STATE-BASED COMPLIANCE VERIFICATION IN A DISCONNECTED SYSTEM

• US 20110288973A1
• Filed: 05/20/2010
• Published: 11/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Mráz, Tomás, Pazdziora, Jan
• Granted Patent: US 9,299,094 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 2220/18 Licensing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3236 using cryptographic hash functions

Abstract

Some embodiments of a system and a method to verify compliance in a disconnected system have been presented. For instance, a provider server can collect system management server state hashes from a set of computer systems in transactions not directly related to billing between the provider server and the computer systems. The computer systems may be coupled to a system management server that is within an internal network of a customer. The provider server can verify compliance information submitted by the customer using the system management server state hashes collected without communicating with the system management server in the internal network.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

collecting, by a provider server, system management server state hashes from a set of one or more computer systems in transactions not directly related to billing between the provider server and the set of one or more computer systems, wherein the set of one or more computer systems is coupled to a system management server that is within an internal network of a customer; and

verifying, by the provider server, compliance information submitted by the customer using the system management server state hashes collected without communicating with the system management server.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

verifying, by the provider server, a history of the system management server states from the system management server state hashes collected; and

identifying discrepancies, by the provider server, between the compliance information submitted and the history of the system management server states, if any.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the provider server, a system management server state hash from a computer system in the internal network of the customer along with an authentication request from the computer system; and

storing the system management server state hash in a storage device within the provider server.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

installing, by the provider server, the system management server within the internal network of the customer, wherein the system management server stores a randomly generated seed for computation of a first system management server state hash.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the system management server state hashes is generated from a prior system management server state hash, a timestamp, and a current system management server state.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

billing, by the provider server, the customer based on the compliance information verified.

7. An apparatus comprising:

a registration module to register a computer system of a customer with a system management server; and

a hash generator coupled to the registration module, to generate a hash from a current state of the system management server, a timestamp, and a hash of a prior state of the system management server, wherein the registration module provides the hash generated to the computer system during registration to be used by the computer system as part of the computer system'"'"'s credential to communicate with a provider of the system management server without going through the system management server.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising:

an entitlement database coupled to the registration module, to store what service and information the computer system is entitled to.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising:

a storage device coupled to the hash generator, to store a randomly generated seed usable to generate an initial hash of the current state of the system management server.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising:

a storage device coupled to the hash generator, to store the hash of the prior state of the system management server.

11. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising:

a network interface coupled to the hash generator, to communicably coupled to the computer system via an internal network of the customer.

12. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the hash generator applies a cryptographic hash function to compute the hash.

13. A system comprising the apparatus of claim 7 and the system management server, wherein the apparatus of claim 7 resides within the system management server.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the system management server is isolated from the provider of the system management server after being installed in an internal network of the customer.

15. A computer-readable storage medium embodying instructions that, when executed by a processing device running on a provider server, will cause the processing device to perform a method comprising:

collecting, by the provider server, system management server state hashes from a set of one or more computer systems in transactions not directly related to billing between the provider server and the set of one or more computer systems, wherein the set of one or more computer systems is coupled to a system management server that is within an internal network of a customer; and

verifying, by the provider server, compliance information submitted by the customer using the system management server state hashes collected without communicating with the system management server.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

verifying, by the provider server, a history of the system management server states from the system management server state hashes collected; and

identifying discrepancies, by the provider server, between the compliance information submitted and the history of the system management server states, if any.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, by the provider server, a system management server state hash from a computer system in the internal network of the customer along with an authentication request from the computer system; and

storing the system management server state hash in a storage device within the provider server.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

installing, by the provider server, the system management server within the internal network of the customer, wherein the system management server stores a randomly generated seed for computation of a first system management server state hash.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein each of the system management server state hashes is generated from a prior system management server state hash, a timestamp, and a current system management server state.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

billing, by the provider server, the customer based on the compliance information verified.