Google Cloud AD Service for Cloud-Based Active Directory

Google Cloud AD Service offers a cloud-based Active Directory solution that simplifies identity and access management for organizations.

With Google Cloud AD, you can manage user identities and access across multiple cloud and on-premises applications, including Google Cloud Platform services.

Google Cloud AD Service integrates with other Google Cloud services, such as Google Workspace, to provide a seamless user experience.

This integration allows you to use a single identity source for your users, eliminating the need for multiple passwords and usernames.

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Google Cloud Managed Active Directory is a premium managed service that hosts and manages a customer's new Active Directory domain in Google Cloud.

It was made generally available in February of 2020 as an "Active Directory-as-a-service" for customers who need AD but don't want to manage the underlying aspects of it.

All you need to do is provide the necessary information, and Google Cloud will handle the rest, including supporting the Windows operating system and implementing security best practices around AD configuration.

Google Cloud's Managed Service for Microsoft Active Directory is designed for customers who don't want to manage the underlying aspects of Active Directory, such as security and configuration.

It's essentially an "Active Directory-as-a-service" that lets you focus on your business while Google Cloud takes care of the technical details.

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To implement Managed AD, you'll need to start by setting up two AD Domain Controller Google Compute Engine (GCE) instances per region in non-overlapping zones. These instances are created in a private Google-managed project with a VPC and Cloud DNS that's only used for the Managed AD domain.

The private Google-managed project is not visible or accessible to the customer, but the Domain Controller instances can be reached over the VPC peering connection established between the customer's VPC and the Google-managed VPC.

To deploy Managed AD, access the Security area of Google Cloud Console and select Managed Microsoft AD. You'll need to select a number of different IAM roles, including roles/managedidentities.admin, which has all necessary permissions.

Here are the key requirements for deploying Managed AD:

If using Shared VPCs, Managed AD should be deployed to the host project so that it can peer with the shared VPC.

To deploy Managed AD, you'll need to set up two AD Domain Controller Google Compute Engine instances per region in non-overlapping zones. These instances are placed in a private Google-managed project with a VPC and Cloud DNS that's created solely for the Managed AD domain.

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The private Google-managed project is not visible or accessible to the customer, but the Domain Controller instances are reachable over the VPC peering connection established between the customer's VPC and the Google-managed VPC.

To enable GCE instances or other servers to resolve the Managed AD domain using Cloud DNS, Cloud DNS is enabled and configured in the customer project with a domain peering zone for the AD domain. This points to the Domain Controller instances in the Google-managed project.

Initially, the Managed AD VPC is peered with a single customer VPC, but it can be peered to five additional VPCs to permit additional access to the service by hosts in other VPCs.

To deploy Managed AD, you'll need to provide a fully-qualified AD domain to use, which fits the naming standard for the organization. This domain should not conflict with any existing domain in or outside the organization.

Here are the necessary details to deploy Managed AD:

The initial administrator username can be changed to suit the customer, but the default is "setupadmin".

You can sync Google to Azure AD to manage identities through a single portal. This setup allows for user provisioning and single sign-on (SSO) between Azure AD and Google Workspace or Cloud Identity accounts.

You can redirect the Student Information System’s (SIS) synchronization from Google to either Azure AD or your on-prem AD after delegating Google cloud identity management to Azure AD.

Your organization’s Identity Provider (IDP) stores the passwords of your users. Instead of the Google sign-in screen, users can sign in from their ChromeOS devices from an Azure authentication page.

Syncing your on-premises Active Directory (AD) to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is a great way to extend your existing identity access management (IAM) to Google resources.

You can sync your users and groups from on-prem AD to a Google Cloud Identity domain, which allows you to have your users and groups from the on-prem IDP extended to GCP.

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To sync AD to GCP, you'll need to create an administrator user account, create an Active Directory for user provisioning, and install Google Cloud Directory Sync.

Here's a high-level overview of the steps involved in syncing AD to GCP:

By following these steps, you can easily extend your existing on-prem IAM to Google resources and leverage the investments you've made on your existing on-prem architecture.

It's also worth noting that you can use your existing SAML-based Identity Provider (IDP) to configure single sign-on for all the platforms and applications in Google.

In fact, you can even use your existing domain controller, such as Okta or Google Workspace, to set up single sign-on for all the platforms and applications in Google.

By mapping users between Active Directory and Cloud Identity or Google Workspace, you can control users' access to an entire set of resources by modifying the membership of the groups.

This is particularly useful when using universal groups, which are fully replicated across the forest and can be synchronized by a single GCDS instance.

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Syncing and mapping are crucial steps in setting up Google Cloud AD. You'll need to map DNS domains between Active Directory and Google Cloud to share resources efficiently.

To map users, you'll need to think about how to manage access across projects in Google Cloud. Groups are commonly used to manage access efficiently, rather than assigning individual users to IAM roles.

Before deciding on how to synchronize groups, consider the type of security groups used across your Active Directory forest. Universal groups are fully replicated across the forest, giving you more flexibility when synchronizing with Cloud Identity or Google Workspace.

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Mapping DNS domains is a crucial step in syncing Active Directory with Google Cloud. DNS plays a vital role in both Active Directory and Google Workspace.

You'll need to figure out how to share or map DNS domains between Active Directory and Google Cloud. This is the second factor to consider when planning to federate Active Directory and Google Cloud.

In this case, you'll need to look at how to manage DNS domains in both environments. The goal is to ensure seamless communication between the two systems.

To start, you'll need to understand the DNS domains used in Active Directory and Google Cloud. This will help you identify any potential conflicts or issues that may arise during the syncing process.

Mapping users between Active Directory and Google Cloud is crucial for efficient access management. This involves defining groups that model common roles in your organization and assigning those groups to IAM roles.

Universal groups are fully replicated across the forest, which means a single GCDS instance can synchronize them from multiple domains. This is a significant advantage.

Not all groups might need to be synchronized, so it's essential to examine how different types of security groups are used across your Active Directory forest. This will help you determine the scope of your synchronization efforts.

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