Single sign-on is the desire to have 1 set of authentication credentials and account information per user on a network. It’s a problem with which institutions large and small struggle. For large institutions the problems are often related to scalability and compatibility with large numbers of disparate systems. For smaller organizations the issues are often related to the manageability of the infrastructures. Finding a solution with the right fit for a particular network can be daunting to say the least. I decided to review what the options were to consider implementing one of them for a network with about half a dozen users and about 50 systems (many virtualized).

It was a disappointing experience. A friend of mine was looking to replace Vista and willing to entertain the idea of moving to Linux. So I brought over my Ubuntu CD’s and tried to run them. Although slow, the Live CD is still a good way to show off what the desktop will look like and test driver compatibility. Unfortunately the Live CD would lock up with a scrambled screen on boot. My friend was not impressed.

Encryption is becoming more common as users realize the dangers posed if someone were to get the data on their computers. The Ubuntu installer even prompts the user to setup an encrypted disk. While encrypting the primary disk of a desktop or laptop is desirable, I tend to use an external encrypted disk to store much of my data. To be more accurate I create a single large partition on the disk and encrypt that partition. I thought it would be useful, especially given the quality of information on the web, to share my process and some information about the options available.