Cloud Lab # 0 - Signing-up for a Centrify Cloud Tenant

In a previous post, I discussed the capabilities of the Centrify Cloud Service.  Unfortunately this post will become obsolete because Centrify adds capabilities and tweaks the service every month, but as of December 2014 (v 14.10), here are the high-level capabilities:

To register for a Centrify cloud tenant you'll need an email address.  Follow these instructions:

1. Go to http://www.centrify.com/lp/trial/centrify-solutions.asp and request a trial.  Alternatively, you can register for an Express account via www.centrify.com > Free Products > Centrify Express for SaaS > Request a Trial.  After 30 days, the premium features will be disabled.  Fill out the form:
   
2. You will receive an email from Centrify on the email address specified. Click on the validation link:
   
3. Upon validation you will be assigned a tenant ID.  Press the button to log in to Cloud Manager
   
   You will also receive an email with your initial credentials.
   
4. When you attempt to log in to the cloud manager with your password, you'll be asked to provide an additional authentication method - since e-mail is the only option, you'll receive an email to your account, click on the link and you'll be signed in.
   
5. Upon login, you'll be welcome by the configuration wizard.
   

What happens when a tenant is created?
The Centrify Cloud service runs in Microsoft Azure platform;  note that when the tenant was created, you had the chance to create your tenant in different places based on your region.  In the background, these tasks are created:

• Multiple copies of the service and basic data are created inside the cloud (for redundancy)
• Sets of different encryption keys are created (for encryption services)
• An internal dedicated Certificate Authority is created.
• The initial login suffix is created based on the user's email address.
• The tenant is branded with Centrify's logo and colors.

This is obviously a simplified list, but it's important that they are understood for future posts.  This lab contains no videos.

Next-up:  Initial setup and customization.