Techniques for secure access management in virtual environments

A method implemented and residing within a computer-readable storage medium that is executed by a processor of a network to perform the method, comprising:

• receiving a request for a secure socket layer virtual private network (SSL VPN) connection to a Virtual Machine (VM), the request received from a principal to establish a SSL VPN communication session with the VM;
• requesting an identity service to authenticate the request on behalf of the principal;
• obtaining policies from the identity service for enforcement during the SSL VPN communication session;
• connecting the principal to the VM via the SSL VPN communication session when the principal is authenticated, connection achieved via an Internet Protocol (IP) address and port number combination acquired with the request;
• and
• enforcing the policies during the SSL VPN communication session.

A multiprocessor-implemented system, comprising:

• a portal server;
• an identity server;
• a cloud server;
• and
• a secure socket layer virtual private network (SSL VPN) server;
• wherein the portal server is configured to facilitate authenticating a principal via the identity server for access to a virtual machine (VM), the cloud server is configured to dynamically instantiate the VM at a specified Internet Protocol (IP) address and port number and the cloud server is configured to provide access to the VM during a SSL VPN session when a secure token is presented, the SSL VPN server is configured to interact with the identity server, the principal, and the cloud server to authenticate the principal and establish the SSL VPN session at the specified IP address and port number with the secure token.