Virtual Machine Owner Digital Signatures
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing virtualized computing environments do not associate information with virtual machines that identifies their owners and manage individual virtual machines based on ownership validation.
Innovation Solution
A computer system that includes a host operating system and a virtual hypervisor, which uses a signing component to generate digital signatures for virtual machines, associating them with their owners and a signature validation component to determine ownership responsive to defined events, ensuring secure access to resources.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If digital signatures are generated and validated for each virtual machine, then security and ownership identification are improved, but system complexity and processing overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system generates digital signatures for virtual machines in advance, before they need to access resources. The signing component creates these signatures during virtual machine creation or registration, so that when access events occur, the validation process is already prepared with pre-generated signatures, reducing processing overhead during critical access moments
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a signature validation component as an intermediary between the virtual machine and the resource access control system. This component handles the complex cryptographic validation operations, isolating the complexity from both the virtual machine management layer and the resource access layer, thereby improving overall system security without proportionally increasing complexity across all system components
2Reliability
If digital signatures are validated for every access event, then access control security is improved, but processing time and operational overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs signature validation in advance of actual resource access operations. By validating digital signatures when virtual machines are created, registered, or before batch operations, the system prepares validation results beforehand, so that during actual resource access events, the security verification can be performed more quickly using pre-validated signature information
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements selective validation where not every single access event requires full cryptographic signature validation. Instead, the system validates signatures at strategic points (virtual machine creation, registration, and periodic re-validation), and uses these validation results for multiple subsequent access decisions, reducing the frequency of full validation operations while maintaining security
3Ease of operation
If owner identification is implemented for virtual machines, then resource management control is improved, but device complexity and implementation difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The digital signature system serves multiple functions simultaneously: it identifies virtual machine owners, authenticates virtual machines for resource access, provides non-repudiation of actions, and enables audit tracking. This multi-functionality means that while the system adds complexity, it delivers multiple management capabilities through a single mechanism, improving resource management control across several dimensions without requiring separate systems for each function
Solution Approach 2:
The signature validation component automatically validates digital signatures and identifies owners without requiring manual intervention. The system self-manages the complex cryptographic operations, owner identification queries, and access control decisions based on validated signatures, reducing the operational burden on administrators despite the increased system complexity
Data Source
AI summary
A computer system is disclosed that includes a host operating system and a virtual hypervisor that operates under management of the host operating system to control operations of virtual machines operating under management of the virtual hypervisor. The virtual hypervisor provides an interface between the virtual machines and the host operating system. A signing component generates digital signatures which identify owners of the virtual machines and associates the digital signatures with the virtual machines. A signature validation component determines the owners of the virtual machines using the digital signatures and responsive to occurrence of defined events. Related methods and computer program products for operating computer systems are also disclosed.