Federal Information Processing Standard support

Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) are standards and guidelines issued by the United States National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for federal government computer systems. FIPS can be enabled for WebSphere Application Server.

FIPS are developed when there are compelling federal government requirements for standards, such as for security and interoperability, but acceptable industry standards or solutions do not exist. Government agencies and financial institutions use these standards to ensure that the products conform to specified security requirements. For more information on these standards, see the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

WebSphere Application Server integrates cryptographic modules including Java Secure Socket Extension (JSSE) and Java Cryptography Extension (JCE), which have undergone FIPS 140-2 certification. In the WAS documentation, the IBM JSSE and JCE modules that have undergone FIPS certification are referred to as IBMJSSEFIPS and IBMJCEFIPS.

To enable FIPS for WebSphere Application Server, see Configuring Federal Information Processing Standard Java Secure Socket Extension files.When you enable FIPS, several components of the Application Server are affected including the cipher suites, the cryptographic providers, the load balancer, the caching proxy, the high availability manager, and the data replication service.

See the following articles within the Information Center for more information on the impact the Federal Information Processing Standard has on WebSphere Application Server:

We can use the following IBM products with WebSphere Application Server and maintain a FIPS level of security compliance:

The DB2 Universal Database uses FIPS 140-2 approved cryptographic providers.
Application Server Toolkit: The Application Server Toolkit uses FIPS 140-2 approved cryptographic providers.
IBM Tivoli Directory Server: The IBM Tivoli Directory Server provides the Use FIPS certified implementation option, which enables the directory server to use the FIPS-certified encryption algorithms. For more information, see "Setting the level of encryption" within the IBM Tivoli Directory Server Administration Guide.
WebSphere Application Server - Edge Component: The caching proxy contains a directive for enabling FIPS. For more information, see the .
IBM WebSphere MQ: When cryptography is required in an SSL channel, WebSphere MQ uses a cryptography package called IBM Crypto for C (ICC). On all the Windows and UNIX platforms that are supported by WebSphere MQ Version 6.x, the ICC software passed the FIPS 140-2 Cryptomodule Validation Program of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

We can find more information about the Federal Information processing Standards (FIPS) on the including recommended updates for WebSphere Application Server.

Related concepts
J2EE specification