Services or capabilities described in Amazon Web Services documentation might vary by Region. To see the differences applicable to the China Regions, see Getting Started with Amazon Web Services in China (PDF).

Use Case 1: Sign in to Amazon applications and services with Active Directory credentials

You can enable multiple Amazon applications and services such as Amazon Client VPN, Amazon Web Services Management Console, Amazon IAM Identity Center, Amazon Chime, Amazon Connect, Amazon FSx, Amazon QuickSight, Amazon RDS for SQL Server, Amazon WorkDocs, Amazon WorkMail, and WorkSpaces to use your Amazon Managed Microsoft AD directory. When you enable an Amazon application or service in your directory, your users can access the application or service with their Active Directory credentials.

For example, you can enable your users to sign in to the Amazon Web Services Management Console with their Active Directory credentials. To do this, you enable the Amazon Web Services Management Console as an application in your directory, and then assign your Active Directory users and groups to IAM roles. When your users sign in to the Amazon Web Services Management Console, they assume an IAM role to manage Amazon resources. This makes it easy for you to grant your users access to the Amazon Web Services Management Console without needing to configure and manage a separate SAML infrastructure.

To further enhance the end user experience you can enable Single sign-on capabilities for Amazon WorkDocs, which provides your users the ability to access Amazon WorkDocs from a computer joined to the directory without having to enter their credentials separately.

You can grant access to user accounts in your directory or in your on-premises Active Directory, so they can sign in to the Amazon Web Services Management Console or through the Amazon CLI using their existing credentials and permissions to manage Amazon resources by assigning IAM roles directly to the existing user accounts.

FSx for Windows File Server integration with Amazon Managed Microsoft AD

Integrating FSx for Windows File Server with Amazon Managed Microsoft AD provides a fully managed native Microsoft Windows based Server Message Block (SMB) protocol file system that allows you to easily move your Windows-based applications and clients (that utilize shared file storage) to Amazon. Although FSx for Windows File Server can be integrated with a self-managed Microsoft Active Directory, we do not discuss that scenario here.

Common Amazon FSx use cases and resources

This section provides a reference to resources on common FSx for Windows File Server integrations with Amazon Managed Microsoft AD use cases. Each of the use cases in this section start with a basic Amazon Managed Microsoft AD and FSx for Windows File Server configuration. For more information about how to create these configurations, see:

Amazon FSx also supports Amazon Managed Microsoft AD Directory Sharing. For more information, see:

Amazon RDS integration with Amazon Managed Microsoft AD

Amazon RDS supports external authentication of database users using Kerberos with Microsoft Active Directory. Kerberos is a network authentication protocol that uses tickets and symmetric-key cryptography to eliminate the need to transmit passwords over the network. Amazon RDS support for Kerberos and Active Directory provides the benefits of single sign-on and centralized authentication of database users so you can keep your user credentials in Active Directory.

To get started with this use case you'll first need to set up a basic Amazon Managed Microsoft AD and Amazon RDS configuration.

All of the use cases referenced below will start with a base Amazon Managed Microsoft AD and Amazon RDS and cover how to integrate Amazon RDS with Amazon Managed Microsoft AD.

Amazon RDS also supports Amazon Managed Microsoft AD Directory Sharing. For more information, see:

For more information about joining an Amazon RDS for SQL Server to your Active Directory, see Join Amazon RDS for SQL Server to your self-managed Active Directory.

.NET application using Amazon RDS for SQL Server with group Managed Service Accounts

You can integrate Amazon RDS for SQL Server with a basic .NET application and group Managed Service Accounts (gMSAs). For more information, see How Amazon Managed Microsoft AD Helps to Simplify the Deployment and Improve the Security of Active Directory–Integrated .NET Applications