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US 9,544,289 B2Granted
Method and system for identity-based authentication of virtual machines
AssigneeRackspace US, Inc.
InventorsVishvananda Ishaya, Erik Carlin, Paul Voccio
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A cloud computing system configured to run virtual machine instances is disclosed. The cloud computing system assigns an identity to each virtual machine instance. When the virtual machine instance accesses initial configuration resources, it provides this identity to the resources to authenticate itself. This allows for flexible and extensible initial configuration of virtual machine instances.
Claims20
A cloud computing system, the system comprising
- a resource having configuration information;
- a virtual machine instance operably coupled to the resource, wherein an immutable value denotes an identity of the virtual machine instance, and wherein the virtual machine instance uses the immutable value to authenticate to the resource during startup, and the configuration information is different from authentication credentials;
- and
- an authentication manager that controls, based on the immutable value, access by the virtual machine instance to the resource, wherein the configuration information alters an operation of the virtual machine instance.
1 more element
A method for controlling access to a resource, the method comprising:
- receiving a request from a virtual machine instance for access to a resource, the request including an immutable value that denotes the identity of the virtual machine instance, and the resource including configuration information that alters an operation of the virtual machine instance;
- and
- determining, based on the immutable value, whether to grant the virtual machine instance access to the resource, wherein the virtual machine instance uses the immutable value to authenticate to the resource during startup, and the configuration information is different from authentication credentials.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.