Patent ID: 7711121

Claim:
A computer implemented method comprising: verifying identities of a landlord device and a tenant device, wherein each identity is verified by ascertaining how each device is coupled to a computer; generating, in the computer implemented locally at a data center facility, a landlord key pair and a tenant key pair, each key pair including a private key and a public key, the landlord key pair being used to establish secure communication between the computer and a landlord device, and the tenant key pair being used to establish secure communication between the computer and a tenant device; the landlord device manages hardware operations of a cluster and is implemented locally at the data center facility; the tenant device manages software of the cluster and is implemented at a location remote from the data center facility; keeping the landlord private key and the tenant private key secure in the computer without disclosing the keys to any other device; forwarding the landlord public key and the tenant public key to the landlord device; and forwarding the tenant public key to the tenant device.