U.S. patent application number 13/422285 was filed with the patent office on 2012-07-12 for supporting compliance in a cloud environment.
This patent application is currently assigned to International Business Machines Corporation. Invention is credited to Anne Louise Bolgert, Richard Jay Cohen, Randolf Michael Forlenza, Raghuraman Kalyanaraman.
Application Number | 20120179746 13/422285 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 45935286 |
Filed Date | 2012-07-12 |
United States Patent
Application |
20120179746 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Bolgert; Anne Louise ; et
al. |
July 12, 2012 |
Supporting Compliance in a Cloud Environment
Abstract
Gathering auditable data concerning actions in a cloud computing
environment is automated by determining that one or more auditable
data items are available associated with a requester and with at
least one application program; responsive to determining that data
items are available, transmitting a list of the available auditable
data items to a requesting cloud client computer; subsequent to
transmitting the list, receiving a data request from the cloud
client computer for one or more particular auditable data items
from the list; preparing the requested particular auditable data
items for transmission according to a predetermined format; and
transmitting the prepared requested particular auditable data items
to the cloud client computer. Optionally, in some embodiments, the
requesting cloud client computer may negotiate a data exchange
format with the cloud service provider for receipt of the requested
auditable information.
Inventors: |
Bolgert; Anne Louise;
(Austin, TX) ; Cohen; Richard Jay; (Austin,
TX) ; Forlenza; Randolf Michael; (Austin, TX)
; Kalyanaraman; Raghuraman; (Austin, TX) |
Assignee: |
International Business Machines
Corporation
Armonk
NY
|
Family ID: |
45935286 |
Appl. No.: |
13/422285 |
Filed: |
March 16, 2012 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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12905232 |
Oct 15, 2010 |
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13422285 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
709/203 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 11/3006 20130101;
G06F 11/3065 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
709/203 |
International
Class: |
G06F 15/16 20060101
G06F015/16 |
Claims
1. An automated method for providing auditable data concerning
actions in a cloud computing environment, comprising: responsive to
receiving an auditable data request by a cloud computing server,
determining that one or more auditable data items are available
associated with a requester and with at least one application
program; responsive to determining that data items are available,
transmitting a list of the available auditable data items to a
requesting cloud client computer; subsequent to transmitting the
list, receiving a data request from the cloud client computer for
one or more particular auditable data items from the list;
preparing the requested particular auditable data items for
transmission according to a predetermined format; and transmitting
the prepared requested particular auditable data items to the cloud
client computer.
2. The automated method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising,
prior to the receiving of an auditable data request, performing
cloud service registration of a client device by creating and
assigning a unique identifier to a cloud client computer, and
sharing a security artifact between a cloud computing server and
the cloud client computer.
3. The automated method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising,
prior to or concurrently with receiving a data request from the
cloud client computer, negotiating between the cloud client
computer and the cloud computing server a mutually-agreeable data
exchange format in which requested auditable data will be delivered
to the cloud client computer.
4. The automated method as set forth in claim 1 wherein determining
that one or more auditable data items are available comprises
determining if the requester is entitled to each of the available
auditable data items, and removing from the list each auditable
data item to which the requester is not entitled.
5. The automated method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising
issuing a authentication token to the cloud client computer prior
to the receiving an auditable data request, wherein the determining
that one or more auditable data items are available comprises
extracting the previously-issued token from the auditable data
request, and wherein the transmitting of a list of available
auditable data items is prevented responsive to the extracted token
not being associated with the requesting cloud client computer or
responsive to a token being not found in the received auditable
data request.
6. The automated method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the
preparing of the requested auditable data items further comprises
performing compliance analysis against one or more compliance
policies, and wherein the transmitting of the prepared data items
further comprises transmitting one or more results of the
compliance analysis.
7. The automated method as set forth in claim 6 wherein the
performing of compliance analysis is performed by a cloud service
provider computer which is separate from a cloud service provider
which received the request for auditable data items and which is
separate from the requesting cloud client computer.
8. The automated method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising
receiving the transmitted auditable data items by a cloud client
computer, and performing compliance analysis against one or more
compliance policies by the cloud client computer.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
CLAIMING BENEFIT UNDER 35 U.S.C. 120
[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 12/905,232, our docket AUS920100252US1, filed
on Oct. 15, 2010, but Anne Louise Bolgert, et al.
FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT STATEMENT
[0002] This invention was not developed in conjunction with any
Federally sponsored contract.
MICROFICHE APPENDIX
[0003] Not applicable.
INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE
[0004] None.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0005] The invention generally relates technologies to collect and
maintain auditable data and information in a computing environment
which is dynamic and scalable in nature, but in which the location
and format of the storage of the data is not readily discernable by
the customers of that data.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
[0006] A current trend in Information Technology ("IT") is called
"Cloud Computing". Customers who utilize cloud environments can
easily access services, application programs ("applications") and
computing infrastructure hosted by other companies. Often, this
access is "on demand" on an as-needed basis, with dynamic scaling
of capacities to fit the instantaneous computing needs of the
customer.
[0007] Cloud Computing has advantages for customers in that they
may be able to reduce the IT costs, physical space (e.g. buildings,
rooms, power, air conditioning), and compliance support that they
are required to maintain internally. Instead, these costs are
shifted to the one or many hosting companies, and the customer then
pays only for the computing resources they use.
[0008] This is not a total solution to compliance requirements for
these customers, though. Customers that use cloud-based services
still must support their established company compliance policies.
This normally requires that they keep track of specific customer
and internal administrative actions with the cloud based
services.
[0009] For example, cloud service customers may have their own
auditing and reporting environments which analyze what their users
are doing by correlating data from different applications. The
collected and correlated data can be used to produce compliance
reports that then are used to track normal operations, and to
fulfill audit requirements.
[0010] To reduce costs of operation, these customers often prefer
to automate audit processes to the maximum extent possible for
monitoring audit readiness throughout the year and not just during
official audits. When using cloud services, this data is not always
readily available, however. If it is, it is usually not enabled for
automation and continuous audit readiness monitoring.
[0011] Existing audit automation technologies collect audit and log
data on IT systems and send it to centralized servers where the
data can be analyzed. These technologies require that data
collectors know details about the IT systems and the applications
that run on them. For example, collector agents need to know where
audit data resides and its format.
[0012] However, in a cloud environment, a customer may not know
where (e.g. which server computer) a particular application is
running. Consequently, customers may not be able to rely on
collectors to gather and send back the audit data required for
analysis.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0013] Gathering auditable data concerning actions in a cloud
computing environment is automated by receiving an auditable data
request by a cloud computing server (the request may be from an
administrator using a cloud computing terminal device or by another
cloud service acting as a client), determining that one or more
auditable data items are available associated with a requester and
with at least one application program; responsive to determining
that data items are available, transmitting a list of the available
auditable data items to a requesting cloud client computer;
subsequent to transmitting the list, receiving a data request from
the cloud client computer for one or more particular auditable data
items from the list; preparing the requested particular auditable
data items for transmission according to a predetermined format;
and transmitting the prepared requested particular auditable data
items to the cloud client computer.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0014] The description set forth herein is illustrated by the
several drawings.
[0015] FIG. 1 illustrates a protocol method of interaction between
a cloud service provider server computer and the terminal device
used by a cloud services customer (or another cloud process acting
as a client) according to the invention.
[0016] FIG. 2 depicts a logical process according to the present
invention in which an enterprise directly and individually requests
auditable data from multiple cloud service providers for processing
by its own internal compliance tools.
[0017] FIG. 3 illustrates third-party handling of compliance
auditing within a cloud computing environment.
[0018] FIG. 4 depicts a generalization of a wide range of computing
platforms.
[0019] FIG. 5 depicts a cloud computing node according to an
embodiment of the present invention.
[0020] FIG. 6 depicts a cloud computing environment according to an
embodiment of the present invention.
[0021] FIG. 7 depicts abstraction model layers according to an
embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT(S) OF THE INVENTION
[0022] This disclosure describes a technology that enable a
customer of cloud computing services to acquire auditable data,
where the auditable data describes actions and events in the cloud
environment which were taken on behalf of or performed for the
customer. Embodiments according to the invention include, but are
not limited to, a data acquisition protocol and a standardized
format for auditable information.
Overview
[0023] To acquire the auditable data, a customer (e.g. a user of
cloud computing services) queries the cloud provider(s) asking
about what audit data the cloud provider has that is relevant to
the cloud customer, the cloud provider(s) identifies any and all
auditable data available which is related to actions and services
provided for the customer. Then, the cloud customer may optionally
negotiate an acceptable data exchange format (if not pre-selected),
and then may retrieve that data by making audit data requests to
the cloud provider(s).
[0024] Responsive to the audit data requests, the cloud provider(s)
retrieves and sends the auditable data to the customer, who
subsequently may use the audit data from the cloud provider and
along with audit data from other entities as input to the
customer's own (e.g. local, non-cloud) audit and compliance
initiatives. The client device may need to translate the received
auditable data from the cloud provider into a "local" format that
can be used by existing customer tools. An advantage of this
process is that the cloud service user can integrate data from
cloud services into their existing, automated compliance
infrastructure. FIG. 2 illustrates such a logical process (200), in
which the customer entity (212), an enterprise of some type, has
its own internal compliance tools (213). So, the enterprise (212)
posts individual requests for auditable data (201, 202) to multiple
cloud services (210, 211), and received multiple, separate blocks
of auditable data (203, 204) from those cloud services in return.
This information is then integrated "in house" by the customer's
compliance tools (213), processed, and a report is generated
(214).
[0025] An additional advantage of another available embodiment is
that by generalizing cloud audit services and the protocol to
request and receive the auditable data, a third-party cloud service
provider can offer "compliance" cloud services to provide auditing
and reporting services for customers using multiple service
providers, as shown in FIG. 3. In this depiction (300), a
third-party cloud service (303) may receive a broad request (305)
for compliance auditing of all cloud-based services which have been
performed for a particular customer (304). This third-party cloud
service may then request (306, 308) auditable data from multiple
cloud services (301, 302, etc.) relevant to that customer (304).
The data is received (309, 307) from the cloud services by the
third-party compliance service (303), instead of being received
directly by the customer (304), where it is processed according to
compliance policy by the third-party service. The third-party
service may reformat the auditable data received from various cloud
service sources into a common or local data format, such as a
format negotiated between the client device and the cloud service
provider. An audit report (310) is then returned to the requesting
customer (304), thereby eliminating the need for the customer to
have their own compliance auditing process and tools.
Compliance Service Protocol
[0026] According to one aspect of one available embodiment of the
present invention, a new method of cooperation and interaction
between computer application programs to request and retrieve
certain auditable data from a cloud computing system is realized,
where the application programs may be executed on the same
computing platform or they may be executed on separate computing
platforms interconnected by a suitable communication
technology.
[0027] In general, compliance data according to this embodiment is
retrieved using the following phases of a user interface: [0028] 1.
A cloud services customer identifies himself to the cloud service
using a terminal device, such as a computer with web browser, smart
phone, etc. One such process according to the invention, and
according in part to conventional cloud client registration, is:
[0029] a. Generally speaking, all cloud service clients must
register and get "boarded" into a cloud service. During the
registration exchange between the new client device and the cloud
service provider, the cloud service provider creates a unique
identifier (e.g. `serial number`) identifying the new client, which
is provided to the client device for future identification in
transactions with the cloud computing environment. [0030] b. In
addition to the unique identifier being created and sent to the new
client device during registration, for further security, the cloud
service provider creates a secure artifact stored only by the
client device and the cloud service provider, such as a token, a
certificate, asynchronous (e.g., RSA) or synchronous keys, or a
combination of these artifacts. [0031] 2. Subsequent to
registration and security processes, the cloud services customer
asks the cloud provider what compliance data is available for the
applications that the customer is both entitled to use and is
actually using. [0032] 3. Responsive to receiving the results from
the customer's query, the cloud services customer selects which
available auditable data he wants to receive from the cloud
provider, also performed using the terminal device. [0033] a.
Unless a specific data interchange format is pre-selected between
the new client and the cloud service provider, there optionally may
be a process to find and select a data interchange format supported
by both the client device and the cloud service provider. When a
data interchange format has been selected, the client, the service
provider, or both may need to reformat stored data to the selected
exchange standard. Additionally, it should be noted that this may
also require that the client device and probably the cloud service
provider server may have to perform data translation differently on
data received from different cloud sources from the varied
applications it provides or supports on behalf of the client.
[0034] b. In one possible embodiment, the client may indicate that
"raw data" is the data interchange format to be selected, but
optionally according to other embodiments, the client device may
request a data in a form of an electronic report from the cloud
service provider. [0035] 4. Upon receipt of the selected auditable
data, the cloud services customer may use the auditable data for
compliance analysis and reporting according to his or her own
compliance tools.
[0036] According to one embodiment, cloud service consumers can
only retrieve data from sources to which they are entitled. For
example, consumers cannot access data from a service for which they
have not contracted or used, nor can they retrieve data from a
source relevant to another entity but not relevant to
themselves.
[0037] A more detailed example embodiment (100), provided from the
perspective of the cloud service host or hosts, is shown in FIG. 1.
Note that the data can be passed on a secure connection using
protocols such as Secure Socket Layer ("SSL") or Transport Layer
Security ("TLS"). The protocol shown in FIG. 1 can be implemented
by automated compliance monitoring systems to request data at
scheduled intervals.
[0038] Responsive to the cloud service (including a computing
platform) (102) receiving (151) an authentication request from a
customer's terminal device (101), a unique token is created or
selected (103) and transmitted (152) from the cloud service to the
terminal device.
[0039] Subsequently, the cloud service receives a query request
(153) including the token from the terminal device, which triggers
the cloud service to search for and determine (104) what auditable
data it may have stored relevant to the customer and relevant to
any services performed for the customer. A query response is
transmitted (154) to the customer's terminal device containing a
list of any auditable data which is available, and preferably
filtered to contain only data to which the requesting customer is
entitled.
[0040] Still subsequently, the cloud service receives (155) a data
request from the customer's terminal device, such as a request for
auditable data associated with Application Program "A". The cloud
service retrieves or produces (105) the requested compliance data
(e.g. auditable data) if the customer is entitled to the requested
data, and transmits (156) it to the customer's terminal device.
Additional data requests (157, 158, 103, 104, 105) for auditable
data may be further handled in the same manner, such as a second
request for auditable data associated with Application Program B,
and so forth, until a terminal condition occurs, such as the
expiration of the token, or all available data has been
transmitted.
[0041] According to one available embodiment, the following details
of the foregoing process can be realized for certain
advantages.
[0042] Query Request. The initial API call is a query asking the
service what audit data is available. The query can contain the
following parameters: query version, customer name, a unique token
obtained from an authentication request, a time range of requested
data, and a timeout of query specifying how long to wait for a
response.
[0043] Query Response. The response can contain the following
information based on the parameters passed as part of the query:
query response version, cloud service Identifier (uniquely
identifies the cloud service provider), query response ID, query
result expiration time (i.e. how long can I use this response ID),
and a list of applications in that cloud environment that have data
available to which the customer is entitled. The information that
may be included in the list of applications that have auditable
data for the customer may include: application name, cloud
application Identifier that uniquely defines the application and
instance of the application the cloud customer is using and from
which auditable data is available (Unique application ID, Unique
application instance ID, Unique customer ID), a list of event
categories that are available for each application (Security
Events, Application Events, System Events, Business Events,
Compliance Events, Security Violation Events, and Auditing Events),
an indication of the quantity of data for each application in the
requested time frame matching the input filter (e.g. gross size of
data or transfer time estimate), and a type indicator of the data
(e.g. Syslog, Windows Event log, Unix Event log, Application
specific event log format, CBE/WEF, Generic/W7) (e.g. data exchange
format indicator).
[0044] Data Request. The data request can contain the following
information: request version, the unique token obtained during
authentication, a query response ID returned in the initial query,
the Application ID which specifies which application data should be
returned, and a type indicator (selecting a type or format of the
data if multiple types were available). If a preferred data
exchange format is not in the list from the cloud service, then,
optionally, the data request can also contain a indication of a
requested data exchange format, or may contain an indication of
selection of a standard format (e.g. pre-selected), which may be
converted to a local preferred format by the client device.
[0045] Compliance Service Data Format. The cloud service provider
retrieves, formats, and in some instances, produces, the requested
compliance data, and transmits it to the customer's terminal device
in a format useable by the cloud customer to complete compliance
analysis and reporting. In one available embodiment according to
the invention, compliance data is transmitted in two parts: a
header part and a content part. The header contains metadata that
describes the compliance data, and the content part contains the
actual compliance data. The format is described in the header so
that the consumer's compliance programs can interrogate the header
to determine how to process the data appropriately. The header can
contain the following data: header version, data offset, provider
identifier (cloud service), an indication of which application
program or service the data came from, a time range that the data
covers, an indicator of the Format of the data, a total size of the
data (in bytes or other units), the size of each block of data, a
Number (N) of blocks of data, a sequence number of data (Block X of
N), a checksum, and an indicator of the checksum algorithm used to
generate the checksum. In some embodiments, conversion of the
auditable data from the format in which it is received from the
cloud sources into a format useful to one or more compliance
applications may be required.
Examples of Operation
[0046] Companies set up compliance policies, then create compliance
initiatives to monitor and audit their environment to prove
compliance. In a non-cloud environment, it is easier to collect
compliance data, in particular in the form of events, from their
internal environment because they have physical access to the
computers (servers, clients, etc.) where the applications were
executed or are currently running. In such a non-cloud environment,
administrators can physically go to each computer, and configure
the computer and the application programs on the computers to
record audit data in the form of event logs. Administrators can
then gather that event or other audit-related data from those
computers, such as collecting the information on a regular schedule
or on demand from an auditor, in order to monitor and verify
compliance to the company, industry, and governmental compliance
policies.
[0047] However, in a cloud computing environment, either Hybrid or
Public (or even Private cloud because the cloud environment is
owned by a different part of the business), it is difficult if not
impossible to collect audit data using this traditional process
which requires physical and administrator-level access to the
computers which are running application programs on behalf of a
particular customer. Cloud Service users typically do not know
where and do not have access to the environments where the cloud
services are running.
[0048] Embodiments according to the present invention allow cloud
service customers to access to their audit data by asking the cloud
service for the data they need to demonstrate compliance.
[0049] The following examples are provided in order to show how a
cloud service customer would ask for audit data from the cloud
environment with various embodiments of the invention. This set of
examples is not meant to convey the only possible method of using
and implementing the invention, but instead, are meant to
illustrate some possible embodiments of the invention.
[0050] Scenario 1: Company ABC needs to make sure that they keep
track of what their users are doing during business hours to make
sure they are using cloud services according to company, industry,
and potentially governmental policies and regulations. In this
first example scenario, the administrator/auditor may need to
obtain all events showing user access to Cloud applications.
[0051] An example markup-language list of available audit data
might appear as follows:
TABLE-US-00001 . . . (available_audit_data) (type)database record
access(/type) (filters)by_user, by_date,by_organization(/filters)
(/source)server_19(source) (data_location)kansascity_
center(/data_location) (/available_audit_data)
(available_audit_data) (type)scm_orders(/type) (filters)user, date,
value, quantity, commodity(/filters) (/source)server_92a(source)
(data_location)houston_data_center(/data_location)
(/available_audit_data) . . .
[0052] In this example, two data centers in the cloud, one located
in Kansas City and another located in Houston, have reported
availability of auditable information. The first server (Kansas
City) has data base record transactions which can be requested and
filtered by user, date, and organization. The second server
(Houston) has supply chain management (SCM) orders which may have
been created, deleted, viewed, or modified, and can be filtered by
user, date, quantity, and commodity code of the item(s) ordered.
Location of the servers may be of interest because certain policies
and regulations may be applied only to certain locations and
political or legal jurisdictions.
[0053] Scenario 2: Cloud services typically provide administrator
interfaces into the cloud environment to allow a customer-appointed
cloud administrator to manage cloud resources for the other
customer cloud service users. In this example, the cloud service
user wants to keep track of who has been given access to cloud
services in the company to check policies like Separation of Duty,
and others. In this example scenario, a query to receive all events
showing new users being allowed to access the cloud services may be
made, and the returned list of available auditable data may take a
format similar to that shown in Scenario 1.
[0054] Scenario 3: Companies have to comply with various compliance
regulations. These regulations may be very specific as to what type
of data needs to be audited. For example privacy regulations need
to monitor data associated with users and user preferences. For
this example scenario, a query to receive all events of access to
user personal information by employees of Company ABC via cloud
services could be made.
[0055] Scenario 4: Companies need to feel confident that cloud
services have a certain level of security and have security
controls in place. This can be achieved by retrieving all events
related to security and audit trails, such as requesting all events
related to cloud administrator maintenance activity on resources
that the company uses. In some situations, a cloud administrator
may request an electronic report rather than raw data during the
data exchange interface negotiation phase. Such an electronic
report may take the format of a data sheet (e.g. Microsoft
Excel.TM., Lotus 1-2-3.TM., Corel Quattro.TM.) a word processor
document (e.g. Microsoft Word.TM., Lotus WordPro.TM., Corel
WordPerfect.TM., Adobe Portable Document Format.TM., etc.), or a
generic electronic document format such as Rich Text Format (RTF),
ASCII or ANSI text format, and Comma Separated Values (CSV).
Example API
[0056] The following is a more detailed example of an Application
Programming Interface (API) according to the invention. It will be
readily recognized by those ordinarily skilled in the art that
alternative API's may be realized in accordance with the invention,
as well, and that the following is provided for illustration of at
least one embodiment of the invention.
[0057] Authentication. In some embodiments, security may be
required to prevent unauthorized gathering of auditable information
from the cloud computing environment. In such embodiments, it may
be useful to have a user or tenant authorization interface:
TABLE-US-00002 cloudAuthnRequest( ) Authenticates a user to the
cloud Syntax tokenID cloudAuthnRequest(company, username,
password); Parameters company - Name of the company for the given
user name - Name of the requestor password - Password for the
requestor Description Authenticates the requestor to the cloud
environment. Return Returns a unique token containing the
requestors credential information
[0058] Query for Available Auditable Data. The foregoing examples
provided illustrations of one possible API for obtaining a list of
available auditable data from the appropriately associated servers
in the cloud. The following example is more detailed for another
possible API realization of this function:
TABLE-US-00003 queryCloudLogData( ) Retrieves a list of audit log
data to which the user is entitled. Syntax queryResults
queryCloudComplianceData(TokenID, requestData, timeout); Parameters
tokenID - Unique identifier for the requestor requestData -
Structure containing the parameters for the data request including
the query version, and time range of the requested data timeout -
Length of time to wait for the response Description Queries the
cloud service provider for a list of available audit data based on
the specified parameters. Return Value A structure containing the
response data including the version number, service identifier, a
response identifier, the expiration of the response, and a list of
available audit logs and their attributes.
[0059] Retrieval of Available Auditable Data. The foregoing
examples provided illustrations of one possible API for obtaining
available auditable data from the appropriately associated servers
in the cloud. The following example is more detailed for another
possible API realization of this function:
TABLE-US-00004 getCloudLogData( ) Retrieves a set of audit logs
from the cloud service provider Syntax dataLogs
getCloudLogData(tokenID, serviceID, responseID, logDataReq,
prefFormat, timeout) Parameters tokenID - Unique identifier for the
requestor serviceID - Identifier of the cloud service responseID -
Identifier of a response from a previous getCloudLogData( ) call
which uniquely identifies the log data query. logDataReq - The list
of requested logs and associated attributes (dates, types, etc.)
prefFormat - the preferred format or formats of the data exchange
timeout - Length of time to wait for the response Description
Retrieves the set of audit logs (identified by the logDataReq
parameter) from the cloud service provider. The request will
timeout if all of the data is not returned within the time
specified by the timeout parameter. Return Value Returns a
compressed file containing the requested audit log data.
Suitable Computing Platform
[0060] Regarding computers for executing the logical processes set
forth herein, it will be readily recognized by those skilled in the
art that a variety of computers are suitable and will become
suitable as memory, processing, and communications capacities of
computers and portable devices increases. FIG. 4 illustrates a
generalized computing platform (400), such as common and well-known
computing platforms such as "Personal Computers", web servers such
as an IBM iSeries server, and portable devices such as personal
digital assistants and smart phones, running a popular operating
systems (402) such as Microsoft.TM. Windows.TM. or IBM.TM. AIX.TM.,
Palm OS.TM., Microsoft Windows Mobile.TM., UNIX, LINUX, Google
Android.TM., Apple iPhone.TM. operating system, and others, may be
employed to execute one or more application programs to accomplish
the computerized methods described herein. Whereas these computing
platforms and operating systems are well known an openly described
in any number of textbooks, websites, and public "open"
specifications and recommendations, diagrams and further details of
these computing systems in general (without the customized logical
processes of the present invention) are readily available to those
ordinarily skilled in the art.
[0061] Many such computing platforms, but not all, allow for the
addition of or installation of application programs (401) which
provide specific logical functionality and which allow the
computing platform to be specialized in certain manners to perform
certain jobs, thus rendering the computing platform into a
specialized machine. In some "closed" architectures, this
functionality is provided by the manufacturer and may not be
modifiable by the end-user.
[0062] The hardware portion of a computing platform typically
includes one or more processors (404) accompanied by, sometimes,
specialized co-processors or accelerators, such as graphics
accelerators, and by suitable computer readable memory devices
(RAM, ROM, disk drives, removable memory cards, etc.). Depending on
the computing platform, one or more network interfaces (405) may be
provided, as well as specialty interfaces for specific
applications. If the computing platform is intended to interact
with human users, it is provided with one or more user interface
devices (407), such as display(s), keyboards, pointing devices,
speakers, etc. And, each computing platform requires one or more
power supplies (battery, AC mains, solar, etc.).
Cloud Computing
[0063] It will be understood by those ordinarily skilled in the art
that although this disclosure includes a detailed description which
relates to cloud computing, implementation of the teachings recited
herein are not limited to a cloud computing environment. Rather,
embodiments of the present invention are capable of being
implemented in conjunction with any other type of computing
environment now known or later developed.
[0064] For convenience, the Detailed Description includes the
following definitions which have been derived from the "Draft NIST
Working Definition of Cloud Computing" by Peter Mell and Tim
Grance, dated Oct. 7, 2009, which is cited in an IDS filed
herewith.
[0065] Cloud computing is a model of service delivery for enabling
convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of
configurable computing resources (e.g. networks, network bandwidth,
servers, processing, memory, storage, applications, virtual
machines, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and
released with minimal management effort or interaction with a
provider of the service. This cloud model may include at least five
characteristics, at least three service models, and at least four
deployment models.
[0066] Characteristics are as follows:
[0067] On-demand self-service: a cloud consumer can unilaterally
provision computing capabilities, such as server time and network
storage, as needed automatically without requiring human
interaction with the service's provider.
[0068] Broad network access: capabilities are available over a
network and accessed through standard mechanisms that promote use
by heterogeneous thin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile
phones, laptops, and PDAs).
[0069] Resource pooling: the provider's computing resources are
pooled to serve multiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with
different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and
reassigned according to demand. There is a sense of location
independence in that the consumer generally has no control or
knowledge over the exact location of the provided resources but may
be able to specify location at a higher level of abstraction (e.g.,
country, state, or datacenter).
[0070] Rapid elasticity: capabilities can be rapidly and
elastically provisioned, in some cases automatically, to quickly
scale out and rapidly released to quickly scale in. To the
consumer, the capabilities available for provisioning often appear
to be unlimited and can be purchased in any quantity at any
time.
[0071] Measured service: cloud systems automatically control and
optimize resource use by leveraging a metering capability at some
level of abstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g.,
storage, processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource
usage can be monitored, controlled, and reported providing
transparency for both the provider and consumer of the utilized
service.
[0072] Service Models are as follows:
[0073] Software as a Service (SaaS): the capability provided to the
consumer is to use the provider's applications running on a cloud
infrastructure. The applications are accessible from various client
devices through a thin client interface such as a web browser
(e.g., web-based e-mail). The consumer does not manage or control
the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers,
operating systems, storage, or even individual application
capabilities, with the possible exception of limited user-specific
application configuration settings.
[0074] Platform as a Service (PaaS): the capability provided to the
consumer is to deploy onto the cloud infrastructure
consumer-created or acquired applications created using programming
languages and tools supported by the provider. The consumer does
not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including
networks, servers, operating systems, or storage, but has control
over the deployed applications and possibly application hosting
environment configurations.
[0075] Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): the capability provided
to the consumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and
other fundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to
deploy and run arbitrary software, which can include operating
systems and applications. The consumer does not manage or control
the underlying cloud infrastructure but has control over operating
systems, storage, deployed applications, and possibly limited
control of select networking components (e.g., host firewalls).
[0076] Deployment Models are as follows:
[0077] Private cloud: the cloud infrastructure is operated solely
for an organization. It may be managed by the organization or a
third party and may exist on-premises or off-premises.
[0078] Community cloud: the cloud infrastructure is shared by
several organizations and supports a specific community that has
shared concerns (e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and
compliance considerations). It may be managed by the organizations
or a third party and may exist on-premises or off-premises.
[0079] Public cloud: the cloud infrastructure is made available to
the general public or a large industry group and is owned by an
organization selling cloud services.
[0080] Hybrid cloud: the cloud infrastructure is a composition of
two or more clouds (private, community, or public) that remain
unique entities but are bound together by standardized or
proprietary technology that enables data and application
portability (e.g., cloud bursting for load-balancing between
clouds).
[0081] A cloud computing environment is service oriented with a
focus on statelessness, low coupling, modularity, and semantic
interoperability. At the heart of cloud computing is an
infrastructure comprising a network of interconnected nodes.
[0082] Referring now to FIG. 5, a schematic of an example of a
cloud computing node is shown. Cloud computing node 510 is only one
example of a suitable cloud computing node and is not intended to
suggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of
embodiments of the invention described herein. Regardless, cloud
computing node 510 is capable of being implemented and/or
performing any of the functionality set forth hereinabove.
[0083] In cloud computing node 510 there is a computer
system/server 512, which is operational with numerous other general
purpose or special purpose computing system environments or
configurations. Examples of well-known computing systems,
environments, and/or configurations that may be suitable for use
with computer system/server 512 include, but are not limited to,
personal computer systems, server computer systems, thin clients,
thick clients, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessor systems,
microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmable consumer
electronics, network PCs, minicomputer systems, mainframe computer
systems, and distributed cloud computing environments that include
any of the above systems or devices, and the like.
[0084] Computer system/server 512 may be described in the general
context of computer system-executable instructions, such as program
modules, being executed by a computer system. Generally, program
modules may include routines, programs, objects, components, logic,
data structures, and so on that perform particular tasks or
implement particular abstract data types. Computer system/server
512 may be practiced in distributed cloud computing environments
where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are
linked through a communications network. In a distributed cloud
computing environment, program modules may be located in both local
and remote computer system storage media including memory storage
devices.
[0085] As shown in FIG. 5, computer system/server 512 in cloud
computing node 510 is shown in the form of a general-purpose
computing device. The components of computer system/server 512 may
include, but are not limited to, one or more processors or
processing units 516, a system memory 528, and a bus 518 that
couples various system components including system memory 528 to
processor 516.
[0086] Bus 518 represents one or more of any of several types of
bus structures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a
peripheral bus, an accelerated graphics port, and a processor or
local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. By way of
example, and not limitation, such architectures include Industry
Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA)
bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, Video Electronics Standards
Association (VESA) local bus, and Peripheral Component
Interconnects (PCI) bus.
[0087] Computer system/server 512 typically includes a variety of
computer system readable media. Such media may be any available
media that is accessible by computer system/server 512, and it
includes both volatile and non-volatile media, removable and
non-removable media.
[0088] System memory 528 can include computer system readable media
in the form of volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM)
530 and/or cache memory 532. Computer system/server 512 may further
include other removable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile
computer system storage media. By way of example only, storage
system 534 can be provided for reading from and writing to a
non-removable, non-volatile magnetic media (not shown and typically
called a "hard drive"). Although not shown, a magnetic disk drive
for reading from and writing to a removable, non-volatile magnetic
disk (e.g., a "floppy disk"), and an optical disk drive for reading
from or writing to a removable, non-volatile optical disk such as a
CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or other optical media can be provided. In such
instances, each can be connected to bus 518 by one or more data
media interfaces. As will be further depicted and described below,
memory 528 may include at least one program product having a set
(e.g., at least one) of program modules that are configured to
carry out the functions of embodiments of the invention.
[0089] Program/utility 540, having a set (at least one) of program
modules 542, may be stored in memory 528 by way of example, and not
limitation, as well as an operating system, one or more application
programs, other program modules, and program data. Each of the
operating system, one or more application programs, other program
modules, and program data or some combination thereof, may include
an implementation of a networking environment. Program modules 542
generally carry out the functions and/or methodologies of
embodiments of the invention as described herein.
[0090] Computer system/server 512 may also communicate with one or
more external devices 514 such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a
display 524, etc.; one or more devices that enable a user to
interact with computer system/server 512; and/or any devices (e.g.,
network card, modem, etc.) that enable computer system/server 512
to communicate with one or more other computing devices. Such
communication can occur via I/O interfaces 522. Still yet, computer
system/server 512 can communicate with one or more networks such as
a local area network (LAN), a general wide area network (WAN),
and/or a public network (e.g., the Internet) via network adapter
520. As depicted, network adapter 520 communicates with the other
components of computer system/server 512 via bus 518. It should be
understood that although not shown, other hardware and/or software
components could be used in conjunction with computer system/server
512. Examples, include, but are not limited to: microcode, device
drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays,
RAID systems, tape drives, and data archival storage systems,
etc.
[0091] Referring now to FIG. 6, illustrative cloud computing
environment 650 is depicted. As shown, cloud computing environment
650 comprises one or more cloud computing nodes 510 with which
local computing devices used by cloud consumers, such as, for
example, personal digital assistant (PDA) or cellular telephone
654A, desktop computer 654B, laptop computer 654C, and/or
automobile computer system 654N may communicate. Nodes 510 may
communicate with one another. They may be grouped (not shown)
physically or virtually, in one or more networks, such as Private,
Community, Public, or Hybrid clouds as described hereinabove, or a
combination thereof. This allows cloud computing environment 650 to
offer infrastructure, platforms and/or software as services for
which a cloud consumer does not need to maintain resources on a
local computing device. It is understood that the types of
computing devices 654A-N shown in FIG. 6 are intended to be
illustrative only and that computing nodes 510 and cloud computing
environment 650 can communicate with any type of computerized
device over any type of network and/or network addressable
connection (e.g., using a web browser).
[0092] Referring now to FIG. 7, a set of functional abstraction
layers provided by cloud computing environment 650 (FIG. 6) is
shown. It should be understood in advance that the components,
layers, and functions shown in FIG. 7 are intended to be
illustrative only and embodiments of the invention are not limited
thereto. As depicted, the following layers and corresponding
functions are provided:
[0093] Hardware and software layer 760 includes hardware and
software components. Examples of hardware components include
mainframes, in one example IBM.RTM. zSeries.RTM. systems; RISC
(Reduced Instruction Set Computer) architecture based servers, in
one example IBM pSeries.RTM. systems; IBM xSeries.RTM. systems; IBM
BladeCenter.RTM. systems; storage devices; networks and networking
components. Examples of software components include network
application server software, in one example IBM WebSphere.RTM.
application server software; and database software, in one example
IBM DB2.RTM. database software. (IBM, zSeries, pSeries, xSeries,
BladeCenter, WebSphere, and DB2 are trademarks of International
Business Machines Corporation registered in many jurisdictions
worldwide)
[0094] Virtualization layer 762 provides an abstraction layer from
which the following examples of virtual entities may be provided:
virtual servers; virtual storage; virtual networks, including
virtual private networks; virtual applications and operating
systems; and virtual clients.
[0095] In one example, management layer 764 may provide the
functions described below. Resource provisioning provides dynamic
procurement of computing resources and other resources that are
utilized to perform tasks within the cloud computing environment.
Metering and Pricing provide cost tracking as resources are
utilized within the cloud computing environment, and billing or
invoicing for consumption of these resources. In one example, these
resources may comprise application software licenses. Security
provides identity verification for cloud consumers and tasks, as
well as protection for data and other resources. User portal
provides access to the cloud computing environment for consumers
and system administrators. Service level management provides cloud
computing resource allocation and management such that required
service levels are met. Service Level Agreement (SLA) planning and
fulfillment provide pre-arrangement for, and procurement of, cloud
computing resources for which a future requirement is anticipated
in accordance with an SLA.
[0096] Workloads layer 766 provides examples of functionality for
which the cloud computing environment may be utilized. Examples of
workloads and functions which may be provided from this layer
include: mapping and navigation; software development and lifecycle
management; virtual classroom education delivery; data analytics
processing; transaction processing; and supporting compliance with
policies and regulations for processes performed in the cloud.
CONCLUSION
[0097] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing
particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of
the invention. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and
"the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood
that the terms "comprises" and/or "comprising," when used in this
specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers,
steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude
the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers,
steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof,
unless specifically stated otherwise.
[0098] The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and
equivalents of all means or step plus function elements in the
claims below are intended to include any structure, material, or
act for performing the function in combination with other claimed
elements as specifically claimed. The description of the present
invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and
description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the
invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations
will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without
departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. The
embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the
principles of the invention and the practical application, and to
enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the
invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are
suited to the particular use contemplated.
[0099] It should also be recognized by those skilled in the art
that certain embodiments utilizing a microprocessor executing a
logical process may also be realized through customized electronic
circuitry performing the same logical device.
[0100] It will be readily recognized by those skilled in the art
that the foregoing example embodiments do not define the extent or
scope of the present invention, but instead are provided as
illustrations of how to make and use at least one embodiment of the
invention. The following claims define the extent and scope of at
least one invention disclosed herein.
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