About this guide

This topic contains important information about the purpose, content, context, and intended audience for this document.

Product documentation

This document is part of the Niagara technical documentation library. Released versions of Niagara software include a complete collection of technical information that is provided in both online help and PDF format. The information in this document is written primarily for Systems Integrators. To make the most of the information in this book, readers should have some training or previous experience with Niagara software, as well as experience working with JACE network controllers.

Document content

The Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) is a U.S. government security standard used to accredit cryptographic modules. These cryptographic modules undergo a thorough certification process to ensure that all cryptographic algorithms adhere to the government security guidelines.

One of the features in Niagara 4.6 and later is a FIPS 140-2 compliant mode for stations. When running in FIPS mode, stations use only cryptographic algorithms supplied by a FIPS-certified cryptographic module. This document describes how the software uses FIPS; how to get FIPS mode up and running; how to upgrade an existing NiagaraAX FIPS installation;, and some special considerations both when deploying FIPS, and when developing software to be used in a FIPS environment.