Frequently Asked Questions

This section provides additional information by answering questions that are frequently asked by our customers.

Why do I get an error when I attempt to set the partition policies for activation (22) and auto-activation (23) on my password authenticated SafeNet Luna Network HSM?

Those policies apply to PED-authenticated SafeNet Luna Network HSM, only.
For both PED-authenticated and password-authenticated HSMs, your client authenticates to a partition with a challenge password.

For PED-authenticated HSMs, the application partition must be in a state where it is able to accept that challenge password. The extra layer of authentication - the partition Crypto Officer's black PED key or the Crypto User's gray PED key - must have been presented first before the partition can be receptive to the challenge/password.

Password-authenticated HSMs have only the single layer of authentication - the challenge/password is all that is needed. The password is both the client authentication and the partition administrator (Crypto Officer/Crypto User) authentication.

For PED-authenticated HSMs, Activation and Auto-Activation enable caching of the first layer of authentication to provide a level of operational convenience similar to that of the password-authenticated HSMs.

So, what is the difference in security, once Activation and Auto-Activation are started?

From the convenience point of view, none. But, whereas the password-authenticated partition is "open for business" to anybody with that partition's password, as soon as the partition is created, a PED-authenticated partition is not. One implication is that all partitions of a multi-partition password-authenticated HSM are available whenever any of them are available, which is essentially whenever the HSM is powered on.

The owner of a PED-authenticated HSM partition can disable client access to just one partition by deactivating (de-caching) just that one partition's PED key authentication, so that the challenge/password is not accepted. Any other partitions on that HSM that are not deactivated (i.e., still have their black PED key or gray PED key authentication cached) are still able to accept challenge/password from their clients.

You are not required to cache the PED key data in order to use a partition. You could, if you preferred, simply leave the PED key for that partition inserted in a connected Luna PED, and press keypad keys on the PED whenever first-level authentication for partition access was required. Since this would defeat much of the reason for having a powerful networked HSM server, generally nobody does this with SafeNet Luna Network HSM in a production environment. As well, if you have created both a Crypto Officer and a Crypto User for your partition, you would need to switch out the black PED key or the gray PED key, whenever the other entity needed to PED-authenticate while the PED key authentications are not cached.

You also have the option of partially engaging the PED key caching feature by enabling Activation without enabling Auto-activation. In that case, you present your PED key to activate the partition - which allows it to accept its partition challenge/password from clients - and the cached black PED key or gray PED key authentication data is retained while the HSM has power (or until you explicitly de-cache). But the cached authentication does not survive a power outage or an intentional power cycle (because you chose to Activate, but not to autoActivate as well). Thus, by applying different policy settings, you could have some partitions on your PED-authenticated HSM able to return to client availability immediately following a power-cycle/outage (no human intervention needed), while others would wait for your intervention, with a black PED key (Crypto Officer) or a gray PED key (Crypto User), before becoming client-available.

Finally, Activation and Auto-Activation are partition-level policy settings, not role-level. Therefore, if the policy is on, it is on for all roles. If the policy is off, it is off for all roles. You cannot individually cache authentication data from a gray PED key, but not from a black PED key (or the opposite) within a single partition.