Certificate Revocation Sync Across Operator Station Servers
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Solution Overview
Problem
In technical installations, certificate revocation management is inefficient due to issues with accessing and synchronizing certificate revocation lists, leading to communication interruptions and availability problems when network settings change, causing timeouts and prolonged troubleshooting.
Innovation Solution
A control system with at least one first and second operator station server that initiates certificate issuance and revocation, publishes revocations as a certificate revocation list, and synchronizes both servers to ensure identical content, allowing for reliable interrogation of certificate revocation status and minimizing delays in the revocation process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If certificate revocation lists are stored on a single server, then storage and management are simplified, but system availability and reliability deteriorate when network settings change or the server becomes inaccessible
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local caching of certificate revocation lists on multiple operator station servers. Each server maintains a local copy of the CRL, allowing plant components to access revocation information locally without requiring continuous network connectivity to a central server. This resolves the contradiction by providing both simplified central management (the central server still generates and distributes CRLs) and high local availability (multiple servers can serve CRL requests independently).
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates and distributes copies of the certificate revocation list to multiple operator station servers. Instead of relying on a single centralized storage location, the system replicates the CRL across multiple servers, ensuring that if one server becomes inaccessible due to network changes or failures, other servers can still provide certificate revocation information. This directly addresses the reliability issue while maintaining manageable system complexity through automated copy distribution.
2Reliability
If certificate revocation lists are updated frequently to ensure current information, then certificate security is improved, but network traffic and server load increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local caching of certificate revocation lists on multiple operator station servers. Each server maintains a local copy of the CRL, allowing plant components to access revocation information locally without requiring continuous network connectivity to a central server. This resolves the contradiction by providing both simplified central management (the central server still generates and distributes CRLs) and high local availability (multiple servers can serve CRL requests independently).
Solution Approach 2:
The system updates certificate revocation lists at scheduled intervals rather than continuously. The control system periodically retrieves updated CRLs from the certification authority and distributes them to operator station servers. This periodic update mechanism ensures certificate validation accuracy while significantly reducing network traffic and server processing load compared to continuous synchronization, directly addressing the energy resource contradiction.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple certification authorities are used for different plant sections, then certificate management flexibility is improved, but the number of certificate revocation lists and access complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal operator station server architecture that can handle certificate revocation lists from multiple certification authorities. Each operator station server is configured to store and serve CRLs from different CAs, allowing a single server to manage certificates from multiple sources. This maintains the flexibility of using multiple CAs for different plant sections while reducing complexity by providing a unified access point through multi-functional servers rather than requiring separate infrastructure for each CA.
Data Source
AI summary
A control system for a technical installation, in particular a manufacturing facility or process plant, includes at least one first operator station server and one second operator station server and is configured to initiate the issuance and revocation of certificates for components of the technical installation as part of certificate management, and is configured to publish revocation of a previously issued certificate within the control system as a certificate revocation list, where the control system is configured to store the certificate revocation list on the first operator station server and/or on the second operator station server, where the control system is configured to synchronize the first operator station server and the second operator station server with one another such that a certificate revocation list with identical content is stored on both operator station servers.