CRYPTOGRAPHY ACCELERATOR APPLICATION PROGRAM INTERFACE

Methods and apparatus are provided for making function calls to various cryptography accelerators. An application program interface abstraction layer coupled to a cryptography accelerator receives generic function calls from designer configured software and performs operations such as security association management, policy management, packet processing, cryptography accelerator configuration, and key commit management. Upon receiving a generic function call, the abstraction layer performs processing to make a chip specific function call or update abstraction layer management information associated with the generic function call.