hifn errors on console

[Eric W. Bates]

Sam Leffler wrote:
> Eric W. Bates wrote:
> 
>> I'm running pfsense (an embedded FreeBSD 6.1) on a wrap2C.  I recently
>> added a Soekris vpn1411 and am now getting infrequent errors:
>>
>> hifn0: rndtest: ones interval 4 failed (382, 251-373)
>> hifn0: rndtest: ones interval 1 failed (2663, 2343-2657)
>> hifn0: rndtest: zeros interval 5 failed (206, 111-201)
>> hifn0: rndtest: ones interval 2 failed (1385, 1135-1365)
>> hifn0: rndtest: zeros interval 3 failed (718, 542-708)
>> hifn0: rndtest: zeros interval 4 failed (243, 251-373)
>> hifn0: rndtest: zeros interval 3 failed (717, 542-708)
>>
>> IPSec works fine.  However, I do not know how to tell whether the hifn
>> is being used.
>>
>> I had no luck with Google.  Can anyone enlighten me?
> 
> 
> man rndtest(4).  pfSense has configured the FIPS rng testing module to
> monitor the entropy sent by the h/w to the system prng.  Looks like
> 
> sysctl kern.rdntest.verbose=0
> 
> will turn off console msgs.

I guess I want to follow up on this a bit.  It seems that rndtest is
unsatisfied with the degree of randomness presented by the card.

Is that randomness used to produce /dev/random?

Is this an indication of a fault with the card?

How does such a card "create"/"collect" entropy?

Is there anything I can do to improve the situation?

Thanks.

btw: adding a similar card (Soekris VPN 1410  -- PCI not mini-pci) to a
full size motherboard running 6.0-RELEASE-p6 produces the same errors.

>     Sam
> 
>