Patent Publication Number: US-9838430-B1

Title: Temporarily providing a software product access to a resource

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     In some cases, it may be desirable to provide limited access to resources in a distributed computing environment. For example, when a software product is purchased by a customer, the software provider might add the customer to an access control list that specifically authorize certain customers to access the resource. The access control list might be checked each time a request is made by the customer to access a resource that is protected by the access control list to determine if the customer is authorized. 
     The software provider might also assign the customer individual security credentials (i.e., access keys, passwords, multi-factor authentication devices) in order to access the resource. The software provider might also request temporary security credentials from a credential service to provide customers with access to the resources. 
     Managing these security credentials, however, can be difficult and time consuming. For example, whenever a customer purchases a product that requires access to protected resources, or a customer cancels a subscription to the software product, the software provider may need to update the security credentials to ensure that only authorized customers can access protected resources. 
     It is with respect to these and other considerations that the disclosure made herein is presented. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram depicting an illustrative operating environment in which access to a resource is provided to a software product or a customer; 
         FIG. 2  is a sequence diagram that illustrates a customer accessing a resource of a software provider while a software product is executing; 
         FIG. 3  is a sequence diagram that illustrates a customer accessing a resource based on subscriptions of the customer; 
         FIG. 4  is a flow diagram illustrating a routine for providing access to a resource while a software product is executing; 
         FIG. 5  is a flow diagram illustrating a routine for determining when a software product is authorized to access a resource while the software product is executing; 
         FIG. 6  is a flow diagram illustrating a routine for determining whether to allow access to a resource based at least in part on a subscription of a customer; 
         FIG. 7  is a system and network diagram that shows one illustrative operating environment for the embodiments disclosed herein that includes a service provider network; 
         FIG. 8  is a computing system diagram that illustrates one configuration for a data center that implements aspects of a service provider network, including some or all of the concepts and technologies disclosed herein for providing access to a resource; and 
         FIG. 9  is a computer architecture diagram showing one illustrative computer hardware architecture for implementing a computing device that might be utilized to implement aspects of the various embodiments presented herein. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The following detailed description is directed to technologies for temporarily providing access to a resource. Through an implementation of the technologies disclosed herein, a software product of a customer may be granted access to one or more resources (e.g., data stored in a database service or storage service) in a service provider network because the customer purchased or subscribed to the software product. Accordingly, it may be unnecessary for a software provider to update security credentials when a customer purchases a software product or cancels a subscription to the software product. 
     As used herein, the term “software product” refers to software and/or software services. For example, a software product may be an application, a machine image (including an operating system and software), or software as a service (“SaaS”). The software product may be available from an electronic marketplace and may be executed on an environment operated by a service provider, such as a service provider network. For example, the software product may be executed in a virtual machine that in turn executes on infrastructure operated by the service provider. 
     As used herein, a “purchase” of the software product may result in a one-time payment from a customer or may result in payments from a customer that are made on an ongoing basis depending upon how the software is utilized and executed. In one example, a purchase of a software product establishes a subscription to the software product that allows the customer to execute the software product for a period of time (e.g., one week, one month, one year, etc.) and/or at a specified usage fee. The specified usage fee may be based on different factors such as a time the software product is executed, a number or type of resources used by the software, a number of operations performed by the software product, and the like. While in many sections of this document a purchase is described in terms of exchange of payment for access to a software product, the disclosure contemplates purchases for zero payment. Or put another way, a software product that is conveyed to the customer for free or for a fee can be considered “purchased” for the purposes of this disclosure. In some examples, the software product may be conveyed to the customer during a free trial period. 
     A provider of a software product, such as a third party software provider, may offer access to one or more resources while a software product executes on a service provider network. Instead of the third party software provider having to maintain a list of customers (e.g., within an access control list) that are granted access the resource, the software product may be authorized by the third party software provider, or some other authorized user, to access the resource. 
     In other examples, access to a resource may be based on one or more software products that a customer has purchased. For example, access to a resource might be authorized when a customer has a subscription to one or more particular software products that are executed in a service provider network. A software provider, or some other authorized user may specify the subscription(s) (i.e., software products) that are necessary for the customer to have before the customer is authorized to access a resource. For example, the subscriptions required to access the resource might be specified in an access policy attached to the resource. The access policy may be provided by a third party (e.g., the software provider or a customer of the service provider network) or another authorized party. For example, the owner or operator of the electronic marketplace or the service provider network might specify within an access policy that a resource may be accessed when a customer has purchased a particular software product. 
     In some cases, the resource may be accessed by the customer whether or not the customer is currently executing the software product. For example, a customer might be authorized to access data stored in a database service offered by the service provider network based on one or more subscriptions of the customer. 
     In some examples, an access policy defines the resources that may be accessed. The access policy might specify what resources may be accessed by a software product while the software product is executing and/or what resources may be accessed based on the software products purchased by the customer (e.g., subscriptions). The access policy may be accessed before a customer or software product is granted access to a resource. For example, the access policy might be accessed when the software product is launched or at some other time (e.g., in response to receiving a request for a resource). The access policy might be used by an access management server when determining whether to grant access to a resource. 
     In some examples, the resource is a resource that is available from a service provider network. The resource might be a service provided by the service provider network, a software product, an identity, such as a role, that may be used to perform various operations and/or data that might be stored by the service provider network or some other network. For example, the service might be a database service, a storage service, a network service, or other types of services. In some examples, the resources may include other software products and/or other computing resources that are available from the service provider network. The resources made available to the software product and/or the customer might be a role that authorizes the software product and/or the customer to perform various operations, including accessing other resources. 
     In some examples, authorization to access the resource is based on the authorization of the software provider and/or the service provider network to access the resource. For example, the authentication credentials used to access the resource might be based on the authentication credentials used by the third party software provider to access the resource. As such, the software provider does not need to create or specify individual authentication credentials for each of the different customers of the software product. Instead, the service provider network, or some other computing device, allows the software product to access the resource even though the customer executing the software product may not have the appropriate security credentials to access the resource. 
     A software provider, or some other authorized user, might specify the resources that may be accessed by a software product using different mechanisms. For example, a software provider might use a graphical user interface to configure the resources that may be accessed by the software product. In other examples, the software provider might specify what subscriptions are needed to access a resource. For example, the software provider might specify that if a customer has purchased a subscription to a database software product then the customer is authorized to access data that is stored within a particular database. 
     Access to the resource may be configured to expire in response to different conditions. For example, access to the resource might expire when the software product is no longer executing in a service provider network. In other examples, access to the resource might expire based on an occurrence of some other event. For instance, access to the resource might automatically expire after a predetermined time period (e.g., one hour, two hours, 10 days, one month), might expire when the software product has been used a predetermined number of times, might expire when the software product has consumed a predefined number of resources, or when a subscription to the software product ends. 
     In some cases, the software provider may be charged to access or use the resources. In other cases, the charge to use or access these resources may be passed along to the customer. Instead of requiring a software provider to specify a list of customers that are allowed to access a resource, the resources might be accessed through execution of a software product and/or accessed when a customer has the required subscriptions. Additional details regarding the various components and processes described above for providing access to a resource will be presented below with regard to  FIGS. 1-9 . 
     It should be appreciated that the subject matter presented herein may be implemented as a computer process, a computer-controlled apparatus, a computing system, or an article of manufacture, such as a computer-readable storage medium. While the subject matter described herein is presented in the general context of program modules that execute on one or more computing devices, those skilled in the art will recognize that other implementations may be performed in combination with other types of program modules. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, data structures and other types of structures that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. 
     Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that aspects of the subject matter described herein may be practiced on or in conjunction with other computer system configurations beyond those described herein, including multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, minicomputers, mainframe computers, handheld computers, personal digital assistants, e-readers, mobile telephone devices, tablet computing devices, special-purposed hardware devices, network appliances and the like. As mentioned briefly above, the embodiments described herein may be practiced in distributed computing environments, where tasks may be performed by remote computing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices. 
     In the following detailed description, references are made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and that show, by way of illustration, specific embodiments or examples. The drawings herein are not drawn to scale. Like numerals represent like elements throughout the several figures (which may be referred to herein as a “FIG.” or “FIGS.”). 
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram depicting an illustrative operating environment  100  in which access to a resource is provided to a software product or a customer. As illustrated, the operating environment  100  includes one or more software provider computing devices  150 , one or more customer computing devices  140  in communication with an electronic marketplace  160  and a service provider network  120 . 
     A third party software provider, or some other authorized user, using a software provider computing device  150 , may submit one or more software products  152  (e.g., virtual machine images that include software products) to the electronic marketplace  160 . The electronic marketplace  160  may then make the submitted software product, as well as other software products  152  submitted to the electronic marketplace  160 , available to customers. 
     In example embodiments, the software products  152  that are submitted to the electronic marketplace  160  may be authorized to access a resource regardless of whether or not a customer is authorized to access the resource. For example, a software product may be authorized to access a role, which includes permissions needed to access a resource. In another example, a permission may be added to an access control list of a resource indicating that a customer is be authorized to access the resource based on one or more other purchases (e.g., subscriptions) that the customer has made. As used herein, the terms “customer” and “customers” refer to existing customers of the electronic marketplace  160  as well as visitors (i.e. potential customers) to the electronic marketplace  160  that are authorized to execute a software product  152 . 
     A software provider that submits one or more software products  152  to the electronic marketplace  160  might offer customers access to one or more resources  130  that the software provider authorizes the software product or the customer to access. Generally, the resources  130  are hosted in the service provider network  120 . For example, the resources  130  might include data  130 A, products  152 , identities, such as roles  130 C and/the services  130 B. The resources  130  might be provided by one or more different services provided by the service provider network  120 . For example, one service might provide access to data, another service might provide access to an execution of a software product, and the like. Access to the resources  130  might be tied to execution of a software product  152  or to subscriptions of the customer. Some example resources, include but are not limited to, a record in a non-relational database service, an object in an object storage service, a database in a relational database hosting service, a cache in a caching service, a compute instance in a compute service, a role, a cryptographic key in a key management service, a configuration of a network, a message within a queuing service, a record within a data warehouse service, or a real-time data stream within a data stream processing service. 
     As discussed briefly above, the software provider does not need to add customers to an access control list that specifically identifies the customers of the software provider that are authorized to access the resource. As such, the software provider does not have to worry about adding new customers to an authorized access list or removing customers when they are no longer authorized to use the software product  152 . Instead, the software provider may authorize the software product  152  to access the resource or may specify the other purchased software product(s) that may be used to access a resource  130 . In some cases, a customer executing the software product  152  is authorized to access the specified resource  130  while the software product  152  is executing. 
     In some examples, the service provider network  120  enforces access to the resources  130  based, at least in part, on a configuration or access policy that is specified by the third party software provider. For instance, the service provider network  120  might use an access policy  126  to determine what resources  130  a customer and/or a software product  152  may access. The access policy  126  may also specify permissions that specify actions that are allowed to be performed on the resource. For example, the actions might include a read action that allows reading from the resource, a write action that allows writing to the resource, a cross-service action that allows the resource to access one or more other services or resources provided by the service provider network, or the like. In some cases, a third party software provider may define what resources  130  may be accessed, and what actions may be performed on the resources, in the access policy  126 . In other cases, the owner or operator of the service provider network  120  and/or the electronic marketplace  160  may specify in the access policy  126  what resources  130  may be accessed and what actions may be performed on the resources. 
     A customer, using a customer computing device  140 , may select a software product  152  for purchase from the electronic marketplace  160 . After purchasing the software product  152 , the customer may configure the software product  152  and launch the software product  152  for execution in a service provider network  120  that may be operated, maintained, provided or otherwise associated with the operator of the electronic marketplace  160 . 
     As described in more detail below, the service provider network  120  may include a collection of rapidly provisioned and, potentially, released computing resources hosted in connection with the marketplace or a third party provider. The computing resources may include a number of computing, networking and storage devices in communication with one another. In some embodiments, the computing resources may correspond to physical computing devices, such as the servers  170 A- 170 N. In other embodiments, the computing resources may correspond to virtual machine instances, such as the virtual machine instances  172 A- 172 N, implemented by one or more physical computing devices, such as the servers  170 A- 170 N. In still other embodiments, computing resources may correspond to both virtual machine instances and physical computing devices. 
     As discussed briefly above, the software provider computing devices  150  and the customer computing devices  140  may communicate with the electronic marketplace  160 . In the illustrated embodiment, the electronic marketplace  160  is illustrated as a computer environment including several computer systems that are interconnected using one or more networks. More specifically, the electronic marketplace  160  may include a marketplace server  164 , a usage-monitoring server  170 , an electronic software product catalog  162  including software products  152  and a billing server  168 . Each of these will be described in more detail below. 
     It should be appreciated that the electronic marketplace  160  may have fewer or more components than are illustrated in  FIG. 1 . For example, while the electronic marketplace  160  is shown separately from the service provider network  120 , the electronic marketplace  160  and all or a portion of the components illustrated in the electronic marketplace  160  may be provided by the service provider network  120 . As another example, the usage-monitoring server  170  may be located within the service provider network  120 . In addition, the electronic marketplace  160  could include various Web services and/or peer-to-peer network configurations. Thus, the depiction of the electronic marketplace  160  in  FIG. 1  should be taken as illustrative and not limiting to the present disclosure. 
     The marketplace server  164  facilitates submission of software products  152  by software providers and browsing and acquisition by customers of software products offered through the electronic marketplace  160 . Accordingly, a third party software provider, utilizing a software provider computing device  150  may submit one or more software products  152  to the electronic marketplace  160  via the marketplace server  164 . The submitted software products  152  may then be included in an electronic software product catalog  162 . According to an embodiment, the electronic marketplace  160  and service provider network  120  are operated and owned independently from the third party software providers that submit the software products  152  for inclusion in the electronic marketplace  160 . 
     The software product catalog  162  includes information on the software products  152  submitted from different third party software providers and, potentially, on the software products  152  made available by the operator of the electronic marketplace  160 . Accordingly, the marketplace server  164  may obtain software products from third party software providers and make the software products available to a customer from a single network resource, such as a Web site. A customer may then acquire the software product  152  from the electronic marketplace  160  and launch the software product  152  in a hosted computing environment (e.g., the service provider network  120 ) in a single interaction or order placed with the electronic marketplace  160 . According to another embodiment, the hosted computing environment may be a different network, such as a software provider network (not shown). 
     If a customer does purchase a software product  152 , then the marketplace server  164  may facilitate the configuration and acquisition of the software product  152 . In this regard, the marketplace server  164  may receive payment information from the customer computing device  140 , as well as information specifying how a service provider network  120  should implement the software product  152 . The marketplace server  164  may also establish an account or update an account for a customer. In some examples, the billing server  168  may be configured to charge for access to the resources  130  that are accessed by the software product  152  while it is executing and/or the resources  130  that are accessed by a customer based on the subscriptions maintained by the customer. For example, the billing server  168  might bill a software provider or a customer for use of a resource  130 . In some cases, the billing server  168  may generate an accounting record that may be used to generate an invoice that is provided to the customer accessing the resource  130 , to the software provider, or to some other user. 
     In some examples, the software provider may specify the resources  130  that may be accessed by a software product  152  while executing and/or the resources  130  that may be accessed based at least in part on what subscriptions are associated with a customer. As discussed above, the resources  130  may be resources  130  that the software provider is authorized to access. In other cases, the owner or operator of the electronic marketplace  160  or the service provider network  120  may specify what resources  130  may be accessed. The information relating to what resources  130  may be accessed may be stored in the access policy  126 . The access policy  126  might be associated with a role that may be used by the software product  152  to acquire the security credentials necessary to access the resource  130 . More details on using a role are described below with regard to  FIG. 2 . 
     The access management server  122  is configured to provide functionality relating to providing access to one or more resources  130  to the software products  152  and/or to customers based on software product purchases, such as subscriptions. As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , the access management server  122  includes a resource information data store  128 , one or more access policies  126  and a resource monitor  124 . While the resource information data store  128 , the access policy  126  and the resource monitor  124  are illustrated within the access management server  122 , all or a portion of these components may be located in other locations. For example, the resource information data store  128  may be located externally from the access management server  122  at some other location in the service provider network  120  or in the electronic marketplace  160 . Similarly, the resource monitor  124  may be part of the usage-monitoring server  170  illustrated in the electronic marketplace  160 , and the like. 
     The access management server  122  may be configured to receive resource information specifying the resources  130  that are available to software products  152  when executing. For example, the access management server  122  may be configured to receive from a software provider computing device  150  what resources  130  are to be made available to a software product  152  that is executing. This resource information might be stored in the resource information data store  128  and/or within the access policy  126 . The access management server  122  might also receive from the software provider computing device  150  what subscriptions are required to be maintained by a customer to access a resource  130 . 
     According to an embodiment, a software provider uses a software provider computing device  150  to specify access options for the resources  130  that may be accessed when a software product  152  is executing, or what subscriptions are required to access a particular resource. The access options that are specified may be a variety of different options. For example, the access options may include, but are not limited to, access options that specify if a software product  152  includes access to a resource  130 , when access to the resources expire, other software products that are accessible by the software product  152 , APIs that are accessible by the software product  152 , computing resources that might be used by the software product  152 , and the like. The access options might also specify how to charge for use of the resource  130 . For example, the customer executing the software product  152  accessing the resource  130  might be charged and/or the software provider might be charged when the resource  130  is accessed. 
     After a customer starts using the software product  152 , the resource monitor  124  may be configured to monitor the usage of the software product  152  and to provide access to one or more of the resources  130  to the software product  152  based on the access policy  126 . The resource monitor  124  might also be configured to monitor the usage of a resource  130  that is accessed by a software product  152  while the software product  152  is executing. The usage information that might be monitored may include information such as, but not limited to, usage time of the resources  130 , usage time of the software product, a type of virtual machine instance utilized to execute the software product  152 , a number of virtual machine instances utilized, the amount and type of computing resources requested, and the like. 
       FIG. 2  is a sequence diagram  200  that illustrates a customer accessing a resource  130  of a software provider while a software product  152  is executing. As illustrated, the sequence diagram  200  shows a customer computing device  140 , a software provider computing device  150 , an electronic marketplace  160 , a service provider network  120 , an access management server  122 , and resources  130 . In some examples, the electronic marketplace  160 , the service provider network  120 , the access management server  122  and the resources  130  may be associated with one another as indicated by the dashed line. 
     The customer computing device  140  and the software provider computing device  150  might include a Web browser  254 , or some other type of user interface, to interact with the electronic marketplace  160  and/or the service provider network  120 . For example, information presented by the browser  254  might be generated by the marketplace server  164  shown in  FIG. 1 , or some other server associated with the electronic marketplace  160  or the service provider network  120 , and presented on a computing device, such as the customer computing device  140  or the software provider computing device  150 . 
     Operation  205  illustrates a software provider submitting one or more software products  152  to an electronic marketplace  160 . In example embodiments, a third party software provider, or some other authorized user, using the software provider computing device  150 , may submit one or more software products  152  (e.g., virtual machine images that include software products) to the electronic marketplace  160 . The electronic marketplace  160  may then make the submitted software product, as well as other software products  152  submitted to the electronic marketplace  160 , available to customers. 
     Operation  210  illustrates a software provider, or some other authorized user, creating a role that may be associated with credentials of the software provider, and possibly other users. The software provider, or other authorized user, may set permissions that define what actions the role may perform. For example, the software provider may specify the permissions in an access policy  126  and associate the access policy  126  with the role. In some examples, the resources  130  that may be accessed (e.g., by a user or program that has assumed the role) are the resources that may be accessed by the software provider that supplied the software product  152  to the electronic marketplace  160 . In other examples, the resources  130  that may be accessed are resources  130  that are authorized by the owner or operator of the electronic marketplace  160  or the service provider network  120  or some other authorized user to access. In some embodiments, the software provider associates the role with one or more software products  152 . 
     Operation  215  illustrates the customer purchasing a software product  152  from the electronic marketplace. As discussed above, a customer may search or navigate through the electronic marketplace  160  to locate software products  152  that they are interested in acquiring. For purposes of explanation, and not intended to be limiting, assume that the user has located at least one software product  152  to purchase from the electronic marketplace  160 . As discussed above, the purchase might be a subscription to the software product  152 . 
     After purchasing the software product  152 , a customer may use the customer computing device  140  to request to execute the software product  152  in the service provider network  120  as illustrated by operation  220 . For example, a virtual machine instance containing the software product  152  may be executed on a server within a first service provided by the service provider network  120 . In other examples, the software product  152  may be executed on a computing device that is not associated with the service provider network  120 . For example, the software product may be executed on a server operated by the customer, or a different service provider. After the software product  152  begins executing, the software product  152  may request to access a role, as illustrated by operation  230 . The access management server  122 , or some other computing device, may determine whether the requesting software product is authorized to utilize the role. As discussed above, in some embodiments, the software provider that submitted the software product  152  to the electronic marketplace  160  specifies that the software product  152  is authorized to access the role. 
     When the software product is authorized to access the role as determined by the access management server  122 , or some other computing device, the access management server  122  may be configured to return temporary security credentials to the requesting software product  152  as illustrated by operation  240 . The temporary security credentials may be used by the software product  152  to access the specified resources  130  during the execution of the software product. In some examples, the temporary security credentials regularly expire, and the access management server  122  can be configured to issue new temporary security credentials for as long as the software product runs, a subscription to the software product has not expired, or in response to some other specified event (e.g., the software provider changing the permissions). 
     While the software product  152  is executing, the software product  152  may make requests (as illustrated by operation  245 ) to the specified resources  130  using the temporary credentials. In some examples, the software product  152  makes a web services request to access the one or more resources  130 . The web services request may include data such as, but not limited to data that identifies the customer making the request, data that identifies the requested resource, data related to the credentials, or the like. In some examples, the resources  130  may be provided by a different service as compared to the service in which the software product is executing. As discussed above, the requested resource  130  might be any type of resource. 
     In response to the resource  130  being requested by the software product  152 , the access management server  122 , or some other computing device, determines whether to authorize the software product  152  to access the resource  130 . For example, the access management server  122  may determine if the software product  152  is authorized to access the resource based, at least in part, on the temporary security credentials. In some embodiments, the request to access the resource  130  may come from another resource or service within the service provider network  120  (e.g., a cross-service request). 
     After the software product  152  stops executing ( 255 ) the temporary credentials will expire and the customer will not be able to access the resource. In the current example illustrated in  FIG. 2 , the customer computing device  140  requests access to a resource  130  at operation  260  when the software product  152  is no longer executing in the service provider network  120 . Since the customer of the customer computing device  140  is not individually authorized to access the resource  130 , the access management server  122  prevents access to the resource  130  at operation  265 . 
       FIG. 3  is a sequence diagram  300  that illustrates a customer accessing a resource  130  based on subscriptions of the customer. The sequence diagram  300  includes the components as illustrated in  FIG. 2  except for the software provider computing device  150 . 
     As discussed above, a customer may search or navigate through the electronic marketplace  160  to locate software products  152  that they are interested in purchasing. In some cases, the customer using the customer computing device  140  purchases different software products  152 . The purchased software products  152  might include subscriptions to one or more products or resources. For example, the subscriptions might relate to software and/or services provided by the service provider network  120 . According to some embodiments, the customer might obtain a free subscription to a software product  152 . The free subscription, or a paid subscription, might end after a specified time (e.g., a week, a month, after a number of uses). In other examples, the subscription may not end until the customer, or some other authorized user, ends the subscription. 
     After purchasing a software product  152 , a customer may use the customer computing device  140  to launch the software product  152  in the service provider network  120 . In some examples, the software product  152  may be executed in a first service of the service provider network  120 . In other examples, the software product  152  might be executed on the customer computing device  140 . In some cases, the software product  152  might request to access a resource  130  (e.g., using a web services request). As discussed above, the resource  130  might be provided by a different service provided by the service provider network as compared to the service of the service provider network used to execute an instance of the software product  152 . The software product  152  might request to access a resource  130  that the software product  152  is not authorized to access, but the customer is authorized to access based on one or more current subscriptions or purchases of the customer as specified by the third party or some other authorized user associated with the service provider network  120 . 
     As discussed above, a customer might be allowed to access a resource  130  if the customer has a subscription to another software product  152  or resource  130 . In response to a request to access a resource  130  at operation  315 , the access management server  122  at operation  320  may be configured to identify the resources  130  that the customer is authorized to access based on the subscriptions/purchases of the customer. In some cases, an access policy  126  might be examined by the access management server  122  to determine what resources  130 , software products  152 , or subscriptions are to be purchased by the customer in order for the customer to be authorized to access the resource  130 . 
     In the current example, the access management server  122  identifies the customer making the request and determines whether the subscriptions of the customer using the customer computing device  140  allow access to the resource  130 . For example, the access management server  122  may examine an access policy  126  that is associated with the resource that looks for the subscription(s) that may be used to access the resource. Access to the resources  130  might be based on a customer having a particular subscription or the customer having particular subscriptions. For example, the resources  130  might be made available if the customer has a particular set of subscriptions. In some configurations, the access management server  122  might access another computing device to determine whether the subscription is still valid (e.g., not expired). 
     According to some embodiments, as long as the customer is determined to have the authorized subscriptions (e.g., as specified by the access policy  126 ), the access management server  122  allows access to the resource  130  and may provide access to the resources  130  at operation  330 . In the current example, the access management server  122  allows the software product  152  to access the resources  130  as long as the customer has the subscriptions as specified in an access policy  126 . Even when a software product  152  stops executing ( 235 ), the customer using the customer computing device  140  might still be able access the resource based on the subscriptions of the customer. In other examples, the access management server  122  might restrict access to the resource  130  when the customer has the subscriptions specified in the access policy  126  and that the request to access the resource  130  is made by one or more authorized software products and/or services. 
       FIGS. 4-6  are flow diagrams showing routines that illustrate aspects of providing access to a resource, according to an embodiment disclosed herein. It should be appreciated that the logical operations described herein with respect to  FIGS. 4-6 , and the other FIGS., may be implemented ( 1 ) as a sequence of computer implemented acts or program modules running on a computing system and/or ( 2 ) as interconnected machine logic circuits or circuit modules within the computing system. 
     The implementation of the various components described herein is a matter of choice dependent on the performance and other requirements of the computing system. Accordingly, the logical operations described herein are referred to variously as operations, structural devices, acts, or modules. These operations, structural devices, acts, and modules may be implemented in software, in firmware, in special purpose digital logic and any combination thereof. It should also be appreciated that more or fewer operations may be performed than shown in the FIGS. and described herein. These operations may also be performed in parallel, or in a different order than those described herein. 
       FIG. 4  is a flow diagram illustrating a routine  400  for providing access to a resource  130  while a software product  152  is executing. Routine  400  may begin at operation  410 , where a request from a customer might be received to execute a software product  152 . As discussed above, the request might be received from a customer computing device  140 . In some examples, the request is to execute the software product  152  in a service provider network  120 . 
     From operation  410 , the routine  400  may proceed to operation  420 , where the software product  152  is executed. As discussed above, the software product  152  might be executed in the service provider network  120  or in some other location (e.g., the customer computing device  140 . For example, an instance of the software product  152  might be executed on a server in a first service provided by the service provider network  120 . 
     From operation  420 , the routine  400  may proceed to operation  430 , where a request may be received from the software product  152  to access a role that may be used to request access to the resource  130 . As discussed above, a role  130  may be created (e.g., by a software provider) that specifies what resources  130  are allowed to be accessed and what software products  152  are authorized to use the role. The software provider may also specify what actions the role can perform on the resource (e.g., read, write). As discussed above, a software provider, such as a third party software provider, might authorize the software product  152  to access one or more resources that the software provider is authorized to access. In other examples, the owner or operator of the service provider network  120  or the electronic marketplace  160  might authorize the software product  152  to access one or more resources  130  that it maintains. In some embodiments, when the software product is authorized to access the role  130  (e.g., as determined by the access management server  122 ), temporary security credentials are provided to the software product  152  that may be used to access the specified resources  130 . In other embodiments, an access policy  126  might specify the resources  130  to be made available to the software product  152 . From operation  430 , the routine  400  may proceed to operation  440 , where a request to access a resource  130  may be received. In some examples, the resource  130  is provided by a second service of the service provider network. As discussed above, the request may come from an instance of the software product  152  that is executing within the first service of the service provider network  120 . In some embodiments, the request includes the temporary security credentials provided by the access management server  122  that authorizes the software product  152  to access to the resource  130  while the software product  152  is executing. 
     From operation  440 , the routine  400  may proceed to operation  450 , where the software product  152  is provided access to the resource  130 . As discussed above, the access management server  122  may be configured to provide the software product  152  with access to the resource  130  when authorized.  FIG. 5  provides more details on providing a software product  152  access to the resource  130  while it is executing. 
     From operation  450 , the routine  400  may proceed to operation  460 , where it may be detected that the software product  152  is no longer executing. For example, a notification might be provided by the software product  152  to the access management server  122  before the software product  152  stops executing. The resource monitor  124  or the usage-monitoring server  170  might also be configured to detect when the software product  152  is no longer executing. 
     From operation  460 , the routine  400  may proceed to operation  470 , where access to the resource  130  is prevented when the software product is not executing. As discussed above, in some examples, authorization to access the resource is prevented by the access management server  122  when the software product  152  is not executing. Routine  400  then proceeds to an end operation. Alternately, the routine  400  might proceed back to repeat some or all of the processing operations described above. For example, from operation  470 , the routine  400  may proceed back to operation  410 . 
       FIG. 5  is a flow diagram illustrating a routine  500  for determining when a software product  152  is authorized to access a resource  130  while the software product  152  is executing. The routine  500  may begin at operation  510 , where a determination might be made as to what resources are to be made available to the software product  152  while the software product  152  is executing. As discussed above, a software provider, such as a third party software provider, might authorize the software product  152  to access one or more resources  130  that the software provider is authorized to access. 
     The resources  130  that are made available to the software product might be a service provided by the service provider network, data in the service provider network (or some other location), assumption of a role, and the like. In some examples, the resources  130  that are provided to the software product  152  during execution include the ability of the software product  152  to assume a role of another user (e.g., the software provider or some other authorized user) in order to perform operations restricted to that user. In other examples, the owner or operator of the service provider network  120  or the electronic marketplace  160  might authorize the software product  152  to execute one or more resources of the electronic marketplace  160  or the service provider network  120 . 
     From operation  510 , the routine  500  may proceed to decision operation  520 , where a determination is made as to whether the authorized user (e.g., a third party software provider) is authorized to access the resource  130 . As discussed above, the software provider might be authorized to access resources that the customer is not authorized to access. The resource  130  might be associated with a service provider network  120  or be a resource  130  that is maintained by the software provider or some other entity. 
     In response to the software provider being authorized at operation  520  to access the resource  130 , the process  500  may flow to operation  540  where the software product  152  is provided access to the resource  130 . In response to the software provider not being authorized to access the resource  130 , the process  500  may flow to decision operation  530 . 
     At decision operation  530 , a determination might be made as to whether the customer is authorized to access the resource  130 . As discussed above, a customer might be authorized to access a resource (e.g., the customer purchased access to the resource). In response to the customer being authorized to access the resource  130 , the process  500  may flow to operation  540  where the software product  152  is provided access to the resource  130 . In response to the customer not being authorized to access the resource  130 , the process  500  may flow to an end operation. 
       FIG. 6  is a flow diagram illustrating a routine  600  for determining whether to allow access to a resource  130  based at least in part on a subscription of a customer. The routine  600  may begin at operation  610 , where a request to access a resource  130  might be received from a customer. As discussed above, the request might be received from a customer computing device  140 . In some examples, the request may be received from a service provider network  120 . 
     From operation  610 , the routine  600  may proceed to operation  620 , where subscriptions associated with the customer are determined. A customer of the electronic marketplace  160  might purchase one or more subscriptions to different software products  152 . In some examples, the billing server  168  or the marketplace server  164  may be configured to provide the subscription information for a customer. For example, the subscription information might be provided to the access management server  122 . 
     From operation  620 , the routine  600  may proceed to operation  630 , where the access policy  126  that is associated with the resource  130  is checked. As discussed above, the access policy  126  might specify one or more subscriptions that are required to be associated with the customer before the customer is authorized to access the resource  130 . The access policy  126  might be configured by the software provider or some other authorized user. For example, an owner or operator of the service provider network  120  or the electronic marketplace  160  might configure the access policy  126 . 
     From operation  630 , the routine  600  may proceed to decision operation  640 , where a determination is made as to whether the customer has the required subscriptions to access a particular resource  130 . For example, the access management server  122  may be configured to determine whether the customer has the required subscriptions to access a particular resource  130 . In response to determining that the customer has the required subscriptions as specified by the access policy, the process  600  may flow to operation  660 . In response to determining that the customer does not have the subscriptions required by the access policy  126  to access the resource  130 , the process  600  may flow to operation  650  where access to the resource is prevented. 
     At operation  660 , the customer may be provided with access to the resource  130 . As discussed above, the access management server  122  may be configured to provide the customer with access to the resource  130 . The routine  600  may then proceed to an end operation. Alternately, the routine  600  might proceed back to repeat some or all of the processing operations described above. For example, from operation  660 , the routine  600  may proceed back to operation  610 . 
       FIG. 7  and the following description are intended to provide a brief, general description of a suitable computing environment in which the embodiments described herein may be implemented. In particular,  FIG. 7  is a system and network diagram that shows an illustrative operating environment that includes a service provider network  120 . As discussed above, service provider network  120  can provide virtual machine instances and computing resources on a permanent or an as-needed basis. 
     The computing resources provided by the service provider network  120  may include various types of resources, such as data processing resources, data storage resources, networking resources, data communication resources and the like. Each type of computing resource may be general-purpose or may be available in a number of specific configurations. For example, and as will be described in greater detail below, data processing resources may be available as virtual machine instances in a number of different configurations. The virtual machine instances may be configured to execute applications, including Web servers, application servers, media servers, database servers and other types of applications. Data storage resources may include file storage devices, block storage devices and the like. Each type or configuration of a virtual machine instance of a computing resource may be available in different sizes, such as large resources, consisting of many processors, large amounts of memory, and/or large storage capacity, and small resources consisting of fewer processors, smaller amounts of memory and/or smaller storage capacity. 
     The computing resources provided by the service provider network  120  are enabled in one implementation by one or more data centers  704 A- 704 N (which may be referred to herein singularly as “a data center  704 ” or collectively as “the data centers  704 ”). The data centers  704  are facilities utilized to house and operate computer systems and associated components. The data centers  704  typically include redundant and backup power, communications, cooling and security systems. The data centers  704  might also be located in geographically disparate locations. One illustrative configuration for a data center  704  that implements some or all of the concepts and technologies disclosed herein for providing temporary access to resources in the service provider network  120  will be described below with regard to  FIG. 8 . 
     The users and customers of service provider network  120  may access the computing resources provided by the data centers  704  over a suitable data communications network, such as a Wide Area Network (“WAN”), as illustrated by network  730 . Although a WAN might be used, it should be appreciated that a local-area network (“LAN”), the Internet, or any other networking topology known in the art that connects the data centers  704  to the customer computing devices  140 , software provider computing devices  150  may be utilized. It should also be appreciated that combinations of such networks might also be utilized. 
       FIG. 8  is a computing system diagram that illustrates one configuration for a data center  704  that implements aspects of a service provider network  120 , including some or all of the concepts and technologies disclosed herein for providing access to a resource. The example data center  704  shown in  FIG. 8  includes several computers, such as servers  170 A- 170 F (which may be referred to herein singularly as “a server computer  170 ” or in the plural as “the server computers  170 ”) for providing computing resources. The server computers  170  may be standard tower or rack-mount server computers configured appropriately for providing the computing resources described herein. According to an embodiment, the server computers  170  are configured to execute the software products as described above. 
     In one embodiment, some of the computing resources  804  are virtual machine instances (e.g., virtual machine instances  172 A- 172 N, not shown). As known in the art, a virtual machine instance is an instance of a software implementation of a machine (i.e. a computer) that executes programs like a physical machine. Each of the server computers  170  may be configured to execute an instance manager (not shown) capable of instantiating and managing computing resources and instances of computing resources. In the case of virtual machine instances, for example, the instance manager might be a hypervisor or another type of program configured to enable the execution of multiple virtual machine instances on a single server computer  170 , for example. 
     It should be appreciated that although the embodiments disclosed herein are described primarily in the context of virtual machine instances, other types of computing resources can be utilized with the concepts and technologies disclosed herein. For instance, the technologies disclosed herein might be utilized with hardware resources, data storage resources, data communications resources, networking resources, database resources and with other types of computing resources. 
     The data center  704  shown in  FIG. 8  also includes a server computer  170 F reserved for executing software components for managing the operation of the data center  704 , the server computers  170 , virtual machine instances, and other resources within the service provider network  120 . The server computer  170 F might also execute the resource monitor  124 . Details regarding the operation of this component have been provided above. In this regard, it should be appreciated that while these components are illustrated as executing within the service provider network  120 , computing systems that are external to the service provider network  120  might also be utilized to execute some or all of these components. Other configurations might also be utilized. 
     In the example data center  704  shown in  FIG. 8 , an appropriate local area network (“LAN”)  805  is utilized to interconnect the server computers  170 A- 170 E and the server computer  170 F. The LAN  805  is also connected to the network  130  illustrated in  FIG. 7 . It should be appreciated that the configuration and network topology illustrated in  FIGS. 7 and 8  has been greatly simplified and that many more computing systems, networks and networking devices may be utilized to interconnect the various computing systems disclosed herein. Appropriate load balancing devices or software modules might also be utilized for balancing a load between each of the data centers  704 A- 704 N, between each of the server computers  170 A- 170 F in each data center  704  and between virtual machine instances and other types of computing resources provided by the service provider network  120 . 
     It should be appreciated that the data center  704  described in  FIG. 8  is merely illustrative and that other implementations might also be utilized. Additionally, it should be appreciated that the functionality provided by these components might be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware. Other implementations should be apparent to those skilled in the art. 
       FIG. 9  shows an example computer architecture for a computer  900  capable of executing program components for providing access to a resource or accessing a resource in the manner described above. The computer architecture shown in  FIG. 9  illustrates a conventional server computer, workstation, desktop computer, laptop, tablet, network appliance, personal digital assistant (“PDA”), e-reader, digital cellular phone, or other computing device, and may be utilized to execute any of the software components presented herein. For example, the computer architecture shown in  FIG. 9  may be utilized to execute software components for performing operations as described above. The computer architecture shown in  FIG. 9  might also be utilized to implement a customer computing device  140 , a software provider computing device  150  or any other of the computing systems described herein. 
     The computer  900  includes a baseboard  902 , or “motherboard,” which is a printed circuit board to which a multitude of components or devices may be connected by way of a system bus or other electrical communication paths. In one illustrative embodiment, one or more central processing units (“CPUs”)  904  operate in conjunction with a chipset  906 . The CPUs  904  may be standard programmable processors that perform arithmetic and logical operations necessary for the operation of the computer  900 . 
     The CPUs  904  perform operations by transitioning from one discrete, physical state to the next through the manipulation of switching elements that differentiate between and change these states. Switching elements may generally include electronic circuits that maintain one of two binary states, such as flip-flops and electronic circuits that provide an output state based on the logical combination of the states of one or more other switching elements, such as logic gates. These basic switching elements may be combined to create more complex logic circuits, including registers, adders-subtractors, arithmetic logic units, floating-point units and the like. 
     The chipset  906  provides an interface between the CPUs  904  and the remainder of the components and devices on the baseboard  902 . The chipset  906  may provide an interface to a RAM  908 , used as the main memory in the computer  900 . The chipset  906  may further provide an interface to a computer-readable storage medium such as a read-only memory (“ROM”)  910  or non-volatile RAM (“NVRAM”) for storing basic routines that help to startup the computer  900  and to transfer information between the various components and devices. The ROM  910  or NVRAM may also store other software components necessary for the operation of the computer  900  in accordance with the embodiments described herein. 
     The computer  900  may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to remote computing devices and computer systems through a network, such as the local area network  920 . The chipset  906  may include functionality for providing network connectivity through a network interface controller (“NIC”)  912 , such as a gigabit Ethernet adapter. The NIC  912  is capable of connecting the computer  900  to other computing devices over the local area network  920 . It should be appreciated that multiple NICs  912  may be present in the computer  900 , connecting the computer to other types of networks and remote computer systems. 
     The computer  900  may be connected to a mass storage device  918  that provides non-volatile storage for the computer. The mass storage device  918  may store system programs, application programs, other program modules and data, which have been described in greater detail herein. The mass storage device  918  may be connected to the computer  900  through a storage controller  914  connected to the chipset  906 . The mass storage device  918  may consist of one or more physical storage units. The storage controller  914  may interface with the physical storage units through a serial attached SCSI (“SAS”) interface, a serial advanced technology attachment (“SATA”) interface, a fiber channel (“FC”) interface, or other type of interface for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and physical storage units. 
     The computer  900  may store data on the mass storage device  918  by transforming the physical state of the physical storage units to reflect the information being stored. The specific transformation of physical state may depend on various factors, in different implementations of this description. Examples of such factors may include, but are not limited to, the technology used to implement the physical storage units, whether the mass storage device  918  is characterized as primary or secondary storage and the like. 
     For example, the computer  900  may store information to the mass storage device  918  by issuing instructions through the storage controller  914  to alter the magnetic characteristics of a particular location within a magnetic disk drive unit, the reflective or refractive characteristics of a particular location in an optical storage unit, or the electrical characteristics of a particular capacitor, transistor, or other discrete component in a solid-state storage unit. Other transformations of physical media are possible without departing from the scope and spirit of the present description, with the foregoing examples provided only to facilitate this description. The computer  900  may further read information from the mass storage device  918  by detecting the physical states or characteristics of one or more particular locations within the physical storage units. 
     In addition to the mass storage device  918  described above, the computer  900  may have access to other computer-readable storage media to store and retrieve information, such as program modules, data structures, or other data. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that computer-readable storage media is any available media that provides for the non-transitory storage of data and that may be accessed by the computer  900 . 
     By way of example, and not limitation, computer-readable storage media may include volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology. Computer-readable storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, erasable programmable ROM (“EPROM”), electrically-erasable programmable ROM (“EEPROM”), flash memory or other solid-state memory technology, compact disc ROM (“CD-ROM”), digital versatile disk (“DVD”), high definition DVD (“HD-DVD”), BLU-RAY, or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to store the desired information in a non-transitory fashion. 
     The mass storage device  918  may store an operating system  930  utilized to control the operation of the computer  900 . According to one embodiment, the operating system comprises the LINUX operating system. According to another embodiment, the operating system comprises the WINDOWS® SERVER operating system from MICROSOFT Corporation. According to further embodiments, the operating system may comprise the UNIX operating system. It should be appreciated that other operating systems may also be utilized. The mass storage device  918  may store other system or application programs and data utilized by the computer  900 , such as components that include the resource monitor  124 , the software product  152  and/or any of the other software components and data described above. The mass storage device  918  might also store other programs and data not specifically identified herein. 
     In one embodiment, the mass storage device  918  or other computer-readable storage media is encoded with computer-executable instructions which, when loaded into the computer  900 , transform the computer from a general-purpose computing system into a special-purpose computer capable of implementing the embodiments described herein. These computer-executable instructions transform the computer  900  by specifying how the CPUs  904  transition between states, as described above. According to one embodiment, the computer  900  has access to computer-readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the computer  900 , perform the various routines described above with regard to  FIGS. 4-6 . The computer  900  might also include computer-readable storage media for performing any of the other computer-implemented operations described herein. 
     The computer  900  may also include one or more input/output controllers  916  for receiving and processing input from a number of input devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, a touchpad, a touch screen, an electronic stylus, or other type of input device. Similarly, the input/output controller  916  may provide output to a display, such as a computer monitor, a flat-panel display, a digital projector, a printer, a plotter, or other type of output device. It will be appreciated that the computer  900  may not include all of the components shown in  FIG. 9 , may include other components that are not explicitly shown in  FIG. 9 , or may utilize an architecture completely different than that shown in  FIG. 9 . 
     Based on the foregoing, it should be appreciated that technologies for providing access to a resource have been presented herein. Moreover, although the subject matter presented herein has been described in language specific to computer structural features, methodological acts and computer readable media, it is to be understood that the invention defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features, acts, or media described herein. Rather, the specific features, acts and media are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims. 
     The subject matter described above is provided by way of illustration only and should not be construed as limiting. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in any part of this disclosure. Various modifications and changes may be made to the subject matter described herein without following the example embodiments and applications illustrated and described, and without departing from the true spirit and scope of the present invention, which is set forth in the following claims.