Over time, configuration management tools were created, but those required even more coding. Now, though, armed with the right tooling, the device management process for both Linux servers and desktops can be made accessible by most administrators with JumpCloud’s MDM for Linux<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Learn more about mobile device management (MDM<\/a>) and why it’s important for your company’s different OS fleets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In general, Linux servers are used by developers to house production infrastructure or other critical data and information systems. The Linux desktop versions are often used by developers, and increasingly many organizations are using them to cut costs with other functions such as sales, customer support, and sometimes with remote workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As such, Linux MDM requires a keen security mindset to ensure that said infrastructure is protected. In practice, this means that the devices are often managed separately from other systems in the environment. Many IT management tools ignore Linux since historically it was considered to be a server platform managed by DevOps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When a developer or other user has a separately managed Linux device, the IT organization may not have full control and visibility over the device, including managing user access, enforcing full disk encryption, and implementing other security policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This can cause significant risk to an organization as the device\u2019s critical software components and data could be vulnerable to attack without IT\u2019s knowledge. With the developer use case, often there is source code on the Linux device, so it can be high risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the data center of cloud infrastructure environment, DevOps often manages their Linux machines through tremendous amounts of scripting and programming. Sometimes those groups will leverage configuration management solutions such as Chef, Salt, Ansible, or Puppet to handle management. Open source MDM<\/a> is another popular solution for many IT admins, but is not often a good fit for Linux device management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While these config management tools can provide flexibility, they require coding skills as well as infrastructure to ensure that the versions are correct, the code is safe, and there is data on the execution of those scripts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The trouble with these various approaches to device management is that there is no one central, cross-platform MDM<\/a> for heterogeneous environments that manages Linux devices along with the rest of the devices in the infrastructure \u2014 Windows MDM, Apple MDM<\/a>, or mobile devices, for that matter. Not to mention, the need for multiple tools can drive up the cost of your MDM solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Often an IT organization and a DevOps team will have completely separate tools to manage their infrastructure without the ability to understand the entire device fleet across an organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n JumpCloud MDM <\/p>\n \n Manage All Devices in One Platform <\/p>\n <\/div>\n Linux device management \u2014 like all other system management or mobile device management approaches \u2014 should start with user access. With identity security being arguably the most critical issue in security today, IT or DevOps must manage access to the device in order to manage the device itself. Check out the full list of mobile device management best practices<\/a>, regardless of the OS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once IT or DevOps controls access, configurations, settings, and security processes can be implemented without heavy scripting from manual management, configuration management solutions, or other tools. The benefit of a new approach to MDM for Linux can include better monitoring and reporting along with increased control and security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n JumpCloud Directory Platform<\/a> is, at its core, a user and device management<\/a> system with Linux user authentication and device management<\/a> incorporated in the solution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This cloud directory controls who can access your Linux devices and how \u2014 whether they need SSH keys, have sudo access, and more. JumpCloud can also enforce multi-factor authentication to Linux devices for step-up security. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And, through System Insights<\/a>, JumpCloud provides hundreds of critical data points about each Linux device to better understand their health status and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Further, through a lightweight agent on each Linux device, admins can execute policies, tasks, and commands on each device. Tasks can be written in any language supported by the Linux device and JumpCloud\u2019s command execution framework provides full audit reporting and logging of the tasks. JumpCloud even provides pre-programmed Linux Policies that can be leveraged reducing even more work for IT admins and DevOps engineers.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSeparately Managed Linux Devices<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
![\"Blue-toned](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Just-Linux.png\")
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\n <\/div>\n A Complete, Centralized Linux Device Manager<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
![\"Linux,](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/central-system-mgmt-1030x552.png\")
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