Abstract:
Automated provisioning of hosts on a network with reasonable levels of security is described in this application. A certificate management service (CMS) on a host, one or more trusted agents, and a public key infrastructure are utilized in a secure framework to establish host identity. Once host identity is established, signed encryption certificates may be exchanged and secure communication may take place.
Abstract:
When providing a user with native access to at least a portion of device hardware, the user can be prevented from modifying firmware and other configuration information by controlling the mechanisms used to update that information. For example, a clock or a timer mechanism can be used by a network interface card to define a mutability period. During the mutability period, firmware update to a peripheral device can be allowed. Once the mutability period has expired, firmware update to a peripheral device will no longer be allowed.
Abstract:
Automated provisioning of hosts on a network with reasonable levels of security is described in this application. A certificate management service (CMS) on a host, one or more trusted agents, and a public key infrastructure are utilized in a secure framework to establish host identity. Once host identity is established, signed encryption certificates may be exchanged and secure communication may take place.
Abstract:
In an environment such as a cloud computing environment where various guests can be provisioned on a host machine or other hardware device, it can be desirable to prevent those users from rebooting or otherwise restarting the machine or other resources using unauthorized information or images that can be obtained from across the network. A cloud manager can cause one or more network switches or other routing or communication processing components to deny communication access between user-accessible ports on a machine or device and the provisioning systems, or other specific network resources, such that the user cannot cause the host machine to pull information from those resources upon a restart or reboot of the machine. Further, various actions can be taken upon a reboot or attempted reboot, such as to isolate the host machine or even power off the specific machine.
Abstract:
Automated provisioning of hosts on a network with reasonable levels of security is described in this application. A certificate management service (CMS) on a host, one or more trusted agents, and a public key infrastructure are utilized in a secure framework to establish host identity. Once host identity is established, signed encryption certificates may be exchanged and secure communication may take place.
Abstract:
Systems and methods are provided for managing objects. In one implementation, a computer-implemented method is provided. The method includes receiving a query comprising a tag and executing the query. An object identifier is retrieved from a data table, based on the tag. The method further returns a result of the query. The result includes the object identifier that was retrieved from the data table. The method further performing an action related to an object having the retrieved object identifier.
Abstract:
Attempts to update confirmation information or firmware for a hardware device can be monitored using a secure counter that is configured to monotonically adjust a current value of the secure counter for each update or update attempt. The value of the counter can be determined every time the validity of the firmware is confirmed, and this value can be stored to a secure location. At subsequent times, such as during a boot process, the actual value of the counter can be determined and compared with the expected value. If the values do not match, such that the firmware may be in an unexpected state, an action can be taken, such as to prevent access to, or isolate, the hardware until such time as the firmware can be validated or updated to an expected state.
Abstract:
A storage unit includes one or more storage devices. In one embodiment, it is determined whether a temperature associated with the storage unit is below a minimum threshold. In another embodiment, it is determined whether a predicted heat load of the storage unit is below a minimum threshold. A predicted heat load for the storage unit is increased by initiating a data operation in the storage devices in response to determining that the temperature, or the predicted heat load, is below the minimum threshold.
Abstract:
Systems and methods are provided for managing objects. In one implementation, a computer-implemented method is provided. The method includes receiving a query comprising a tag and executing the query. An object identifier is retrieved from a data table, based on the tag. The method further returns a result of the query. The result includes the object identifier that was retrieved from the data table. The method further performing an action related to an object having the retrieved object identifier.
Abstract:
In an environment such as a cloud computing environment where various guests can be provisioned on a host machine or other hardware device, it can be desirable to prevent those users from rebooting or otherwise restarting the machine or other resources using unauthorized information or images that can be obtained from across the network. A cloud manager can cause one or more network switches or other routing or communication processing components to deny communication access between user-accessible ports on a machine or device and the provisioning systems, or other specific network resources, such that the user cannot cause the host machine to pull information from those resources upon a restart or reboot of the machine. Further, various actions can be taken upon a reboot or attempted reboot, such as to isolate the host machine or even power off the specific machine.