Patent ID: 7730523
Filing Date: 2010-06-01
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method for managing, with a web server, role-based access to an internet hosted environment by users from multiple tenant entities, comprising: receiving, at the web server, a first user ID (userID) and a first business unit ID (BUID) from a first user, the first BUID identifying a first tenant entity with which the first user is affiliated; receiving, at the web server, a second userID and a second BUID from a second user, the second BUID differing from the first BUID and identifying a second tenant entity with which the second user is affiliated, wherein the first userID includes a first fully qualified role name string that defines one or more first user roles and the second userID includes a second fully qualified role name string that defines one or more second user roles, wherein the first user roles are differentiated from the second user roles by the first and second BUIDs, and wherein each of the first and second BUIDs is represented as a randomized conjugated secret; and based on both the first and second userIDs and the first and second BUIDs, operating the web server to access a central database storing userIDs, passwords, BUIDs, user roles, and associated access privileges to authenticate the first and second users, check the one or more first user roles for the first user and the one or more second user roles for the second user, and authorize access to the internet hosted environment according to one or more first access privileges associated with the first user roles and one or more second access privileges associated with the second user roles, wherein when the first and second user roles are equivalent, the first and second access privileges may differ.