METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR SECURELY TERMINATING PROCESSES IN A CLOUD COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT

• US 20110055588A1
• Filed: 08/28/2009
• Published: 03/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: DeHaan, Michael Paul
• Granted Patent: US 8,832,459 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/189
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3209 Monitoring remote activity, e.g. over telephone lines or network connections
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/485 Task life-cycle, e.g. stopping, restarting, resuming execution G06F9/4881 takes precedence

Abstract

When terminating a process instantiated in a cloud, a cloud management system can provide and interact with an eraser agent on the computing systems supporting the process. The process can be any type of process that can exits in the cloud such a virtual machine, software appliance, or software instance. The eraser agent can execute on the computing systems to erase information stored on physical storage devices of the computing systems and associated with the process. In particular, the eraser agent can utilize secure algorithms to alter and obscure the information stored on the physical storage devices of the computing systems and associated with the process.

Claims

1. A method of managing a cloud computing environment, comprising:

identifying a process to be terminated from a cloud;

identifying at least one computing system supporting the process in the cloud; and

providing an application to the at least one computing system to securely erase all information associated with the process and stored on the at least one computing system.

2. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

instructing the at least one computing system to power down and restart to cause the application to erase all the information stored on the at least one computing system.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein instructing the at least one computing system to power down and restart, comprises:

instructing a power management system to power down the at least one computing system.

4. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

identifying a specific locations in computer readable storage devices storing the information on the at least one computing system; and

configuring the application with the specific locations to securely erase the information stored in the specific locations.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the process comprises a virtual machine, a software appliance, or a software instance.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the application utilizes a secure algorithm to obscure and erase the information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the application, comprises:

instructing the at least one computing system to retrieve the application.

8. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

identifying other processes supported by the at least one computing system; and

migrating the other processes to other computing systems of the cloud.

9. A computer readable storage medium comprising instruction for causing a processor to perform a method comprising:

identifying a process to be terminated from a cloud;

identifying at least one computing system supporting the process in the cloud; and

providing an application to the at least one computing system to securely erase all information associated with the process and stored on the at least one computing system.

10. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, the method further comprising:

instructing the at least one computing system to power down and restart to cause the application to erase all the information stored on the at least one computing system.

11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein instructing the at least one computing system to power down and restart, comprises:

instructing a power management system to power down the at least one computing system.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, the method further comprising:

identifying a specific locations in computer readable storage devices storing the information on the at least one computing system; and

configuring the application with the specific locations to securely erase the information stored in the specific locations.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the process comprises a virtual machine, a software appliance, or a software instance.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the application utilizes a secure algorithm to obscure and erase the information.

15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein providing the application, comprises:

instructing the at least one computing system to retrieve the application.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, the method further comprising:

identifying other processes supported by the at least one computing system; and

migrating the other processes to other computing systems of the cloud.

17. A cloud management application, the cloud management application being embodied in a computer readable storage medium and comprising instructions for causing a processor to perform a method comprising:

identifying a process to be terminated from a cloud;

identifying at least one computing system supporting the process in the cloud; and

providing an application to the at least one computing system to securely erase all information associated with the process and stored on the at least one computing system.

18. The cloud management application of claim 17, the method further comprising:

instructing the at least one computing system to power down and restart to cause the application to erase all the information stored on the at least one computing system.

19. The cloud management application of claim 17, the method further comprising:

identifying a specific locations in computer readable storage devices storing the information on the at least one computing system; and

configuring the application with the specific locations to securely erase the information stored in the specific locations.