AES Benchmark Tool

Users Guide

Introduction

The VIA AES Benchmark tool is a synthetic AES encryption benchmark for calculating AES encryption speeds through software as well as hardware, although it has to be noted that only computers equipped with the VIA C5P processor will be able to utilize the Hardware Encryption benchmark testing.

System Requirements

Software

Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP/2000.

AES Benchmark Software: AES Benchmark setup package for Windows.

Hardware

Personal computer with or without VIA processor

*Note that computers equipped with the VIA C5P processor, will allow the AES Benchmark Tool to perform both software and hardware AES encryption measurement by enabling the VIA C5Ps native AES acceleration feature.

VIA AES Benchmark Name Explained

The default setup name for the program in Windows is the VIA AES Benchmark Tool.win.AA.BB.YYMMDD.exe.

AES Benchmark Tool is the name of the utility. Win represents software for Windows and AA.BB.YYMMDD represents the software package version information, where:

AA is the major version number,

BB is the minor version number,

YYMMDD is the date, where YY indicates the year, MM the month, and DD the day.

For example; AES Benchmark Tool.win.01.02.040303 means a Windows program Windows, major version number 01, minor version number 02, and date of construction was 2004-03-03.

Installation for Windows

The AES Benchmark Tool software operates in Microsoft Windows XP/2000. The AES Benchmark Tool package needs to be installed before running. If users have the setup program for Windows, the program icon will be represented by a shield and is an executable program to install, repair or uninstall.

Install the program

Copy the AES Benchmark Tool setup program to the WindowsXP/2000 file system such as D:test, and then execute the setup program. The setup wizard will guide you through the AES Benchmark Tool installation process. Select the destination path you prefer, copy related lib files to the selected system path, add a shortcut of AES Benchmark Tool to the desktop, and add a folder for AES Benchmark Tool to the programs group in the start menu.

*Note that any string will be acceptable for the Serial Number field during the setup process.

Uninstalling the program

Users can use the AES Benchmark setup program to remove the program, or use the Windows Add/Remove Programs tool to remove it.

Execution

Execute in Windows

Users can execute the AES Benchmark Tool through the AES Benchmark Tool shortcut on the desktop or in the start menu.

Usually the user is only required to hit the Start Test button when the application dialog box is opened. There are options on the right side of the dialog box:

Test Info

In Test Info group, is the actual buffer size (in bytes) that is used to deal with data encryption and will be shown following the static tag Buffer Size. The user can input the loop count to specify how many thousand loops of encryption operations will be done with the data buffer. The CPU Type gives the processor information for the test machine.

 

Key Length

In the Key Length group, the user can select one of the three AES key-lengths (128-bits, 192-bits or 256-bits) to do the benchmark.

Test Software Encryption Option

If running the software on a C5P platform, users can uncheck the Test Software Encryption, allowing the program to only do the hardware encryption test.

On test machines without a C5P platform, the results will only reflect Software encryption. This option is checked by default.

Ratio SW/HW

The Ratio SW/HW group compares the rate of software encryption to hardware encryption for each cipher mode after the test has been completed. This information is only available when running the AES Benchmark Tool on a C5P platform with the Test Software Encryption option turned on.

Show Progress Option

If the user enables the Show Progress option, the progress bar will show the current test progress for each cipher mode. However, turning on this function could affect the accuracy of the benchmark results since it will increase the CPU overhead by handling the visual effects.

Fixed Graph Option

The 'Fixed Graph in Seconds' allows users to set the maximum scale on the display chart at the left side (/sec). For example, setting the fixed graph at 20 seconds will mean the maximum time calculated will be 20 seconds. However, if the test result is longer than that, it will only show 20 seconds. When this option is not selected, the display chart will automatically set the best scale (/sec) in accordance with the test result.

Interpretation

This benchmark defines 4 confidentiality modes of operation for use with an underlying symmetric key block cipher algorithm: Electronic Codebook (ECB), Cipher Block Chaining (CBC), Cipher Feedback (CFB), and Output Feedback (OFB). Used with and underlying block ciper algorithms that are approved in Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS), these modes can provide cryptographic protection for sensitive, but unclassified computer data.

Electronic Codebook (ECB)

The ECB mode is a confidentiality mode that features for a given key, the assignment of a fixed ciphertext block to each plaintext block, analogous to the assignment of code words in a codebook.

Cipher Block Chaining (CBC)

The CBC mode is a confidentiality mode whose encryption process features combining (chaining) of the plaintext blocks with the previous ciphertext blocks.

Cipher Feedback (CFB)

The CFB mode is a confidentiality mode that features the feedback of successive ciphertext segments into the input blocks of the forward cipher to generate output blocks that are exclusive-ORed with the plaintext to produce the ciphertext and vice versa.

Output Feedback (OFB)

The Output Feedback (OFB) mode is a confidentiality mode that features the iteration of the forward cipher on an IV to generate a sequence of output blocks that that are exclusive-ORed with the plaintext to produce the ciphertext, and vice versa.