Check Point has recently released Gaia R80.10 for gateway, and together with the management version released last year, it is a powerful combination you definitely want to get to know better! If you are already running Gaia R77.30 or earlier versions, you will find R80 a little different initially, although the features you love are there when you get to know your way around the SmartConsole better. In my experience, R80 is what a Next Gen Firewall OS should be. There are no longer different applications for different tasks (e.g. SmartLog, SmartView Tracker etc) as it is consolidated into SmartConsole.
Some Interesting Features of R80
With a complete rewrite of the code, R80 offers some new features to make firewall administration a smoother experience than before.
Unified Policy – an improvement on R77 and previous versions, this offers a single policy for network, users, data, and applications.
Layered Policy –A blade can have its own set of policies. You can have a Network policy, and an Application policy. They appear as two ordered policies.
Collaboration – Multiple users can be logged in simultaneously to the SmartConsole, and each work in their own sessions. Sessions can then be published for all other admins to view, before be installed.
Integration – In addition to the command line interface, you can create and run API scripts to manage configuration and operations on the Security Management Server to automate tasks. Creating address objects from the CLI becomes simple.
Consolidation – Security management and reporting from one console allows for a simpler, focused effort at keeping your network secure.
While Gaia R80 was released for only the SMS, Gaia R80.10 will be available for both SMS and gateway from March 2017. Check Point Education Services have also released the corresponding courseware for R80.10, which takes you in detail about the product and how best to deploy it in your environment.
If you have previously attended a CCSA or CCSE course for the R77.xx versions, and wondering if it’s worth attending the new version, I can assure you it is well worth your time to do so. You will find new information in the latest offering, as new chapters have been added, and others tailored for R80 (e.g. monitoring/logs). The CCSA R70.xx is a 2 day course, but the CCSA R80 is a 3 day course due to the emphasis on labs. You don’t need previous Check Point experience to attend the CCSA.
Red Education Can Help You
If you have an R80 SMS and R77.xx gateways, then we can discuss how to best manage this, and get the most out of your configuration. If both gateway and SMS are on R80.10, we can discuss the best way forward for that as well.
Red Education currently offers both versions of CCSA, and when R80.10 courseware is released, both versions of CCSE as well for some time. Red Education’s instructors were involved in courseware and exam development for the CCSE, so you are sure to get the best training experience in class from us!
If you’d like to know more about CCSA-R80 and CCSE-R80 course content, check the course outlines page on Red Education’s website
By: Sanjay Kanesamoorthy
Senior Trainer/Consultant at Red Education
