Information About FIPS Self-Tests

A cryptographic module must perform power-up self-tests and conditional self-tests to ensure that it is functional.

Note     FIPS power-up self-tests automatically run when FIPS mode is enabled by entering the fips mode enable command. A switch is in FIPS mode only after all self-tests are successfully completed. If any of the self-tests fail, then the switch is rebooted.

Power-up self-tests run immediately after FIPS mode is enabled. A cryptographic algorithm test using a known answer must be run for all cryptographic functions for each FIPS 140-2-approved cryptographic algorithm implemented on the Cisco MDS 9000 Family.

Using a known-answer test (KAT), a cryptographic algorithm is run on data for which the correct output is already known, and then the calculated output is compared to the previously generated output. If the calculated output does not equal the known answer, the known-answer test fails.

Conditional self-tests must be run when an applicable security function or operation is invoked. Unlike the power-up self-tests, conditional self-tests are executed each time their associated function is accessed.

Conditional self-tests include the following:

• Pair-wise consistency test—This test is run when a public-private key-pair is generated.
• Continuous random number generator test—This test is run when a random number is generated.

Both of these tests automatically run when a switch is in FIPS mode.

---

Copyright 2010-2013, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.