Centrify has released Centrify Suite 2011, a new version of the cross-platform Active Directory integration and management tool set. The new version enables IT administrators to disable or control the behavior of the Mac App Store on Mac clients using group policies. It also enhances DNS handling and adds centralized local account management with Deployment Manager 1.2.

The new version enables administrators to use group policies to disable the Mac App Store so that it doesn't launch. Centrify also enhanced the Login Items group policy to support the mounting of network shares at login.

Administrators now have the ability to centrally set up login and logout scripts for Mac clients, a feature that has been available for Windows clients. Login scripts can automatically mount shares, launch applications, and perform other tasks when the Mac starts up.

Deployment Manager 1.2 adds support for centrally managing local accounts with a policy, enabling IT managers to move local accounts to Active Directory. It also enables giving IT staff local privileges as well as removing local users' ability to be an administrator.

Centrify Suite 2011 fine tunes how the system locates domain controllers in DNS infrastructure and complex Active Directory environments. For instance, it will locate Active Directory Domain controllers that are nearest -- and not located on another contentinent, for instance. A company representative said that the new version also looks for controllers that provide the quickest response and failover in a variety of environments, including offline access, VPN wireless, and remote across a WAN.

Management features for Linux desktop has also been enhanced. Most notably, IT administrators can now centrally set user preferences for Linux desktops running GNOME using Windows Group Policy.