USB disk management

USB disks are used under certain circumstances by the StoredSafe appliance, both at installation to export key material and when upgrading firmware.

Several console workflows (license install, backup key export, X.509 certificate install, firmware install, and others) ask “Search for a USB disk?” and, if you answer “No”, fall back to reading from or writing to a fixed staging directory on the appliance instead: /isodevice/var/transfer. This menu lets you inspect that staging directory and move its contents to a USB disk without having to go back through one of those individual workflows.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    USB on node1 (Version X.X.X build xxxx)                  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

┌─┬───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│1│Show content of USB disk                                                   │
│2│Show content of /isodevice/var/transfer                                    │
│3│Copy content of /isodevice/var/transfer to a USB disk                      │
│4│Remove content on /isodevice/var/transfer                                  │
│5│Unmount any mounted USB disk                                               │
└─┴───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Remove content on /isodevice/var/transfer (Q to Quit)

Main> System Settings> USB>

Show content of USB disk

Files on USB disk "/mnt/usb"

StoredSafe-2.x.x-buildXYZZY.iso
StoredSafe-2.x.x-buildXYZZY.iso.sign

Press any key to continue

Show content of /isodevice/var/transfer

Files in "/isodevice/var/transfer"

90DB55393055099F.key
Backup-SSH-Key-1.pub
escrow.corp.com.sec.key

Press any key to continue

Copy content of /isodevice/var/transfer to a USB disk

Use this if you exported a key, certificate, or other sensitive material earlier via the “use the directory instead” fallback and now need to move it off the appliance onto removable media (for example to store an escrow or backup secret key offsite).

Copy all files from "/isodevice/var/transfer" to the USB disk mounted at /mnt/usb (<Y>/n)? y
Copying "FD534875438.asc" to "/mnt/usb", copy complete.
Copying "backup-sto.pub" to "/mnt/usb", copy complete.
Copying "backup-mmo.pub" to "/mnt/usb", copy complete.

Copied 3 files from "/isodevice/var/transfer" to the USB disk mounted at /mnt/usb.

Warning

This directory can accumulate sensitive material over time (private keys, escrow secret keys, license files). Once you have moved what you need onto removable media, use “Remove content on /isodevice/var/transfer” (item 4) to clear it rather than leaving copies of secret keys sitting on the appliance indefinitely.

Remove content on /isodevice/var/transfer

Permanently deletes files from the staging directory, one at a time with a confirmation per file. Use this after copying sensitive material off to USB (see the warning above) to avoid leaving copies behind on the appliance.

Remove "backup-sto.pub"? (y/<N>): y
"/isodevice/var/transfer/backup-sto.pub" deleted.
Remove "escrow.corp.com.sec.key"? (y/<N>): n

Removed 1 file from "/isodevice/var/transfer"

Press any key to continue

Unmount any mounted USB disk

Use this option to forcefully unmount any mounted USB disk. If a disk is mounted, the below dialogue will appear.

Unmount USB? (<Y>/n) y
Successfully unmounted "/dev/sdb2".

Press any key to continue