Patent ID: 7730122

Claim:
A method, comprising: associating a plurality of agent nodes in the network with a multi-node, wherein the agent nodes are associated with machines in the network capable of performing operations on behalf of the multi-node, and wherein the multi-node comprises a node that is defined as having computational resources comprising the associated agent nodes that perform operations on behalf of the multi-node; receiving, by a target node, a request from a calling node for the target node to perform operations on behalf of the multi-node, wherein the target node is one of the agent nodes associated with the multi-node; determining, by the target node, whether the calling node is one of the agent nodes associated with the multi-node; determining, by the target node, whether the calling node is capable of authenticating with a server; and performing, by the target node, the operations requested by the calling node in response to determining that the calling node is associated with the multi-node and is capable of authenticating with the server.