Storage gateway activation process

• US 9,225,697 B2
• Filed: 08/08/2014
• Issued: 12/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sorenson, James Christopher III, Lin, Yun, Salyers, David Carl, Khetrapal, Ankur, Cavage, Mark J.
• Primary Examiner(s): McNally, Michael S
• Application Number:
  US14/455,525
• Publication Number:
  US 20140351906A1
• Time in Patent Office: 508 Days
• Field of Search: 726/5
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/061 for key exchange, e.g. in peer-to-peer networks cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key agreement H04L9/0838
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0807 using tickets, e.g. Kerberos cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using tickets or tokens H04L9/3213
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• 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]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, and computer-accessible storage media for activating a gateway to a remote service provider. The gateway serves as an interface between processes on a customer network and the provider, for example to store customer data to a remote data store. A gateway sends a public key and metadata describing the gateway to the provider. The gateway receives an activation key from the provider and exposes the activation key on the customer network. The customer obtains the key and communicates to the provider using the key to provide customer information including a name for the gateway and to authorize registration of the gateway. The provider provides the customer information to the gateway. The gateway requests security credentials from the provider using the customer information and the key. The provider sends a security credential to the gateway. The gateway may then obtain configuration information from the customer via the provider.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

sending, by a gateway control process to a gateway process, an activation key;

receiving, by the gateway control process from another process distinct from the gateway process, the activation key, wherein the other process obtained the activation key from the gateway process;

sending, by the gateway control process to the other process, at least a portion of metadata describing a device on which the gateway process is installed;

receiving, by the gateway control process from the other process, customer information and confirmation that the gateway process is to be registered with a remote service provider, wherein the customer information uniquely identifies the gateway process to the remote service provider;

receiving, by the gateway control process from the gateway process, a request for security credentials, wherein the request includes at least a portion of the customer information and the activation key; and

sending, by the gateway control process to the gateway process, the requested security credentials.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the gateway control process from the other process, configuration information for the gateway process; and

sending, by the gateway control process to the gateway process, the configuration information received from the other process.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said receiving the request for security credentials from the gateway process is performed over a secure connection to the gateway control process initiated by the gateway process.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the gateway process operates as an interface between one or more customer processes and the remote service provider to store customer data to a remote data store provided by the remote service provider.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein the gateway process further operates as an interface between the one or more customer processes and a storage service of the remote service provider to download customer data from the remote data store, and wherein the gateway process locally caches frequently accessed customer data.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the other process is a process on a customer network that accesses the customer account to provide the activation key, the customer information, and the confirmation to the gateway control process.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the customer account is accessible by one or more processes on the customer network to manage one or more resources provided to the respective customer by one or more services of the remote service provider.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing program instruction that are executed by at least on processor to implement a gateway control process configured to:

send an activation key to a gateway process;

receive, from another process distinct from the gateway process, the activation key, wherein the other process obtained the activation key from the gateway process;

send, to the other process, at least a portion of metadata describing a device on which the gateway process is installed;

receive, from the other process, customer information and confirmation that the gateway process is to be registered with a remote service provider, wherein the customer information uniquely identifies the gateway process to the remote service provider;

receive, from the gateway process, a request for security credentials, wherein the request includes at least a portion of the customer information and the activation key; and

send, to the gateway process, the requested security credentials.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as recited in claim 8, wherein the gateway control process is further configured to:

receive, from the other process, configuration information for the gateway process; and

send, to the gateway process, the configuration information received from the other process.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as recited in claim 8, wherein to send information to and receive information from the gateway process the gateway control process is further configured to send and receive information over a secure connection to the gateway control process initiated by the gateway process.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as recited in claim 8, wherein the gateway process is configured as an interface between one or more customer processes and the remote service provider to store customer data to a remote data store provided by the service provider.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as recited in claim 11, wherein the gateway process is further configured as an interface between one or more customer processes and a storage service of the remote service provider to download customer data from the remote data store, and wherein the gateway process locally caches frequently accessed customer data.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as recited in claim 8, wherein the other process is a customer process on a customer network that is configured to access a customer account to provide the activation key, the customer information, and the confirmation to the gateway control process.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as recited in claim 13, wherein the customer account is accessible by one or more processes on the customer network to manage one or more resources provided to the respective customer by one or more services of the remote service provider.

15. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory comprising program instructions that are executed by one or more processors to implement a gateway control process configured to;

send an activation key to a gateway process;

receive the activation key from a another process distinct from the gateway process, wherein the other process obtained the activation key from the gateway process;

send, to the other process, at least a portion of metadata describing a device on which the gateway process is installed;

receive customer information and confirmation that the gateway process is to be registered with a remote service provider from the other process, wherein the customer information uniquely identifies the gateway process to the remote service provider;

receive a request for security credentials from the gateway process, wherein the request includes at least a portion of the customer information and the activation key; and

send the requested security credentials to the gateway process.

16. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein the gateway control process is further configured to:

receive configuration information from the other process for the gateway process; and

send the configuration information received from the other process to the gateway process.

17. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein to send information to and receive information from the gateway process the gateway control process is further configured to send information and receive information over a secure connection to the gateway control process initiated by the gateway process.

18. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein the gateway process is configured as an interface between one or more customer processes and the remote service provider to store customer data to a remote data store provided by the service provider.

19. The system as recited in claim 18, wherein the gateway process is further configured as an interface between one or more customer processes and a storage service of the remote service provider to download customer data from the remote data store, and wherein the gateway process locally caches frequently accessed customer data.

20. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein the other process is a process on a customer network that is configured to access a customer account to provide the activation key, the customer information, and the confirmation to the gateway control process.