{"id":77498,"date":"2023-03-09T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-09T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/?p=77498"},"modified":"2023-03-13T11:53:53","modified_gmt":"2023-03-13T15:53:53","slug":"what-is-open-directory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/blog\/what-is-open-directory","title":{"rendered":"What is an Open Directory?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An open directory is a modern, cloud-forward directory<\/a> of identities, devices, resources, connections, and events that is built to centralize management of any resource in your IT environment seamlessly. It is intentionally designed to support the different protocols, operating systems, applications, identity providers, and other foundations of IT management and security, such that an organization can manage their environment no matter what technologies exist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To understand the importance of, and the need for, an open directory, some context is needed. The modern workplace has evolved substantially from only brick and mortar offices (no remote or gig work), on-premises infrastructure and resources, and homogeneous IT environments solely centered around Windows devices and Microsoft products. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, many offices are hybrid, or even fully remote<\/a>, and employees use a wide variety of resources (cloud-based and on-prem) to get work done. The issue is, organizations struggle to keep track of and justify the costs for all of those disparate tools, and many IT professionals have found that the problem is actually rooted within their traditional directory. This is because traditional directories aren\u2019t able to take the load off of the IT department and the budget sufficiently anymore due to the diversity of technology, devices, and resources found in modern IT environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Open Directories vs Traditional Directories<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Microsoft Active Directory (AD)<\/a>, an on-prem directory, sat at the center of most organizations\u2019 IT environments. It was built around Microsoft products and was meant to be used solely with Windows devices and other Microsoft resources, which were all dominant and essentially the only IT infrastructure and device options at that point in time. Because of these limitations, AD is not considered to be an open directory, but it\u2019s still widely used and has locked many organizations into a very inflexible system and infrastructure setup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this setup does still work for some, for many others, especially cloud-forward, modern organizations, and those that aspire to get there, AD is not a viable solution. This is the case for a handful of reasons. Many organizations make use of non-Windows devices (often Mac and Linux) as well as cloud-based applications and other cloud-forward resources. Plus, many allow hybrid or fully remote work, which means that they need to manage and secure workers all over the world<\/a>. And, for many, the costs associated with AD and on-prem infrastructure remove it from their consideration set altogether, leaving organizations feeling lost and looking for a better directory solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Need for an Open Directory<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The IT resources used in the modern workplace need to connect well with other tools without bias, empower employees to be productive regardless of their location or device choice, while ultimately remaining cost-effective. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea of an open directory then sprouted to satisfy these needs. An open directory does not lock organizations into a single provider, platform, location, device-type, or anything else. Instead, it allows organizations to choose their preferred tools and operating systems, and connect them together through a core directory. Rather than having a closed off, on-prem directory sitting at the center of your infrastructure that forces you into a box in terms of what other IT tools and devices you can use, an open directory can sit at the center of your infrastructure on its own or<\/em> in conjunction with existing directories, depending on your current setup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The former option allows you to create a modern cloud-based foundation that your IT infrastructure can be built upon. The latter option is more suited for organizations with existing IT infrastructure, including existing directories in AD or Google, for example. With the latter option, adding an open directory into the mix will allow you to choose the source of truth for identities (the existing directory or the new, open directory), and then the identities will flow through the open directory to all other connected resources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This future-proofs your IT infrastructure and makes it more adaptable, because the open directory will evolve with your other resources, whereas traditional directories will not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Open Directory Requirements<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To truly understand what an open directory is and how it works, let\u2019s go over the main requirements for a directory to be considered \u2018open\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flexible and Open-Ended<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

First and foremost, an open directory needs to be extremely flexible and open-ended. Here are some examples of what this means – an open directory needs to support and\/or allow the use of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n