Manual Chapter :
Platform FIPS
Applies To:
Show Versions
BIG-IP APM
- 16.1.2, 16.1.1
BIG-IP LTM
- 16.1.2, 16.1.1
BIG-IP DNS
- 16.1.2, 16.1.1
BIG-IP ASM
- 16.1.2, 16.1.1
Platform FIPS
Platform
FIPS installation kit overview
The Platform FIPS system includes the Full-Box FIPS add-on
license, which includes tamper evidence seals that you must apply to the
chassis for it to be FIPS-validated. For more information, see the
F5 Platforms: FIPS Kit Installation
guide at
techdocs.f5.com/kb/en-us/products/big-ip_ltm/manuals/product/f5-plat-fips-kit-installation.html.Platform FIPS self-test requirement
The NIST 140-2 FIPS standards require that the system must
pass a series of self tests during operation and at initial startup. If any of
these self-tests fail, the BIG-IP system restarts and will not be able to boot
into that volume at startup.
One of the self-tests that the system performs is a system
integrity test. This test watches for unauthorized changes to the system.
Making changes to the system using the F5 TMOS Shell (
tmsh
), the Configuration
utility, and the F5 APIs does not cause this test to fail. Making any changes
to the underlying operating system or any BIG-IP files directly, however,
might cause the test to fail.Platform FIPS best practices
F5 recommends these best practices for working with your
Platform FIPS system:
- Backup partitions
- To recover from a self-test failure, F5 recommends that you have at least two volumes configured and set up with the software version that you are using on the BIG-IP system. If possible, you should avoid installing the Platform FIPS add-on license on the backup volume. This provides recovery options from a failed self-test.The BIG-IP system should have multiple volumes set up from the factory, but the software versions installed might not support the Platform FIPS license. Be sure to verify the versions before placing the BIG-IP system into production use.
- Thesys-eicheckutility
- Use thesys-eicheckutility to determine, without rebooting and locking the volume, if anything has happened that might cause the integrity test to fail. Run this utility before and after any administrative actions to identify anything that might cause a self-test failure by typing this command sequence on the command line:/usr/libexec/sys-eicheck.py.
- FIPS Validated vCMP Guests
- On certain BIG-IP platforms and VIPRION platforms that are licensed with the Platform FIPS add-on license, any vCMP guests are also considered vCMP validated. Unless the platform is also an Embedded FIPS platform, no additional administration is needed. For more information, see the About FIPS multi-tenancy for vCMP guests section under Hardware HSM Setup and Administration.
