SoftHSM is part of the OpenDNSSEC project. Read more at www.opendnssec.org.

OpenDNSSEC handles and stores its cryptographic keys via the PKCS#11 interface. This interface specifies how to communicate with cryptographic devices such as HSM:s (Hardware Security Modules) and smart cards. The purpose of these devices is, among others, to generate cryptographic keys and sign information without revealing private-key material to the outside world. They are often designed to perform well on these specific tasks compared to ordinary processes in a normal computer.

A potential problem with the use of the PKCS#11 interface is that it might limit the wide spread use of OpenDNSSEC, since a potential user might not be willing to invest in a new hardware device. To counter this effect, OpenDNSSEC is providing a software implementation of a generic cryptographic device with a PKCS#11 interface, the SoftHSM. SoftHSM is designed to meet the requirements of OpenDNSSEC, but can also work together with other cryptographic products because of the PKCS#11 interface.

• Rickard Bellgrim (.SE, The Internet Infrastructure Foundation, www.iis.se)
• René Post (XPT Software and Consulting, www.xpt.nl)
• Roland van Rijswijk (SURFnet bv, www.surfnet.nl)

SoftHSM depends on a cryptographic library, Botan or OpenSSL. Minimum required versions:

• Botan 1.10.0
• OpenSSL 1.0.0

There is a migration tool for converting token databases from SoftHSMv1 into the new type of tokens. If this tool is built, then SQLite3 is required (>= 3.4.2).

Configure the installation/compilation scripts:

./configure

Options:

--disable-non-paged-memory
			Disable non-paged memory for secure storage
			(default enabled)
--disable-ecc		Enable support for ECC (default enabled)
--enable-gost		Enable support for GOST (default disabled)
--enable-visibility	Enable -fvisibility=hidden GCC flags so
			only the PKCS#11 C_* entry points are kept
--with-crypto-backend	Select crypto backend (openssl|botan)
--with-openssl=PATH	Specify prefix of path of OpenSSL
--with-botan=PATH	Specify prefix of path of Botan
--with-loglevel=INT	The log level. 0=No log 1=Error 2=Warning
			3=Info 4=Debug (default INT=3)
--with-migrate		Build the migration tool. Used when migrating
			a SoftHSM v1 token database. Requires SQLite3
--with-objectstore-backend-db
			Build with database object store (SQLite3)
--with-sqlite3=PATH	Specify prefix of path of SQLite3

For more options:

./configure --help

Compile the source code using the following command:

make

Install the library using the follow command:

sudo make install

The default location of the config file is /etc/softhsm2.conf. This location can be change by setting the environment variable.

export SOFTHSM2_CONF=/home/user/config.file

Details on the configuration can be found in "man softhsm2.conf".

Use either softhsm-util or the PKCS#11 interface. The SO PIN can e.g. be used to re-initialize the token and the user PIN is handed out to the application so it can interact with the token.

  softhsm-util --init-token --slot 0 --label "My token 1"

Type in SO PIN and user PIN. Once a token has been initialized, more slots will be added automatically with a new uninitialized token.

Link to this library and use the PKCS#11 interface.

All of the tokens and their objects are stored in the location given by softhsm2.conf. Backup can thus be done as a regular file copy.

If the code is downloaded directly from the code repository, you have to prepare the configuration scripts before continuing with the real README.

1. You need to install automake, autoconf, libtool, etc.
2. Run the command 'sh autogen.sh'
3. Continue reading this README.