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Microsoft Active Directory’s® (AD) vast catalog of policies is one of the service’s most commonly used benefits. This is true for many Microsoft® admins who leverage AD’s GPOs, but there are other added headaches when utilizing AD. For example, using it with Windows® systems is great, but it creates friction when you try to migrate to more of a remote-work model. Likewise, Active Directory doesn’t play well with or have the granular control with other systems outside of the Microsoft bubble such as MacOS® and Linux®.
Vendor-Agnostic OS Management, Minus AD’s Frictions
JumpCloud’s system management works similarly to AD GPOs, but is agnostic and cross-platform so you can manage Mac, Windows, and Linux OSs. JumpCloud’s Directory-as-a-Service® is a cloud directory reinventing the way IT admins manage corporate resources. Traditional legacy directory structures such as Active Directory and LDAP were foundational for many years, but with the rapid transition to the cloud, distributed workers, and resource diversity, they couldn’t keep up with the accelerating demand and changes. JumpCloud removes the need to have a domain perimeter and creates a single consolidated management platform in the cloud to provide a domainless enterprise approach to IdP.
Now, you might wonder how JumpCloud’s system management compares to AD. When dealing with Windows OS, traditionally AD offers more with its thousands of policies (GPOs) to apply to domain-bound devices. Comparatively, JumpCloud built over 50 of the most widely used policies for Windows. These are important policies you need in order to meet compliance such as BitLocker, Lock Screen, Control Panel Access, and more. Although these policies help meet many of the basic requirements for security audits, regulations, and compliance, JumpCloud never offered policy customization beyond what was pre-configured in the Admin Portal.
In order to implement other policies, admins had to write PowerShell commands and execute them through JumpCloud’s Command menu. This would usually be written as a run-once command, but would continually have to be checked on, in order to ensure the command-executed policy applied appropriately.
Available Now: Customize Windows Policies in JumpCloud
JumpCloud is always expanding policy controls for JumpCloud-managed systems. For advanced Windows admins (many of whom came to JumpCloud with strong AD experience), we released a new feature that provides flexibility, control, customization, and security that you are hungry for.
JumpCloud’s Advanced: Custom Registry Keys policy gives the power of Active Directory’s GPOs without the burdens of managing AD and the domain. This feature enables JumpCloud administrators to create any policy they want to manage end users on Windows devices, directly from their central, easy-to-use console.
The Advanced: Custom Registry Keys policy enables configuring registry keys and values needed to enable the policies outside of the pre-made list. You can unlock the doors to endless possibilities when it comes to managing Windows systems with this release.
JumpCloud admins can replicate their favorite AD GPOs in JumpCloud with ease. Every policy you create, change, remove, or apply is reflected across JumpCloud-managed Windows systems in less than 60 seconds, thanks to the JumpCloud Agent. No waiting for replication. No waiting for long polling times. Just set, apply, and save.
Pairing JumpCloud’s system management capabilities with its native identity management platform, you can manage employee identities, MacOS or Linux systems, and policies, commands, and hundreds of SSO applications much more seamlessly compared to AD or LDAP.
Eliminate Complexities with a Unified Cloud Directory
Still on the fence deciding to make the jump? No worries! We encourage anyone to play around and test the JumpCloud platform by signing up for a free account. With a free JumpCloud account, you’re allowed up to 10 users along with all the features in JumpCloud. Test out the new Windows policy on VMs, physical systems, or servers.
Want to discover more on how JumpCloud can match your requirements of AD, but without all the Microsoft-induced headaches? Contact us anytime and we’d love to hear your story, demo our platform, and discuss options for your business’ needs.
