System and method for establishing trust between multiple management entities with different authentication mechanisms

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing program instructions for establishing trust between management entities with different authentication mechanisms in a computing system, wherein execution of the program instructions by one or more processors of a computer system causes the one or more processors to perform steps comprising:

• setting an endpoint at a first management entity as an authentication endpoint for a second management entity, wherein the first management entity uses a first token-based authentication mechanism and the second management entity uses a second token-based authentication mechanism;
• creating a first account in the first management entity and a corresponding second account in the second management entity;
• acquiring a first security token at the first management entity using the first account to access the second management entity;
• acquiring a second security token from a token exchange service at the first management entity in exchange for the first security token;
• sending a request with the second security token from the first management entity to the second management entity using the second account;
• in response to the request, retrieving a public key from the first management entity by the second management entity using the authentication endpoint;
• validating the second security token using the public key at the second management entity;
• after validating the second security token, processing the request at the second management entity;
• and
• after processing the request, sending a response to the request back to the first management entity from the second management entity.

A system comprising:

• memory coupled with at least one processor configured to:
• set an endpoint at a first management entity as an authentication endpoint for a second management entity, wherein the first management entity uses a first token-based authentication mechanism and the second management entity uses a second token-based authentication mechanism;
• create a first account in the first management entity and a corresponding second account in the second management entity;
• acquire a first security token at the first management entity using the first account to access the second management entity;
• acquire a second security token from a token exchange service at the first management entity in exchange for the first security token;
• send a request with the second security token from the first management entity to the second management entity using the first account;
• in response to the request, retrieve a public key from the first management entity by the second management entity using the authentication endpoint;
• validate the second security token using the public key at the second management entity;
• after the second security token has been validated, process the request at the second management entity;
• and
• after the request has been processed, send a response to the request back to the first management entity from the second management entity.