About This Guide

This guide is part of the information and support provided by Utimaco. Additional documentation produced to support your Utimaco u.trust GP HSM product can be found in the document directory of the Utimaco u.trust GP HSM product bundle.

All Utimaco u.trust GP HSM product documentation is available from Utimaco’s website at https://utimaco.com/

This guide explains how to integrate the Utimaco u.trust GP Hardware Security Module (HSM) and HashiCorp Vault. The Utimaco u.trust GP HSM securely generates and stores the private key of the root and intermediate CA certificates of the HashiCorp Vault PKI.

Target Audience

This guide is intended for administrators of HashiCorp Vault and Utimaco HSMs.

Purpose of this Integration

This integration secures encryption keys, secrets, and PKI operations in hardware, enabling secure key management, certificate services, and cryptographic operations while helping reduce risks and meet compliance requirements.

Abbreviations

Abbreviation	Meaning
AES	Advanced Encryption Standard
API	Application Programming Interface
CSADM	CryptoServer Command-line Administration Tool
CLI	Command Line Interface
FIPS	Federal Information Processing Standards
GUI	Graphical User Interface
HMAC	Hash Message Authentication Code
HSM	Hardware Security Module
HTTP	Hypertext Transfer Protocol
IP	Internet Protocol
KV	Key/Value
LAN	Local Area Network
PKCS#11	Public-Key Cryptography Standard #11
PCIe	PCI Express Interface
UI	User Interface
URL	Uniform Resource Locator
CA	Certificate Authority
CRL	Certificate Revocation List
CSP	Critical Security Parameter
PKI	Public Key Infrastructure
SO	Security Officer
TRNG	True Random Number Generator
TLS	Transport Layer Security
TCP	Transmission Control Protocol
TR-31	Interoperable Secure Key Exchange Key Block Specification
KMS	Key Management Service
RHEL	Red Hat Enterprise Linux

List of abbreviations

Document Conventions

The following conventions are used in this guide:

Convention	Use	Example
Bold	Items of the Graphical User Interface (GUI), e.g., menu options	Press OK
`Monospaced`	Code that is given for explanation or as an example, file paths	`chsm-create`
Italic	References and important terms	See Sample Chapter in the CryptoServer - Sample Manual

Document conventions

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