The challenge of accelerating cryptographic functions, such as encryption and decryption, at high data rates is no longer limited to speeding algorithm processing. Establishing and managing secure sessions, either using SSL or IPSec, requires complex handshaking that is processor-intensive. At higher data rates, there comes a point when a server can no longer feed an accelerator because the server's ability to process packets becomes the bottleneck. To achieve higher performance, accelerators have to offload more than just the encryption algorithms. Managing SSL and IPSec-that is, getting data out of the packet, then putting it back in-has become a larger part of the security problem. The trick is designing a system in which you eliminate bottlenecks, not just move them.
展开▼
