Centralized Policy Server for Enterprise Network Federation
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing complexity of enterprise ecosystems due to numerous IT partners and cloud connectivity necessitates more efficient identity and federation management solutions, particularly in enabling secure access across multiple enterprise network domains.
Innovation Solution
A cloud-based policy server establishes centralized trust relationships between enterprise network domains, enabling a flexible and scalable federation management system by separating authentication from partnership processes and enforcing policies across multiple partners through a central hub, allowing for granular control of access and easy establishment of sub-federations and recursive relationships.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If enterprises establish federation relationships with multiple IT partners to enable access across enterprise network domains, then access capability and ecosystem connectivity are improved, but infrastructure complexity and policy management burden increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a centralized policy server as an intermediary component that mediates authentication and policy enforcement between multiple enterprise network domains. This policy server acts as a hub that receives authentication requests from partner enterprises, applies centralized policies, and manages federation relationships, thereby enabling access capability while avoiding the complexity of direct peer-to-peer federation configurations between all partners.
2Adaptability or versatility
If enterprises configure direct federation relationships between all partner enterprises to enable mutual access, then access flexibility is improved, but policy management complexity and operational overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the policy management functions of multiple federation relationships into a single centralized policy server. Instead of managing separate policies for each partner enterprise relationship, the system consolidates all authentication and authorization policies into one centralized location, significantly reducing policy management complexity while maintaining access flexibility through the policy server's ability to enforce differentiated policies for different partners.
3Reliability
If enterprises use traditional distributed authentication approaches without centralized trust, then autonomy of individual enterprises is maintained, but security consistency and trust management across the ecosystem deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal trust model where the centralized policy server serves multiple functions: it acts as an authentication authority, a policy enforcement point, a trust anchor, and a federation manager for all partner enterprises. This multi-functional approach ensures security consistency across the entire ecosystem while simplifying trust management, as all enterprises trust the same centralized policy server rather than requiring complex mutual trust relationships.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of establishing centralized trust includes, at a policy server having connectivity to a network, establishing a trust relationship with a first enterprise network domain and a second enterprise network domain. One or more criterion from a server in the first enterprise network domain are received by the policy server and a federation relationship is established between at least a portion of the first enterprise network domain and one or more entities in the second enterprise network domain based on the one or more criterion. Based on the federation relationship, the policy server enables the one or more entities in the second enterprise network domain to access the at least a portion of the first enterprise network domain.