Administrator Guide

Managing Secure Data
Secure Data provides data-at-rest encryption with key management for self-encrypting drives (SED). The Self-Encrypting
Drives feature must be licensed to use Secure Data.
How Secure Data Works
Using Secure Data to manage SEDs requires an external key management server. If a key management server has not been
configured or is unavailable, Storage Center allows SEDs to be managed; however, it will not secure the SEDs until the key
management server is available and configured, at which point they will be secured.
NOTE: Create a backup for the key management server before removing an SED and after managing an SED.
Each FIPS disk in Storage Center has an internal Media Encryption Key (MEK). The key resides on the disk, providing encryption
for data written to the disk and decryption for data as it is read from the disk. Destroying the key makes any data on the disk
immediately and permanently unreadable, a process referred to as a crypto erase. When you add an SED to, or release an SED
from a Secure Data folder, the MEK is destroyed and a new key is generated. Creating a new key allows the disk to be reused,
although all previous data is lost.
WARNING: Managing a FIPS SED and assigning it to a Secure Data folder destroys the encryption key on the
disk, which makes any previous data on the disk unreadable.
Not to be confused with the MEK, the Storage Center manages a separate set of keys for providing data-at-rest encryption.
These keys are referred to as authority credentials. The purpose of these keys is to protect the theft of any number of drives. If
a secured drive from a Secure Data folder is removed from the system such that power is removed, the drive will be locked and
customer data will be unreadable.
WARNING:
Storage Center will not be able to manage a previously-managed drive as an SED if the key has been
deleted from the drive or the key management server.
Authenticating to the drive using the authority credential is the only means of unlocking the drive while preserving customer
data, which can only be obtained by successfully authenticating to the related key management server through a secure
channel.
Use the Copy Volumes to Disk Folder operation to copy volumes from a Secure Data folder to another folder. The destination
folder can be either a secure folder or a nonsecure folder.
To protect data at rest, all SEDs in a Secure Data disk folder lock when power is removed (lock on reset enabled). When power
is removed from the drive, the drive cannot be unlocked without an authority credential.
When replicating from a Secure Data volume to a non-Secure Data folder, that volume is no longer secure after it leaves the
Secure Data folder. When replicating a non-Secure Data volume to a Secure Data folder, that volume is not secure until it
replicates to the Secure Data folder and Data Progression runs.
Configure Key Server
Before managing SEDs in a Secure Data folder, configure communication between Storage Center and the key management
server.
Prerequisites
The Storage Center must have the Self-Encrypting Drives license.
Steps
1. If you are connected to a Data Collector, select a Storage Center from the drop-down list in the left navigation pane of
Unisphere Central.
2. Click
Summary.
The Summary view is displayed.
3. Click (Settings).
The Storage Center Settings dialog box opens.
4. Click the Secure Data tab.
5. In the Hostname field, type the host name or IP address of the key management server.
Storage Center Maintenance
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