4 Installing and Configuring Data Encryption Offloads
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Selecting Basic or Strong Encryption Processing

The 3C990B NIC provides Data Encryption Standard (DES) 56-bit encryption processing
and 3DES (3DES 168-bit) encryption processing. You can configure the 3C990B NIC to
process data packets encrypted with either DES (basic) or 3DES (strong) algorithms.
DES and 3DES are IPSec bulk encryption algorithms for coding data. DES encrypts 64-bit
data blocks using a 56-bit key. DES can be applied in several modes. 3DES (Triple DES)
achieves a higher level of security by encrypting the data three times using DES with three
different, unrelated keys. 3DES is also known as 168-bit data encryption.
Enabling Data Encryption
To enable data encryption for the 3C990B NIC, follow the procedure outlined in the
following Overview.

Overview

The basic tasks involved in enabling data encryption for the 3C990B NIC are as follows:
1Access the 3Com Corporation World Wide Web site.
2Select DES or 3DES encryption.
3Provide data about yourself and your location (as required by law).
4Download the 3Com Security Software Utility from the 3Com Web site to your computer.
5Run the 3Com Security Software Utility. The utility detects the 3C990B NIC(s) installed
in your computer.
6Follow the displayed prompts to enable data encryption, and restart the computer.
Each of the steps listed above is covered in more detail in the sections that follow.

Downloading the 3Com Security Software Utility

Before you can enable data encryption for the 3C990B NIC, you must download the
3Com Security Software Utility from the 3Com Corporation World Wide Web site. Follow
these steps to download the utility:
1Launch your preferred Internet browser on your computer.
3Com recommends using either Microsoft Internet Explorer version 4.0 (or above), or
Netscape Communicator version 4.0 (or above).
2Type the following URL in the browser address ���eld:
http://www.3com.com/product/offload_enablement
3Press Enter.
The Language Selection page appears, providing several different language options.
NOTE: You can also access the 3Com Security Software Utility download site by
using the EtherCD. Do the following:
1Insert the EtherCD in the computer CD-ROM drive.
2Click Encryption Enablement.
3Click Begin Encryption Enablement.
Your default Internet browser is launched with the appropriate URL.