Virtual Desktop Protocol State Persistence for Secure Session Reconnection
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing virtual desktop solutions face challenges in reducing the time and computational cost associated with establishing and reestablishing secure sessions, as security isolation and application compatibility constraints limit session sharing, leading to high connection times and costs.
Innovation Solution
The persistence and sharing of a protocol state between virtual desktop instances allow for the avoidance of computationally expensive steps in reestablishing secure sessions, enabling faster launch times by transmitting and authenticating the protocol state between instances and re-establishing connections efficiently.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a new secure session is established for each virtual desktop instance, then security isolation and application compatibility are maintained, but connection time and computational cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The protocol state is persisted during the initial secure session establishment, capturing authentication credentials, session parameters, and configuration data before the session terminates. This preliminary capture of session state eliminates the need to re-establish the entire secure session during reconnection, as the second instance can directly utilize the persisted state to resume connectivity rapidly while maintaining security through token-based authentication.
Solution Approach 2:
The protocol state from the first virtual desktop instance is copied and transmitted to the second instance. This copying mechanism allows the second instance to inherit the authentication context and session parameters without re-executing the full authentication handshake, thereby reducing connection time while preserving security isolation through cryptographic token validation.
2Loss of time
If session sharing is implemented to reduce connection time, then launch time decreases, but security isolation and application compatibility are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The solution segments the session state into transferable protocol parameters and sensitive authentication credentials. By separating these components and transmitting only the necessary protocol state (excluding raw credentials) between instances, the system enables rapid session resumption while maintaining security isolation. Each instance retains independent security boundaries through token-based authentication rather than shared session memory.
Solution Approach 2:
The persisted protocol state acts as an intermediary that carries authentication context between the first and second virtual desktop instances. This intermediary mechanism allows the second instance to authenticate without direct session sharing, using the transmitted protocol state tokens as a secure bridge that maintains isolation while enabling rapid reconnection.
3Reliability
If computationally expensive authentication steps are performed during each connection, then security is maintained, but connection time increases
Solution Approach 1:
Authentication credentials and session parameters are captured and persisted during the initial authentication process. This preliminary action stores the computational result of authentication (in the form of protocol state tokens) so that subsequent connections can validate these pre-computed credentials rather than re-executing the full authentication sequence, thereby maintaining security while accelerating connection speed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the authentication parameter from full credential verification to token-based validation. By transforming the authentication mechanism from comparing raw credentials to validating persisted protocol state tokens, the computational complexity of each connection is reduced while maintaining equivalent security levels through cryptographic token verification.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems for persisting a protocol state from a first instance of a virtual desktop application to a second instance of the virtual desktop application are described herein. In some embodiments, a computing platform may establish, by a first virtual desktop instance, a secure session with a virtual delivery agent (VDA), resulting in a protocol state of the first virtual desktop instance. Further, the computing platform may persist, using the first virtual desktop instance, the protocol state. Next, the computing platform may transmit, from the first virtual desktop instance to a second virtual desktop instance, the protocol state. Additionally, the computing platform may authenticate, using authentication tokens comprising the protocol state, a connection between the second virtual desktop instance and a gateway device. Subsequently, the computing platform may re-establish, after the authenticating, the secure session, wherein the secure session comprises a connection between the VDA and the second virtual desktop instance.