Common Data Security Architecture (CDSA) White Paper

Chapter 1 11
Common Data Security Architecture (CDSA) White Paper
What Is CDSA?
What Is CDSA?
The Common Security Architecture (CDSA) is a set of application program interfaces (APIs)
to perform cryptography and other public key infrastructure operations. Additional shared
libraries implement the API functionality. The Cryptographic Service Provider (CSP) module
implements most popular cryptographic algorithms. The Certificate Library (CL) module
implements X.509v3 certificate operations. The Trust Policy (TP) and Data Storage Library
(DL) are not implemented in this release. CDSA consists of the most popular cryptographic
algorithms needed for security applications; the code may be used by C or C++ applications.
HP’s Implementation of CDSA
HP’s initial release of CDSA consists of shared libraries, header and module information files,
and manpages for CDSA APIs covering a Common System Security Manager (CSSM),
Cryptographic Service Provider (CSP), and Certificate Library (CL). Each manpage describes
an API function. HP’s implementation also includes CDSA’s standard service provider
interfaces for Data Library (DL) and Trust Policy (TP), although HP is not providing DL or TP
add-in modules.
Figure 1-1 HP-UX CDSA Product Overview
CDSA Files on HP-UX
As of June 1999, CDSA is available on the HP-UX 11.0 Application CD. In the future, it will
CSSM (v1.2) Framework
Shared Library
CSP CL DL TP
Header and Module
Manpages
Not included in first release
shared library shared library
Information files