Is there any way to log in to active directory from a mac without joining the AD domain?

Question

I am looking for a way to log in to active directory without having the Mac join the AD domain. Basically i have not been able to understand all the ramifications of joining the AD domain. From what I have read in various documentations on the apple site and some of the AD plug in sites, it seems that if the mac joins the domain, all kinds of group policies get 'transfered' to the mac experience. How exactly does that affect the privileges of the local mac user on their machine? do they need to change their mac password? what happens to their existing home directories? what happens when they have their laptops at home?
TIA
Costas Manousakis

Answer 1

Costas Manousakis wrote:
The reason i am hesitant about binding the macs is that i'm not sure what are all the effects of that. will they have to change their mac passwords / usernames? more than likely the auto login will have to go. If there are multiple accounts on the mac (ex one admin account and other regular and admin accounts) how does binding affect them? how will it work when the mac is not in the office? if they have admin rights on the mac but not on the windows AD, how will that affect them? Do you know of a source i could go to to find answers for questions like these?
Unfortunately, the source for answers should be your IT department. I can tell you how my machine works. I have a personal machine with no restrictions and a work machine bound to an Active Directory domain. Even my work machine has few restrictions compared to normal. I have a privileged account I can use if necessary. Also, I'm pretty much a goody-two-shoes so I don't try to circumvent restrictions.
Basically, the Mac uses a system called Open Directory to manage user accounts. Every Mac comes with its own miniature Open Directory server. If you have a network with MacOS X Server, you can use the server's Open Directory. You can also use Microsoft's Active Directory to perform all the same tasks. The user's logins and passwords would be whatever is on Active Directory. They can change their password on the Mac and it will change the Active Directory password. Active Directory can enforce passwords expirations too.
I am not an Active Directory administrator, so I can't give you specifics. Pretty much everything you have mentioned can be controlled via Active Directory. That is what it is for. It does require active participation of your IT staff. If you don't have that, then I don't see it working out well. It sounds like a paradox. IT wants to control users, but doesn't want to deal with it. You can't have it both ways. Maybe let it be known among the Mac users that visiting those restricted sites could cause IT to get rid of Mac altogether. That does sound like a probable outcome.