Discovery Application Mapping Authentication System Relationships
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems fail to effectively map relationships between authentication systems and other computing resources within and outside a remote computing system, as attributes alone do not indicate usage or interconnections, leading to incomplete visualization and management of resource access control.
Innovation Solution
A discovery application uses a unique resource identifier to determine and map authentication system relationships by parsing attributes of computing resources, generating a mapping between the authentication system and resources that utilize it, allowing for visual representation and interactive management of access control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If attributes of computing resources are obtained from the remote computing system, then information about the authentication system is gathered, but the relationships between the authentication system and other computing resources cannot be determined
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a discovery application as an intermediary component that mediates between the remote computing system and the user. This discovery application actively queries the API to obtain attributes, parses them to extract relationship information, and presents the findings in a visual map format, thereby bridging the gap between available attributes and meaningful relationship detection
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a visual map that is a graphical copy or representation of the actual authentication system relationships. This visual map copies the structural relationships between the authentication system and computing resources, allowing users to interact with and analyze relationships without directly accessing the complex underlying system attributes
2Ease of operation
If a visual map of computing resources is generated, then relationships can be visualized, but the complexity of parsing and matching unique resource identifiers increases
Solution Approach 1:
The discovery application is segmented into distinct functional modules: an API interaction module that queries attributes, a parsing module that extracts unique resource identifiers, a matching module that compares identifiers, and a visualization module that generates the visual map. This segmentation reduces overall complexity by localizing specific tasks to dedicated components
Solution Approach 2:
The discovery application performs self-service by automatically querying the API, parsing attributes, identifying unique resource identifiers, matching them between the authentication system and computing resources, and generating the visual map without requiring manual intervention. This automation reduces operational complexity despite the intricate processing required
Data Source
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AI summary
A computing system includes persistent storage and a discovery application configured to perform operations including obtaining, from a remote computing system, first attributes of a first computing resource, which indicate a first unique resource identifier associated with an authentication system provided by the remote computing system and utilized by the first computing resource. The operations also include obtaining, from the remote computing system, second attributes of the authentication system, which indicate a second unique resource identifier used by the authentication system. The operations additionally include determining that the first unique resource identifier matches the second unique resource identifier and, based on this determination, generating a mapping between the first computing resource and the authentication system to indicate that access to the first computing resource is controlled by the authentication system. The operations further include storing, in the persistent storage, the mapping as one or more configuration items.