Patent ID: 9240985
Filing Date: 2016-01-19
CPC Classification: G06F,H04L

Claim Text:
1. A machine implemented method, comprising: maintaining an access control data structure at a cached memory of a management console, wherein the management console interfaces with a domain controller, a plurality of client computing systems, and a plurality of disparate storage systems, wherein the domain controller comprises a stand-alone authentication server, wherein the plurality of disparate storage systems manage storage devices and present storage space to the plurality of client computing systems; receiving, by the management console, a request from a client computing system of the plurality of client computing systems to access a storage volume maintained by a storage system of the plurality of disparate storage systems or to obtain information regarding the storage volume; using the access control data structure to determine if an identity of the client computing system has previously been validated, wherein the access control data structure stores storage system identifiers for identifying the plurality of disparate storage systems, an access object identifier for identifying a logical object that represents storage space that is managed by one of the plurality of disparate storage systems and presented to the client computing system, an identifier identifying each of the plurality of client systems, and a validity indicator indicating if the identity of the client computing system has previously been validated; granting, by the management console, when the identity of the client computing system has previously been validated, the request using the access control data structure; and validating, when the identity of the client computing system has not been previously validated, the identity of the client computing system, wherein validation of the identity of the client computing system is performed by sending a request by the management console to the domain controller and receiving a response from the domain controller; updating the access control data structure with validation results, after validating the identity of the client computing system, based, at least in part, on a response from the domain controller, wherein updating the access control data structure comprises storing an authentication credential for the client computing system in the access control data structure; and using the updated access control data structure for granting a future request from the client computing system.