In the Solaris operating system, the smart card framework is used to connect consumer applications with smart card terminals. A consumer application makes calls to the smart card framework (SCF) API. A smart card terminal communicates with consumer applications through an interface device (IFD) handler, which is basically a device driver. IFD handlers connect to the framework through the terminal interface. See the following figure.
The Solaris operating system stores smart card configuration information in a private file. This approach is in contrast to linux implementations, where /etc/reader.conf is generally used. To change entries in the configuration file, use the command smartcard(1M).
At this time, the smart card framework is independent of the Solaris cryptographic framework.