Quick Start Guide for Intel Xeon® – Accelerator Engine: Intel® Software Guard Extensions (Intel® SGX)

Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors feature built-in accelerators and advanced security technologies for the most in-demand workload requirements, all while offering the greatest cloud choice and application portability. The processor family is ideally suited for high-performance workloads protected by Intel® SGX. Check the list of processors with Intel® SGX feature at Intel® Processors Supporting Intel® SGX.

Installing the Dependencies

For Linux Ubuntu* (and other Debian-based OS), run the below commands to install the required dependencies. For other Linux* distributions, check the instructions in the Intel® SGX SW Installation Guide for Linux. For Windows* installation instructions, refer to the Intel® SGX Installation Guide for Windows.

sudo apt-get install build-essential ocaml automake autoconf libtool wget python3 libssl-dev dkms
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python python /usr/bin/python3 1

Installing the Intel® SGX Data Center Attestation Primitives (DCAP) Driver

1. Download the latest Intel® SGX driver binary file from the appropriate distro directory: https://download.01.org/intel-sgx/latest/linux-latest/distro

wget https://download.01.org/intel-sgx/latest/dcap-latest/linux/distro/
${distro_name}/sgx_linux_x64_driver_${version}.bin

2. Set the protections to allow for the .bin file execution by running the below command:

chmod 777 sgx_linux_x64_driver_${version}.bin

3. Install the driver by running the command below:

sudo ./sgx_linux_x64_driver_${version}.bin

The installer also loads the DCAP driver and sets it to auto-load when the system reboots.

4. To verify the driver loaded correctly, check that the device shows up in the /dev folder as shown below:

ls -la /dev/sgx*
crw-------. 1 root root 10, 60 Mar 18 15:06 /dev/sgx_enclave
crw-------. 1 root root 10, 59 Mar 18 15:06 /dev/sgx_provision

5. After the DCAP driver installation, you can see a generated script uninstall.sh in the /opt/intel/sgxdriver directory. Use this script to uninstall the driver.

Installing the User Mode Software

The procedure for configuring a platform with the necessary Intel® SGX software packages, provided as binary installers and/or Debian packages, depends on the intended use of the platform. Choose the role that describes your needs best:

• Intel® SGX Application User: Install an Intel® SGX application that runs an Intel® SGX enclave on the system.
• Intel® SGX Application Developer: Build or develop an Intel® SGX application that runs an Intel® SGX enclave on the system.
• Intel® SGX Software Stack Developer or Builder: Build or develop the Intel® SGX Software Stack.

For more details, check the Intel® SGX Application User.

Running the Sample Codes

Sample codes and the instructions to run them can be found at linux-sgx/SampleCode at master · intel/linux-sgx · GitHub*.