Patent ID: 7885412

Claim:
A method of providing session keys for use in communicating within communications environments, said method comprising: using a communications server, encrypting a plurality of session keys using a private key of the communications server to provide a plurality of pre-encrypted session keys for use in communicating between the communications server and one or more second entities of the communications environment, said plurality of pre-encrypted session keys being generic session keys that are created independently of and with no input from the one or more second entities, wherein said plurality of pre-encrvpted session keys are further adapted for use by a management application which manages the one or more second entities; using the communications server, maintaining the plurality of pre-encrypted session keys in a pool of session keys available for use on a persistent storage device, wherein the pool of session keys comprises a plurality of session key doublets, wherein a session key doublet of the plurality of session key doublets comprises a pre-encrypted session key of the plurality of pre-encrypted session keys and an unencrypted form of the pre-encrypted session key; after said encrypting and said maintaining, executing the management application on the communications server; and using the communications server, transmitting a pre-encrypted session key of the plurality of pre-encrypted session keys to a second entity of the one or more second entities in response to an attempt by the management application to connect to the one or more second entities, wherein the transmitting comprises extracting the pre-encrypted session key to be transmitted from the pool of session keys, said extracting arbitrarily selecting the pre-encrypted session key, wherein the pre-encrypted session key being extracted is not tied to the second entity, and further encrypting the pre-encrypted session key with a public key of the second entity prior to transmitting the pre-encrypted session key.