When to use encryption keys

After you set up the encryption environment, you will need encryption keys to perform the following operations:

  • Adding drives

    A Free key is needed for each drive to allocate a DEK.

  • Replacing drives

    A Free key is needed for each drive to change a DEK.

  • Adding or replacing encrypting back-end directors (EBEDs)

    For VSP Gx00 models and VSP Fx00 models: To replace an EBED, two Free keys are used as CEKs. One Free key is used to register them.

  • Updating CEKs

    For VSP G200, VSP G400, G600, and VSP F400, F600: Two Free keys for each EBED (four Free keys per storage system) are needed to change CEKs.

    For VSP G800 and VSP F800:

    Four Free keys for each EBED (up to 16 Free keys per storage system, regardless of the number of EBEDs) are needed to change CEKs.

If a problem occurs during an operation, extra keys might be needed to recover from the problem.