Quest extends single sign-on support

Quest last week added single sign-on application support to its software that integrates Active Directory with Unix and Linux platforms.

With Vintela Authentication Services (VAS) 3.0, users can expand single sign-on capabilities to applications running on non-Windows platforms. Previously, the software gave users single sign-on to Linux, Unix and Windows platforms, but not to individual applications. Windows users had to have a separate user name and password for logons to applications on those platforms.

Now that Quest is aggregating users’ access to the network and applications with a single logon, the company plans to expand its smart card support to Linux and Unix. The move lets companies install two-factor authentication across platforms to secure users’ access credentials.

Quest also has made it possible to migrate users from Unix Network Information System, a database of user passwords, to Active Directory. This migration capability is supported by Quest’s Unix Personality Management feature, which lets users create a Unix personality in Active Directory that is used to assign users to Unix servers.

“You have to able to secure all your identities,” says Andi Mann, a senior analyst with Enterprise Management Associates. “The basic principle of security is security at every level, knowing every user at every point, not just on the operating system, but with the applications as well,” he adds.

VAS 3.0 ships with connectors for SAP and IBM’s DB2 database and includes an API for building custom connections to other systems. Quest plans to add support later this year for Oracle’s database and financial applications. Quest also is adding reporting features from its Quest Reporter software to the VAS platform to help users meet auditing and compliance regulations.

Quest, which acquired privately held Vintela last year, has been upgrading VAS since late last year. It first combined the platform and Vintela Group Policy into a single product called VAS with Group Policy Components. Microsoft’s group policy lets administrators control configurations of desktops and servers. Quest also added support for Solaris 10 and Linux on 64-bit AMD and Intel chips.

Quest competes with companies such as Bindview, NetIQ and NetPro on management of Microsoft infrastructure and with Centeris and Centrify on integration with Unix and Linux.

VAS 3.0 is priced at $325 per server and $45 per user.