US Patent 10027551 Access controls through node-based effective policy identifiers

Techniques for implementing a node-based access control system are described herein. In an embodiment, a server computer stores a node based policy system wherein each node identifies a resource and a policy for the resource. The server computer identifies a policy for a first node and an identifier of a second node wherein the second node is a parent node to the first node. The server computer maps an effective policy identifier to the policy for the first node and the identifier of the second node. The server computer stores data associating the effective policy identifier with the first node. The server computer identifies a policy for a third node and an identifier of the second node, wherein the second node is a parent node to the third node and wherein the policy for the third node is equivalent to the policy for the first node. The server computer then stores data associating the effective policy identifier with the third node.