Ace Your 156-315.81 CCSE Exam

 For Wire mode configuration, chain modules marked with 00000001 will not apply. Wire mode is a special configuration that allows a Security Gateway to pass traffic without inspection, acting as a bridge between two network segments. In Wire mode, only chain modules that are essential for basic functionality are applied, such as VPN, QoS, ClusterXL, and SecureXL. Chain modules that are related to inspection-based Software Blades, such as Firewall, IPS, Application Control, and so on, are skipped. The chain modules that are skipped are marked with 00000001 in the output of fw ctl chain command. References: Wire Mode

 The correct description for the Dynamic Balancing / Split feature is:

• Dynamic Balancing / Split dynamically change the number of SND’s and firewall instances based on the current load.
• It is only available on Quantum Appliances (not on Quantum Spark or Open Server)

The Dynamic Balancing / Split feature is a performance-enhancing daemon that balances the load between CoreXL SNDs and CoreXL Firewalls. It monitors the average CPU utilization of CoreXL Firewall and SND instances and automatically increases or decreases the number of CoreXL Firewall instances. The Dynamic Balancing Daemon (dsd) has three stages in each iteration: Examine the current CPU utilization, Calculate the optimal split, and Apply the new split1.

The Dynamic Balancing / Split feature is supported on Check Point Appliances, such as Quantum Appliances, Quantum Maestro, Quantum Security Gateways, and Quantum LightSpeed Appliances in KPPAK mode2. It is not supported on Quantum Spark appliances, which are designed for small and medium businesses. It is also not supported on Open Server platforms, which are general-purpose servers that run Check Point software on top of third-party operating systems.

References: Dynamic Balancing for CoreXL; Maestro and Dynamic Balancing (Dynamic Split); Dynamic Balancing available on R80.40; [Quantum Spark Appliances]; [Open Server]

The lowest gateway version supported by R81.20 management server is R77.30. According to the Check Point Release Map1, you can upgrade to R81.20 from R77.30, R80, R80.10, R80.20.M1, R80.20, R80.20SP, R80.20.M2, R80.20 3.10, R80.30, R80.30 3.10, R80.30SP, R80.40, R81 and R81.20. However, to upgrade from R77.30, R80 and R80.10, you first need to upgrade to R80.40. For more information, you can refer to the Check Point R81.20 (Titan) Release Home page2 or the Certified Security Expert (CCSE) R81.20 Course Overview3.

The valid SecureXL paths in R81.20 are F2F (Slow path), Accelerated Path, Medium Path and F2V1. SecureXL is a technology that accelerates the performance of the Security Gateway by offloading CPU-intensive operations to the SecureXL device2. SecureXL uses different paths to process packets, depending on the type and state of the connection3. The SecureXL paths are3:

• F2F (Slow path): This path handles packets that require a full inspection by the Firewall kernel. It is the slowest path, but it supports all features and blades. Examples of packets that use this path are packets that belong to a new connection, packets that match a rule with UTM blades, or packets that require address translation.
• Accelerated Path: This path handles packets that belong to an established connection that does not require any further inspection by the Firewall kernel. It is the fastest path, but it supports only a limited set of features and blades. Examples of packets that use this path are packets that match an accept rule with no UTM blades, or packets that match a rule with SecureXL acceleration enabled.
• Medium Path: This path handles packets that belong to an established connection that requires some inspection by the Firewall kernel, but not a full inspection. It is faster than the F2F path, but slower than the Accelerated path. It supports more features and blades than the Accelerated path, but less than the F2F path. Examples of packets that use this path are packets that match a rule with IPS or Anti-Bot blades, or packets that require NAT templates.
• F2V: This path handles packets that are encapsulated or decapsulated by the VPN kernel. It is faster than the F2F path, but slower than the Accelerated path. It supports VPN features such as encryption, decryption, encapsulation, and decapsulation. References: R81.x Security Gateway Architecture (Logical Packet Flow) - Check Point CheckMates, SecureXL Mechanism in R80.10 and above - Check Point Software, SecureXL - Check Point Software