Manage Google Distribution Groups in JumpCloud with Integration

Written by Lindsey Bond on December 9, 2020

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JumpCloud® just released the ability for IT administrators to manage Google Workspace™ (formerly G Suite™) distribution groups and group membership in the JumpCloud Admin Portal. 

With this feature, you can manage your Google Workspace instance and associated user lifecycles directly in JumpCloud alongside the other resources and devices in your environment. This allows you to centralize your management tasks and reduce — if not eliminate — using the Google Workspace console. 

JumpCloud’s Google Workspace Integration

JumpCloud is a directory platform that gives you an easy way to implement a deep, API-based integration with Google Workspace. Using the integration, you can manage core user identities and federate them not only to Google Workspace but also applications, networks, and Mac®, Windows®, and Linux® devices. 

That means you create a user in your core directory platform, and provision and manage their access to a wide variety of resources directly from it, rather than navigating between various management consoles and services. 

With this new feature, you can now manage Google Workspace distribution groups without leaving the JumpCloud Admin Portal, too. Previously, JumpCloud admins had to manage their Google Workspace distribution groups separately in its associated console — but this automates that group creation and management.  

Managing Google Workspace Groups & Group Membership

Starting to manage your Google Workspace groups and group membership in JumpCloud is as simple as checking a box to enable the feature. Then, you can export existing JumpCloud groups to Google Workspace, as well as assign them distribution group attributes.

Once you enable the feature, you can manage nearly every stage of a user’s Google Workspace lifecycle, including onboarding and offboarding, in JumpCloud. You can also more easily connect users to one another by automatically adding them to distribution groups. 

One example of how you might use this integration looks like this:

  • Create a “Sales” user group in JumpCloud.
  • Bind that group to applications like Slack and Salesforce, RADIUS networks, and LDAP-backed resources — as well as your Google Workspace integration.
  • Assign that group to a distribution email list, like [email protected]
  • When you add a new sales user to that group in JumpCloud, they are automatically provisioned to those connected resources, created in Google Workspace, and added to the associated distribution list in realtime.

You can also import existing Google Workspace users into JumpCloud. Here’s a quick video tour of the end-to-end onboarding process for a new, remote user in JumpCloud with a Google Workspace account:

Test Drive JumpCloud 

If you don’t already have a JumpCloud account, you can create one for free, manage up to 10 users and 10 devices, and test drive the full platform, including the Google Workspace integration. Use 10 days of premium, in-app chat support with our support engineers to get the most out of your new account. 

Lindsey Bond

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