End-to-end protection for shrouded virtual servers

US9882901B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• International Business Machines Corporation · US

Inventors

• Khary J. Alexander · Poughkeepsie, US
• Utz Bacher · Dettenhausen, DE
• Reinhard T. Buendgen · Lörrach, DE
• Patrick J. Callaghan · Vestal, US
• John C. Dayka · New Paltz, US
• Thomas B. Mathias · Vestal, US
• K. Paul Muller · Wappingers Falls, US
• James A. O'Connor · Ulster Park, US
• William J. Rooney · Hopewell Junction, US
• Kurt N. Schroeder · Endicott, US
• Peter G. Spera · Pleasant Valley, US
• Tiberiu Suto · Franklin, US
• Sean Swehla · Poughkeepsie, US
• Stefan Usenbinz · Böblingen, DE
• Craig R. Walters · Highland, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Dec 14, 2015
• Grant date: Jan 30, 2018
• Expiry date: Mar 28, 2036

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06F2009/45595
• WIPO field: Digital communication
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

Technical solutions are described for securely deploying a shrouded virtual server. An example method includes sending, by a host manager, authentication information of a hosting system to a client device in response to a request from the client device. The method also includes receiving a request to deploy a virtual server using a shrouded mode. The method also includes deploying a preconfigured hypervisor on the hosting system, where the preconfigured hypervisor is deployed in an immutable mode that disables changes to security settings of the preconfigured hypervisor. The method also includes deploying, by the preconfigured hypervisor, a preconfigured boot image as an instance of the virtual server on the preconfigured hypervisor. The method also includes sending, by the host manager, an identifier of the virtual server for receipt by the client device.