AUTOMATED SERVICE PLATFORM PROSPECTING

• US 20100050239A1
• Filed: 08/25/2008
• Published: 02/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Micro Focus Software, Inc. (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Novell Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: McClain, Carolyn B., Carter, Stephen R.
• Granted Patent: US 9,071,443 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/4
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3263 involving certificates, e.g. public key certificate [PKC] or attribute certificate [AC]; Public key infrastructure [PKI] arrangements network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using certificates in a packet data network H04L63/0823

Abstract

Techniques for automated service platform prospecting are provided. A prospector process is sent out in advance to scout for potential network sites that provide computing infrastructure and computing services (platforms) to self-contained computing environments. The prospector process validates the potential network sites for use and gathers site characteristics that are used to configure the self-contained computing environments when they are to be installed and executed on those network sites.

Claims

1. A machine-implemented method, comprising:

identifying a network site that provides computing services and/or platforms;

configuring a prospector process package to inspect the network site, wherein the prospector process package includes a prospector process and configuration details for installing and executing the prospector process on the network site; and

sending the prospector process package to the network site, wherein the prospector process validates itself to the network site executes within the network site for purposes of gathering network site details for a subsequent platform process package that installs and executes on the network site to use the computing services and the platforms.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying further includes recognizing the network site as a staging area for a cloud service provider, the staging area is used by the cloud service provider to instantiate the prospector process package in a computing infrastructure associated with the network site.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying further includes searching listings that record sites that provide computing infrastructure and the computing services to identify the network site.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying further includes accessing a repository of known sites that are available to provide computing infrastructure and the computing services to identify the network site.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring further includes configuring the prospector process as a virtual machine image that is to install and execute on the network site as a logical computing platform and logical computer.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

acquiring a security certificate for the prospector process package that permits the prospector process package to identify itself to and use the network site and sending the security certificate with the prospector process package to the network site, wherein acquiring further includes contacting an identity service to acquire credentials for the prospector process package, which are identified in the security certificate and which permit the prospector process package to authenticate itself to the network site for installation and execution.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein sending further includes configuring the prospector process package and an assay office for securely communicating with one another and for the assay office to receive and record the network site details in a repository for subsequent use when configuring the platform process package.

8. A machine-implemented method, comprising:

receiving a request to communicate from a prospector process that has prospected a potential network site for subsequent use by a platform process package;

establishing a communication channel with the prospector process;

receiving network site details from the prospector process, wherein the network site details identifies processing environment resources of the potential network site; and

recording the network site details along with a reference to the potential network site in a repository for subsequent use by the platform process package.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving the request further includes receiving the request from the prospector process while the prospector process executes on the potential network site.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein establishing further includes using a certificate supplied by the prospector process and validated for use to encrypt the communication channel as a secure communication channel.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein establishing further includes determining that a certificate supplied by the prospector process with the request is valid and unexpired before establishing the communication channel.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein establishing further creating a Secure Socket Layer or Transport Layer Security session with the prospector process to establish the communication channel as a secure communication channel.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving the network site details further includes identifying the network site details as one or more of the following:

one or more Internet Protocol (IP) addresses used by the potential network site, one or more gateway addresses used by the potential network site, one or more Domain Name System (DNS) addresses used by the potential network site, and metadata for one or more identity services that communicate with the potential network site.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein recording further includes evaluating policy for qualifications in view of the network site details and when the qualifications are met recording the network site details in the repository.

15. A machine-implemented system, comprising:

a prospector manager (PM) implemented in a computer-readable storage medium and to process on a network; and

a recording service implemented in a computer-readable storage medium and to process on the network;

wherein the PM is to configure a prospector process package for installation and execution on a network site, the network site providing computing services and infrastructure to a platform process package that defines its own processing environment within the infrastructure of the network site, and wherein a prospector process of the prospector process package gathers network site details for the network site and securely communicates those network site details to the recording service, and wherein the PM subsequently uses the recording service to acquire the network site details to configure the platform process package when the platform process package is to be installed and executed on the network site.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the PM interacts with the recording service to initially identify the network site for prospecting by the prospector process.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein PM supplies credentials to the prospector process package to authenticate to the network site and to authenticate and interact with the recording service.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the PM uses the recording service to ensure qualifications are met before the PM selects the network site for prospecting by the prospector process.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the PM puts the prospector process package in a staging area of the network site prior to the prospector process package installing and executing on the network site along with a temporary certificate.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the PM removes the prospector process package from the staging area when the temporary certificate expires or when an event is detected indicating that the prospector process package is to be removed from the staging area.

21. A machine-implemented system comprising:

a prospector service implemented in a computer-readable storage medium and to process on a network; and

an identity service implemented in a computer-readable storage medium and to process on the network;

wherein the prospector service installs itself on a network site that provides computing infrastructure and services to a platform process package and the prospector service authenticates itself to the network site via the identity service once the prospector service successfully executes on the network site, the prospector service gathers network site details for the network site that can be used to configure the platform process package for subsequent installation and execution on that network site.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the network site is a prior site that was used by the platform process package and the prospector service is sent out in advance of the platform process package to ensure that there are no changed network site details that deviate from the network details gathered by the prospector service or the prospector service is sent out to revalidate the network site details.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the network site is a potential network site that has advertised itself as providing the computing infrastructure and the computing services and wherein the network site has not been used by the platform process package before.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the network is actively mined to discover the network site in response to qualifications that have to be met for potential network sites to house the platform process package, and wherein the prospector service is configured to prospect the discovered network site for the network site details when those qualifications are met.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the prospector service uses the identity service or a different identity service to establishing a secure communication with a recording service, and wherein during the secure communication the prospector service communicates the network site details to the recording service for subsequent use in configuring the platform process package for installation and execution on the network site.