Authorizing secure connections responsive to certificates bound to logical identifiers

A first node comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory to store instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
• access a first certificate, wherein the first certificate binds a first cryptographic key for the first node to a physical identifier and binds the first cryptographic key to a first logical identifier, wherein the first logical identifier represents the first node being a member of a group of members;
• access a second certificate provided by a second node, wherein the second certificate binds a second cryptographic key for the second node to a second logical identifier;
• compare the first logical identifier to the second logical identifier;
• and
• determine an authorization to set up a secure connection between the first node and the second node responsive to a result of the comparison.

A non-transitory storage medium to store machine-readable instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

• access a first certificate, wherein the first certificate binds a first cryptographic identifier for the machine to a physical identifier, and binds the first cryptographic identifier to a first cluster identifier;
• access a second certificate provided by a node, wherein the second certificate binds a second cryptographic identifier for the node to a second cluster identifier;
• validate the second certificate;
• compare the first cluster identifier to the second cluster identifier;
• and
• responsive to the second certificate passing validation and a result of the comparison of the first cluster identifier to the second cluster identifier, set up a secure connection between the machine and the node.