Running SGX Enclaves and TDX VMs on the Same OpenMetal Server

Q: Can I run Intel SGX enclaves and TDX VMs on the same OpenMetal server?

Intel SGX enclaves and TDX VMs can run concurrently on the same OpenMetal XXL v4 — TDX and SGX operate at different layers of the hardware security stack and do not conflict.

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TDX creates memory-isolated Trust Domains for entire virtual machines, enforced by the CPU memory controller. SGX creates Encrypted Page Cache regions for individual application enclaves, enforced at the memory page level. Because they operate at different granularities, an SGX enclave can run inside a TDX VM or directly on the bare metal host alongside running TDX VMs.

A common configuration on the XXL v4 is a key management service (such as HashiCorp Vault with an SGX backend) running in a 128GB EPC enclave, while application workloads run in TDX Trust Domains. TDX VMs can consume keys from the SGX enclave via local attestation — the enclave proves its key management code is unmodified, and the TDX VM proves it is operating in an isolated trust domain.

Both TDX and SGX include remote attestation: cryptographic reports that allow external parties to verify the configuration and software state of a trust domain or enclave before transmitting sensitive data into it.