KMS Operations
12 KMS: LTO4 Technical Brief • June 2008 Revision: A • 316196601
At release, the functionality to set a key in a compromised state is not present.
This is a low impact issue due to the system assigning unique encryption keys for
each tape cartridge. It is rare that a compromised key scenario would ever be
encountered. If it was it would only impact future writes to a single tape cartridge.
This functionality will be implemented in the next drive firmware update.
Media RFID Chips
Use FIGURE 2-4 to connect the bulleted terms with the KMS Manager.
New data cartridges may not have the physical barcode information written to the
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
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chip—also know as the cartridge
memory—in the LTO4 cartridge during the initial mount (load).
This requires updated library firmware, and not all libraries support this function.
Future updates to library firmware will correct this problem allowing the cartridge
memory to write the physical barcode. Libraries include:
■ SL8500 = supported (3.98B and above)
■ SL3000 = supported (2.01 and above)
■ SL500 = supported (i15)
■ L-Series = requires an update (3.18.xx)
The barcode information from the cartridge memory is passed to the KMS and
stored as additional metadata for a Data Unit (cartridge).
The External Tag field of the Data Unit contains the physical barcode information
when the library firmware update is available.
Refer to the Crypto KMS Administration Guide for more information about Data
Units and the ExternalTag field.
Note – When installing the HP LTO4 tape drive in an SL500 library, you must
disable the “Fast Load” option. Disabling this option allows the library and tape
drive to update the RFID chip with the physical barcode information.
This is not necessary for the SL3000 and SL8500 libraries.
Media Types
Important:
Encryption is only possible on LTO4 media, including LTO4 WORM media.
If an earlier media-type (such as an LTO3 data cartridge) is found in the drive,
encryption is disabled until that media is unloaded.
When fetching the Data Unit from the KMA, the Dione card sets the:
■ Description field to either “LTO4” or “LTO4WORM”
■ External Tag field if the library stored a barcode label in the Cartridge Memory
■ External Unique ID is the (vendor-unique) Cartridge Memory Attribute
1. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips are also called cartridge memory chips.
The RFID chip contains information about the cartridge, the tape, and the performance
over time. This non-volatile storage information includes:
• Manufacturing information • Initialization information
• Usage • Tape directory
• Pass history • Error history
• Tape Alert flags • Status of the MIR
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