IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,566,624
Granted Patent B2
US 12,566,624 · App. 17/722,428 · Granted Mar 3, 2026

Communication between control planes in a virtualized computing system having an autonomous cluster

Inventors: Sandeep Sinha (Bangalore, IN); Akash Kodenkiri (Bangalore, IN); Varun Rajasekar (Chennai, IN); Prachi Singhal (Bangalore, IN); Ivailo Vladimirov Loboshki (Sofia, BG); Dimitar Dimitrov (Sofia, BG); Hakan Sunay Halil (Sofia, BG)
Assignee: VMware LLC
G06F9/45558G06F9/5072G06F2009/4557G06F2009/45587
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,566,624
App. No.
17/722,428
Granted
Mar 3, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

An example method of establishing trust between a cross-cluster control plane (xCCP) and a cluster control plane (CCP) of an autonomous cluster of hosts in a virtualized computing system includes: providing, by the xCCP, trust data of the xCCP to a hypervisor of a host in the autonomous cluster that is executing the CCP; providing, by the hypervisor, the trust data to the CCP through a volume attached to a virtual machine (VM) that executes the CCP; persisting, by the CCP, the trust data in a database; and accessing, by a security token service (STS) of the CCP, the trust data in the database to authenticate access to the CCP by the xCCP.

Claims (51)

1 . A method of establishing trust between a cross-cluster control plane (xCCP) and a cluster control plane (CCP) of an autonomous cluster of hosts in a virtualized computing system, the method comprising:

providing, by the xCCP, first trust data of the xCCP to the autonomous cluster, the xCCP obtaining the first trust data from a first trust management service (TMS) of the xCCP, a first host of the autonomous cluster executing a first infravisor and a second host of the autonomous cluster executing a second infravisor in communication with the first infravisor;

executing, by one of the first infravisor or the second infravisor, the CCP in the first host;

providing, by the hypervisor of the first host, the first trust data to the CCP through a volume attached to a virtual machine (VM) that executes the CCP;

providing, by the first infravisor, second trust data, obtained from the hypervisor of the first host, and an initial config, through the volume attached to the VM;

executing, by the CCP, the initial config to start services thereof, including a management service and a second TMS;

providing, by the CCP, the second trust data to the management service thereof to enable communication between the management service and the hypervisor of the first host;

providing, by the CCP, the first trust data to the second TMS of the CCP;

persisting, by the CCP, the first trust data in a database; and

accessing, by a security token service (STS) of the CCP, the first trust data in the database to authenticate access to the CCP by the xCCP.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first trust data includes a signing certificate of the xCCP used to sign security tokens issued to users and services of the xCCP.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the first trust data further includes identity source information for accessing at least one identity source having user identity and authorization information.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing, by the xCCP, a claim map to the hypervisor, the claim map mapping groups of the xCCP to groups of the CCP.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing, by the xCCP, a system domain name to the hypervisor, the system domain name being for the CCP.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the hypervisor includes the first infravisor or the second infravisor configured to cooperate with an agent in the VM, and wherein the step of providing the first trust data is performed by the infravisor.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the STS of the CCP accesses the first trust data in the database to authenticate application programming interface (API) forwarding from the xCCP to the CCP.

8 . A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions to be executed in a computing device to cause the computing device to carry out a method of establishing trust between a cross-cluster control plane (xCCP) and a cluster control plane (CCP) of an autonomous cluster of hosts in a virtualized computing system, the method comprising:

providing, by the xCCP, first trust data of the xCCP to the autonomous cluster, the xCCP obtaining the first trust data from a first trust management service (TMS) of the xCCP, a first host of the autonomous cluster executing a first infravisor and a second host of the autonomous cluster executing a second infravisor in communication with the first infravisor;

executing, by one of the first infravisor or the second infravisor, the CCP in the first host;

providing, by the hypervisor of the first host, the first trust data to the CCP through a volume attached to a virtual machine (VM) that executes the CCP;

providing, by the first infravisor, second trust data, obtained from the hypervisor of the first host, and an initial config, through the volume attached to the VM;

executing, by the CCP, the initial config to start services thereof, including a management service and a second TMS;

providing, by the CCP, the second trust data to the management service thereof to enable communication between the management service and the hypervisor of the first host;

providing, by the CCP, the first trust data to the second TMS of the CCP;

persisting, by the CCP, the first trust data in a database; and

accessing, by a security token service (STS) of the CCP, the first trust data in the database to authenticate access to the CCP by the xCCP.

9 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the first trust data includes a signing certificate of the xCCP used to sign security tokens issued to users and services of the xCCP.

10 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the first trust data further includes identity source information for accessing at least one identity source having user identity and authorization information.

11 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , further comprising:

providing, by the xCCP, a claim map to the hypervisor, the claim map mapping groups of the xCCP to groups of the CCP.

12 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , further comprising:

providing, by the xCCP, a system domain name to the hypervisor, the system domain name being for the CCP.

13 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the hypervisor includes the first infravisor or the second infravisor configured to cooperate with an agent in the VM, and wherein the step of providing the first trust data is performed by the infravisor.

14 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the STS of the CCP accesses the first trust data in the database to authenticate application programming interface (API) forwarding from the xCCP to the CCP.

15 . A virtualized computing system, comprising:

a cross-cluster control plane (xCCP); and

a first host of an autonomous cluster, the first host having a hardware platform comprising a central processing unit (CPU) and a memory, the first host executing a hypervisor on the hardware platform, the hypervisor supporting a virtual machine (VM) executing a cluster control plane (CCP) of the autonomous cluster;

a second host of the autonomous cluster, the second host executing a second infravisor in communication with a first infravisor in the hypervisor of the first host, the first infravisor or the second infravisor configured to select the first host to execute the CCP;

wherein the xCCP is configured to provide first trust data, obtained from a first trust management service (TMS) of the xCCP, to the hypervisor and the hypervisor is configured to provide the first trust data to the CCP through a volume attached to the VM;

wherein the first infravisor is configured to provide second trust data, obtained from the hypervisor of the first host, and an initial config, through the volume attached to the VM;

wherein the CCP is configured to execute the initial config to start services thereof, including a management service and a second TMS;

wherein the CCP is configured to provide the second trust data to the management service thereof to enable communication between the management service and the hypervisor of the first host;

wherein the CCP is configured to provide the first trust data to the second TMS of the CCP and persist the first trust data in a database of the CCP; and

wherein a security token service (STS) of the CCP is configured to access the first trust data in the database to authenticate access to the CCP by the xCCP.

16 . The virtualized computing system of claim 15 , wherein the first trust data includes a signing certificate of the xCCP used to sign security tokens issued to users and services of the xCCP.

17 . The virtualized computing system of claim 16 , wherein the first trust data further includes identity source information for accessing at least one identity source having user identity and authorization information.

18 . The virtualized computing system of claim 15 , wherein the xCCP provides a claim map to the hypervisor, the claim map mapping groups of the xCCP to groups of the CCP.

19 . The virtualized computing system of claim 15 , wherein the hypervisor includes the first infravisor configured to cooperate with an agent in the VM, and wherein infravisor provides the first trust data to the CCP.

20 . The virtualized computing system of claim 15 , wherein the STS of the CCP accesses the first trust data in the database to authenticate application programming interface (API) forwarding from the xCCP to the CCP.

Assignments (2)
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Apr 15, 2024
From: VMWARE, INC.
To: VMWARE LLC
Reel/Frame 067102/0242 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 18, 2022
From: SINHA, SANDEEP; KODENKIRI, AKASH; RAJASEKAR, VARUN; SINGHAL, PRACHI; LOBOSHKI, IVAILO VLADIMIROV; DIMITROV, DIMITAR; HALIL, HAKAN SUNAY
To: VMWARE, INC.
Reel/Frame 059618/0405 →
Priority Claims (1)
IN 202241002630 · Jan 17, 2022 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20230229484A1 · Jul 20, 2023
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