and provides the best integration in networks with multiple AD forests.

• True integration with forest-wide ID mappings
• Support for multiple forests with one-way and two-way cross forest trusts
• Likewise Software Cells fully integrated with AD Organizational Units
• Ability to join computers directly into specified OUs
• Full scripting support simplifies integration with provisioning systems

Leader in SuDo, Automount, and Crontab management via Group Policy

• Able to support the storage and deployment of complex sudo and configuration files
• Ability to leverage AD groups to simplify SuDo management
• Support for the Group Policy Object Editor and the Group Policy Management Console

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How it works

Leverage your existing Active Directory infrastructure with Likewise Enterprise

In a Windows environment, user accounts are created in Active Directory to be able to participate in AD authentication. For a user to access resources on a machine that also participates in Active Directory, the machine also must have an account in Active Directory. The process by which an account for the machine is created in Active Directory is called “joining” the machine to Active Directory. Joining a machine to Active Directory was restricted to Windows workstations and server machines only.

Now, with Likewise Enterprise, you can join Linux, UNIX and Mac machines to Active Directory. Once the Linux/UNIX machines have been joined to AD, a user who has been provisioned for UNIX and Linux access can now interactively login to the Linux/Unix machine with his or her Active Directory credentials. The user can also access any kerberized services that the Linux/UNIX machine hosts.

1. The Likewise Enterprise Agent is installed on Linux, UNIX or Solaris machines turning them into Active Directory clients.
2. These machines are then joined to Active Directory from a graphical tool or through deployment scripts.
3. The Likewise Enterprise Management Tools are used to configure AD to store UNIX and Linux information.
4. Existing AD management tools are then used to manage non-Windows systems and configure Group Policies for UNIX and Linux.

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Requirements

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