Dell Products Inc.

John T Fitzgerald

Lejin Du

Seema G Pai

Oleksandr Babiychuk

Alykhan Nathoo

Michael E Specht

Joann J Kent

Rekeying an Information Handling System (IHS) network End-to-End Efficient Encryption (E2EEE) with security chaining includes locking an encrypted data volume, preventing reading of, and writing to, the encrypted data volume by applications. A data source IHS may request a new key from a key management system and write new metadata in a trailer of the encrypted data block using a different key slot than a currently used and active metadata key slot, wherein the different key slot is updated with the with the new key. The data source IHS then sends an out-of-data signal to change the use key slot from the currently used key slot to the different key slot. Thereafter, the data source IHS unlocks the encrypted data volume, enabling writing and/or reading user data by the data source IHS and encryption and decryption in all IHS E2EEE data connection segment interfaces.

Rekeying end-to-end efficient encryption with security chaining

Enabling End-to-End Efficient Encryption (E2EEE) with security chaining in an Information Handling System (IHS) network includes: a data source IHS writing metadata containing a key slot, in a trailer of a data block and sending an out-of-band signal to use the key slot; an IHS security chaining logic regenerates the signal to each next IHS E2EEE data connection segment interface; and an encryption configuration state machine of each interface setting a use slot and an active slot to the key slot, in response to the signal. Disabling E2EEE with security chaining includes: the data source IHS sending an out-of-band signal to not use a key slot; the IHS security chaining logic regenerating the signal to each next interface; and the state machine of each interface changing the state machine state to not use a key slot and to not set an active key slot, in response to the signal.

Enablement and disablement of end-to-end efficient encryption with security chaining

In end-to-end efficient encryption with security chaining a data source Information Handling System (IHS) encrypts a data volume, generates and updates metadata in a trailer of the data volume, and generates and updates out-of-band handshake signals indicating an encryption key use slot in the metadata. Data connection segments each include a left-bound interface of one IHS and a right-bound interface of another. Each interface performs synchronous data volume write-encrypt and read-decrypt functions on the data volume in an IHS, perform in-band encryption metadata processing, process out-of-band control signals, and execute an encryption configuration state machine, which uses the metadata and control signals as input to direct write-encrypt and read-decrypt functions on the data volume in the segment. Security chaining logic in each IHS relays between the left and right-bound interfaces, synchronizes and regenerates the control signals for each segment, and coordinates the state machines for the up-stream and down-stream segments.

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Falmouth, MA, United States of America

John T Fitzgerald