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January is a funny month – we simultaneously look forward to a new year, but also feel compelled to look back to see just how we got to this point. And although 2020 will be remembered for a number of reasons, we at JumpCloud like to look through our most trafficked and popular blogs to see what peaked your interest and helped drive change and evolution throughout the year. Without further ado, here are JumpCloud’s Top 10 blogs of 2020.
Asking the Question: This vs That?
Throughout the year, our readers had some simple, yet far-reaching questions they needed to answer. As technology evolves and transforms, it’s important to stay diligent and keep learning. These top blogs from the year represent your desire to do just that:
LDAP vs. LDAPS: Securing Auth to Legacy Apps | You might’ve heard that you need to configure rogue apps to use LDAPS (secure LDAP) instead of LDAP. This involves a close look at your directory service events log, manually identifying and switching the ports that legacy apps are using to bind to the directory, and continued monitoring. The process can be cumbersome and time consuming, but it’s doable. Let’s take a closer look at the LDAP protocol, what makes LDAPS secure, and how to implement a secure authentication process for legacy applications.
Read more about the difference between LDAP and LDAPS
RDP vs. SSH | Connecting remotely to server infrastructure is an everyday occurrence at IT and DevOps organizations. But when it comes to which authentication protocol to use, there are a few worthy options to evaluate. Two protocols that often come into contention are the Windows® Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) and Secure Shell (SSH) protocol. If you are weighing these two options, here’s a comparison of RDP vs. SSH.
Read more about how RDP and SSH compare
LDAP vs RADIUS | For some out there, the comparison of LDAP versus RADIUS may not make much sense. But, for others, there are examples where there is some overlap between the abilities of each protocol—especially when it comes to network authentication. With that in mind, let’s take a look at LDAP versus RADIUS.
Learn just how LDAP and RADIUS compare and overlap
Azure Active Directory vs Okta | While they may be competitors where they overlap in web app SSO, Azure Active Directory and Okta diverge down different paths beyond this similarity. After the head-to-head competition in web application single sign-on, they are separate tools that serve different needs for IT administrators. Today, we will compare Azure AD to Okta and explore where their competition lies.
Read exactly how Azure AD and Okta compare and contrast
Azure AD vs. ADFS | Microsoft® dominated the IT identity management space for decades, so it’s no surprise that some of their solutions intersect. Below, we’ll compare Azure® Active Directory® (AD) vs. Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) to see how these Microsoft offerings overlap and where they differ.
Find out the difference (and similarities!) between Azure AD and ADFS
How to Bring Linux into the Fold
Though not a challenge specific to 2020, the last few years have seen a solid uptick in the widespread usage of Linux-based devices. And interestingly enough, this is not just due to the growth of cloud Production environments built upon Linux, but also the heavy reliance on Linux to power workstations worldwide. That’s why this particular article by our very own CTO Greg Keller took off.
How to Make Your Active Directory Work with Linux Devices | There are several ways that organizations can connect their Linux devices to Active Directory. The easiest is by using LDAP via the PAM module; however, if a business uses any Linux or Mac devices, cloud infrastructure or applications, or non-Windows infrastructure, AD starts to fail.
Find out how we help solve the challenges around Linux device management
Automating a Pivotal IT Process: Onboarding
In 2020 you were faced with extreme new challenges, while other already challenging processes got even more complicated. No wonder you started to reach out and ask key questions about how to improve one such process: onboarding.
What is Just-in-Time (JIT) Provisioning? | Just-in-Time (JIT) provisioning can play a key role in automating IT workflows and saving time. We’ll examine what it is, how it works, and why it’s a boon to IT admins.
Get the entire rundown of what Just-in-Time (JIT) provisioning is
Difference Between SAML SSO & Just-in-Time (JIT) Provisioning | With the explosion of web applications, organizations have sought single sign-on (SSO) solutions to enable more efficient integration with their core directory services. Here, we’ll explore the difference between SAML SSO and Just-in-Time (JIT) provisioning, two concepts that affect the way users access web applications.
Understand the differences between SAML SSO and JIT Provisioning
The Unforeseen Challenge for IT in 2020: Remote Work
These last top articles of the year really seemed to tap into the overarching challenge we all faced in 2020 – the expedited shift to remote work. We spent a lot of time last year on this topic, which we will continue to explore in 2021 and beyond, but these two seemed to really stand out in your minds.
Why Active Directory Struggles with Remote Work | IT organizations around the globe are under pressure to enable their employees to work remotely. As a result, IT admins are learning which solutions perform well in a work from home (WFH) scenario and which do not. Most commonly, IT teams regard legacy infrastructure, such as Microsoft® Active Directory® (AD), as incapable of securely managing user access during remote work.
Read about the ideal scenario in which AD thrives and why it struggles with a WFH model
Remote Access & Management Tools for MSPs | JumpCloud® has partnered with Splashtop, a leading remote computer access software provider, to give managed service providers (MSPs) the tools they need to manage access and troubleshoot user machines remotely. The combined tools equip MSPs to support their client organizations adjusting to remote work, using entirely cloud-based infrastructure, which means they can reduce or eliminate site visits but maintain the same level of security and service.
Learn more about this partnership and how you can benefit from it
How Can I Check Patches on Remote Computers? | With new trends in automation, IT administrators barely need to think about keeping their system fleets up to date. But with a shift to remote work models, patch management may be more difficult as users work from home. Let’s dive into why patch management is so important, especially in remote work models, and how to check patches on remote computers.
Learn more about how patch management works in a remote environment
Regain Control Over Remote Workers | Want to regain control of your remote workers? You’re not alone. Now that a much larger swath of office workers is remote due to the pandemic, many more IT administrators view controlling access and managing systems for remote workers as an imperative.
Read these tips and techniques to regain control of remote workers
And that does it for our 2020 wrap up! Looking back can help ground us, especially when an entire new year looms ahead. There’s no question the growing questions and trends of 2020 will persist, and JumpCloud is poised to tackle this brave new world with you, one new challenge at a time.
At any time you can sign up for a free JumpCloud account. Your first 10 users and 10 systems in the platform are free forever, and you’ll have access to the JumpCloud Lounge on Slack, a fast-growing community of like-minded IT admins ready to help as well.
In order to make sure your evaluation is extensive, you’re free to use the entire breadth of the platform including LDAP, RADIUS, SAML, multi-factor authentication, MDM, system management, audit logging / governance tools, and a whole lot more. Or, just to see it in action, schedule a demo today.
