Distributed storage system and method of reusing symmetric keys for encrypted message transmissions

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing program instructions for transmitting storage-related messages between host computers in a distributed storage 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:

• executing a handshake operation of a first-type communication connection between a source data transport daemon of a source host computer in the distributed storage system and a target data transport daemon of a target host computer in the distributed storage system that results in a symmetric key at each of the source and target data transport daemons;
• sending the symmetric key of the source data transport daemon from the source data transport daemon to a source data transport manager of the source host computer;
• sending the symmetric key of the target data transport daemon from the target data transport daemon to a target data transport manager of the target host computer;
• transmitting storage-related message from the source data transport manager to the target data transport manager through a second-type communication connection between the source and target data transport managers, wherein the storage-related message is encrypted and decrypted using the symmetric keys at the source and target data transport managers;
• and
• transmitting additional storage-related messages from the source data transport manager to the target data transport manager through additional second-type communication connections, wherein the additional storage-related messages are again encrypted and decrypted using the same symmetric keys at the source and target data transport managers.

A distributed storage system comprising:

• a source host computer that includes a source data transport daemon and a source data transport manager;
• and
• a target host computer that includes a target data transport daemon and a target data transport manager,
• wherein the source and target data transport daemons are configured to execute a handshake operation of a first-type communication connection between the source data transport daemon and the target data transport daemon that results in a symmetric key at each of the source and target data transport daemons, wherein the source data transport daemon is configured to send the symmetric key of the source data transport daemon from the source data transport daemon to the source data transport manager of the source host computer, wherein the target data transport daemon is configured to send the symmetric key of the target data transport daemon from the target data transport daemon to the target data transport manager, and
• wherein the source data transport manager is configured to encrypt storage-related messages transmitted through multiple second-type communications connection from the source data transport manager to the target data transport manager using the symmetric key of the source data transport manager, wherein the target data transport manager is configured to decrypt the storage-related messages transmitted through the multiple second-type communication connections from the source data transport manager to the target data transport manager using the symmetric key of the target data transport manager.