Black Box ET0010A, ET1000A, EncrypTight, ET0100A Certificate Support, IPv6 address representations

EncrypTight Deployment Planning

IPv6 addresses are 128-bit addresses consisting of eight hexadecimal groups that are separated by colons, followed by an indication of the prefix length. Each group is a 4-digit hexadecimal number. The hexadecimal letters in IPv6 addresses are not case sensitive.

The prefix length is a decimal value that indicates the number of contiguous, higher-order bits of the address that make up the network portion of the address. The decimal value is preceded by a forward slash (/). Valid values are 0-128 inclusive.

IPv6 addresses are typically composed of two logical parts: a network prefix (a block of address space, like an IPv4 subnet mask), and a host part. The prefix length indicates the number of bits used for the network portion of the address.

The following is an example of an IPv6 address with a 64-bit prefix:

2001:0DB8:0000:0000:0211:11FF:FE58:0743/64

IPv6 representation can be simplified by removing the leading zeros in any of the hexadecimal groups. Trailing zeroes may not be removed. Each group must include at least one digit.

IPv6 addresses often contain consecutive groups of zeros. To further simplify address entry, you can use two colons (::) to represent the consecutive groups of zeros when typing the IPv6 address. You can use two colons (::) only once in an IPv6 address.

Table 2	IPv6 address representations
Address Format		Address Representation
Full format		2001:0DB8:0000:0000:0211:11FF:FE58:0743
Leading zeroes dropped		2001:DB8:0:0:211:11FF:FE58:743
Compressed format (two colons) with leading		2001:DB8::211:11FF:FE58:743
zeroes dropped

If any of your ETEPs are configured with an IPv6 address on the management port, the ETKMSs and the management workstation must be assigned an IPv6 address or configured for dual-homed operation to support both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. If the ETKMS software is configured with an IPv4 address only, it cannot initiate connections to ETEPs that have IPv6 addresses. ETPM will not allow you to deploy a policy that includes an IPv4 ETKMS and IPv6 ETEPs.

Certificate Support

You can secure the management communications in an EncrypTight deployment using Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) certificates. By default, communications between EncrypTight components use the TLS protocol, which encrypts the communications. If you enable strict authentication, the communications are also authenticated with digitally signed certificates.

To use strict authentication, you need to select a Certificate Authority (CA) from which you want to obtain signed certificates. Depending on the CA you choose and other factors such as the types of certificates you want to purchase, acquiring certificates can take as little as an hour or less, or several days.

This User Guide assumes you already have a relationship with a CA. If you do not already have an established relationship with a CA, acquiring CA-signed certificates can take longer. The CA that you choose can provide information regarding their process and what to expect, as well as the costs involved.

34 EncrypTight User Guide