Active Directory is pretty much the standard out there. Why? Because it works and works very, very well. I'm finding more and more applications hook into AD, even if they're not running on Windows. Yes, there are others. LDAP is an open source protocol. You could look for tools that use it.

>Hello all,
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>For small businesses that are currently running Windows Server for a domain controller (for validating user logins on a network) and also for basic file sharing or running an application is there an alternative for the centralized User Security it offers without a Windows Server? As a lot of file sharing and also applications are moving to the cloud, I find myself left with a Server that is just being used to maintain user logins.
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>So, if I want to get rid of my Windows Server (because essentially I don't need it), what can I do to handle the logins for computer accounts? Should I just remove the computers from the domain and let the individual computers maintain their own logins or is there an alternative for this? Any suggestions are welcome.
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>TIA
>
>Bob