Centralized Certificate Management System for Data Centers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing certificate management systems lack a unified, application-centric approach to manage certificates across multiple data centers, leading to inefficiencies, increased complexity, and heightened risks due to the use of multiple independent tools and device-centric views that do not meet the needs of application owners and network administrators.
Innovation Solution
An application-centric centralized certificate management system that includes modules for discovering, inventorying, and managing certificates across data centers, featuring a processor, memory, and display unit, with modules for discovering certificates, providing inventory details, creating policies, and generating compliance reports, enabling granular object-level management and automatic renewal of certificates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple independent tools are used for certificate management across data centers, then each tool can be specialized for specific devices, but the system complexity increases and no single-view visibility is achieved
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple independent certificate management tools into a single centralized system that provides unified management across all data centers. The system consolidates certificate discovery, inventory, compliance checking, and renewal capabilities into one platform, eliminating the need for multiple separate tools while maintaining device-specific management capabilities through its modular architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The centralized certificate management system is designed to be universal, capable of managing certificates across diverse devices and data centers through a single interface. The system provides multi-functional capabilities including discovery, inventory management, compliance verification, and automated renewal, making it adaptable to various certificate management needs without requiring separate specialized tools.
2Ease of operation
If device level operations are used on management tools, then device-specific control is achieved, but routing traffic amongst data centers becomes unnecessarily complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a centralized certificate management system as an intermediary layer between devices and traffic routing operations. This intermediary provides device-specific control through unified policies and procedures, simplifying traffic routing among data centers by managing certificates centrally rather than requiring complex device-level operations at each endpoint.
3Adaptability or versatility
If independent tools are used for each data center, then local management autonomy is maintained, but migration and upgrading of network tools becomes almost impossible
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines local management capabilities into a centralized system that maintains autonomy through modular design. The unified platform allows for standardized migration and upgrading across all data centers simultaneously, eliminating the impossibility of updating independent tools while preserving local management flexibility through configurable policies and centralized control.
4Adaptability or versatility
If multiple independent tools are used for certificate management, then specialized functionality is available, but an unreasonable amount of time and resources are spent on writing scripts
Solution Approach 1:
The centralized certificate management system provides self-service capabilities through automated discovery, inventory management, compliance checking, and renewal processes. The system eliminates the need for manual scripting by offering built-in specialized functionalities that automatically perform certificate management tasks, saving time and resources while maintaining adaptability to different certificate types and devices.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for managing one or more certificates on granular object level in one or more datacenters is provided. The system includes a discover module, an inventory module, a work order module, and a policy module. The discover module is configured to discover the one or more certificates. The inventory module is configured to provide details of the one or more certificates. The work order module is configured to store details of (i) a work order id of the one or more certificates, (ii) device information of the one or more certificates, (iii) a time stamp of implementation of the one or more certificates, and (iv) a status the one or more certificates. The policy module is configured to create a policy that specifies (i) usage of the one or more certificates, and (ii) practices that a certificate authority (CA) employs to manage the one or more certificates.