DISTRIBUTED LEDGER FOR EDGE SERVER MANAGEMENT

• US 20200137176A1
• Filed: 10/31/2018
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Todd, Stephen J., Natanzon, Assaf
• Granted Patent: US 10,855,778 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/805 Lightweight hardware, e.g. radio-frequency identification [RFID] or sensor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0618 Block ciphers, i.e. encrypting groups of characters of a plain text message using fixed encryption transformation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3239 involving non-keyed hash functions, e.g. modification detection codes [MDCs], MD5, SHA or RIPEMD
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/50 using hash chains, e.g. blockchains or hash trees

Abstract

In a system comprising a set of gateway devices operatively coupled to a set of edge servers, a method obtains data at a given one of the edge servers, wherein at least a portion of the data comprises valuation data attributable to at least one of the one or more gateway devices. The method sends the data from the given one of the edge servers to a blockchain or distributed ledger shared by the set of edge servers for storage of the data on the blockchain. Such a method provides blockchain-based edge server value management that enables a single view of cross-edge operational and value contributions associated with the set of edge servers in the system.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

in a system comprising a set of gateway devices operatively coupled to a set of edge servers;

obtaining data at a given one of the edge servers, wherein at least a portion of the data comprises valuation data attributable to at least one of the one or more gateway devices; and

sending the data from the given one of the edge servers to a blockchain shared by the set of edge servers for storage of the data on the blockchain;

wherein the steps are performed by at least one processing device comprising a processor and a memory.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least another portion of the data sent to the blockchain comprises valuation data attributable to the given one of the edge servers.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the data sent to the blockchain comprises at least one data object that represents information relating to a network configuration between the given one of the edge servers and the at least one of the one or more gateway devices.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one data object further comprises information relating to an operational configuration of the given one of the edge servers.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the data sent to the blockchain comprises at least one data object that represents information relating to one or more operational or security threats to the given one of the edge servers.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the given one of the edge servers accessing data stored on the blockchain that is attributable to at least another one of the edge servers.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising changing a configuration of the given one of the edge servers based on the data accessed by the given one of the edge servers from the blockchain or based on an administrator with access to the blockchain.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the data accessed from the blockchain that is attributable to at least another one of the edge servers further comprises valuation data attributable to the other one of the edge servers.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the data accessed from the blockchain represents a single view of cross-edge operational and value contributions associated with the set of edge servers in the system.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the given one of the edge servers digitally signing the data prior to sending the data to the blockchain for storage.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the valuation data attributable to at least one of the one or more gateway devices comprises valuation data computed using one or more data valuation algorithms.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the given one of the edge servers accesses the blockchain through smart contract program code.

13. An article of manufacture comprising a non-transitory processor-readable storage medium having stored therein program code of one or more software programs, wherein the program code when executed by at least one processing device causes the processing device to perform steps of:

in a system comprising a set of gateway devices operatively coupled to a set of edge servers;

obtaining data at a given one of the edge servers, wherein at least a portion of the data comprises valuation data attributable to at least one of the one or more gateway devices; and

sending the data from the given one of the edge servers to a blockchain shared by the set of edge servers for storage of the data on the blockchain.

14. An apparatus comprising at least one processing device, wherein the at least one processing device comprises a processor coupled to a memory configured to:

in a system comprising a set of gateway devices operatively coupled to a set of edge servers;

obtain data at a given one of the edge servers, wherein at least a portion of the data comprises valuation data attributable to at least one of the one or more gateway devices; and

send the data from the given one of the edge servers to a blockchain shared by the set of edge servers for storage of the data on the blockchain.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein at least another portion of the data sent to the blockchain comprises valuation data attributable to the given one of the edge servers.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the data sent to the blockchain comprises at least one data object that represents information relating to a network configuration between the given one of the edge servers and the at least one of the one or more gateway devices.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the at least one data object further comprises information relating to an operational configuration of the given one of the edge servers.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the data sent to the blockchain comprises at least one data object that represents information relating to one or more operational or security threats to the given one of the edge servers.

19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the at least one processing device is further configured to access, by the given one of the edge servers, data stored on the blockchain that is attributable to at least another one of the edge servers.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein a configuration of the given one of the edge servers is changed based on the data accessed by the given one of the edge servers from the blockchain or based on an administrator with access to the blockchain.