This can be a big problem for cloud-forward IT organizations.
CLOUD BASED MAC SERVER MAC
However, while Mac management from the cloud was possible with IDaaS solutions, IT organizations still required an on-prem AD implementation to provide a single source of truth for user identities. Naturally, that included Macs, which is why some of the first IDaaS solutions delivered Mac management from the cloud. They were basically identity bridges designed to extend AD credentials to non-Windows resources. First Generation Mac Managementįirst generation IDaaS solutions were effectively AD add-ons that could provide cloud-based identity federation services. In other words, IDaaS solutions were some of the first Mac management tools to emerge, and they were delivered from the cloud.
Fortunately for IT admins, the market was listening, and subsequently spawned a variety of Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS) solutions to mitigate this challenge. The latter may very well be an IT admin’s worst nightmare, but these were their options.
Initially, this meant that Macs generally had to be managed independently, or worse, the responsibility fell to the end user. The trouble was that IT could not administer Macs with native AD capabilities. Macs offered a number of advantages over Windows systems, and they were highly sought after by end users. Mac (and Linux ® ) endpoints were introduced to the enterprise in the mid-2000s, around the same time as some of the first cloud innovations.
Consequently, it has become imperative for IT organizations to control Mac users and systems just as they have historically managed Windows machines. Now, though, Macs make up a significant part of any IT network. Of course, this approach made a lot of sense considering that Windows-based IT resources dominated the enterprise prior to the year 2000. Historically, most IT admins have leveraged Microsoft ® Active Directory ® (AD) to manage Windows ® -based IT resources.