Automated TLS Certificate Rotation on Host
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Solution Overview
Problem
Manual TLS certificate rotation on large server clusters is time-consuming, prone to errors, and costly, with challenges in coordinating rotations across multiple servers and maintaining system performance.
Innovation Solution
An automated certificate rotation process using a centralized certificate rotation monitor service that detects changes, extracts new certificate information, deploys it to affected servers, and transitions connections without server restarts, ensuring seamless transitions and reducing downtime.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual TLS certificate rotation is performed by restarting servers, then certificate security is improved, but system downtime increases and operational costs rise
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical approach of manually restarting servers with an automated software-based certificate rotation system. The certificate management service automatically detects new certificates, retrieves them, and binds them to application servers without requiring server restarts, thus eliminating the downtime associated with manual mechanical intervention while maintaining security.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service certificate rotation where the certificate management service autonomously monitors for new certificates, retrieves them from storage, and binds them to the appropriate application servers without human intervention. This automated self-service mechanism eliminates the need for operators to manually restart servers, reducing both downtime and operational costs while maintaining certificate security.
2Reliability
If manual certificate rotation is performed across multiple servers, then certificate updates are achieved, but coordination difficulty and error risk increase
Solution Approach 1:
The certificate management service performs multiple functions within a single unified system: it monitors for new certificates across the fleet, retrieves certificates from storage, determines which application servers need updates, and binds certificates to the appropriate servers. This multi-functional automated approach replaces multiple manual coordination tasks, reducing errors and simplifying operation while ensuring complete certificate updates across all servers.
3Reliability
If servers are manually restarted to bind new certificates, then certificate rotation is achieved, but system performance deteriorates due to connection drops
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically detecting new certificates before they are needed and retrieving them in advance from certificate storage. This preliminary preparation allows the certificate binding process to occur smoothly without requiring server restarts, thus maintaining system performance and avoiding connection drops while still achieving effective certificate rotation when required.
4Productivity
If automated certificate rotation is implemented, then operational efficiency improves, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple previously separate manual processes into a single integrated automated certificate management service. This service combines certificate monitoring, retrieval, determination of affected servers, and certificate binding into one unified system. While this increases automation complexity, it consolidates multiple operational steps into a single coherent process, improving overall efficiency and reducing the complexity of manual coordination across multiple servers and operators.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are disclosed to automate TLS certificate rotation. For example, a certificate rotation event may be detected from a certificate management tool. The certificate rotation event may be associated with a first certificate and may indicate that the first certificate is to be updated with a second certificate. An application server that is running on a host and to which the first certificate is bound may be identified. A certificate identifier for the second certificate may be provided to one or more agents running on the host. A distribution service may obtain certificate information, e.g., a public key, a private key, or a certificate identifier for the second certificate, from the certificate rotation tool. Some or all of the certificate information for the second certificate may be obtained by the one or more agents running on the host. The one or more agents may instruct the application server to bind the second certificate. Binding may be accomplished by the application server establishing new connections using the second certificate.