Patent ID: 8341708

Claim:
A method for authenticating credentials for management of a node, the method being implemented by a computer system, the method comprising: providing the credentials to a verification application on a managed node; establishing a secure connection between the managed node and an authentication application located remotely from the managed node; sending the credentials via the secure connection; authenticating the credentials to the authentication application via basic authentication, wherein the credentials are sent via the secure connection before they are authenticated; establishing a connection between the authentication application and a security server using an authentication procedure that is different from the authentication used with the secure connection; invoking an authenticator on the security server; receiving the credentials at the authenticator from the authentication application; verifying administrative rights associated with the credentials using the authenticator on the security server; and sending, from the authenticator, an authentication certificate indicating the administrative rights associated with the credentials to the managed node, wherein both the secure connection and the connection are used for authenticating the managed node such that the managed node does not have direct access to the authenticator.