Enterprise-Level Authentication for Linux?

Jon Hill asks: "Authentication is an integral function of any network but the problem of unified authentication on large distributed systems becomes daunting when you look for Linux based solutions. I am the MIS Director for a technical R&D company with 10 locations in several states and have pushed Linux at the server level successfully for several years. As the system has grown the need for a unified authentication scheme has become a necessity. I have looked over NIS, NIS+, LDAP, Kerberos, and others but haven't found anything that will unify even our servers (ie. file/email/FTP). All sites are linked via a static VPN so there is good secure communication available. What suggestions do readers have to solve what I'd have thought was a common problem? Any case studies, product links, code, and other examples will be appreciated." Any Slashdotters who run enterprise-level installations care to comment on how well Linux's authentication works? In your mind, what does Linux need to do to improve it's profile in this regard? Could PAM at least provide a partial answer to this question, considering that it would provide a way for any authentication scheme to link into the system as a whole, without having to force hard-to-maintain code changes in the user-land applications.

Comments

LDAP

[CounterZer0]

Well, LDAP will do this. And it'll do it on a whole bunch different platforms. If you want really, really, nice LDAP implementation, go for eDirectory by Novell.