Univention Corporate Server (UCS) / Blog: Recent posts

Following the release of Guardian earlier this year, we are continuing our
journey to raise the role and rights model of our products to a new level. We
are excited to share the next steps in this exciting evolution with you.

How the Guardian Apps work together

Guardian is at the center of our flexible role management and takes over the
authorization check in Nubus, UCS and UCS@school. Guardian enables the simple
administration of roles via a graphic user interface (GUI). But its range
goes far beyond this. The illustration below shows the connection between the
three components of the Guardian (Authorization API, Management API and
Management UI) and other parts of the product.... read more

Welcome to our fourth dive into the world of Univention apps! In this blog
series, we regularly highlight exciting applications from our App
Center. Today, we’re
checking out Keycloak, an identity provider (IdP) that helps UCS admins manage
user authentication and authorization in a secure and centralized way.... read more

The eighth patch level release for Univention Corporate Server (UCS) 5.0,
UCS 5.0-8, is now available. This release includes all errata for bug fixes
and security updates published since version 5.0-7, including updates for
Docker, Python, PostgreSQL, and various Univention-specific packages.

UCS 5.0-8 can be updated via the "Software Update" module or downloaded from
our download area.

New Logos... read more

The Identity and Access Management (IAM) and portal, introduced as Nubus at
the Univention Summit 2024, are already functional components of the
Univention Corporate Server (UCS). To provide more clarity regarding our
products, the Nubus product name will soon be visible within UCS.

At the Univention Summit 2024, we introduced Nubus: an open Identity and
Access Management (IAM) system based on the technology stack of Univention
Corporate Server (UCS). The first standalone pre-release of Nubus for
Kubernetes has been released recently, prompting us to clarify what Nubus
is and how it relates to UCS. This development will bring changes to our
product presentations in our external communications, including a website
relaunch and adjustments within our UCS and UCS@school products. With this
blog article I’d like to give you an overview about these changes.... read more

Collabora and Univention have enjoyed a friendly relationship for many years,
working closely on large projects such as openDesk, and sharing our time and
expertise with each other at different events. We were delighted to host
Univention CEO Peter Ganten as our keynote speaker for our annual conference
in 2022, and have had the privilege of contributing to Univention summits for
some time now.

Partnership at its best... read more

Welcome to our third dive into the world of Univention apps! In this blog
series, we regularly present exciting applications from our App Center. Today,
we’re featuring the Self Service
app – a tool
that significantly lightens the load for UCS admins by delegating certain
tasks directly to users.

Functionality of the Self Service App... read more

Have you ever faced the challenge of ensuring certain user properties, like
usernames or email addresses, remain off-limits for future accounts after
deleting a user? The new blocklist feature in Univention Corporate Server
Version 5.0-6-erratum-974 is the solution. This article takes a closer
look at UDM blocklists.

A Quick Look at the Basics... read more

UCS@school 5.0 v5, the fifth patch level release of UCS@school 5.0, is now
available, containing a number of fixes and improvements, some of which I
would like to highlight.

Importer now accepts different encodings as input format

The UCS@school Importer now officially accepts input files encoded not only in
UTF-8 but also alternatively in UTF-16, both Little Endian and Big Endian.
Additionally, user guidance has been improved in case an unsupported encoding
is used.... read more

Welcome back to our journey into the world of Univention apps! In this blog
series, we regularly present exciting applications from our App
Center. In our second
episoide, we're diving into IAM integration with two key connectors: the
Microsoft 365 Connector and the Google Workspace Connector. These apps build
bridges and facilitate exchange between your UCS environment and these
essential cloud office solutions.... read more

Univention Corporate Server (UCS) 5.0-7, the seventh patch-level release for
Univention Corporate Server (UCS) 5.0, is now available. It encompasses all
errata, bug fixes, and security updates released since version 5.0-6,
including updates for OpenSSH, MariaDB, and the Linux kernel. Additionally, an
exciting new feature has been introduced: the blocking of previously used
values in UDM.

UCS 5.0-7 is available for update in the "Software Update" module and can be
downloaded from our download area.... read more

Welcome to our first journey into the world of Univention applications! In
this new blog series, we will regularly present exciting applications from our
App Center. In the first
episode, we focus on three tools for different environments: Whether you're
using Univention Corporate Server as a single domain controller, integrating
the server into an existing Active Directory, or planning to migrate an entire
existing AD domain to UCS – we have the perfect solution for you!... read more

We have added a new member to our portfolio of product documents: The manual
"Univention Corporate Server for Debian and Ubuntu Administrators" is now
publicly available. This document has been specially developed to make it
easier for people with an administrative background in Debian GNU/Linux and
Ubuntu to get started with UCS and to avoid typical pitfalls in system
configuration, software administration and domain joining and the resulting
follow-up work. In this article, we would like to give you an overview of the
idea, making of and contents of this manual.... read more

The sixth patch level release for Univention Corporate Server (UCS) 5.0 is
available with Univention Corporate Server 5.0-6. It contains all bug fixes
and security updates released since version 5.0-5, including for PostgreSQL,
Samba and a number of Univention's own packages. Also included are various
preparations for the upcoming UCS 5.2.... read more

On November 21, we released the Alpha version of UCS 5.2. It is the harbinger
for the first minor release since the release of UCS 5.0 in May 2021. The
Alpha version is intended to give a first impression of the upcoming UCS 5.2,
in particular the basic packages of the distribution have been updated; UCS
5.2 Alpha is therefore primarily aimed at app providers who want to test their
app today. However, installation and updates are generally available to anyone
who wants to get an idea of the next version today.... read more

In today's digital world, we depend more than ever on efficient and reliable
software solutions to optimize our business processes and to modernize IT for
education. At Univention, we offer solutions that meet the needs of our
customers and users. But even the best software can occasionally raise
questions or pose challenges.

That's why we have the Univention Help Forum –
a vibrant community around our products and the product world that surrounds
them. In this blog post, we'd like to share with you why this forum is worth
using and how it can help you.... read more

Pausing for a moment, reading a book in peace, traveling across Europe,
dedicating oneself to a project or volunteering full-time - this is the dream
of many employees. At Univention, this dream has come true, because for the
past two years, employees have had the opportunity to take time out in the
form of a "sabbatical". In this interview, Andreas talks about how he managed
to establish this offer, why the topic is so important to him, and how he
spent his sabbatical.... read more

As announced, we will introduce Keycloak as the default identity provider
(IDP) with UCS 5.2. That raises the question of how long the previous IDP
based on SimpleSAMLphp will be supported in UCS. In this article, I explain
why we have decided to link the maintenance period of SimpleSAMLphp with that
of UCS Release 5.0 and what steps are necessary for existing UCS
installations.

Overview

Key points summarized:... read more

As announced, we will introduce Keycloak as the default identity provider
(IDP) with UCS 5.2. That raises the question of how long the previous IDP
based on SimpleSAMLphp will be supported in UCS. In this article, I explain
why we have decided to link the maintenance period of SimpleSAMLphp with that
of UCS Release 5.0 and what steps are necessary for existing UCS
installations.

Overview

Key points summarized:... read more

Univention Corporate Server 5.0-5 is the fifth point release for Univention
Corporate Server (UCS) 5.0. It contains all erratas released since version
5.0-4 for bug fixes, performance improvements and security updates for Samba,
Linux, OpenSSH, Bind and Python, among others.

UCS 5.0-5 is available in the "Software Update" module and can be found in our
download area.

Security Updates, Bug Fixes and Enhancements for Univention Config Registry

and Univention Directory Manager... read more

Since last year, the single sign-on solution Keycloak has been a central
component of our identity and access management strategy. With Keycloak,
third-party applications can log on to the system using standard protocols
such as SAML and OpenID Connect. This means that users only have to log on
once centrally and can then access all enabled services.

In the long term, Keycloak will replace our existing solutions SimpleSAMLphp
and Kopano Konnect. The development team is working on the implementation of
further functions. As of December 2022, Keycloak is part of the UCS functional
scope covered by our support. Thus, Keycloak can already be installed as an
app via the App Center today.... read more

Since our last blog article on the future role model, we have made significant
progress in transforming the UCS role and rights model. The custom role
design, currently under development, is taking shape. In this article, we
would like to focus on introducing two promising new components: One of them
allows you to evaluate the permissions of a role, while the other is a web
module that allows you to create your own roles. Let's see what else awaits us
until the end of the year.... read more

The patch level release UCS@school 5.0 v4 from the beginning of August comes
with a whole range of improvements for our school software solution UCS@school
which I would like to share with you in this article.

Creating User Names

Until now, when importing users, it was not systematically checked whether the
naming conventions of Windows were adhered to. We have made this subsequently,
so that an error message is displayed when attempting to create a user name
with non-valid characters.... read more

In this blog article, I would like to inform you about important adjustments
to the release and maintenance times for UCS patch level releases. First of
all, I would like to give you a brief overview of how a maintenance cycle of
UCS works and which components are part of it.

A versioning of UCS is structured as follows:

• Major Release (e.g. 5. 0-3)
  Usually, a major release involves fundamental and comprehensive functional
  enhancements and changes, during which, for example, interfaces in our
  software may also change completely.... read more

We are pleased to announce the latest addition to the Univention ID Broker.
KNOWBODY, a young and innovative company, now makes sexual education more
interactive and personal than ever before. Using videos, short games, 3D
animations and even voice messages, students are introduced to the topic in a
unique way. Read on to learn more about the exciting possibilities of this app
from Carolin Strehmel.... read more

With UCS 5.2 Keycloak will become the standard IDP for SAML and OpenID Connect
authentication and will replace the current simpleSAMLPHP and Kopano Connect
apps. Read more about the big picture in our blog article Migration of the
Identity Provider in UCS – Keycloak App now Part of the Support
Scope. The first step we made was the release of Keycloak as a supported
Univention app at the end of 2022. Since then, a lot of work has been done to
make the Keycloak app a worthy replacement for the SimpleSAMLphp integration.... read more