j peter_bruzzese
Columnist

Centrify unites Group Policy and Mac (and more)

analysis
Apr 3, 20082 mins

Suppose you're an IT admin at a Windows-centric shop, yet you want to bring Macs (or other non-Windows desktops) into the fold. Can you? Yes, Macs can be controlled mildly through an Apple server -- but you have an Active Directory domain using Group Policy. Rather than having to add a new server platform to your environment, you could turn to a company called Centrify. Centrify offers "comprehensive Active Dire

Suppose you’re an IT admin at a Windows-centric shop, yet you want to bring Macs (or other non-Windows desktops) into the fold. Can you? Yes, Macs can be controlled mildly through an Apple server — but you have an Active Directory domain using Group Policy. Rather than having to add a new server platform to your environment, you could turn to a company called Centrify.

Centrify offers “comprehensive Active Directory-centric auditing, access control, and authentication for Unix, Linux and Mac systems and applications,” as the company describes it wares. It’s a mouthful, that’s true, but it doesn’t even come close to explaining all the impressive sides to Centrify software.

I had an opportunity to speak with David McNeely, the director of product management at Centrify the other day. He explained the hundreds of Group Policy settings that can be applied to a Mac through Windows Server using the Centrify software. In other words, no Apple server is required. More settings are added as Apple releases information on how to hook into those items.

Want to learn more? Check out the Centrify site and register for a Webinar that will be given by David, as well as Jeremy Moskowitz, the lead GP guru and author of a fantastic Group Policy book. It’s so good, in fact, that for the fifth edition, they had to split it in two parts!

j peter_bruzzese

J. Peter Bruzzese is a six-time-awarded Microsoft MVP (currently for Office Servers and Services, previously for Exchange/Office 365). He is a technical speaker and author with more than a dozen books sold internationally. He's the co-founder of ClipTraining, the creator of ConversationalGeek.com, instructor on Exchange/Office 365 video content for Pluralsight, and a consultant for Mimecast and others.

More from this author