AWS Directory Service Overview

AWS Directory Service is the #11 ranked solution in our list of top Identity and Access Management as a Service providers. It is most often compared to Azure Active Directory: AWS Directory Service vs Azure Active Directory

What is AWS Directory Service?

AWS Directory Service lets you run Microsoft Active Directory (AD) as a managed service. AWS Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory, also referred to as AWS Managed Microsoft AD, is powered by Windows Server 2012 R2. When you select and launch this directory type, it is created as a highly available pair of domain controllers connected to your virtual private cloud (VPC). The domain controllers run in different Availability Zones in a region of your choice. Host monitoring and recovery, data replication, snapshots, and software updates are automatically configured and managed for you.

AWS Directory Service is also known as AWS Managed Microsoft AD.

AWS Directory Service Buyer's Guide

Download the AWS Directory Service Buyer's Guide including reviews and more. Updated: February 2021

AWS Directory Service Customers

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers

AWS Directory Service Video

Pricing Advice

What users are saying about AWS Directory Service pricing:

"The pricing is reasonable."

AWS Directory Service Reviews

Andrei Sandulescu

IT Auditor & Compliance Officer at Intellimind

Apr 5, 2020

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Easy to use, but better integration with other business solutions would be useful

Pros and Cons

"The most valuable feature is ease of use."

"I would like to see better integration with other business solutions."

What other advice do I have?

My advice for anybody who is considering this solution is to first make sure that they want to use other AWS services. If they do not intend to do so, then they can simply use Microsoft Active Directory. This solution does what we want to achieve. I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

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reviewer1308501

Senior Datacenter Engineer at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees

Mar 31, 2020

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Easy to assign information and to manage the resources in the network

Pros and Cons

"I like the manageability. Activate Connect makes it easier to assign information and to manage the resources in the network."

"The group policy can be improved."

What other advice do I have?

My advice to someone considering this solution is that before working on this it is better to have good theoretical knowledge about this solution, otherwise if something goes wrong it can impact the entire use. The private cloud hypervisor is not so stable so far. They should improve the stability in the next release. I would rate it a nine out of ten.

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