{"id":45031,"date":"2022-03-07T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-07T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/?p=45031"},"modified":"2024-01-29T13:37:43","modified_gmt":"2024-01-29T18:37:43","slug":"domainless-enterprise-it-architecture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/blog\/domainless-enterprise-it-architecture","title":{"rendered":"What is the Domainless Enterprise?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Work happens wherever the device and the person using it are located. Whether that\u2019s a traditional office, home office, coffee shop, coworking space, or airplane tray table, IT leaders need to be able to secure the device and connect the user to their requisite resources through it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How we approach security and the use lifecycle has also evolved. IT departments need more than just a new toolset to achieve the kind of fluid access control and device management required today \u2014 they need an entirely new architecture. This article explores how IT architectures have evolved and what organizations now need to meet the demands of the modern era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Microsoft’s proprietary directory service, Active Directory (AD)<\/a>, thrived in contained Microsoft ecosystems. In the past, on-prem domain controllers connected users to other resources on the network and managed on-prem Windows devices as well. This established a secure perimeter around organizational resources on local networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, it was built in an era when a network was defined by the physical office building where employees worked. Despite its strengths in physical office spaces, AD is not a fluid architecture. It requires significant investments in hardware and on-prem networking, and it wasn\u2019t designed for work outside the office. From the outset, IT admins had to retrofit it for workers on the road, like salespeople, which sparked the dawn of the VPN client.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The past several years have brought about a sea change in how IT works. The days of centralized, locally hosted IT are over. The tools and solutions that we use should reflect that reality. AD is no longer the best way to manage users and their access to resources, because it requires identity bridges and other add-ons to be a comprehensive solution. Those add-ons generate higher IT management overhead and increase potential cyberattack surface area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The current Active Directory ecosystem is best equated to a movie theater<\/a> where your ticket grants you admission, but you\u2019ll purchase more than you\u2019d normally pay for at the concession stand to get everything that you want. An array of services ranging from complicated AD FS server farms, a flood of Azure AD licensing models, or Intune (which must be Azure AD joined or hybrid AD-joined) are now available as a multitude of add-ons that can be confusing to navigate and won\u2019t support every environment, such as popular Linux distributions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A different architecture now exists to eliminate the need for such AD add-ons, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, an organization might be all-remote all the time, or have entire departments that no longer work in-office. An organization might also face additional complexities associated with acquiring companies outside of its region or granting its partners secure access to shared IT resources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Work from anywhere is now enshrined in how business is done, everywhere. Identity and access management (IAM), user lifecycle management, asset and device management, as well as patching and governance are the new frontier. Users work across devices and access many kinds of resources with their identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The current reality as seen in the news, and in our communities, demonstrates an incredible change of pace and the realization that world events<\/a> no longer occur in isolation. We rely on the internet more deeply than ever, and the cloud<\/em> is a mission-critical IT infrastructure that connects people to the resources they need to work. <\/p>\n\n\n\nMonopolistic Add-On Pricing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
A Boundless Domain: Remote & Flexible Working<\/h2>\n\n\n\n