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OverlordQ
Joined: 04 Jun 2004
Posts: 200
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| Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 10:23 pm Post subject: Randomness |
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| Do any of the [Xe|Li]node boxes have Intel/AMD/VIA HW Random Number Generator on em? And if so, could that option get compiled into the kernel? |
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autodmc
Joined: 01 Feb 2006
Posts: 40
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| Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 2:54 pm Post subject: |
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That would be nice...
But not installed in all linodes.
It would be great if Linode.com could run a random number generator service, perhaps a small special Linode with a Hardware Random Number Generator on site, in your server vault generating a large pool of random bits, which Linodes could draw off of with SSH inside the building...
...next most secure thing to having your own HRNG in the Linode, right? |
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caker
Joined: 15 Apr 2003
Posts: 2387
Location: Galloway, NJ
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| Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 3:07 pm Post subject: Re: Randomness |
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OverlordQ wrote: Do any of the [Xe|Li]node boxes have Intel/AMD/VIA HW Random Number Generator on em? And if so, could that option get compiled into the kernel?
They do not, however -- starting with 2.6.12, UML has a feature to get randomness from the host. Check here:
http://www.linode.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=7949#7949
-Chris |
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zunzun
Joined: 18 Feb 2005
Posts: 175
Location: Birmingham, Alabama USA
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| Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2006 9:05 pm Post subject: |
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If you are encrypting, you might be interested in:
http://www.newscientistspace.com/article.ns?id=dn8913&feedId=space_rss20
The researchers believe quasars could make an ideal cryptographic tool because the strength and frequency of the radio pulses they emit is impossible to predict. "Quasar-based cryptography is based on a physical fact that such a space signal is random and has a very broad frequency spectrum" |
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pclissold
Joined: 24 Oct 2003
Posts: 471
Location: Netherlands
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| Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2006 2:54 am Post subject: |
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| Cancel that order for a hardware RNG - buy a radio telescope instead. |
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cirric
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Posts: 10
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| Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 10:03 am Post subject: Re: Randomness |
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caker wrote: OverlordQ wrote: Do any of the [Xe|Li]node boxes have Intel/AMD/VIA HW Random Number Generator on em? And if so, could that option get compiled into the kernel?
They do not, however -- starting with 2.6.12, UML has a feature to get randomness from the host. Check here:
http://www.linode.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=7949#7949
-Chris
I tried this with 2.6.15-linode16, but rngd aborts with:
Code: can't open /dev/hwrandom: No such file or directory
Do I need to create /dev/hwrandom myself? |
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