There have been several changes over the years to improve performance of random 
number generation, but the important thing is that the random numbers were 
always generated using secure methods.  As Greg mentioned, ICSF started using 
the CEX long ago to get random numbers, which were generated in the secure CEX 
HSM.  Later on, caching was added in ICSF to create a pool of random data so 
that the CEX card would not have to be called each time.  After that, a new API 
was added to the CEX card to get a larger batch of random numbers in a single 
call, again to improve performance.  Now, CPACF has been enhanced to make it 
even faster than it was using CEX.  In all of these cases, the random numbers 
are generated using FIPS-approved methods.  One thing that is very nice about 
ICSF is that it hides all of these lower-level changes from your application 
programs.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Reply via email to