156-315.81 Exam Dumps - Checkpoint CCSE R81 Questions and Answers

 Office mode is a feature that allows a security gateway to assign a remote client an IP address from a network that is protected by the security gateway. This way, the remote client can access resources on the internal network as if it was physically connected to it. The IP address is assigned to the remote client after the user authenticates for a tunnel, and it is routable, meaning that it can be reached by other hosts on the network. Office mode is useful for scenarios where the remote client needs to use applications that rely on IP addresses, such as VoIP or file sharing12.

References: 1: Support, Support Requests, Training … - Check Point Software 2: Gaia R81.20 Administration Guide - Check Point Software

The R81 SmartConsole, SmartEvent GUI client, and SmartView Web Application consolidate billions of logs and show them as prioritized security events. The SmartView Web Application is a web-based interface that allows you to access the SmartEvent Server from any browser. You can use the SmartView Web Application to view and analyze security events, generate reports, and configure SmartEvent settings12.

References: 1: Check Point R81 SmartConsole User Guide - Check Point Software, page 10 2: Check Point R81 SmartEvent Administration Guide - Check Point Software, page 9

Browser-based Authentication is a method of acquiring identities from unidentified users by sending them to a web page where they can log in and authenticate. Browser-based Authentication uses two techniques to acquire identities: Captive Portal and Transparent Kerberos Authentication1.

Captive Portal is a simple method that attempts authentication through a web interface before granting a user access to Intranet resources. When a user tries to access a protected resource, they are redirected to a web page where they have to enter their credentials. The credentials are verified by the Identity Awareness Security Gateway or an external authentication server. If the authentication is successful, the user’s identity is associated with their IP address and they are allowed to access the resource12.

Transparent Kerberos Authentication is a more seamless method that leverages the existing Kerberos infrastructure in the network. When a user tries to access a protected resource, the Identity Awareness Security Gateway intercepts the Kerberos ticket request and extracts the user’s identity from it. The user’s identity is then associated with their IP address and they are allowed to access the resource without any additional prompts. This method requires that the Identity Awareness Security Gateway is configured as a trusted proxy in the Active Directory domain12.

Therefore, the correct answer is B. Browser-based Authentication sends users to a web page to acquire identities using Captive Portal and Transparent Kerberos Authentication.

References:

• 1, THE IMPORTANCE OF ACCESS ROLES - Check Point Software, page 2
• 2, Browser-based Authentication Check Point - Bing
• 3, How to Configure Client Authentication - Check Point Software, page 1
• 4, Identity Sources - Check Point Software
• 5, Configuring Browser-Based Authentication - Check Point Software
• 6, Two Factor Authentication - Check Point Software

 By default, when the CPUSE Software Updates Policy is set to Automatic, updates are checked every three hours3. This means that the CPUSE agent will automatically download and install updates that match the policy settings every three hours. The other options are not the default values for the CPUSE Software Updates Policy. References: 3: Check Point Software, Getting Started, CPUSE Software Updates Policy.

 The CPU load on a Secure Network Distributor (SND) indicates how much processing power is available for distributing traffic among cluster members. If the CPU load is high, it means that the SND is overloaded and cannot handle more traffic efficiently. A good indicator of SND overload is when the Idle CPU percentage is less than 20%. In this case, you may need to add another SND to balance the load or optimize your cluster configuration. References: Getting Started - Check Point Software, section “Monitoring ClusterXL Status”

 The command that would be used to set the network interfaces’ affinity in Manual mode is sim affinity -s. Sim affinity is a command that allows administrators to view and modify the CPU core affinity of network interfaces and SecureXL instances. Core affinity is a feature that binds network interfaces and SecureXL instances to specific CPU cores, which improves the performance and load balancing of the Security Gateway. Sim affinity -s sets the network interfaces’ affinity in Manual mode, which means that administrators can manually assign network interfaces to CPU cores. The other options are either invalid or perform different functions. 

Secure Network Distributor (SND) is a relevant feature of the Security Gateway because it is used to distribute packets among Firewall instances. SND is a technology that improves the performance and scalability of the Security Gateway by using multiple cores to handle concurrent connections. SND consists of two components: SND driver and Firewall instances. SND driver is responsible for receiving packets from network interfaces and distributing them to Firewall instances based on a load balancing algorithm. Firewall instances are responsible for inspecting packets according to security policies and forwarding them to their destinations. The other options are either incorrect or not related to SND.

The tool that is used to enable ClusterXL is cpconfig. ClusterXL is a software-based Load Sharing and High Availability solution that distributes network traffic between clusters of redundant Security Gateways1. ClusterXL can be enabled on Check Point Security Gateways running on Gaia OS, SecurePlatform OS, IPSO OS, or X-Series XOS2.

To enable ClusterXL, the administrator must run the cpconfig command on each cluster member and select the option to enable ClusterXL. This will prompt the administrator to choose the ClusterXL mode (High Availability or Load Sharing) and the Cluster Control Protocol (CCP) mode (Broadcast or Multicast). After enabling ClusterXL, the administrator must reboot the cluster members for the changes to take effect34.

Therefore, the correct answer is B. The tool that is used to enable ClusterXL is cpconfig.

References:

• 1, Introduction to ClusterXL - Check Point Software
• 2, ClusterXL Requirements and Compatibility - Check Point Software
• 3, Configuring ClusterXL - Check Point Software
• 4, How to configure ClusterXL - Check Point Software Technologies

The true statement about the API server on R81.20 is: By default, the API server is active on management servers with 4 GB of RAM (or more) and on stand-alone servers with 8GB of RAM (or more). The API server is a web service that allows external applications to interact with the Check Point management server using standard methods such as HTTP(S) requests and JSON objects. The API server is enabled by default on R81.20 management servers that have at least 4 GB of RAM, and on stand-alone servers that have at least 8 GB of RAM. The API server can also be manually enabled or disabled from the WebUI or the CLI. 

Once a certificate is revoked from the Security Gateway by the Security Management Server, the certificate information is stored on the Certificate Revocation List (CRL). The CRL is a list of certificates that have been revoked by the Internal Certificate Authority (ICA) and are no longer valid for Secure Internal Communication (SIC). The CRL is signed by the ICA and issued to all the managed Security Gateways the next time a SIC connection is made12. The CRL helps to prevent unauthorized access to the Security Management Server by revoked Security Gateways.

References: 1: How to renew SIC after changing IP Address of Security Management Server - Check Point Software, Solution ID: sk43784 2: Check Point R81 Security Engineering Guide - Check Point Software, page 162

After trust has been established between the Check Point components, the Security Gateway IP address cannot be changed without re-establishing the trust. This is because the trust is based on the Secure Internal Communication (SIC) mechanism, which uses certificates to authenticate and encrypt the communication. The certificates are issued by the Internal Certificate Authority (ICA) of the Security Management Server / Domain Management Server, and contain the name and IP address of the component. Therefore, if the IP address of a component is changed, the certificate will become invalid and the trust will be lost. To restore the trust, the certificate must be renewed or reissued by the ICA12.

However, there are some exceptions to this rule. The Security Gateway name can be changed in command line without re-establishing trust, as long as the IP address remains the same. This is because the SIC mechanism does not rely on the hostname, but on the IP address and the SIC name (which is usually derived from the hostname, but can be manually changed). The Security Management Server name can be changed in SmartConsole without re-establishing trust, as long as the IP address remains the same. This is because SmartConsole uses a different mechanism to connect to the Security Management Server, which does not depend on the SIC certificate. The Security Management Server IP address can be changed without re-establishing trust, as long as some steps are followed to update the Check Point Registry file on the managed Security Gateways / Cluster Members / VSX Virtual Devices. This is because the Registry file contains the IP address of the ICA, which is used for certificate renewal. If the Registry file is not updated, then the certificate renewal will fail and the trust will be lost3.

References: 1: Check Point R81 Security Administration Guide - Check Point Software, page 162 2: Check Point R81 Security Engineering Guide - Check Point Software, page 162 3: How to renew SIC after changing IP Address of Security Management Server - Check Point Software, Solution ID: sk103356

The port that the CPM process runs on is TCP 19009. CPM stands for Check Point Management, and it is the main process that runs on the Security Management Server and interacts with SmartConsole clients. CPM is responsible for managing policies, objects, logs, tasks, and other management functions. CPM listens on TCP port 19009 for incoming connections from SmartConsole clients. The other ports are either used by other processes or not related to CPM. 

High alert is not an alert option in Check Point. Alert options are ways to notify the administrator or other parties when a security event occurs. The available alert options are SNMP, Mail, User defined alert, Log, Popup alert, and User alert. References: Training & Certification | Check Point Software, Check Point Resource Library

The correct statement about Security Gateway and Security Management Server failover in Check Point R81.X in terms of Check Point Redundancy driven solution is: Security Gateway failover is an automatic procedure but Security Management Server failover is a manual procedure. Security Gateway failover is a feature that allows a cluster of Security Gateways to provide high availability and load balancing for network traffic. If one Security Gateway fails or becomes unreachable, another Security Gateway in the cluster automatically takes over its role and handles the traffic without interrupting the service. Security Management Server failover is a feature that allows a backup Security Management Server to take over the role of the primary Security Management Server in case of failure or disaster. However, this feature requires manual intervention to activate the backup server and restore the database from a backup file. 

Tom’s changes will have been stored on the Management when he reconnects and he will not lose any of his work.

This is because SmartConsole has a feature called Concurrent Administration, which allows multiple administrators to work on the same Security Policy simultaneously, without blocking each other or creating conflicts. Concurrent Administration uses a locking mechanism to prevent multiple administrators from modifying the same rule or object at the same time. When an administrator clicks on a rule or an object, it becomes locked and a lock icon appears next to it. The lock icon shows the name of the administrator who is working on that rule or object, and prevents other administrators from editing it until it is unlocked12.

Concurrent Administration also has a feature called Session Persistence, which preserves the changes made by an administrator in case of a network failure or a SmartConsole crash. When an administrator reconnects to the Management Server after a network failure or a SmartConsole crash, they can resume their work from where they left off, without losing any changes. The changes are stored locally on the administrator’s machine until they are published to the Management Server13.

Therefore, if Tom has connected to the R81 Management Server remotely using SmartConsole and is in the process of making some Rule Base changes, when he suddenly loses connectivity, his changes will not be lost. They will be stored locally on his machine and he can resume his work when he reconnects to the Management Server.