NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: DAVE KEARNS ON IDENTITY MANAGEMENT
09/12/05
Today's focus: XAD offers cross-platform ID mgmt. services
running on Linux
Dear security.world@gmail.com,
In this issue:
* XAD from PADL
* Links related to Identity Management
* Featured reader resource
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by ProCurve Networking by HP
Network World Executive Guide: The Evolution of Management
Technologies
With applications and infrastructures growing more sophisticated
and demanding, network and systems management technologies are
more critical than ever. Elevating their focus from bits and
bytes, these networked systems are being called on to close the
gap between IT and business services. Read about the future of
management, including BSM and emerging automation tools. Learn
about 'hot spots' and 'best products' in network management.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=114122
_______________________________________________________________
THE LATEST HOME NETWORK EQUIPMENT PREDICTIONS
How many devices will be connected to home networks by the year
2010? Does 1 billion devices sound right? Is the prediction
based on more home networks coming online or more devices per
home network? And what is the prediction for wireless adoption
in home networks? For the latest, click here:
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=113992
_______________________________________________________________
Today's focus: XAD offers cross-platform ID mgmt. services
running on Linux
By Dave Kearns
In March 1998, Australian Luke Howard wrote Requests For
Comments 2307 to the IETF ( "An Approach for Using LDAP as a
Network Information Service"
<http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2307.txt> ). The following year, he
founded PADL Software with the intent of implementing the RFC in
products.
The resulting product, the NIS/LDAP Gateway (a.k.a. "ypldapd"
which, to non-Unix geeks would imply a "yellow pages," or
Network Information Service), is a Network Information Service
(NIS) server that uses LDAP as its information source. It
permits existing NIS clients to transparently use LDAP to
resolve user, group and host information. Organizations can take
advantage of LDAP features, such as distribution and
scalability, without upgrading their Unix clients. In reality,
of course, Howard first created the product then wrote the RFC
describing the implementation and then (when it was well
received) went on to commercialize it.
But wait, there's more.
PADL looked over the computing landscape and saw that offering a
gateway service for Unix/Linux installations that used NIS could
lead to a fairly limited niche. The company noticed that there
were quite a few more Windows desktops than Unix and Linux
desktops combined in the corporate world (or, for that matter,
almost any "world" you could define). PADL had a very good LDAP
implementation on Unix; it just needed to rope in the Windows
identity services - Active Directory, to be precise. Thus was
XAD born.
XAD, PADL's most recent product, is a cross-platform enterprise
identity management service that runs on Linux. It is based on
open standards such as OpenLDAP and does not require a
proprietary server infrastructure. The two key features of XAD
are that it is a unified repository of identity information and
it offers single sign-on and password management across all
major operating systems, including Windows, Linux and Unix.
For Windows dominated networks, PADL supports cross-forest and
domain trusts between Active Directory and XAD forests. However,
replication is not supported between Active Directory and XAD
domain controllers, and an XAD domain cannot be a member of an
Active Directory forest. PADL has stated that it intends to
address these limitations in an upcoming version of XAD.
Interestingly, XAD can be hosted on Novell's SuSE Enterprise
Server. Whether you would prefer XAD or Novell's own eDirectory
could hinge on the exact makeup of your network. But if you do
have Linux/Unix hosts as well as Windows desktops, then you
should investigate XAD especially if you have a requirement (or
a commitment) to use open source tools wherever possible.
The top 5: Today's most-read stories
1. McAfee, Tech Assist top anti-spyware test
<http://www.networkworld.com/nldsv6901>
2. What's the best way to protect against spyware?
<http://www.networkworld.com/nldsv6902>
3. Google hacking <http://www.networkworld.com/nldsv6753>
4. Supermarket chain freezes Internet access
<http://www.networkworld.com/nldsv6528>
5. Cisco warns of another IOS bug
<http://www.networkworld.com/nldsv6754>
_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Dave Kearns
Dave Kearns is a writer and consultant in Silicon Valley. He's
written a number of books including the (sadly) now out of print
"Peter Norton's Complete Guide to Networks." His musings can be
found at Virtual Quill <http://www.vquill.com/>.
Kearns is the author of three Network World Newsletters: Windows
Networking Tips, Novell NetWare Tips, and Identity Management.
Comments about these newsletters should be sent to him at these
respective addresses: <mailto:windows@vquill.com>,
<mailto:netware@vquill.com>, <mailto:identity@vquill.com>.
Kearns provides content services to network vendors: books,
manuals, white papers, lectures and seminars, marketing,
technical marketing and support documents. Virtual Quill
provides "words to sell by..." Find out more by e-mail at
<mailto:info@vquill.com>
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by ProCurve Networking by HP
Network World Executive Guide: The Evolution of Management
Technologies
With applications and infrastructures growing more sophisticated
and demanding, network and systems management technologies are
more critical than ever. Elevating their focus from bits and
bytes, these networked systems are being called on to close the
gap between IT and business services. Read about the future of
management, including BSM and emerging automation tools. Learn
about 'hot spots' and 'best products' in network management.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=114122
_______________________________________________________________
ARCHIVE LINKS
Archive of the Identity Management newsletter:
http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/dir/index.html
_______________________________________________________________
Extended value chains are here to stay - application
acceleration
Find out about the changing market for application acceleration
technologies, and learn what the playing field for 2007 and 2010
will look like.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=114046
_______________________________________________________________
FEATURED READER RESOURCE
GARTNER'S SECURITY HYPE-O-METER
What is hype and has it influenced your network security
efforts? At a recent Gartner security summit, analysts described
what they say are "The Five Most Overhyped Security Threats,"
risks that have been overblown and shouldn't be scaring everyone
as much as they seem to be. For more, click here:
<http://www.networkworld.com/weblogs/security/009180.html>
_______________________________________________________________
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