With Mac OS X integrated into Active Directory, everyone can easily log in to the internal network [and the West Coast network] no matter what platform they’re on, what office they’re at, or what story they are covering. Greg Priglmeier, systems engineer, IT Server Group, Star Tribune

The Mac. A fit for your heterogeneous world.

In short, Mac clients blend smoothly into Active Directory-only environments. So, whether you have Mac or PC systems on your network, you can set up and manage a single directory; you don’t need to maintain a separate directory or separate user records for each platform.

One directory. Multiple platforms.

Built into Mac OS X Leopard Server is Open Directory, an easy-to-deploy directory and network authentication server that lets organizations benefit from centralized information. Open Directory uses open standard protocols such as LDAP, Kerberos, and SASL and can even plug into environments that use proprietary services, such as Microsoft’s Active Directory and Novell’s eDirectory.

Open Directory uses LDAP to provide directory services for mixed-platform environments. Whether you have Mac or PC systems on your network, you can set up and manage a single directory; you don’t need maintain a separate directory or separate user records for each platform. This also streamlines the user experience, because users can move effortlessly between Mac and Windows computers—all with the same user account.

If you want to integrate Macs into an environment that primarily uses Windows, Mac OS X Server builds in support for Microsoft’s Active Directory services: Microsoft Kerberos authentication, Active Directory authentication policies, and Active Directory replication and failover. This means the Mac works with Active Directory in much the same way Windows clients do. The Mac can use existing Active Directory networks and mail servers, VPN servers, and applications.

Multiple services. Single sign-on.

Having just one directory streamlines the user experience as well, because users can move effortlessly between Mac and Windows computers with the same user account. It is also a plus for IT, because the integrated authentication authority in Open Directory provides secure, single sign-on to network resources using Kerberos. With single sign-on, users only need to authenticate once—with a single user name and password—to obtain access to a broad range of network services.