SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FINGERPRINTING IN A CLOUD-COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT

摘要

A system and method for uniquely fingerprinting an execution environment instance in a cloud-computing enviromitent in which an application is assigned to the execution environment instance, and a license key is required for the application to access a desired licensed feature. The application requests a fingerprint certificate from a cloud infrastructure management unit via the application's execution environment instance. The management unit identifies the fingerprint assigned to the execution environment instance, digitally signs a fingerprint certificate, and assigns an expiration timesiamp. An application programming interface (API) sends the signed certificate and time-stamp back to the application. The application verifies the digital signature and the timesiamp and utilizes the fingerprint certificate to request a license key from a licensing system. The licensing system verifies the fmgerprint certificate before generating the license key, and. the application verifies that the license key matches the fingerprint before accessing the licensed feature.