IPsec and IKE Administration Guide

Encryption Algorithms

Encryption algorithms encrypt data with a key. The algorithms operate on data in units of a block size. The man pages for encryption algorithms describe the block size and the key size for each algorithm. By default, the DES–CBC and 3DES-CBC algorithms are installed.

The AES and Blowfish algorithms are available to IPsec when you install the Solaris Encryption Kit. The kit is available on a separate CD that is not part of the Solaris 9 installation box. The Solaris 9 Encryption Kit Installation Guide describes how to install the Solaris Encryption Kit.

The following table lists the encryption algorithms that are supported in the Solaris operating system. The table lists the format of the algorithms when the algorithms are used as security options to the IPsec utilities. The table also lists their man page names, and lists the package that contains the algorithm.

Table 1–2 Supported Encryption Algorithms

Algorithm Name 

Security Option Format 

Man Page 

Package 

DES-CBC

des, des-cbc 

encrdes(7M)

SUNWcsr, SUNWcarx.u 

3DES–CBC or Triple-DES

3des, 3des-cbc 

encr3des(7M)

SUNWcsr, SUNWcarx.u 

Blowfish

blowfish, blowfish-cbc 

encrbfsh(7M)

SUNWcryr, SUNWcryrx 

AES-CBC

aes, aes-cbc 

encraes(7M)

SUNWcryr, SUNWcryrx