{"id":43635,"date":"2020-01-03T16:19:13","date_gmt":"2020-01-03T23:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/?p=43635"},"modified":"2020-02-25T15:21:51","modified_gmt":"2020-02-25T22:21:51","slug":"universal-directory-vs-active-directory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/blog\/universal-directory-vs-active-directory","title":{"rendered":"Universal Directory vs Active Directory"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Is it fair to compare Universal Directory (UD) vs Active Directory<sup>\u00ae<\/sup> (AD)? As more IT admins shift their infrastructure to the cloud, it\u2019s only natural to compare on-prem solutions with new cloud offerings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While they\u2019re both a part of Identity and Access Management (IAM), AD and UD are often used (and combined) quite differently. And while both solutions are \u201cdirectories,\u201d they have many functions that distinguish them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Which of those you\u2019re prioritizing will ultimately decide whether Universal Directory or Active Directory \u2014 or even some other solution \u2014 will be the right one for your organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What to Consider<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Active Directory established early on that directory services serve three critical purposes: authentication (AuthN), authorization (AuthZ), and management of systems. These are important to keep in mind as we explore what each directory can do, what will cost more, and what they can\u2019t do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before going in, we\u2019ve compiled this list of basic considerations, which should lay the groundwork for your own. When exploring directory services, you\u2019ll want to ensure compatibility with:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>MacOS<sup>\u00ae<\/sup>, Windows<sup>\u00ae<\/sup>, and Linux<sup>\u00ae<\/sup> systems&nbsp;<\/li><li>Cloud and on-prem servers (AWS<sup>\u00ae<\/sup>, GCP<sup>\u00ae<\/sup>, Azure<sup>\u00ae<\/sup>, internal data centers, etc.)&nbsp;<\/li><li>Web and on-prem applications&nbsp;<\/li><li>Physical and virtual file servers (Samba\/NAS appliances, Box, G Drive\u2122)<\/li><li>WiFi and VPN networks through RADIUS<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/blog\/managed-gpos-group-policy-objects\/\">Group Policy Objects<\/a>, or GPO-like management capabilities<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Okta<sup>\u00ae<\/sup> Universal Directory<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Okta\u2019s Universal Directory is a user database \u2014 sold as-a-Service \u2014 and the user management foundation for Okta\u2019s single sign-on (SSO) platform. It can import Active Directory identities, or those from Workday and other human resource management systems. It can also coordinate attributes between these apps and compile them within its program.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Active Directory<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Active Directory, on the other hand, is primarily an identity provider. It manages user authentication and authorization across 20 years\u2019 worth of IT resources, including on-prem apps, networks, file servers, and systems. AD has historically served as an organization&#8217;s core directory, storing user identities and attributes and acting as the definitive source of authentication for Windows-based solutions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Active Directory struggles to work natively outside of Windows systems and applications, a major disadvantage in today\u2019s IT landscape. It also isn\u2019t designed to easily connect to cloud applications, and requires the maintenance and upkeep of on-prem servers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How AD and UD Can Work Together<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>While these two platforms can serve different purposes, they also provide a la carte options that can integrate with one another. As a result, an enterprise can mix and match different features to assemble an identity management approach. For example, AD can integrate with UD to access a wider array of cloud-based resources, and UD can integrate into AD for IdP authN and authZ. Depending on your needs however, this can get expensive and complex, while risking fragility with so many moving parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In general IT admins haven\u2019t historically considered UD and AD as replacements for each other. In choosing one alone \u2014 no matter which \u2014 you may be giving up control of some aspect of your IAM. And that choice, between cloud-based resources or system-management security, is one no admin would relish making.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Learn More<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>To learn more about directory services and which might be right for your enterprise, feel free to <a href=\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/contact\/\">drop us a line<\/a>. Our experts would be happy to discuss your organization\u2019s needs and the best solutions for it. You can also check out our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCV9U0J9zvop_Whyh-35M_xg\">YouTube<\/a> channel, which features many videos on this and other subjects.<br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learn the key differences between Active Directory and Universal Directory, and what to consider when choosing between the two.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":43636,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,2781],"tags":[],"collection":[2779,2777],"platform":[],"funnel_stage":[3016],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.9 (Yoast SEO v22.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Universal Directory vs Active Directory - JumpCloud<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn the key differences between Active Directory and Universal Directory, and what to consider when choosing between the two.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/blog\/universal-directory-vs-active-directory\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Universal Directory vs Active Directory\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learn the key differences between Active Directory and Universal Directory, and what to consider when choosing between the two.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/blog\/universal-directory-vs-active-directory\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JumpCloud\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-01-03T23:19:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-25T22:21:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/unnamed.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"427\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Stephanie DeCamp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Stephanie DeCamp\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/blog\/universal-directory-vs-active-directory#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/blog\/universal-directory-vs-active-directory\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Stephanie DeCamp\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b13d22e68b00f1778b979481c2a3004b\"},\"headline\":\"Universal Directory vs Active Directory\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-03T23:19:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-25T22:21:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/blog\/universal-directory-vs-active-directory\"},\"wordCount\":582,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/blog\/universal-directory-vs-active-directory#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/unnamed.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Best Practices\",\"How-To\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/blog\/universal-directory-vs-active-directory\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/blog\/universal-directory-vs-active-directory\",\"name\":\"Universal Directory vs Active Directory - 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