Cryptodev-linux module
[Overview]

Cryptodev-linux is a device that allows access to Linux kernel cryptographic drivers; thus allowing of userspace applications to take advantage of hardware accelerators. Cryptodev-linux is implemented as a standalone module that requires no dependencies other than a stock linux kernel. It's API is similar to OpenBSD's cryptodev userspace API (/dev/crypto).

• Self contained linux kernel module
• Exact simulation of the /dev/crypto interface
• Support for all major cipher algorithms
• Support for all major hash algorithms
• Asynchronous and synchronous interfaces

Several small systems include a hardware crypto device that optimizes cryptographic operations with a 100x factor or even more comparing to a plain software implementation. Those systems usually provide kernel space drivers for those accelerators but they are not accessible from typical usespace programs and libraries such as GnuTLS or OpenSSL. The /dev/crypto device is a middleware allowing access to the hardware cryptographic modules from user-space applications and thus providing the advantage of using them.

• NCR a new Cryptographic Framework for Linux based on this one.
• OCF-linux is a port of the OpenBSD Cryptographic Framework to Linux that also includes the /dev/crypto interface. This is different to cryptodev-linux in the sense that cryptodev-linux is based on the native Linux crypto interfaces rather than importing them from OCF or other sources.
• Cryptodev for Linux. This is the old cryptodev for linux implementation that cryptodev-linux is based on.
• Linux 2.6.38 AF_ALG. Linux 2.6.38 introduced a sockets protocol to perform cryptographic operations. We made a performance comparison with cryptodev-linux.

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