Cluster federation and trust in a cloud environment

An information processing system for distributed computing across a plurality of clusters, the system comprising:

• a plurality of clusters, each cluster including:
• a plurality of computing nodes, each node including a processor, a memory, and a network interface;
• a plurality of application services, each application service including at least one application unit, the application unit including a process, a storage, a network endpoint, and execution instructions corresponding to the application service provided,
• wherein one or more application units together provide the application service, and wherein one or more application units are located on a computing node;
• and
• a director, the director including a mapping of application units and application services to nodes in conjunction with a mapping policy;
• an application programming interface (API) server, the API server providing a secure API endpoint for interacting with the application services provided within a cluster;
• a replication controller, operable to maintain a minimum number of application units;
• a set of users, each user having a name and an authenticating secret in the context of the cluster;
• wherein application services are federated between one or more clusters, the federation being based upon trust relationships established between the first cluster and the second cluster, the trust relationship being established via the use of a first authenticating secret relative to the first cluster and a second authenticating secret relative to the second cluster;
• and
• wherein messages sent between the first API server in the first cluster and the second API server in the second cluster are encrypted after the trust relationship between the first cluster and the second cluster is established.

A method for setting up a distributed computing environment comprising a plurality of clusters, the method comprising:

• creating a plurality of clusters, each cluster including:
• a plurality of computing nodes, each node including a processor, a memory, and a network interface;
• a plurality of application services, each application service including at least one application unit, the application unit including a process, a storage, a network endpoint, and execution instructions corresponding to the application service provided,
• wherein one or more application units together provide the application service, and wherein one or more application units are located on a computing node;
• and
• a director, the director including a mapping of application units and application services to nodes in conjunction with a mapping policy;
• an application programming interface (API) server, the API server providing a secure API endpoint for interacting with the application services provided within a cluster;
• a replication controller, operable to maintain a minimum number of application units;
• a set of users, each user having a name and an authenticating secret in the context of the cluster;
• the method further including federating application services between one or more clusters, the federation being based upon trust relationships established between the first cluster and the second cluster, the trust relationship being established via the use of a first authenticating secret relative to the first cluster and a second authenticating secret relative to the second cluster;
• and
• encrypting messages sent between the first API server in the first cluster and the second API server in the second cluster after the trust relationship between the first cluster and the second cluster is established.