Secure Mask Settings File (.smsf)

A proprietary file that the Quartus^® Prime Pro Edition Assembler optionally generates for Partial Reconfiguration (PR) bitstream security. When you license and enable PR bitstream security verification, the Programmer performs bit ownership and signals peek, poke, and contention checks prior to PR bitstream generation. The Programmer must verify the PR persona private Partially-Masked SRAM Object file (.pmsf) against the corresponding public Secure Mask Settings file (.smsf) to enable PR bitstream generation.

Note: PR bitstream security verification only supports Stratix^® 10 devices. This feature requires a separate license and .qsf setting to enable, as ../itw1547659286828.htm#itw1547659286828 describes.

The public .smsf contains a region ownership mask and comprehensive information to detect a peek or poke attack by the PR region’s persona. The private .pmsf contains comprehensive information that the Programmer requires to generate the PR bitstream for a Client region, including the actual bit settings, a region mask, and all the auxiliary bit masks.

The Programmer requires both the private .pmsf and public .smsf to generate the PR bitstream for the PR region, ensuring that the PR persona can only change bits that the persona owns. The Platform Owner may or may not release .smsf files to third-party Clients as part of the PR region collateral. The Platform Owner uses the .smsf to generate the PR bitstream from Client's .pmsf for this PR region with the Programmer.