SYSTEM AND PROCESS FOR BROKERING A PLURALITY OF SECURITY APPLICATIONS USING A MODULAR FRAMEWORK IN A DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT

A system and process for brokering a plurality of security applications using a centralized broker in a distributed computing environment is described. A centralized broker is executed on a designated system within the distributed computing environment. A set of snap-in components are provided with each performing a common management task sharable by a plurality of security applications. A console interface is exposed from the centralized broker. The console interface implements a plurality of browser methods which each define an browser function which can be invoked by each snap-in component. A set of snap-in interfaces are exposed from each snap-in component. Each snap-in interface implements a plurality of service methods which each define a user-interface function which can be invoked by the centralized broker. One or more security applications are brokered through the centralized broker. Each security application is interfaced to the centralized broker through the snap-in components. Each security application is managed by invoking at least one such browser method via the console interface. A plurality of the security applications are centrally serviced by invoking at least one such service method via at least one such snap-in interface.