CCSE 156-315.81 Checkpoint Study Notes

The difference between an event and a log is that a log entry becomes an event when it matches any rule defined in Event Policy. A log entry is a record of a network activity that is generated by a Security Gateway or a Management Server. An event is a log entry that meets certain criteria and triggers an action or a notification. The other options are either not true or not accurate definitions of events and logs. References: Check Point R81 Logging and Monitoring Administration Guide

 You can communicate with the API server using three command sources: SmartConsole GUI Console, mgmt_cli Tool, and Gaia CLI. Web Services are not a command source, but a way to access the API server using HTTP requests. References: Check Point Management APIs

Sticky Decision Function (SDF) is a feature that ensures that VPN traffic is handled by the same core on a Security Gateway with multiple CPU cores. This improves the performance and stability of VPN tunnels by avoiding out-of-order packets and reducing encryption overhead. However, the limitation of employing SDF is that acceleration technologies, such as SecureXL and CoreXL are disabled when activating SDF. This means that SDF may reduce the overall throughput and scalability of the Security Gateway. Therefore, SDF should be used only when necessary and only on gateways that are dedicated to VPN traffic. References: R81 Performance Tuning Administration Guide

The statement that is correct about the Sticky Decision Function is It is not supported with either the Performance pack of a hardware based accelerator card. The Sticky Decision Function (SDF) is a feature that ensures that packets from the same connection are handled by the same cluster member in a Load Sharing configuration. However, SDF is not compatible with SecureXL acceleration, which is enabled by default or by using a Performance pack or a hardware based accelerator card4. The other statements are either incorrect or outdated about SDF. References: Check Point R81 ClusterXL Administration Guide, Sticky Decision Function - Check Point CheckMates