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71
72</div>
73<hr class="hide">
74<div id="mainContent">
75
76
77
78
79<center>
80<h2>NSS FAQ</h2>
81<i><FONT SIZE="-1">
82
83Newsgroup:
84<A HREF="news://news.mozilla.org/mozilla.dev.tech.crypto">mozilla.dev.tech.crypto</A>
85
86</FONT></i>
87</center>
88
89<p>
90<hr>
91<p>
92
93<a href="#Q1">General Questions</a>
94
95<ul>
96<li>
97<a href="#Q1.1">What is Network Security Services (NSS)?</a></li>
98<li>
99<a href="#Q1.2">What can I do with NSS? Is NSS appropriate for my application?</a></li>
100<li>
101<a href="#q1.2a">How does NSS compare to OpenSSL?</a></li>
102<li>
103<a href="#q1.3">How does NSS compare to SSLRef?</a></li>
104<li>
105<a href="#q1.4">What platforms and development environments are supported?</a></li>
106<li>
107<a href="#q1.5">What cryptography standards are supported?</a></li>
108<li>
109<a href="#q1.7">What is the relationship between NSS and PSM?</a></li>
110<li>
111<a href="#q1.7">Where can I get the source?</a></li>
112<li>
113<a href="#q1.8">How much does it cost?</a></li>
114</ul>
115
116<a href="#Q2">Developer Questions</a>
117<ul>
118<li>
119<a href="#q2.1">What hardware accelerators are supported?</a></li>
120<li>
121<a href="#q2.2">How do I integrate smart cards into my application using
122NSS?</a></li>
123<li>
124<a href="#q2.3">How is NSS compatible with other Netscape products?</a></li>
125<li>
126<a href="#q2.4">Does NSS require Netscape Portable Runtime (NSPR)?</a></li>
127<li>
128<a href="#q2.5">Can I use NSS even if my application protocol isn't HTTP?</a></li>
129<li>
130<a href="#q2.6">How long does it take to integrate NSS into my application?</a></li>
131<li>
132<a href="#q2.6">How can I learn more about SSL?</a></li>
133</ul>
134
135<a href="#Q3">Licensing Questions</a>
136<ul>
137<li>
138<a href="#q3.1">How is NSS licensed?</a>
139<li>
140<a href="#q3.2">Is NSS available outside the United States?</a></li>
141</ul>
142<h2>
143 <a NAME="Q1"><hr WIDTH="100%"></a>General Questions</h2>
144<a NAME="Q1.1"></a><H4>What is Network Security Services (NSS)?</h4>
145<P>NSS is set of libraries, APIs, utilities, and documentation designed
146to support cross-platform development of security-enabled client and
147server applications. It provides a complete open-source implementation
148of the crypto libraries used by Netscape and other companies in the
149Netscape 6 browser, server products from iPlanet E-Commerce Solutions, the
150Gateway Connected Touch Pad with Instant AOL, and other products.
151
152<p>For an
153overview of NSS, see <a href="overview.html">Overview of NSS</a>. For detailed information
154on the open-source NSS project, see <a href="index.html">NSS Project Page</a>.
155   
156<br> 
157<a NAME="Q1.2"></a><H4>What can I do with NSS?  Is NSS appropriate for
158my application?</h4>
159<P>If you want add support for SSL, S/MIME, or other Internet security standards
160to your application, you can use Network Security Services (NSS) to do so. Because
161NSS provides complete support for all versions of SSL and TLS, it is particularly well-suited
162for applications that need to communicate with the many clients and servers
163that already support the SSL protocol.
164<p>The PKCS #11 interface included in NSS means that your application can
165use <a href="#q2.1">hardware accelerators</a>  on the server and <a href="#q2.2">smart
166cards</a> for two-factor authentication.
167<br> 
168
169 <a NAME="q1.2a"></a><H4>How does NSS compare to OpenSSL?</h4>
170
171<a href="http://www.openssl.org/">OpenSSL</a> is an open source project that implements server-side SSL,
172TLS, and a general-purpose cryptography library. It does not support PKCS #11. It is based on
173the SSLeay library developed by Eric A. Young and Tim J. Hudson. OpenSSL is widely used in
174Apache servers and is licensed under an Apache-style licence.
175
176<p>NSS supports both server and client applications as well as PKCS #11 and S/MIME. To permit its use
177in as many contexts as possible,
178NSS is triple-licensed under the <a href="../../../../MPL/">Mozilla Public License</a>, the
179<a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GNU General Public License</a>,
180and the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/lesser.html">GNU Lesser General Public License</a>.
181You may choose to use the code either under the terms of the MPL or the GPL or the LGPL.
182
183<a NAME="q1.3"></a><H4>How does NSS compare to SSLRef?</h4>
184SSLRef was an early reference implementation of the SSL protocol. It contains
185bugs that were never fixed, doesn't support TLS or or the
186new 56-bit export cipher suites, and does not contain the fix to the
187Bleichenbacher attack on PKCS#1.
188
189<p>Netscape no longer maintains SSLRef or makes it available. It was built as
190an example of an SSL implementation, not for creating production applications.
191
192<p>NSS was designed from the ground up for use by commercial developers.
193It provides a complete software development kit
194that uses the same architecture used to support security features in many client
195and server products from Netscape and other companies.
196
197<a NAME="q1.4"></a><H4>What platforms and development environments are supported?</h4>
198<P>iPlanet E-Commerce Solutions has certified NSS 3.1 on 18 platforms, including AIX 4.3, HP-UX 11.0,
199Red Hat Linux 6.0, Solaris (2.6 or later), Windows NT (4.0 or later), and
200Windows 2000. Other contributors are in the process of certifying additional platforms.
201The NSS 3.1 API requires C or C++ development environments.
202
203<p>For the latest NSS release notes and detailed platform information, see
204<a href="release_notes_31.html">NSS 3.1 Release Notes</a>.
205
206<a NAME="q1.5"></a><H4>What cryptography standards does NSS support?</h4>
207<P>NSS supports <a HREF="../../../docs/jargon.html#SSL">SSL v2 and v3</a>,
208        <a HREF="../../../../docs/jargon.html#TLS">TLS</a>,
209        <a HREF="../../../../docs/jargon.html#PKCS5">PKCS #5</a>,
210        <a HREF="../../../../docs/jargon.html#PKCS7">PKCS #7</a>,
211        <a HREF="../../../../docs/jargon.html#PKCS11">PKCS #11</a>, 
212        <a HREF="../../../../docs/jargon.html#PKCS12">PKCS #12</a>,
213        <a HREF="../../../../docs/jargon.html#SMIME">S/MIME</a>, and
214        <a HREF="../../../../docs/jargon.html#X.509">X.509 v3</a> certificates.
215For complete details,
216see <a href="nss-3.11/nss-3.11-algorithms.html">
217Encryption Technologies</a>.
218
219<a NAME="q1.6"></a><H4>What is the relationship between NSS and PSM?</H4>
220
221Personal Security Manager (PSM) is built on top of NSS. It consists of libraries
222and a daemon designed to support cross-platform development of security-enabled
223client applications. The PSM binary provides a client module
224that performs cryptographic operations on behalf of applications.
225Netscape Personal Security Manager ships with Netscape 6 and the Gateway Connected Touch Pad with Instant AOL,
226and is also available for use with Communicagotr 4.7x.
227
228<p>For more information about the PSM open-source project, see <a href="../psm">Personal Security Manager</a>.
229
230<a NAME="q1.7"></a><H4>Where can I get the source code?</H4>
231
232For instructions on how to check out and build the NSS 3.1 source code, see
233<a href="buildnss_31.html">Build Instructions for NSS 3.1.</a> The source code may also
234be downloaded as a tar file from
235<a href="ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/security/">ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/security/</a>.
236
237<a NAME="q1.8"></a><H4>How much does it cost?</H4>
238
239NSS source code and binaries (when they become available) are completely free. No license fees,
240no royalty fees, no subscription fees.
241
242
243<a NAME="Q2"><h2>
244<hr WIDTH="100%"></a>Developer Questions</h2>
245
246<a NAME="q2.1"></a><H4>What hardware accelerators are supported?</h4>
247<P>NSS supports the PKCS #11 interface for hardware acceleration. Since leading accelerator vendors such as
248Chrysalis-IT, nCipher, and Rainbow Technologies also support this interface, NSS-enabled applications
249can support a wide variety of hardware accelerators.
250<a NAME="q2.2"></a><H4>How do I integrate smart cards into my application using
251NSS?</h4>
252<P>NSS supports the PKCS #11 interface for smart card integration. Applications that use the PKCS #11
253interface provided by NSS will therefore support smart cards from leading vendors such as
254ActiveCard, Litronic, and SecureID Technologies that also support the PKCS #11 interface.
255
256<a NAME="q2.3"></a><H4>How is NSS compatible with other Netscape products?</h4>
257<P>NSS provides tight integration with other Netscape products in two ways.
258First, by using NSS to implement SSL and TLS, you can support SSL communications
259with all products from Netscape and all other vendors
260that support SSL<FONT color="#CC0000"> and TLS.</FONT> Second, NSS makes it easy
261to share certificates between Netscape client and server products
262and your application.
263
264<a NAME="q2.4"></a><H4>Does NSS require Netscape Portable Runtime (NSPR)?</h4>
265<P>To provide cross-platform support, NSS utilizes Netscape Portable Runtime
266(NSPR) libraries as a portability interface and implementation that
267provides consistent cross-platform semantics for network I/O and threading
268models. You can use NSPR throughout your application or
269only in the portion that calls into NSS. Netscape strongly recommends that
270multithreaded applications use the NSPR or native OS threading model. (In
271recent NSPR releases, the NSPR threading model is compatible with the native
272threading model if the OS has native threads.) Alternatively, you can adapt
273the open-source NSPR implementation to be compatible with your existing
274application's threading models. More information about NSPR may be found at
275<a href="http://www.mozilla.org/projects/nspr/">Netscape Portable Runtime</a>.
276<br> 
277
278<a NAME="q2.5"></a><H4>Can I use NSS even if my application protocol isn't
279HTTP?</h4>
280<P>Yes, SSL independent of application protocols. It works with common
281Internet standard application protocols (HTTP, POP3, FTP, SMTP, etc.) as
282well as custom application protocols using TCP/IP.
283
284<br> 
285<a NAME="q2.6"></a><H4>How long does it take to integrate NSS into my application?</h4>
286<P>The integration effort depends on an number of factors, such as developer
287skill set, application complexity, and the level of security required for
288your application. NSS includes detailed documentation of the SSL API and
289sample code that demonstrates basic SSL functionality (setting up an encrypted
290session, server authentication, and client authentication) to help jump start the
291integration process. However, there is little or no documentation currently
292available for the rest of the NSS API. If your application requires sophisticated
293certificate management, smart card support, or hardware acceleration, your
294integration effort will be more extensive.
295
296<a NAME="q2.7"></a><H4> Where can I download the NSS tools?</h4>
297
298Currently, you must download the NSS source and build it to create binary files for the NSS tools.
299For more information, see <A HREF="tools/">NSS Tools</A>.
300
301
302<a NAME="q2.8"></a><H4>How can I learn more about SSL?</h4>
303
304NSS provides extensive documentation related to SSL, including high-level introductions,
305detailed API documentation, sample code for simple client and server
306applications, the original SSL 3.0 specification, and
307information on debugging SSL applications. For details, see the
308<a href="ssl/">SSL/TLS Project Page</a>. For information about the NSS tools, including those used
309for debugging SSL applications, see <a href="http://www.mozilla.org/projects/security/pki/nss/tools/">
310NSS Security Tools</a>.
311
312<a NAME="Q3"><h2>
313<hr WIDTH="100%"></a>Licensing Questions</h2>
314<H4><a NAME="q3.1"></a>How is NSS licensed?</h4>
315<P>NSS is triple-licensed under the <a href="../../../../MPL/">Mozilla Public License</a>, the
316<a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GNU General Public License</a>,
317and the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/lesser.html">GNU Lesser General Public License</a>.
318For more details, see the <a href="http://www.mozilla.org/crypto-faq.html#1-3">Mozilla Crypto FAQ</a>.
319
320<a NAME="q3.2"></a><H4>Is NSS available outside the United States?</h4>
321<P>Yes; see
322<a href="buildnss_31.html">Build Instructions for NSS 3.1.</a> and
323<a href="ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/security/">ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/security/</a>.
324However, NSS source code is subject to the U.S. Export
325Administration Regulations and other U.S. law, and may not be exported or
326re-exported to certain
327countries (currently Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria) or
328to persons or entities prohibited from receiving U.S. exports (including
329those (a) on the Bureau of Industry and Security Denied Parties List or
330Entity List, (b) on the Office of Foreign Assets Control list of Specially
331Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons, and (c) involved with missile
332technology or nuclear, chemical or biological weapons).
333
334<p>For more information about U.S. export controls on encryption software,
335see the <a href="http://www.mozilla.org/crypto-faq.html">Mozilla Crypto FAQ</a>.
336
337
338 
339
340
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356<p>
357<span>Last modified July 12,  2007</span>
358<span><a href="http://bonsai-www.mozilla.org/cvslog.cgi?file=mozilla-org/html/projects/security/pki/nss/faq.html&amp;rev=&amp;root=/www/">Document History</a></span>
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