[ale] random number generators

[Jim Kinney]

This looks promising.
The system(s) are Intel, high core count file servers with 12 encrypted
partitions and 40G TCP and 40G IB networking. Linked through glusterfs
they are the storage cluster. I'm seeing haveged getting _used_ where
it's not been used before.
On Tue, 2019-03-19 at 16:54 -0400, dev null zero two via Ale wrote:
> IIRC, the link I sent is for a Linux RNG patch that uses a FIPS
> approved DRBG. If properly seeded, this can supply a ton of secure
> random numbers without draining the entropy pool so much.
> 
> On Tue, Mar 19, 2019 at 4:52 PM Alex Carver via Ale <ale at ale.org>
> wrote:
> > On 2019-03-19 13:31, Jim Kinney via Ale wrote:
> > 
> > > When the entropy pool gets low and all 200TB are encrypted,
> > writes can
> > 
> > > slow down.
> > 
> > > 
> > 
> > > Looking at at hardware RNG devices. Found one that looks really
> > cool,
> > 
> > > open, all the right buttons http://onerng.info/
> > 
> > > 
> > 
> > > Anybody used something like this?
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > I've seen mention more than once of using a Geiger counter with its
> > 
> > output tied to a serial port to generate random bits with a small
> > 
> > software shim to push them into entropy.  The advantage is that
> > 
> > radioactive decay is random and this kind of setup can't be
> > influenced
> > 
> > from a distance.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Diode noise is not fully random, it has a specific energy
> > distribution
> > 
> > so there will be bias in the results (in which case you're
> > depending on
> > 
> > these guys to have smoothed/whitened the noise properly).  RF noise
> > is
> > 
> > also not random when the receiver is stationary.  The RF landscape
> > 
> > doesn't change too much and also has inherent bias (cell towers,
> > wifi
> > 
> > APs, lots of other transmitters that don't move and sit on the same
> > 
> > frequency).  The RF generator would depend on the features that do
> > 
> > change which are fewer and slower.
> > 
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> 
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-- 
James P. Kinney III

Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you
gain at one end you lose at the other. It's like feeding a dog on his
own tail. It won't fatten the dog.
- Speech 11/23/1900 Mark Twain

http://heretothereideas.blogspot.com/

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