Systems and Arrangements to Adjust Resource Accessibility Based Upon Usage Modes

Abstract

Systems and arrangements to adjust resource accessibility based upon usage modes are contemplated. Embodiments may include a supervisor instance such as an operating system that is adapted to select one or more supervisor keys from a set of supervisor keys available to the host node or platform upon which the supervisor instance is operating. The supervisor instance may select the supervisor key(s) based upon an association of the supervisor instance with a usage mode represented by a supervisor key name. In many embodiments, supervisor key names may be associated with resources via with one or more of the supervisor keys based upon the resources needed when operating in the usage modes by a system administrator. Once the supervisor instance is initialized, the supervisor instance may issue client keys that allow access to subsets of the resources available to the supervisor instance based upon usage modes of the clients.

1 . A method to define a subset of resources available to a supervisor instance to assign to clients operating under the supervisor instance, the method comprising:
 determining a set of supervisor keys based upon an identifier associated with the supervisor instance;   selecting a supervisor key name based upon a usage mode associated with operation of the supervisor instance; and   selecting one or more supervisor keys from the set of supervisor keys based upon the supervisor key name, the one or more supervisor keys to verify authorization for the supervisor instance to obtain a set of client keys, wherein each client key of the set of client keys, when attached to a request by a client of the clients, provides verification of an authorization for the client related to establishment of a connection, the connection being associated with a resource of the subset of resources.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising dynamically switching the association of the supervisor instance from the one or more supervisor keys to a second group of one or more supervisor keys. 
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein dynamically switching the association comprises changing the usage mode of the supervisor instance to a new usage mode in response to an event and selecting the second group of one or more supervisor keys via a second supervisor key name associated with the new usage mode. 
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a request for a client key of the set of client keys from the client, wherein the request comprises a client key name associated with the client key;   determining whether the client is authorized to use the client key;   reading the client key from a record that associates the client key name with the client; and   transmitting the client key to the client after determining that the client is authorized to use the client key.   
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising generating the request to establish the connection with the resource, the request comprising the client key as verification of the authorization for the client to access the resource. 
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising generating the request to establish the connection, the request comprising the client key as verification of the authorization for the client to use the resource to establish the connection. 
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising generating the request to establish the connection, the request comprising the client key as verification of the authorization for the client to consume the resource. 
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein determining whether the client is authorized to use the client key comprises executing a private algorithm. 
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the set of supervisor keys comprises generating a supervisor key request for the set of supervisor keys comprising the identifier for the supervisor instance and transmitting the supervisor key request to a configuration manager, wherein the configuration manager is to reply with the supervisor keys upon verification of the association between the identifier and the supervisor keys. 
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising generating a client key request for the set of client keys associated with the supervisor instance and transmitting the request to the configuration manager, wherein the configuration manager is to reply with the set of the client keys based upon the one or more supervisor keys associated with the supervisor instance. 
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein selecting one or more supervisor keys comprises accessing a record of a Platform Key Table associated with the supervisor key name. 
   
   
       12 . A system, comprising:
 a configuration to define tables that associate supervisor keys with client keys and with unique host identifiers of nodes to couple with a communications network;   a configuration manager coupled with the configuration to define authorized connections between the nodes based upon associations in the tables to prevent unauthorized connections, wherein the configuration manager is adapted to associate one or more supervisor key names with one or more of the unique host identifiers and select one or more supervisor keys of the supervisor keys to associate with a supervisor key name of the one or more supervisor key names, wherein association of the one or more supervisor keys with the supervisor key name defines a subset of resources that are available to a supervisor instance.   
   
   
       13 . The system of  claim 12 , further comprising the communications network, wherein the communications network comprises switches and media to establish connections between the nodes. 
   
   
       14 . The system of  claim 12 , further comprising a host node of the nodes coupled with the communications network, the host node comprising the supervisor instance, wherein the supervisor instance is adapted to select the supervisor key name based upon a usage mode and obtain the one or more supervisor keys from the configuration manager based upon the supervisor key name. 
   
   
       15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the supervisor instance is adapted to receive a request for a client key of the client keys from a client, the request comprising a client key name associated with the client key; determine whether the client is authorized to use the client key based upon an association between the client key and the one or more supervisor keys; and pass the client key to the client after determining that the client is authorized to use the client key. 
   
   
       16 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the configuration manager is adapted to generate a Client Key Table by interacting with a system administrator to determine client key names, generating client keys to associate with subsets of the resources available to the supervisor instance, and communicating with a system administrator to associate the client keys with the client key names based upon usage modes represented by the client key names. 
   
   
       17 . A machine-accessible medium containing instructions, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations for defining access by a client to a subset of resources available to a supervisor instance, comprising:
 determining, by the client, a client key name associated with a usage mode for the client;   requesting a client key from the supervisor instance based upon the client key name;   receiving the client key from the supervisor instance, the client key being associated with the subset of the resources; and   associating the client key with a request to establish a connection with one of the subset of the resources to provide a verification that the client is authorized to access the one of the subset of the resources.   
   
   
       18 . The machine-accessible medium of  claim 17 , wherein determining, by the client, the client key name comprises accessing a client configuration established by a system administrator that defines a usage mode for the client and the client key name associated with that usage mode. 
   
   
       19 . The machine-accessible medium of  claim 17 , wherein receiving the client key comprises receiving a unique binary number associated with the subset of the resources available to the client when operating in the usage mode.