Extending Resource Access in Multi-Provider Networks using Trust Management

Resource access control in a multi-provider scenario requires an authorization mechanism such that users are granted seamless access to resources (connectivity services, application services and contents) in different provider domains. This paper proposes the integration of a Role-based authorization system in a network service provisioning framework, in order to support multi-provider networks. This authorization system allows the access to provider's services by unknown users, i.e. users that have been registered in different administrative domains, provided that those domains have trust relations with the original one. By removing the user subscription as pre-condition for resource access, the proposed access model offers increasing opportunities for service delivery and resource usage with benefits for both providers and users. The paper presents the architecture of the proposed system, along with a reference implementation and the evaluation of the delay in the service delivery time introduced by the proposed security support.