Application inspection tool for determining a security partition

• US 20090037686A1
• Filed: 07/30/2007
• Published: 02/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Valtrus Innovations Limited (f/k/a Dolya Holdco 9 Limited) (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Mendonca, John J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,895,409 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/50 Monitoring users, programs or devices to maintain the integrity of platforms, e.g. of processors, firmware or operating systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/033 Test or assess software

Abstract

An embodiment of the invention provides an apparatus and method for determining a security partition in a computer for an application. The apparatus and method can determine required system resources, security requirements, and partition rules for an application, can determine allocated system resources, security characteristics, and partitions rules for each security partition in the computer, and can identify at least one proposed security partition for the application.

Claims

1. A method for determining a security partition in a computer for an application, the method comprising:

determining required system resources, security requirements, and partition rules for an application by use of an application analysis tool;

determining allocated system resources, security characteristics, and partitions rules for each security partition in the computer; and

identifying, by the application analysis tool, at least one proposed security partition for the application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the required system resources, security requirements, and partition rules for the application comprises:

checking a database that stores configuration information that is associated with the application.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the required determining system resources, security requirements, and partition rules for the application comprises:

checking a file system that stores configuration information that is associated with the application if the application is installed in the computer.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting, by a user, a proposed security partition for the application.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the required system resources for the application comprises a CPU resource, memory resource, and disk input/output bandwidth.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the security requirements for the application comprises roles and privileges associated with the application.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the partition rules for the application comprises constraints on communications by the application.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the partition rules for the application comprises permitted access operations by the application on an object in a security partition.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a selected proposed security partition to a partition manager for creating the selected proposed security partition or binding the application to an existing security partition.

10. An apparatus for determining a security partition in a computer for an application, the apparatus comprising:

an application analysis tool configured to determine required system resources, security requirements, and partition rules for an application, determine allocated system resources, security characteristics, and partitions rules for each security partition in the computer, and identify at least one proposed security partition for the application.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the application analysis tool is configured to check a database that stores configuration information that is associated with the application.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the application analysis tool is configured to check a file system that stores configuration information that is associated with the application if the application is installed in the computer.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein a user selects a proposed security partition for the application.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the required system resources for the application comprises a CPU resource, memory resource, and disk input/output bandwidth.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the security requirements for the application comprises roles and privileges associated with the application.

16. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the partition rules for the application comprises constraints on communications by the application.

17. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the partition rules for the application comprises permitted access operations by the application on an object in a security partition.

18. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the application analysis tool is configured to transmit a selected proposed security partition to a partition manager for creating the selected proposed security partition or binding the application to an existing security partition.

19. An apparatus for determining a security partition in a computer for an application, the apparatus comprising:

means for determining required system resources, security requirements, and partition rules for an application;

means for determining allocated system resources, security characteristics, and partitions rules for each security partition in the computer; and

means for identifying at least one proposed security partition for the application.

20. An article of manufacture comprising:

a machine-readable medium having stored thereon instructions to;

determine required system resources, security requirements, and partition rules for an application;

determine allocated system resources, security characteristics, and partitions rules for each security partition in the computer; and

identify at least one proposed security partition for the application.