Patent ID: 7702906

Claim:
A system, comprising: a first host including a first kernel-mode software layer and a first user-mode software layer of a distributed software service; and a second host including a second kernel-mode software layer and a second user-mode software layer of the distributed software service; wherein the first host is configured to initiate a process configured to secure kernel-to-kernel communication between the first host and the second host, wherein said first host is configured to: establish a user-mode network connection between the first user-mode software layer and the second user-mode software layer, the user-mode network connection being configured to use a secure communication protocol; transmit a first security key from the first user-mode software layer to the second user-mode software layer over the user-mode network connection; receive a second security key transmitted from the second user-mode software layer to the first user-mode software layer over the user-mode network connection; and subsequent to receiving the second security key, initiate establishment of a kernel-mode network connection between the first kernel-mode software layer and the second kernel-mode software layer, wherein the kernel-mode connection is a different connection than the user-mode connection and uses a protocol that does not support said secure communication protocol; wherein each of the first and second hosts are configured to use the first and second security keys to secure communication between the first kernel-mode software layer and the second kernel-mode software layer over the kernel-mode network connection.