adcli

Join a domain

$ sudo adcli join [domain.com]

$ sudo adcli join -U [administrator] [domain.com]

$ adcli info [domain.com]

$ adcli testjoin

adcli command [options] [domain]

adcli is a command-line tool for performing actions on an Active Directory domain. It can join Linux machines to AD domains, manage computer accounts, and query domain information without requiring Samba.
The tool uses standard Kerberos and LDAP protocols to communicate with domain controllers, making it lightweight and suitable for automated deployments.

join

Join the local machine to the domain

Pre-create a computer account in the domain

Reset the computer account password

Delete a computer account from the domain

Update machine account attributes

Test if machine is joined to domain

Display domain information

Administrator username for joining

Domain to join

Organizational unit for computer account

Override local hostname

Read password from stdin

Requires appropriate permissions in AD to create computer accounts. Firewall rules must allow LDAP (389) and Kerberos (88) traffic. For full AD integration, combine with SSSD for user authentication.

adcli was developed by Stef Walter at Red Hat, first released around 2012. It was created to provide a lightweight alternative to Samba for AD domain joining, suitable for modern Linux enterprise deployments.

realm(8), sssd(8), kinit(1), net(8)