Zeroizing the System
Your switch is not considered a valid FIPS cryptographic module until all critical security parameters (CSPs) have been entered—or reentered—while the switch is in FIPS mode.
For FIPS 140-2 compliance, you must zeroize the system to remove sensitive information before disabling FIPS mode on the switch.
As Security Administrator, you run the request system zeroize command to remove all user-created files from a switch and replace the user data with zeros. This command completely erases all configuration information on the Routing Engines, including all rollback configuration files and plain-text passwords, secrets, and private keys for SSH, local encryption, local authentication, and IPsec.
To zeroize your switch:
Perform system zeroization with care. After the zeroization process is complete, no data is left on the Routing Engine. The switch is returned to the factory default state, without any configured users or configuration files.
- From the CLI, enter
root@switch> request system zeroize
warning: System will be rebooted and may not boot without configuration
Erase all data, including configuration and log files? [yes, no] (no) - To initiate the zeroization process, type yes at the prompt:
Erase all data, including configuration and log files? [yes, no] (no)
yeswarning: zeroizing localre
The entire operation can take considerable time depending on the size of the media, but all critical security parameters (CSPs) are removed within a few seconds. The physical environment must remain secure until the zeroization process is complete.