Systems and methods to facilitate certificate and trust management across a distributed environment

A method comprising:

• validating, with an authentication provider of a virtual appliance, of a plurality of virtual appliances, triggered in response to a change in certificate, that the certificate is authentic,
• the virtual appliance to communicate the certificate via a management endpoint of the virtual appliance;
• evaluating the certificate, with a certificate evaluator of a first component server, to determine a signing authority;
• when the certificate is accepted by the certificate evaluator, restarting the first component server to activate the certificate;
• notifying the virtual appliance of acceptance of the certificate via the management endpoint to register a first management agent of the first component server with the management endpoint and to authenticate communication between the first component server and the virtual appliance via the management endpoint using the certificate;
• synchronizing the first component server with the virtual appliance using the management endpoint, the first management agent, and the certificate;
• based on the acceptance of the certificate, sending a notification to a second component server including a second management agent, the notification to instruct the second management agent to reinitiate trust with the management endpoint and to communicate with the management endpoint using the certificate;
• and
• processing polling of the virtual appliance, in a configurable time interval, by the first management agent and the second management agent, based on the trust and the certificate, via the management endpoint to obtain commands to be executed by at least a corresponding one of the first component server and the second component server.

A tangible computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a first component server to at least:

• evaluate a certificate from a management endpoint of a virtual appliance, of a plurality of virtual appliances, to determine a signing authority, the virtual appliance to include a certificate validator that validates, when triggered in response to a change in the certificate, that the certificate is authentic;
• and
• when the certificate is accepted:
• restart the first component server to activate the certificate;
• notify the virtual appliance of acceptance of the certificate via the management endpoint to register a first management agent of the first component server with the management endpoint and to authenticate communication between the first component server and the virtual appliance via the management endpoint using the certificate, the first management agent to synchronize the first component server with the virtual appliance using the management endpoint and the certificate;
• based on the acceptance of the certificate, send a notification to a second component server including a second management agent, the notification to instruct the second management agent to reinitiate trust with the management endpoint and to communicate with the management endpoint using the certificate;
• and
• process polling of the virtual appliance, in a configurable time interval, by the first management agent and the second management agent, based on the trust and the certificate, via the management endpoint to obtain commands to be executed by at least a corresponding one of the first component server and the second component server.