I talked about a few new options available for ESXi 4.1 listed under the Security Profile section of a host configuration.
Specifically the first entry flummoxed me a lot until I looked a bit harder at the text... lets examine:
You should note the full name is: I/O Redirector (Active Directory)(LWIOD) Options.
Well a little more scratching and I uncover the hidden link is a company called LIKEWISE.
LikeWise is an open source organization that provides audit and authentication services as a middleware, they are most familiar by handling AD authentication for Mac OSX environments and after a little view into their forums I was able to find this section, although ESXi is now out and these messages were previous to its release, however the most salient point is:
Q: What components of Likewise Open are included in VMware?
A: VMware has licensed the Likewise Identity Service from Likewise Software and integrated it into its hypervisor host operating systems ESX and ESXi. This includes the components required to the support domain join, authentication and name based lookups of users among other features.
According to the information I have about LikeWise this can certainly bode well for us enterprise types who like to architect robust and federated environments, here are the features the Identity Service (the licensed LWIOD).
Here are a few things it could offer:
- Authenticate with AD users and groups. AD schema changes not required.
- Cached credentials support if the DCs are unavailable.
- Backup alternative to ntpd via AD.
- Support for AD site affinity.
- Support for multiple forests.
-Virt
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