Apparatuses and methods for remote computing node registration and authentication

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10979289-B2
Application number	US-201916681628-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 12, 2019
Priority date	Aug 12, 2019
Publication date	Apr 13, 2021
Grant date	Apr 13, 2021

Abstract

A computing node is configured to initialize by requesting a particular network resource from a network management server, and receiving acknowledgment of the particular network resource and an encryption key from the network management server to contact a configuration management server. The initialization further includes providing, using the particular network resource, a registration request message encrypted based on the encryption key to the configuration management server, and receiving configuration information corresponding to the computing node from the configuration management server in response to the registration request computing node.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions that when executed by a computing node in a computing system, cause the computing node to:
send a request for a particular network resource from a network management server, wherein the request includes a vendor class identifier that identifies a device class of the computing node;
receive, from the network management server, an acknowledgement that includes the particular network resource and an encryption key corresponding to the computing node based on the vendor class identifier;
send, to the configuration management server using the particular network resource, a registration request message encrypted based on the encryption key; and
receive configuration information corresponding to the computing node from the configuration management server in response to the registration request.

2. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the computing node to receive the configuration information corresponding to the computing node based on a request for configuration information provided to the configuration management server.

3. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the computing node to send a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) request message to the network management server to request the particular network resource.

4. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the computing node to retrieve the encryption key from a vendor encapsulated option field of a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) acknowledgment message.

5. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 4 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the computing node to retrieve an internet protocol (IP) address of the configuration management server from a second vendor encapsulated option field of the DHCP acknowledgment message.

6. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the computing node to make an encrypted application programming interface (API) call to send the registration request message, wherein the encrypted API call is encrypted based on an API encryption key included in the encryption key.

7. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the computing node to receive the API encryption key corresponding to the computing node.

8. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the computing node to request the particular network resource from the network management server in response to receipt of an offer message from the network management server that included the particular network resource.

9. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the computing node to, prior to receipt of the offer message, broadcast, from the computing node, a discovery message that includes an identifier associated with the computing node to request a network resource.

10. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the computing node to configure for operation according to the configuration information.

11. A method comprising:
requesting, by a computing node, a particular network resource from a network management server;
receiving acknowledgement of the particular network resource and an encryption key corresponding to a vendor class identifier that identifies a device class of the computing node from the network management server;
sending, using the particular network resource, a registration request message encrypted based on the encryption key to a configuration management server; and
receiving configuration information corresponding to the computing node from the configuration management server in response to authentication of the computing node by the configuration management server using the registration request message encrypted based on the encryption key.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising receiving the configuration information corresponding to the computing node based on a request for configuration information provided to the configuration management server.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising sending a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) request message to the network management server to request the particular network resource.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising receiving the encryption key based on a vendor class identifier provided by the computing node.

15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising retrieving the encryption key from a vendor encapsulated option field of a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) acknowledgment message.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising retrieving an internet protocol (IP) address for the configuration management server from a second vendor encapsulated option field of the DHCP acknowledgment message.

17. The method of claim 11 , further comprising making an encrypted application programming interface (API) call to send the registration request message, wherein the encrypted API call is encrypted based on an API encryption key corresponding the computing node included in the encryption key.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising receiving the API encryption key corresponding to the computing node.

19. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions that when executed by a computing node in a computing system, cause the computing node to:
send a request for a particular network resource to a network management server;
receive acknowledgement of the particular network resource and an encryption key corresponding to a vendor class identifier that identifies a device class of the computing node from the network management server;
send, to a configuration management server using the particular network resource, a registration request message encrypted based on the encryption key; and
receive configuration information corresponding to the computing node from the configuration management server in response to authentication of the computing node by the configuration management server using the registration request message encrypted based on the encryption key.

20. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the computing node to encrypt the registration request via an application programming interface (API) encryption key specific to the computing node as the encryption key.

21. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 20 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the computing node to receive the API encryption key specific to the computing node.

22. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 21 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the computing node to retrieve the API encryption key from a vendor encapsulated option field of

Assignees

• Nutanix Inc

Inventors

• Sidhartha Kumar
• Adusumilli Monica
• Varghese Toms

Classifications

• H04L41/0893

  Assignment of logical groups to network elements · CPC title

• H04L41/0806 Primary

  for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play · CPC title

• H04L41/24 Primary

  using dedicated network management hardware · CPC title

• H04L61/5014

  using dynamic host configuration protocol [DHCP] or bootstrap protocol [BOOTP] · CPC title

• H04L41/0803

  Configuration setting · CPC title