Weighted entropy pool service

1. An entropy service system comprising:

a collection of entropy sources,

wherein each entropy source in the collection of entropy sources is associated with a respective weight, each said respective weight being related to an estimate of an amount of entropy in data supplied by the entropy source associated with the weight; and

a memory configured to store data from the entropy sources.

2. A system as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:

an interface configured to enable a user to link a user entropy source to the entropy service system.

3. A system as recited in claim 2 , further comprising:

a user entropy source linked to the entropy system by the interface; and

a weight associated with data from the user entropy source.

4. A system as recited in claim 3 , further comprising:

a data link for providing entropy to a computing system; and

an entropy mixer for mixing entropy from a first entropy source associated with a resource of the computing system and a second entropy source linked to the entropy service system by the interface.

5. A system as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:

an entropy distributor for distributing entropy contained in data stored in the memory throughout the data.

6. A system as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:

a persistent entropy state storage for storing entropy, said entropy state storage configured to persist across a system restart.

7. A system as recited in claim 1 , wherein an entropy source is configured to operate in both a synchronous mode and an asynchronous mode and further comprising a first weight associated with data from the entropy source operating in synchronous mode and a second weight associated with data from the entropy source operating in asynchronous mode.

8. A system as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:

an entropy analyzer for computing the amount of entropy in data from an entropy source.

9. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving data from a plurality of entropy sources;

estimating a quantity of entropy contained in the received data from each entropy source of the plurality of entropy sources by applying a weight associated with each entropy source; and

storing data correlative of the received data in a computer memory associated with an entropy service system.

10. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 9 , further comprising:

supplying data containing entropy to a consumer of entropy; and

tracking a quantity of entropy remaining in the entropy service system after supplying the data.

11. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 9 , wherein storing data correlative of the received data comprises:

applying a hashing function to the received data to generate hashed data; and

storing the hashed data in a computer memory.

12. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 9 , wherein storing data correlative of the received data comprises:

applying a hashing function to the received data to generate hashed data;

extracting a quantity of data from the hashed data approximately equal to the estimated quantity of entropy contained in the data from the entropy source; and

storing the extracted data in a computer memory.

13. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 9 , further comprising:

providing an interface configured to enable a user to link a user entropy source to the entropy service system.

14. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 12 , further comprising:

receiving data from a user entropy source;

applying a weight associated with the user entropy source to estimate a quantity of entropy contained in the data from the user entropy source;

mixing the data received from the user entropy source with data received from the first entropy source to generate mixed data; and

wherein storing data correlative of the received data comprises storing data correlative of the mixed data in a computer memory associated with the entropy service system.

15. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 9 , further comprising:

saving data from the computer memory associated with the entropy service system in a persistent entropy state storage configured to persist across a system restart.

16. A computer readable storage medium comprising computer executable instructions for:

receiving data from a plurality of entropy sources; and

estimating a quantity of entropy contained in the received data by applying a weight associated with each entropy source of the plurality of entropy sources to the data received from each entropy source.

17. A computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 16 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further comprise instructions for:

providing an interface configured to enable a user to link a user entropy source to an entropy service system.

18. A computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 17 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further comprise instructions for:

mixing data from a plurality of entropy sources.

19. A computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 16 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further comprise instructions for:

saving data containing accumulated entropy in a persistent entropy state storage configured to persist across a system restart.

20. A computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 16 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further comprise instructions for:

analyzing the received data to compute a quantity of entropy contained in the received data.