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DaaS is a new term that you’ll be hearing a lot of in the future. Directory-as-a-Service® is a cloud-based solution to a company’s user store. Effectively, it is taking and moving LDAP or Microsoft Active Directory® to the cloud and having it managed as a service. But, as with many other categories that have moved to the cloud, DaaS won’t just be a cloud-based AD or LDAP. DaaS will prove to be a combination of the best characteristics of both of those tools, as well as a modernization of the directory to work with critical IT trends such as cloud services and proliferation of device types.
The definition of DaaS is the secure connection and management of employees to IT resources through a single, unified cloud-based user directory. Specifically, the user directory will securely live in the cloud and be the single point of truth for all employees and their access to devices and applications. A cloud-based directory service is also a central connection point for other complementary solutions such as single sign-on. While some organizations may be able to move quickly and easily to DaaS, some may require a migration path by extending an existing AD or LDAP directory to the cloud.
How Directory-as-a-Service works
Directory-as-a-Service is your core IT service for authenticating, authorizing, and managing users, their devices, and applications. A brief description of each function is described below.
Authentication
DaaS can act as your directory of record or an extension of your existing directory. Requests to authenticate users are sent to JumpCloud via LDAP protocol or our REST API. The JumpCloud agent can also be deployed on your Windows, Mac, and Linux devices for task and policy management, survivability, and security auditing.
Authorization
DaaS is your authorization solution, ensuring that the right users have the right access to your IT resources. JumpCloud can manage group membership and sudo access. It can also execute a command when users are added to or removed from any device.
Management
A critical part of a DaaS solution is unified device management. JumpCloud has the ability to manage Windows, Mac, and Linux devices at scale. Directory-as-a-Service simplifies task execution on devices including globally updating policy settings, modifying registry settings, applying patches, and changing system configurations. It ensures consistency across your environment, by allowing you to group like objects and apply the same policies and configurations across them.
Learn More about Directory-as-a-Service
If you are struggling with understanding how your user directory moves to the modern cloud era, and how it helps manage and control new user and device types, dig into DaaS. You may be pleasantly surprised on how it can help.
If you have questions about your specific infrastructure, you can reach out to us on our contact page. You can also get started in minutes with a free account for 10 users.
