Use Google Apps/Cloud Services as a Domain Controller Replacement

Posted by user124548 on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by user124548
Published on 2012-06-13T15:30:49Z Indexed on 2012/07/03 15:18 UTC
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active-directory

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domain-controller

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google-apps

This is a Canonical Question about Cloud Services replacing Active Directory.

Is it possible to use Google Apps or another Cloud Service as a replacement for a Windows Domain Controller (replacing my whole AD infrastructure)?

Specifically, I want to remove our dependence on a local Windows Server; currently it acts as a Domain Controller with File and Print Services. I'd like to seamlessly replace this server with something based on hosted applications. I do not just want to move the server to a dedicated or collocated server.

I have yet to figure out how to piece together printer/etc sharing. If anyone has any insight into this, it would be appreciated. The goal is to eventually move all my servers to the cloud then write up a case study on the whole affair.

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