Hey everyone! My company is looking to transition from Windows to Linux for our clients, and I'm trying to gather some resources. I'm particularly interested in blog posts that discuss how Ansible can be used to replace Active Directory, specifically for enforcing settings and GPOs. I'd love to dive deeper into this topic!
Just to clarify, we're planning to switch to FreeIPA and use Ansible to configure workstations—things like GNOME or Firefox settings. Thanks in advance for your help! 🙂
4 Answers
This topic is pretty broad, and the approach can vary based on what your clients need. Are we setting up kiosks or dealing with standard end-user desktops?
You should definitely consider using FreeIPA. I've set it up in a previous role, and it's fantastic for managing users, permissions, and policies—pretty much everything you’d expect from Active Directory, but for Linux.
Another option is to link Linux clients directly to an existing Active Directory with realmd. I did that when we decided to unify our systems under one AD domain instead of having separate domains.
You might want to start with the official FreeIPA documentation; it's quite thorough. Also, check out SSSD; it's similar to AD and could help you out in this transition.
We're mostly talking about IT work laptops, so standard end-user desktops.