第 1 章 Connecting RHEL systems directly to AD using SSSD

You use SSSD to access a user directory for authentication and authorization through a common framework with user caching to permit offline logins. SSSD is highly configurable; it provides Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM) and Name Switch Service (NSS) integration and a database to store local users as well as extended user data retrieved from a central server. SSSD is the recommended component to connect a RHEL system with one of the following types of identity server:

The most convenient way to configure SSSD to directly integrate a Linux system with AD is to use the realmd service. It allows callers to configure network authentication and domain membership in a standard way. The realmd service automatically discovers information about accessible domains and realms and does not require advanced configuration to join a domain or realm.

You can use SSSD for both direct and indirect integration with AD and it allows you to switch from one integration approach to another. Direct integration is a simple way to introduce RHEL systems to an AD environment. However, as the share of RHEL systems grows, your deployments usually need a better centralized management of the identity-related policies such as host-based access control, sudo, or SELinux user mappings. Initially, you can maintain the configuration of these aspects of the RHEL systems in local configuration files. However, with a growing number of systems, distribution and management of the configuration files is easier with a provisioning system such as Red Hat Satellite. When direct integration does not scale anymore, you should consider indirect integration. For more information about moving from direct integration (RHEL clients are in the AD domain) to indirect integration (IdM with trust to AD), see Moving RHEL clients from AD domain to IdM Server.