You have been looking to establish the use of extensible key

You have been looking to establish the use of extensible key management (EKM ) for a database that contains highly valuable data. Currently your SQL Server is running Windows Server 2008 64 bit with SQL Server Standard Edition also using 64 bit. What steps must you take in order to implement EKM?

a. Create a provider object in SQL Server for each instance of SQL Server and specify a dll file.

b. Contact a third-party EKM provider and storing their software and possibly a Hardware Security Module. Install this software.

c. Upgrade to Enterprise Edition of SQL Server.

d. All of the above are required.

Solution

The answer is option (d) All of the above are required.
EKM means Extensible Key Management.
That means to implement EKM we need: