14 DAY TRIAL // A set of UNIX utilities released by Microsoft is capable of allowing customers to perform password synchronization between Windows and UNIX machines. UNIX Side Components for Identity Management for UNIX – Shipped with Windows Server 2008 R2 is now available via the Microsoft Download Center free of charge. Obviously, the collection of tools is designed to be implemented and run on UNIX servers.
Essentially, customers with mixed source environments featuring both Windows Server 2008 R2 and UNIX machines will be able to leverage the Microsoft utilities in order to simplify secure passwords management and maintenance. According to the Redmond company, the UNIX Side Components for Identity Management for UNIX will streamline the integration of Windows and UNIX networks in heterogeneous environments.
“Users are freed of the difficulty of maintaining separate passwords for their Windows and UNIX accounts or having to remember to change the password wherever it is used. With Password Synchronization, whenever a user's password is changed on a Windows-based computer or domain, the password can also be automatically changed on every UNIX host for which the user has an account. Password Synchronization can also be configured to change the user's Windows password when the user's UNIX password is changed,” Microsoft informed.
There are two ways for Password Synchronization to be configured, namely Windows-to-UNIX synchronization and UNIX-to-WINDOWS synchronization. In the case of Windows-to-UNIX synch, passwords modified on Windows machines with Password Synchronization will have the Password Synchronization service encrypt the password and send it to the Password Synchronization daemon on each server that has been set for synchronization. It falls into the ssod daemon to decrypt the password and also modify it on the UNIX host.
“When Password Synchronization is configured for UNIX-to-WINDOWS synchronization, passwords that are changed on UNIX hosts are synchronized on Windows-based computers and domains. The Password Synchronization PAM module makes this possible by intercepting the password change request on the UNIX host, encrypting the password, and then sending the password change request to the Password Synchronization service running on the Windows-based computers with which it is configured to be synchronized,” the company explained.
UNIX Side Components for Identity Management for UNIX – Shipped with Windows Server 2008 R2 is available for download here.