Univention Corporate Server

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Univention Corporate Server
logo
Overview page of the UCS Management Console
Overview page of the Univention Management Console, the web-based IT infrastructure management system from Univention Corporate Server / favorites view
developer Univention
License (s) AGPL
Current  version 4.4-5
ancestry GNU / Linux
↳ Debian
↳ Univention Corporate Server
Architecture (s) IA-32 , AMD64
UCS

Univention Corporate Server ( UCS ) is a server operating system derived from Debian with an integrated identity and infrastructure management system for the central and cross-platform management of servers, services, clients, desktops and users as well as virtualized computers operated under UCS. In addition to the operation of local virtual instances, UCS can also be operated in OpenStack -based clouds, Microsoft Azure clouds and in Amazon EC2 cloud environments. By integrating the open source software Samba 4 , UCS also supports the functions provided in many companies by Microsoft Active Directory for the administration of computers that are operated with Windows . UCS components and UCS-certified applications from well-known third-party providers can be installed and integrated via the integrated Univention App Center. UCS provides a runtime environment and services for the operation and uniform, central management of the apps for the App Center applications. It enables particularly easy commissioning and management of the apps available in the App Center. Also Docker containers can be run on UCS systems and more and more of the available via the App Center apps are also Docker-based.

The company Univention is a member of the Open Source Business Alliance and supports the development of the Open Source Business Alliance Open Source Software Stack.

history

The starting point for the development of UCS, which began in 2002, was the lack of a standardized Linux server operating system that offered companies and organizations an alternative to Microsoft's domain concept with its proprietary directory service Active Directory. Comparable Linux solutions (e.g. from SUSE or Red Hat ) did not offer integrated, cross-system user and computer management, so that corresponding solutions had to be configured and maintained individually. The decisive early impetus for the development of UCS were initially the Oldenburgische Landesbank and the authority of the Bremen Senator for Education and Science, until the product was ready for the market at the end of 2004. Since then, in addition to new versions, some software solutions based on the main product UCS have been published (see: section on the App Center ). Originally, UCS was mainly used in German-speaking countries by companies and public organizations from a wide variety of industries and areas, including the state administration of Brandenburg .

In 2005 Univention began to sell UCS through system houses in German-speaking countries as well . Meanwhile, UCS is widespread in many other European countries and also outside of Europe, e.g. B. in Australia, Nigeria and the USA, where Univention has had a branch since 2013.

Licenses and Editions

UCS is open source software. The in-house developments of Univention GmbH contained in UCS were published under the GNU GPL up to version 2.3 . With the release of version 2.4, the company switched to the GNU AGPL . There are some software appliances based on UCS (e.g. in the groupware , desktop or IT service management area).

UCS was originally available as a commercial, paid edition for companies and as a "free for personal use" license, which was intended exclusively for private use. Since April 21, 2015 there has been a free so-called UCS Core Edition in addition to the paid edition for companies. This replaced the “free for personal use” license and can also be used commercially. It is also a full version. The differences to the commercial edition only affect the area of ​​product liability and support.

Structure and components

Univention Corporate Server is based on the Linux distribution Debian . Numerous open source applications, such as Samba , the Kerberos authentication service , the KVM virtualization software , and Nagios for monitoring servers and services are integrated in UCS. The core and important unique selling point of UCS, however, is the central administration tool "Univention Management Console", which enables IT infrastructures to be managed across systems and locations. UCS uses the OpenLDAP directory service to store data for identity and system management.

The administration tools are operated via web-based applications and command line interfaces. Due to the integrated administration service UCS Virtual Machine Manager (UVMM), the administration tools also allow the central administration of virtualized servers and clients, hard disk, CDROM and DVD images including the physical systems on which they are executed.

The manufacturer offers options for integrating UCS into existing IT environments by using open standards and the connectors supplied. The integrated tool Active Directory Connection enables bidirectional comparison between the Microsoft directory service Active Directory and the directory service OpenLDAP used in UCS. UCS also offers various interfaces for manufacturers of application software with which they can integrate their applications into the UCS management system.

As of UCS 3.1, which was published in December 2012, Univention also offers the "Univention App Center", its own graphical management component for installing and uninstalling UCS components and third-party applications integrated in UCS. In addition to the Univention solutions, the open source groupware solutions EGroupware , Kopano , Open-Xchange and Tine 2.0 , the backup solutions and Bareos , the customer management solution SuiteCRM, the online office solutions ONLYOFFICE and Collabora , the chat solution RocketChat and the Dropbox alternatives ownCloud and Nextcloud can be found and installed in UCS. Since the first release, the Univention App Center has been continuously expanded to include additional third-party solutions, all of which are certified for UCS. Since March 2014, the App Center has also offered the option of not only installing the applications available there, but also buying them directly from the provider. Univention is pursuing a new strategy and would like to position the App Center as the central source of supply for open source applications.

Areas of application of the products in the Univention App Center

The products and UCS components available in the Univention App Center serve a large number of application areas. Solutions are available for the following areas of application:

Access management and authentication

The UCS RADIUS app secures access to the network via the RADIUS protocol. The SAML app integrated in UCS provides a single sign-on identity provider for UCS based on the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) protocol and the SimpleSAMLphp framework. This enables single sign-on functionality for web services and third-party applications (such as Google Apps , Salesforce.com, etc.) to be offered. The authentication is carried out directly at the identity provider. Users are managed with UCS and individually activated for certain services. In addition, with the help of privacyIDEA, the registration can be carried out with a second factor.

Active Directory Compatible Services

In the App Center, with the component Active Directory-compatible domain controller based on Samba 4, UCS offers the use of UCS as an Active Directory domain controller for Windows systems including file, print and network services.

If Microsoft Windows and Linux environments are to be operated in parallel, the Active Directory Connection tool offers a transparent migration path between Active Directory and UCS as well as automatic synchronization between these systems, including encrypted passwords, group definitions and other directory service objects. With the Member Mode function, UCS can also become a subordinate member in a domain and is then available as a platform.

If the goal is a complete change to a UCS environment with simultaneous shutdown of all Active Directory domain controllers, the Active Directory Takeover available in the App Center enables the migration of objects from a native Active Directory domain controller to a UCS Samba / AD domain controller.

Connection of Microsoft Office 365 and Google Apps for Work

Using the Microsoft Office 365 Connector and Google Apps for Work Connector tools , user management for the Office 365 and Google Apps for Work cloud services is integrated in UCS so that these users are managed locally and not in the cloud . In addition, these users benefit from the single sign-on integrated in UCS , so that they do not need an additional password to use these cloud solutions.

Client management

With Univention Corporate Client (UCC) the App Center offers an efficiently manageable operating system for PCs , notebooks and thin clients in companies and authorities. The software contains a desktop environment optimized for business use based on Ubuntu . UCC ensures integrated administration procedures for users, clients, desktops or authorizations and effectively eliminates the need to use different, non-coordinated administration tools. It serves as a platform for accessing remote desktop solutions and virtualized desktops as well as browser or terminal server- based applications.

data backup

With SEP sesam and Bareos, the App Center for UCS offers two well-known solutions for backing up , archiving and restoring all common operating systems, virtualization solutions, applications, databases and files.

Printer management

UCS offers a printer server based on the CUPS software with which extensive printer environments can be implemented. PPD drivers for most printer models are included.

Mail and groupware

UCS Mailservices takes on the function of a complete mail server via SMTP and Dovecot (before version 4.0-2 Cyrus ) for the provision of mailboxes via IMAP and POP3 . Virus checks via the ClamAV scanner and spam detection via SpamAssassin are integrated. Shared IMAP folders and mailing lists can be defined in the Univention Management Console.

In addition, the App Center offers integration of the well-known groupware solutions from Open-Xchange , Kopano , Kolab and Tine 2.0 .

For mail server security and antivirus protection, the Univention App Center offers the Kaspersky Security App for Linux mail server from Kaspersky Lab , which is automatically integrated into the UCS administration interface.

Management software for educational institutions

The Univention Corporate Server @ school solution extends UCS to include functions specifically for use in schools and educational institutions. These are, for example, tools for distributing work materials and locking computers and screen control software. In addition, well-known, web-based learning and community platforms such as WebWeaver and EDYOU are also available for UCS @ school, which can be managed centrally via UCS @ school.

Monitoring

With Nagios, the App Center offers a solution for system and network monitoring. In addition to the standard Nagios plugins, UCS-specific plugins are also supplied (e.g. for monitoring domain replication).

Network and intranet management

The DHCP server in the App Center is a service for dynamic IP management for IPv4 networks. It can be configured flexibly and reliably manages even large networks. During the configuration, you can choose between dynamic or fixed assignment of IP addresses . By specifying the MAC address, systems can be assigned a fixed IP address and external systems can be excluded.

The Squid web proxy enables the use of a browser cache to increase performance and control data traffic. Response times for users and transfer volumes can be reduced via Internet access. In addition, the control and administration of access to Internet content is made possible. For example, it can be specified which users or user groups may or may not access which websites.

Virtualization

With UCS Virtual Machine Manager (UVMM), the App Center offers a standard component in the UCS management system for the management of virtualized IT infrastructures of different virtualization technologies such as KVM . As of version 4.0, the UCS component UVMM can also manage OpenStack -based cloud resources or Amazon EC2 cloud environments just as easily as local instances.

With the KVM virtualization server app , the App Center provides a hypervisor for virtualizing systems using KVM . Several KVM nodes in the area can be managed with the UCS Virtual Machine Manager.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ UCS 4.4-5 Release Notes . Retrieved July 14, 2020.
  2. ↑ Univention: UCS 4.0 manages hybrid clouds. In: heise.de. Heise Zeitschriften Verlag, November 20, 2014, accessed on November 24, 2014 .
  3. ↑ Linux instead of Windows: Univention Corporate Server as domain controller. In: Searchdatacenter.de. TechTarget, April 2016, accessed July 8, 2016 .
  4. ↑ Univention Corporate Server 4.2 released. April 5, 2017. Retrieved April 24, 2017 .
  5. ↑ AWS and Docker: Overview of the App Store for Univention Corporate Server. In: SeachDataCenter. TechTarget, April 2016, accessed July 8, 2016 .
  6. ↑ We don't need a service contract. In: Computerwoche. IDG Business Media GmbH, October 1, 2004, accessed on November 19, 2009 .
  7. ↑ Migration from Windows NT to Linux / UCS. (No longer available online.) Federal Administration Office Germany, OSS Competence Center, formerly in the original ; Retrieved September 23, 2012 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / oss.bund.de  
  8. ↑ Migration Guide of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Version 3.0, p. 36ff. (PDF) In: Migration Guide. Federal Ministry of the Interior, April 1, 2008, accessed December 11, 2009 .
  9. ↑ New UCS version with integrated virtualization tool. In: heise Open. heise Verlag, August 31, 2010, accessed on September 2, 2010 .
  10. ↑ Univention Corporate Server now free for everyone. In: pro-linux.de. Baader & Lindner GbR, April 21, 2015, accessed on April 22, 2015 .
  11. ↑ http://www.pro-linux.de/news/1/18905/erster-meilenstein-von-ucs-31.html
  12. ↑ How to map all necessary server services with UCS. In: IT business. Vogel Business Media, May 15, 2015, accessed December 23, 2015 .
  13. ^ "Cockpit - Univention Corporate Server for virtual infrastructures". In: ADMIN magazine. Linux New Media, May 2011, accessed May 27, 2011 .
  14. ↑ Active Directory connection in the Univention App Center ( memento of the original from August 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.univention.de
  15. ↑ Univention Corporate Server 3.1 with Active Directory function. In: Heise Open. Heise Verlag, December 13, 2012, accessed on December 14, 2012 .
  16. ↑ Univention: UCS App Center with numerous updates. In: pro-linux.de. January 30, 2014, accessed January 30, 2014 .
  17. ↑ Univention wants to establish an app store for the open source world. In: Computerwoche.de. March 10, 2014, accessed March 25, 2014 .
  18. ↑ Univention App Center is growing and moving towards the cloud. In: datacenter-insider.de. January 6, 2015, accessed February 19, 2015 .
  19. ↑ Univention App Center catalog - download and use apps via UCS. In: Univention. Accessed December 11, 2019 (German).
  20. ↑ Security-Assertion-Markup-Language-Protocol in practice: Single-Sign-On instead of a login marathon. Retrieved December 11, 2019 .
  21. ↑ Univention Corporate Server 4.1 released. Retrieved December 11, 2019 .
  22. ↑ Linux instead of Windows: Univention Corporate Server as domain controller. In: Searchdatacenter.de. TechTarget, April 2016, accessed April 14, 2016 .
  23. ↑ Oliver Diedrich: Univention Corporate Server integrates Office 365 and Google services. heise, May 4, 2016, accessed June 16, 2016 .
  24. ↑ Mirko Lindner: Univention Corporate Client 3.0 released. Pro-Linux.de, August 18, 2016, accessed on August 24, 2016 .
  25. ↑ Jannis Moutafis: Open-Xchange comes as an Appliance Edition . In: PC WORLD . ( pcwelt.de [accessed on December 11, 2019]).
  26. ↑ UCS @ school published in version 3.0. Retrieved December 11, 2019 .
  27. ↑ Linux in schools: UCS @ school runs with Samba 4.0 - Golem.de. Accessed December 11, 2019 (German).
  28. ↑ Mathias Huber: UCS @ school 3.0: School server with Samba 4 and mobile integration. In: Linux magazine. June 5, 2012, accessed on December 11, 2019 (German).
  29. ↑ Univention GmbH: DigiOnline: WebWeaver @ School - learning platform for schools and Schulträ… January 26, 2016, accessed on December 11, 2019 .
  30. ↑ Univention App Center - Install and buy apps for UCS. In: Univention. Accessed December 11, 2019 (German).
  31. ↑ Univention Corporate Server 4.0 is ready. In: admin-magazin.de. Heinemann Verlag, November 20, 2014, accessed on November 24, 2014 .