Patent ID: 7882544

Claim:
An inherited role-based access control system, comprising: a role definition system for defining a set of permissible actions for a role type; a role binding system for binding the role type to a node of a hierarchical tree of nodes, wherein the nodes represent computer-based resources, wherein the computer-based resources comprise at least one of hardware and software components of a computer system, and wherein instances of the role type are automatically inherited by hierarchical descendants of the node once the role type is bound to the node; a role blocking system for establishing a role type block for the role type, wherein the role type block assigned to the node limits inheritance of the instances of the role type so that the instances are not automatically inherited by the hierarchical descendants of the node; and a resource definition system for identifying virtual computer-based resources that are subject to the role binding system and for identifying private computer-based resources that are not subject to the role binding system.