The present disclosure relates to distributed computing and, more specifically, managing on-premises and off-premises access control.
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling systems may be configured to provide a cloud computing platform, sometimes referred to simply as a cloud or the cloud, that provides on-demand access to virtualized information handling resources, including compute, storage, and network resources, abstracted from a common pool of hardware assets. In at least some contexts, the term private cloud may refer to cloud resources dedicated to or otherwise associated with a single entity, sometimes referred to herein as a customer. Private clouds may be managed internally or by a third party and may be hosted either on-premises or off-premises. In at least some contexts, the term public cloud may refer to a cloud resources maintained by a third party provider and accessible to authorized users via the Internet or another public network as a paid or unpaid subscription. A hybrid cloud, as suggested by its name, may refer to cloud infrastructure that includes both a public cloud and a private cloud, typically linked together with a secure connection.
Controlling access to cloud-based resources is an important consideration in the implementation of any cloud solution. Role based access control (RBAC) refers to an access control methodology in which permission to access a resource may be determined by defining one or more job functions or roles, associating each role with one or more access privileges, and assigning roles to authorized users based on their job functions.
Cloud resources may be accessible from an on-premises portal as well as an off-premises portal, each of which may be associated with its own access control module, potentially resulting in duplicated and/or inconsistent access control efforts and polices. In addition, on-premises cloud platforms are increasingly employing hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) appliances that support sophisticated configurations including multi-node clusters, each of which may have its own distinct access permissions.
In accordance with the following description, disclosed methods and systems for managing access control in cloud based environments with on-premises and off-premises access portals includes storing account mapping information, indicative of an association between an on-premises account and an off-premises account, to a lockbox in each of the plurality of on-premises, multi-node clusters and deploying an off-premises agent in each of the clusters. One or more of the clusters may exist within a hyper-converged infrastructure system.
Each off-premises agent may be configured to retrieve cluster access information indicative of access permissions for the on-premises node cluster and upload the cluster access information to an off-premises access control service. In at least some embodiments, the access permissions for the on-premises cluster and the off-premises access permissions comprise role based access permissions. The off-premises access control service is coupled to an off-premises portal and enables the off-premises portal to switch its access control permissions between on-premises access permissions and off-premises permissions in accordance with the resource to be accessed.
When the off-premises portal receives a request to access an on-premises node cluster, the off-premises portal, in conjunction with the access control service, determines whether to grant or deny the request based on access permissions associated with the targeted node cluster. When the off-premises portal receives a request to access off-premises resources, the portal determines whether to grant or deny the request based on the off-premises access permissions.
Technical advantages of the present disclosure may be readily apparent to one skilled in the art from the figures, description and claims included herein. The objects and advantages of the embodiments will be realized and achieved at least by the elements, features, and combinations particularly pointed out in the claims.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are examples and explanatory and are not restrictive of the claims set forth in this disclosure.
A more complete understanding of the present embodiments and advantages thereof may be acquired by referring to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numbers indicate like features, and wherein:
Exemplary embodiments and their advantages are best understood by reference to
For the purposes of this disclosure, an information handling system may include any instrumentality or aggregate of instrumentalities operable to compute, classify, process, transmit, receive, retrieve, originate, switch, store, display, manifest, detect, record, reproduce, handle, or utilize any form of information, intelligence, or data for business, scientific, control, entertainment, or other purposes. For example, an information handling system may be a personal computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a consumer electronic device, a network storage device, or any other suitable device and may vary in size, shape, performance, functionality, and price. The information handling system may include memory, one or more processing resources such as a central processing unit (“CPU”), microcontroller, or hardware or software control logic. Additional components of the information handling system may include one or more storage devices, one or more communications ports for communicating with external devices as well as various input/output (“I/O”) devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a video display. The information handling system may also include one or more buses operable to transmit communication between the various hardware components.
Additionally, an information handling system may include firmware for controlling and/or communicating with, for example, hard drives, network circuitry, memory devices, I/O devices, and other peripheral devices. For example, the hypervisor and/or other components may comprise firmware. As used in this disclosure, firmware includes software embedded in an information handling system component used to perform predefined tasks. Firmware is commonly stored in non-volatile memory, or memory that does not lose stored data upon the loss of power. In certain embodiments, firmware associated with an information handling system component is stored in non-volatile memory that is accessible to one or more information handling system components. In the same or alternative embodiments, firmware associated with an information handling system component is stored in non-volatile memory that is dedicated to and comprises part of that component.
For the purposes of this disclosure, computer-readable media may include any instrumentality or aggregation of instrumentalities that may retain data and/or instructions for a period of time. Computer-readable media may include, without limitation, storage media such as a direct access storage device (e.g., a hard disk drive or floppy disk), a sequential access storage device (e.g., a tape disk drive), compact disk, CD-ROM, DVD, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), and/or flash memory; as well as communications media such as wires, optical fibers, microwaves, radio waves, and other electromagnetic and/or optical carriers; and/or any combination of the foregoing.
For the purposes of this disclosure, information handling resources may broadly refer to any component system, device or apparatus of an information handling system, including without limitation processors, service processors, basic input/output systems (BIOSs), buses, memories, I/O devices and/or interfaces, storage resources, network interfaces, motherboards, and/or any other components and/or elements of an information handling system.
In the following description, details are set forth by way of example to facilitate discussion of the disclosed subject matter. It should be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the field, however, that the disclosed embodiments are exemplary and not exhaustive of all possible embodiments.
Throughout this disclosure, a hyphenated form of a reference numeral refers to a specific instance of an element and the un-hyphenated form of the reference numeral refers to the element generically. Thus, for example, “device 12-1” refers to an instance of a device class, which may be referred to collectively as “devices 12” and any one of which may be referred to generically as “a device 12”.
As used herein, when two or more elements are referred to as “coupled” to one another, such term indicates that such two or more elements are in electronic communication, mechanical communication, including thermal and fluidic communication, thermal, communication or mechanical communication, as applicable, whether connected indirectly or directly, with or without intervening elements.
Referring now to the drawings,
The on premises resources 104 illustrated in
In some embodiments, The on-premises resources 104 illustrated in
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This disclosure encompasses all changes, substitutions, variations, alterations, and modifications to the example embodiments herein that a person having ordinary skill in the art would comprehend. Similarly, where appropriate, the appended claims encompass all changes, substitutions, variations, alterations, and modifications to the example embodiments herein that a person having ordinary skill in the art would comprehend. Moreover, reference in the appended claims to an apparatus or system or a component of an apparatus or system being adapted to, arranged to, capable of, configured to, enabled to, operable to, or operative to perform a particular function encompasses that apparatus, system, or component, whether or not it or that particular function is activated, turned on, or unlocked, as long as that apparatus, system, or component is so adapted, arranged, capable, configured, enabled, operable, or operative.
All examples and conditional language recited herein are intended for pedagogical objects to aid the reader in understanding the disclosure and the concepts contributed by the inventor to furthering the art, and are construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions. Although embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions, and alterations could be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.