{"id":31806,"date":"2023-04-14T09:30:40","date_gmt":"2023-04-14T13:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/?p=31806"},"modified":"2024-12-20T14:11:33","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T19:11:33","slug":"okta-aws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/blog\/okta-aws","title":{"rendered":"Are Okta and AWS Complete IAM Solutions?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the identity and access management (IAM) space, Okta and AWS are hot topics, and for very good reason. These two popular solutions aren\u2019t really positioned head-to-head in the bigger picture, but when you zoom in, you’ll find that Okta and AWS IAM Identity Center<\/a> are competing. To get to the bottom of the Okta versus AWS argument, this article will discuss what each solution is, where there\u2019s overlap, and another modern IAM solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Is Okta?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Okta<\/a> is a popular web application single sign-on (SSO) solution in the Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS)<\/a> space. As such, Okta is most often leveraged on top of a core identity provider (IdP) such as Microsoft Active Directory (AD) for its identity source of truth. Okta then takes those identities and propagates them to various connected web applications and other SAML-enabled cloud solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although they have dominated the SSO space for some time, Okta is also foraying into other facets of identity management, including multi-factor authentication (MFA) and privileged access management (PAM)<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many large enterprises, a PAM solution has been a standard protocol for extending Active Directory<\/a> to servers and network infrastructure. Many IT organizations have leveraged solutions such as BeyondTrust, which Okta\u2019s server access solution seemingly competes against.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Considering the untapped revenue at stake, it certainly appears that Okta\u2019s goal here is to reach DevOps organizations managing AWS servers and other cloud servers. Traditionally, this group has leveraged OpenLDAP and configuration management automation solutions such as Chef, Ansible, Salt, and Puppet. However, the hidden challenge lurking underneath all of these approaches, including Okta\u2019s, is that there still remains a general requirement to integrate with the core directory service. More often than not, that core directory service is Microsoft\u2019s aging Active Directory. Why is this a problem? Well, Active Directory wasn\u2019t built to support a cloud-forward, heterogenous workplace, and tends to struggle with non-Windows, cloud-based resources, but we\u2019ll get back to that later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Is AWS Directory Service?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

AWS Directory Service<\/a>, on the other hand, was created as a cloud-offered version of an IdP, like Active Directory, within the AWS ecosystem. Usually included in the offering are hosted Microsoft Windows servers that incorporate Amazon\u2019s Windows\/Linux desktop client service, called WorkSpaces.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AWS Directory Service comes in a number of flavors, including a partially managed AD instance as well as an open source Samba-based version. Generally, AWS customers that have AWS Directory Service are using AD on-prem and leveraging an instance of the solution to manage their AWS environment\/users. Remember the issues we mentioned with Active Directory? They apply here too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okta vs. AWS<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are places where the lines between Okta and AWS Directory Service blur together; however, in some environments, Okta can be used on top of AWS Directory Service, since it functions similarly to AD. As both AWS and Okta continue to grow, it\u2019s easy to imagine that the lines between the two will continue to blur further. Case in point, AWS IAM Identity Center is a direct competitive threat to Okta in the web application space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okta\u2019s Market Extension Strategy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As Okta continues to go up market and focuses on catering to the largest enterprises in the world, there is little doubt that they will expand their wings in the identity management space. Previously, Okta dove into the two-factor authentication<\/a> (2FA) space with their adaptive MFA solution, but this area remains highly competitive with Duo and Yubico, among others. Another area that Okta has picked up traction is in the developer space with a user management system for customer-facing web applications and mobile apps. The core competitor here? Azure Active Directory (AAD), B2C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Okta and AWS solve some core IAM issues, using only these platforms does not address some of the other big issues organizations face with an on-prem identity management infrastructure. Ideally, IT admins and DevOps engineers would find a single solution that can serve as an IdP, SSO, and PAM all in one across their on-prem, cloud, and legacy environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More Add-Ons, Same Core Directory Service<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We said we\u2019d come back to it \u2014 so let\u2019s talk about Active Directory a bit more. As IT organizations seek to harness cloud benefits and continue shifting away from on-prem identity management infrastructure (such as AD), a solution combining Okta and AWS still struggles to suffice because it doesn\u2019t solve the fundamental issue of replacing the core directory service\u2026 AD. Furthermore, it doesn\u2019t manage the SSH keys that AWS requires. So what are we looking at here? More add-ons and still the same issues with Active Directory:<\/p>\n\n\n\n