Technical & Logical Architecture

A comprehensive view of proConsul's system components, deployment patterns, and data flows designed to support enterprise-scale digital trust orchestration.

Logical Architecture

proConsul sits at the heart of the digital trust ecosystem, orchestrating interactions between frontend portals, backend trust services, and external systems

proConsul System Components

System components showing the integration of frontend portals, orchestration APIs, TrustVault cryptographic services, and external identity providers

Presentation Layer

Web-based admin consoles and management portals providing role-specific interfaces for operations teams, security analysts, compliance officers, and system administrators. Mobile-responsive design supports field operations and remote management scenarios.

API & Integration Layer

RESTful and GraphQL APIs providing programmatic access to platform capabilities. API gateway handles authentication, authorization, rate limiting, and request routing. Webhook support enables event-driven integrations with external systems.

Orchestration & Policy Engine

Core orchestration services coordinate workflows, enforce policies, manage approval chains, and route requests across the ecosystem. Policy engine evaluates rules in real-time, supporting complex conditional logic and dynamic routing.

Service Layer

Microservices architecture providing modular capabilities: credential lifecycle management, identity governance, compliance reporting, threat intelligence processing, and audit logging. Services communicate via secure message queues and service mesh.

Data Layer

Distributed data stores optimized for different workloads: relational databases for transactional data, document stores for credential schemas and policies, time-series databases for audit logs and metrics, and caching layers for performance optimization.

Integration Layer

Connectors and adapters for external systems: TrustVault PKI services, HSM integration, identity provider federation, wallet integration (idGuard), monitoring systems, and SIEM platforms. Support for standard protocols and custom integrations.

Control, Data, and Identity Planes

proConsul architecture separates concerns across three distinct planes for enhanced security and operational clarity

Three-Plane Architecture

Control plane manages orchestration and policy, data plane handles credential operations, and identity plane provides authentication and authorization

System Architecture with Three Planes

Detailed view showing how control, data, and identity planes interact within the overall system architecture

Control Plane

Orchestration, policy enforcement, workflow management, and system coordination. The control plane determines what actions are permitted, routes requests to appropriate services, and ensures compliance with organizational policies.

Data Plane

Credential operations, cryptographic functions, certificate lifecycle, and trust service execution. The data plane performs the actual work of credential issuance, signing, verification, and revocation.

Identity Plane

Authentication, authorization, identity federation, and attribute management. The identity plane establishes who users are, what they're authorized to do, and manages identity context across the platform.

Management Plane

System administration, monitoring, configuration, and operational management. The management plane provides tools for platform operators to configure, monitor, and maintain the system infrastructure.

Deployment Topology

Designed to support high availability, horizontal scaling, and geographic distribution

proConsul System Overview

System overview showing deployment architecture with load balancers, service clusters, data stores, and external integrations

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High Availability Architecture

Multiple service instances deployed across availability zones. Load balancers distribute traffic and detect failures. Stateless service design enables horizontal scaling. Database replication and automated failover ensure data availability. Health checks and circuit breakers protect against cascading failures.

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Geographic Distribution

Support for multi-region deployments with data residency controls. Active-active configurations enable low-latency access for global user populations. Data synchronization maintains consistency across regions while respecting data sovereignty requirements. Regional failover capabilities ensure service continuity.

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Security Zones

Network segmentation isolates services by security classification. DMZ zones host public-facing services. Internal zones protect sensitive operations and data stores. HSM integration uses dedicated secure channels. Cryptographic key material never leaves HSM boundaries. Secrets management via HashiCorp Vault.

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Monitoring & Observability

Comprehensive metrics collection covering service health, performance, and business operations. Distributed tracing tracks requests across service boundaries. Centralized logging aggregates events for analysis and compliance. Alerting based on operational thresholds and anomaly detection. Dashboards provide real-time visibility.

Data Flows & Request Processing

Understanding how requests flow through the platform from initiation to completion

Request Flow

Request flow showing how credential operations move from portals through orchestration layers to TrustVault and external systems

Credential Issuance Sequence

Detailed sequence diagram for credential issuance showing interactions between system components, approval workflows, and cryptographic operations

Credential Issuance Flow

  1. Request Initiation: User or system initiates credential issuance through portal or API
  2. Authentication & Authorization: Identity plane validates requester identity and permissions
  3. Policy Evaluation: Control plane evaluates policies to determine if issuance is permitted
  4. Workflow Orchestration: Orchestration engine initiates approval workflow if required
  5. Approval Processing: Designated approvers review and approve/reject request
  6. TrustVault Integration: Data plane requests cryptographic operations from TrustVault
  7. HSM Operations: TrustVault performs signing operations using HSM-backed keys
  8. Credential Assembly: Credential is assembled with attributes, signatures, and metadata
  9. Wallet Delivery: Credential is delivered to idGuard wallet or relying party
  10. Audit Logging: Complete audit trail is recorded for compliance and monitoring

Verification & Revocation Flow

  1. Verification Request: Relying party requests credential verification
  2. Credential Validation: Cryptographic signatures and certificate chains are validated
  3. Revocation Check: System checks revocation lists and status endpoints
  4. Policy Compliance: Control plane verifies request complies with privacy and security policies
  5. Response Generation: Verification response is assembled and returned to relying party

TrustVault & PKI Integration

proConsul relies on TrustVault for all cryptographic operations and PKI services

PKI Hierarchy

PKI hierarchy showing root CA, intermediate CAs, issuing CAs, and end-entity certificates with validation flows managed through proConsul orchestration

Cryptographic Operations

TrustVault provides HSM-backed cryptographic operations including key generation, digital signing, encryption, and key derivation. All key material remains within HSM boundaries. proConsul orchestrates requests but never accesses raw key material.

Certificate Lifecycle

Complete certificate lifecycle from issuance through renewal and revocation. Hierarchical PKI structures from root CAs through intermediates to end-entity certificates. CRL and OCSP support for revocation checking. Automated certificate renewal workflows.

Services to Vault Mounts

Architecture showing how proConsul services integrate with HashiCorp Vault mounts for secrets management and TrustVault integration

Security Architecture

Security-by-design principles embedded throughout the architecture

Data Protection Architecture

Data protection mechanisms including encryption at rest and in transit, access controls, and privacy-preserving processing

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Defense in Depth

Multiple layers of security controls protect the platform. Network segmentation isolates services. Encryption protects data at rest and in transit. Strong authentication and authorization control access. Security monitoring detects anomalous behavior. Regular security assessments identify vulnerabilities.

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Threat Modeling

STRIDE threat modeling methodology applied to architecture design. Spoofing, tampering, repudiation, information disclosure, denial of service, and elevation of privilege scenarios are systematically addressed through architectural controls and operational procedures.

STRIDE Threat Model

STRIDE threat model matrix showing identified threats and corresponding mitigations across system components

Dive Deeper into proConsul Architecture

Explore integration patterns, deployment models, and implementation details with our technical team.