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What is Amazon AWS Directory Service?

Overview of AWS Directory Service:

While Amazon Cognito can manage mobile devices and Simple AD and AWS Cloud Directory can manage separated AWS resources, one might argue that the primary use case for AWS Directory Service is to enable IT managers and DevOps engineers to extend Active Directory identities to AWS resources.

This is because many companies and businesses utilize AD as their primary directory service. As a result, it made it logical for AWS to be able to interact seamlessly with AD.

Without the AWS Directory Service, AD and AWS would be isolated from one another and would have to be handled independently. However, with so many possibilities, how do you know which solution for connecting users to AWS resources is best for your organization?

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Table of Contents:

What is AWS Directory Service?
Features of AWS Directory Service
AWS Active Directory Connector
AWS Microsoft Active Directory
AWS Simple AD
Use Cases of AWS Directory Service
Benefits of AWS Directory Service
Conclusion

What is AWS Directory Service?

The AWS Directory Service is an Amazon Web Services solution that enables an IT administrator to operate Microsoft Active Directory (AD) in the public cloud, facilitating user and group data setup and providing end users with access to AWS cloud services.

An IT team can use the AWS Directory Service to link an existing on-premises AD to the cloud or to construct a new directory.

By managing administrative chores such as monitoring domain controllers and establishing redundant infrastructure across various availability zones, the service facilitates the deployment of Linux and Windows-based cloud applications.

Do you know that Amazon Directory Service has Three options..!

They are:

Microsoft AD
Simple AD
AD Connector

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Features of AWS Directory Service

AWS-managed infrastructure: AWS Managed Services Microsoft Active Directory operates on AWS-managed infrastructure, with monitoring that automatically finds and replaces failed domain controllers.
High Availability: AWS Managed Microsoft AD is implemented with high availability and across several Aws Regions since directories are mission-critical infrastructure.
Daily Snapshots: AWS Managed Services Microsoft Active Directory has daily, automatic snapshots.

You may also take extra snapshots before key application upgrades to ensure that you have the most up-to-date data in case you need to roll back a change.

Group-based Policies: AWS Managed Microsoft Active Directory enables you to control users and devices by using native Active Directory Group Policy objects (GPOs). GPOs may be created using current tools such as the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC).
Trust Support: Using AD trust relationships, you can simply combine AWS Managed Microsoft AD with your existing AD.

You can use trusts to manage which AD users can access your AWS services by using your current Active Directory.

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AWS Active Directory Connector

A proxy service connects suitable AWS services to your current on-premises Microsoft Active Directory, such as Amazon WorkSpaces, Amazon QuickSight, and Amazon EC2 for Windows Server instances.

Features:
- AD Connector transmits sign-in requests to your on-premises Active Directory domain controllers for authentication when users log in to AWS apps.
- AD Connector does not collaborate with RDS SQL Server.
- To extend performance, you may distribute application loads across numerous AD Connectors. There are no user or connection restrictions.

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AWS Microsoft Active Directory

AWS Microsoft AD is a cloud-hosted version of a traditional Active Directory instance. The difference is that AWS does some of the heavy work in terms of deploying an AD server, and AD domain controllers, and configuring them to interface with AWS services.

With this technique, IT administrators may use much of the original AD capability for controlling AWS resources.

Features:
- AWS Managed Services Microsoft Active Directory is integrated with HA and across several Availability Zones. You can also expand your directory by deploying more domain controllers.
- AWS Managed Services Microsoft Active Directory operates on AWS-managed infrastructure, with monitoring that automatically finds and replaces failed domain controllers.
- AWS Managed Services Microsoft Active Directory can also serve as a single directory for all types of workloads (EC2, RDS, WorkSpaces, etc).

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AWS Simple AD

A standalone Microsoft Active Directory-compatible directory powered by Samba 4 from AWS Directory Service.

Simple AD can be used as a standalone directory in the cloud to handle Windows workloads that require basic AD functionalities, compatible AWS apps, or Linux workloads that require LDAP service.

Features:
- Simple AD offers basic Active Directory functionality such as user accounts, group memberships, joining a Linux domain or Windows-based EC2 instances, Kerberos-based SSO, and group rules.
- As part of the service, AWS provides monitoring, daily snapshots, and recovery
- Amazon WorkSpaces, Amazon WorkDocs, Amazon QuickSight, and Amazon WorkMail are all compatible with Simple AD.
- Simple AD user accounts Can also be used to access the AWS Management Console.

Use Cases of AWS Directory Service

Allow your on-premises AD users easy access to AWS:

Using an AD trust with AWS Managed Services Microsoft AD separates your on-premises and cloud directories while allowing all of your users to use AWS as needed.

Utilize Amazon RDS and Amazon FSx connections:

AWS Managed Microsoft AD enables your apps and services to integrate and use Amazon FSx for Windows File Server and AWS Managed database services such as Amazon RDS for SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL, and MySQL more effectively.

Allow single sign-on for AWS End User Computing services:

Single sign-on capabilities for AWS End User Computing services such as Amazon Workspaces and Amazon WorkDocs.

Amazon WorkLink and Amazon AppStream 2.0 allow your users to access these services from a computer that is linked to AWS Managed Microsoft AD without having to enter their credentials separately.

Allow your on-premises AD users to access cloud business apps with a single click:

AWS Managed Microsoft AD may be used in conjunction with AWS IAM Identity Center (the successor to AWS SSO) to provide SAML identity provider (IdP) capabilities to your AWS Managed Microsoft AD or trusted domains.

Built-in connectors to numerous corporate programs, such as Salesforce, Box, and Office 365, are available to your users. By following the step-by-step instructions, you can simply establish single sign-on access to these applications.

AWS IAM Identity Center walks you through the process of entering the necessary URLs, certificates, and information.

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Benefits of AWS Directory Service

Simple migration of directory-aware, on-premises workloads
Existing domains can easily be extended.
Manage application access and devices in AWS from a single location.
Managed services make administration easier.

Conclusion

AWS provides several methods to interact with and use a directory service. Many people will be attracted to the notion that many AWS services may be integrated with an on-premises Active Directory architecture.

There are midrange alternatives that give similar functionalities but at a lower cost, as we witnessed with Simple AD and AD connection. Integrating cloud services with current on-premises Active Directory provides even another incentive to consider cloud computing!

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