Storage Array Authorization Tokens for Multi-Array Cloud Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing storage array technologies face challenges in providing efficient and secure access and administration, particularly in cloud-based environments, where user authorization and authentication are complex and require improved methods to manage access privileges and ensure data integrity.
Innovation Solution
A cloud-based security module authenticates user credentials, generates tokens representing authorized access privileges, and provides them to a client-side array services module, which determines access requests based on these privileges, ensuring secure and efficient access to storage array services.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional user authorization and authentication methods are used in cloud-based storage systems, then security can be maintained through credential verification, but the complexity of managing access privileges across multiple storage arrays increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a cloud-based security module as an intermediary that centralizes authentication and authorization management. This module receives credentials from client-side array services modules, verifies them against stored credentials, and manages access privileges centrally across multiple storage arrays, thereby maintaining security while reducing the complexity of distributed authorization management
Solution Approach 2:
The cloud-based security module serves multiple functions: it authenticates user credentials, manages access privileges, generates authorization tokens, and communicates with multiple client-side array services modules across different storage arrays. This multi-functional approach consolidates what would otherwise be separate functions in each storage array, reducing overall system complexity
2Productivity
If cloud-based security module with token generation is implemented, then access control efficiency is improved through streamlined authentication, but the system requires additional components and communication protocols
Solution Approach 1:
The cloud-based security module performs preliminary authentication and generates authorization tokens in advance before users access storage array services. By pre-verifying credentials and establishing authorization status, the system eliminates the need for repeated authentication during each access operation, thereby improving access control efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates digital copies of authorization information in the form of tokens that represent verified credentials. These tokens are distributed to client-side array services modules, allowing efficient verification of user authority without requiring continuous communication with the central security module, thus improving access speed while managing complexity through standardized token protocols
Data Source
AI summary
Providing authorization and authentication in a cloud for a user of a storage array includes: receiving, by a storage array access module from a client-side array services module, a token representing authentication of user credentials and authorized access privileges defining one or more storage array services accessible by the user, where the token is generated by a cloud-based security module upon authentication of the user credentials and identification of authorized access privileges for the user; receiving, by the storage array access module from the user, a user access request to one or more storage array services; and determining, by the storage array access module, whether to grant the user access request in dependence upon the authorized access privileges represented by the token.