Multi-tenant Authentication Token Generation for Secure Access Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional multi-tenant storage systems face challenges in authentication, authorization, and access control, particularly in managing revocation and reorganization requests across multiple tenants, leading to administrative scaling issues and inadequate security in evolving cloud-enabled storage environments.
Innovation Solution
An authentication and authorization server is implemented to manage user roles and privileges across tenants, generating auth tokens that encrypt tenant information, allowing secure access control and revocation of access rights, enabling administrators to manage access independently without relying on system administrators.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a conventional multi-tenant system is deployed to serve multiple customers, then the storage system can be shared for authentication and authorization, but the security and isolation requirements cannot be satisfied as customers can access each other's data sets
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the authentication and authorization mechanisms by implementing tenant-specific authentication contexts and isolated authorization policies for each tenant. This allows the storage system to maintain separate security boundaries while sharing infrastructure, ensuring that customers cannot access each other's data sets despite using the same storage system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by configuring security parameters, authentication methods, and authorization rules specific to each tenant's requirements. Each tenant can have customized security policies, access control lists, and authentication mechanisms tailored to their specific isolation and security needs, rather than applying a uniform security model across all tenants.
2Quantity of substance
If tens or hundreds of customers are deployed in the same conventional multi-tenant system, then the system can serve multiple customers, but the system administrator faces administrative scaling problems and customers cannot perform self-administration
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service capabilities by enabling customers to perform their own authentication, authorization, and access management operations without requiring system administrator intervention. Customers can manage their own tenants, configure security policies, and control access to their data sets independently, which becomes increasingly important as the number of customers scales to tens or hundreds.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-configuring authentication and authorization frameworks that automatically handle customer management tasks. The system is set up in advance with automated processes for tenant provisioning, access control enforcement, and security policy application, eliminating the need for manual administrator intervention during customer operations.
3Adaptability or versatility
If conventional authentication mechanisms are used in cloud-enabled storage systems, then the systems can be deployed in service models, but the security authentication and authorization concerns cannot be satisfied in multi-tenant environments
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic authentication and authorization mechanisms that can adapt to different cloud service deployment models and multi-tenant configurations. The system dynamically adjusts security contexts, authentication methods, and authorization policies based on the specific tenant, service model, and access request, providing flexible yet secure cloud-enabled storage operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary authentication and authorization layer that mediates between cloud service deployments and multi-tenant security requirements. This intermediary component translates and enforces security policies, manages authentication contexts, and coordinates authorization decisions across different tenants and service models, ensuring security concerns are satisfied while maintaining cloud service adaptability.
Data Source
AI summary
A user is authenticated based on user credentials obtained from a request in response to the request received from a client device. A plurality of tenants is identified in which the user is a member and, for each of the tenants associated with the user, one or more roles of the user are determined within the tenant. For each of the one or more roles, one or more privileges the user is entitled within a capacity of the role are determined. An authorization token is generated based on information identifying the tenants associated with the user, one or more roles of the user within each tenant, and one or more privileges associated with each role. The authorization token is transmitted to the client device to allow the client device to determine whether the user is authenticated and allowed to access the resource of a particular tenant.