System and method for differentiated cross-licensing for services across heterogeneous systems using transient keys

• US 8,037,524 B1
• Filed: 06/19/2007
• Issued: 10/11/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Network Appliance Incorporated (NetApp, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Inventors: Vaid, Aseem, Mohammed, Samiullah, Nadathur, Gokul
• Primary Examiner(s): Srivastava; Vivek
• Assistant Examiner(s): TRUONG, THONG P
• Application Number:
  US11/765,190
• Time in Patent Office: 1,575 Days
• Field of Search: 726/3, 726/4, 713/161, 713/169, 1/1
• US Class Current: 726/21
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

A system and method for guard point licensing is provided. Licensed software executing on a storage system is modified to include one or more guard points to ensure that appropriate licenses have been obtained by a customer. During initialization of a guard point, a management system obtains a first random number (R1) from the first system and passes R1 and an application specific context command to the second system. The second system returns to the management system a pass phrase and a second random number (R2), which are then forwarded to the first system. The pass phrase is a data structure identifying the system that generated the pass phrase as well as containing the application specific context command. The above steps are then repeated with the first and second systems inverted.

Claims

1. A method for guard point licensing, comprising:

obtaining, by a management system from a first system, a first random number, the management system operatively connected to the first system;

passing, by the management system, the first random number and a first application specific context to a second system, the management system operatively connected to the second system;

obtaining, by the management system;

from the second system, a first pass phrase and a second random number;

passing, by the management system, the first pass phrase and the second random number to the first system;

obtaining, by the management system from the second system, a third random number;

passing, by the management system, the third random number and a second application specific context to the second system;

obtaining, by the management system from the first system, a second pass phrase and a fourth random number;

passing, by the management system, the second pass phrase and the fourth random number to the second system;

and

verifying, by the first and second systems, the passed pass phrases.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the application specific context comprises a text field.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the text field comprises at least part of a command entered by an administrator to invoke a process associated with the application specific context.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising permitting, in response to verifying the pass phrases, execution of a process associated with the application specific context to continue by opening a guard point.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising closing the guard point after permitting execution of the process to continue.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the pass phrases comprises a command field.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the command field comprises at least part of a command entered by an administrator to invoke a process associated with the application specific context.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the pass phrases comprises an identifier of the system generating the pass phrase.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the first and second systems comprise a storage systems.

10. The method of claim 4 wherein the guard point comprises initiation of the process.

11. The method of claim 4 wherein the process comprises a mirroring operation.

12. A computer readable storage medium containing executable program instructions for execution by a processor, the computer readable storage medium comprising:

program instructions that obtain, by a management system;

from a first system, a first random number, the management system operatively connected to the first system;

program instructions that pass, by the management system, the first random number and a first application specific context to a second system, the management system operatively connected to the second system;

program instructions that obtain, by the management system;

from the second system, a first pass phrase and a second random number;

program instructions that pass, by the management system, the first pass phrase and the second random number to the first system;

program instructions that obtain, by the management system from the second system, a third random number;

program instructions that pass, by the management system, the third random number and a second application specific context to the second system;

program instructions that obtain, by the management system from the first system, a second pass phrase and a fourth random number;

program instructions that pass, by the management system, the second pass phrase and the fourth random number to the second system; and

program instructions that verify, by the management system, by the first and second systems, the received pass phrases.

13. A system for guard point licensing, comprising:

a processor of a management system configured to initialize a guard point during execution of a process, the management system configured to connect to a first and second systems, the management system further configured to, in response to initializing the guard point;

obtain, from the first system, a first random number,

pass the first random number and a first application specific context to the second system,

obtain, from the second system, a first pass phrase and a second random number,

pass the first pass phrase and the second random number to the first system;

obtain, from the second system, a third random number,

pass the third random number and a second application specific context to the second system,

obtain, from the first system, a second pass phrase and a fourth random number,

pass the second pass phrase and the fourth random number to the second system; and

wherein the first and second systems are configured to verify the passed pass phrases.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the first and second systems comprise storage systems.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein at least one of the first and second application specific contexts comprises a text field.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the text field comprises at least part of a command entered by an administrator to invoke the process.

17. The system of claim 13 wherein the management system is further configured to open the guard point to permit execution of the process to continue in response to the first and second systems verifying the pass phrases.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the management system is further configured to close the guard point after permitting execution of the process to continue.

19. The system of claim 13 wherein at least one of the pass phrases comprises a command field.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the command field comprises at least part of a command entered by an administrator to invoke the process associated with at least one of first and second application specific contexts.

21. The system of claim 13 wherein the guard point comprises initiation of the process.

22. The system of claim 13 wherein the process comprises a mirroring operation.