Distributed Endpoint Authentication Load Balancing
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Solution Overview
Problem
In large-scale distributed computing environments, such as webinars or online meetings, ensuring end-to-end security while preventing authentication overload on individual participants' resources is challenging, as existing systems often rely on third-party infrastructure, leading to scalability issues and potential denial of service attacks.
Innovation Solution
The solution involves designating multiple endpoints as authenticators and load-balancing authentication requests among them, using secure protocols like SRP, and dynamically promoting authenticated users to additional authenticators when needed to prevent overload and ensure sufficient authentication capacity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If multiple authenticators are designated and authentication requests are load balanced amongst them, then authentication scalability is improved and overload is prevented, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The authentication system is segmented into multiple independent authenticators distributed across different endpoints. Each authenticator handles a portion of authentication requests independently, dividing the overall authentication load into manageable segments that can be processed in parallel, thereby improving scalability while maintaining individual authenticator simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
A load balancing mechanism acts as an intermediary between authentication requests and authenticators. This mediator distributes incoming authentication requests across multiple authenticators based on current system state, preventing any single authenticator from becoming overloaded while maintaining a relatively simple architecture at the authenticator level.
2Productivity
If authenticated users are dynamically promoted to authenticators, then authentication capacity is improved and overload prevented, but control complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The authenticator set is made dynamic through automatic promotion of authenticated users. When the system detects insufficient authenticator capacity or high authentication demand, it automatically promotes eligible authenticated users to authenticator status, allowing the authentication capacity to adapt dynamically to changing system conditions without manual intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms that monitor authentication request rates, authenticator workload, and system state. Based on this feedback, the load balancer and promotion logic automatically adjust the distribution of requests and the composition of the authenticator set, creating a self-regulating system that maintains appropriate capacity without complex external control.
3Ease of manufacture
If authentication is performed by underlying infrastructure, then implementation simplicity is improved, but trust requirements increase and end-to-end security is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The authentication function is extracted from the underlying infrastructure and relocated to endpoint-based authenticators. This extraction removes the single point of failure and trust dependency in the infrastructure, distributing authentication capabilities to multiple independent endpoints while maintaining implementation simplicity through standardized authentication protocols.
Solution Approach 2:
Endpoints perform authentication autonomously through locally-resident authenticators rather than relying on centralized infrastructure authentication. Each endpoint independently verifies authentication requests using secure protocols, enabling end-to-end security where the participating systems themselves perform the authentication service without external infrastructure dependency.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems of authenticating a plurality of users for access to an on-line group activity are described. The systems and methods prevent overloading of any participant's computer due to authentication. In some configurations, multiple endpoints are designated as authenticators and requests for authentication are load balanced amongst the authenticators.