Best Practices: Integrating Mac OS X With Active Directory

With the introduction of the Active Directory (AD) plug-in in Mac OS X 10.3, Apple has made a concerted effort to enable IT administrators to integrate Mac OS X clients and servers easily into existing Active Directory infrastructures. While every Active Directory installation is different, especially in the enterprise space, Mac OS X integrates well with the vast majority of them - and with minimum effort. Apple's support for AD extends to Mac OS X Server as well. Integrating a server is just as easy as integrating a client system. This allows Windows-based departments to take advantage of file sharing and other services in Mac OS X Server, while using their existing AD infrastructure for identification and authentication.