Checkpoint Basics Interview Questions

Checkpoint Basics Interview Questions

Question
 
What is checkpoint?
Answer
 
Checkpoint is a firewall vendor, this will accept/denies the traffic passing through it according to the rules created
 
Question
What is f/w-1 model of operation..?
 
Answer
Firewall Model works on Client-Server Model
 
Question
NAT can be done from checkpoint?
Answer
Yes
 
Question
What are the auths schemes types supported by fw ?
Answer
 
There are 3 types User Authentication, Session Authentication and Client Authentication
 
Question
What is the current version for checkpoint?
 
Answer
The current checkpoint version is R77.30
 
Question
 
What are the major differences between SPLAT and GAIA
Answer
GAIA is the latest version of Checkpoint which is combination of SPLAT and IPSO
 
Question
What is the main different between cpstop/cpstart and fwstop/fwstart?
 
Answer
 
Using CPstop and CPstart will restart all Checkpoint components. The fwstop and fwstart will only restart the VPN/Firewall
 
Question
what is the command for debug the logs?
Answer
The command for debug is fw ctl zdebug
 
Question
What we should do when we observe the tracker has stopped receiving logs from the enforcement module ?
Answer
Need to verify the var/log directory on the gateways, need to verify the port 257 which is responsible for logs to forward on Gateway & Management Server.
 
Question
 
Does CheckPoint 2000 VPN-1/FW-1 support Kerberos ?
Answer
 
No Checkpoint 2000 VPN dosent support Kerberos
 
Question
What are basic check point commands like assigning a IP address, checking memory, port status…etc????
Answer
To Check Memory – free cpstat -f memory os To check port status – ifconfig -a To Assign IP address – We can do it through webui
 
Question
Which are the services supported by VPN / F/w-1 user auth ?
Answer
 
Services Supported by VPN/FW-1 are TELNET,FTP,HTTP,HTTPS,RLOGIN
 
Question
How to see the current connection counts in firewall ?
Answer
To view the current connections use the command fw tab -t connections – s
 
Question
Checkpoint will support VM ?
 
Answer
 
yes Checkpoint will support VM
 
Question
 
What are the backup procedures in Checkpoint?
 
Answer
There are 3 different backup Procedures in Checkpoint Snapshot, Backup and upgrade_export
 
Question
 
How to see the status of power supply units in checkpoint UTM firewalls ?
Answer
 
To view the Power supply status run the command cpstat os -f power_supply
 
Question
 
How to see whether the OS is 32 bit or 64 bit ?
 
Answer
to view OS bit run uname -a For 64 bit mode you will see 2.6.18-92cpx86_64 # promt For 32 bit mode, you’l see 2.6.18-92cp #1 prompt
 
Question
 
What are the parameters required for f/w-1 security policy login by admin?
 
Answer
The parameters required for firewall are Username, Management Server Name and Password
 
Question
 
What are the two types of Check Point NG licenses?
Answer
The 2 Tyes of Checkpoint NG Licenses are, Central – these are the new model licensing for NG and are bound to the smart center server. Local Licenses – These are the legacy license model and are bound to the enforecement model
 
Question
 
Tell me the architecture of checkpoint firewall ?
Answer
Checkpoint Arch comprises of 4 main components Core Technology,Central Management, Open Architecture and Universal-update ability
 
Question
Why checkpoint & fortigate are implemented in same environment?
Answer
 
It mainly depends on the customer requirement to implement Checkpoint & Fortigate
 
Question
 
How many types of NAT are there in Check Point?
Answer
 
The types of NAT are Static NAT Dynamic NAT Automatic NAT Manual NAT Server side NAT Client Side NAT
 
Question
What are the different types of VPN?
 
Answer
 
The different types of VPN are Remote Access VPN Site to Site VPN (Intranet Based) & (Extranet Based)
 
Question
Which of the applications in Check Point technology can be used to configure security objects ?
Answer
Smartdashboard is used to configure security objects in checkpoint
 
Question
Why do we configure Cleanup rule in Checkpoint ? Is it really require ?
Answer
Clean up Rule is configured in order to view the traffic which are getting dropped. If not enabled then by default it will drop but there wont be log triggered in Tracker.
 
Question
What is the difference between Stealth Rule & Clean up Rule in Checkpoint ?
Answer
Stealth rule is the first rule in rule base that prevents traffic from directly accessing the firewall itself. Cleanup rule is the last rule in the rule base that will capture the log which are dropped after go through all the policies configured.
 
Question
Tell me the process to run and read the TCPDUMP on checkpoint firewall.
Answer
To run the TCPDUMP run the command tcpdump -s 1500 -i -w /var/log/.cap To read use wireshark as the output is saved in *.cap extension
 
Question
What is default username and password?
 
Answer
 
The default usr and pwd are admin / admin
 
Question
What are the benefits of Gaia compared to SPLAT/IPSO
 
Answer
The benefits of GAIA are web based UI with search navigation High connection capacity IPV4 & IPV6 Native support Role based Admin access Full software blade support VRRP Cluster support IPSO and secure platform compatability
 
Question
Hi what is the difference between web filtering and content filtering in firewalls ?
Answer
Web Filtering & Content filtering in Checkpoint require separate license to enable it. Web filtering is the one where we will configure the URL’s that have to be blocked under categories. Content filtering is the one which will help us block the content hosted in the Webpage.
 
Question
 
What is Dash Board And which model of Cisco check point widely used at industry level..
Answer
 
Dashboard is a Smart Console application from checkpoint which we will use to create objects, rule base, NAT etc and that will be used for managing the policies which will be pushed to the gateways. Checkpoint there are multiple models, it basically depends on customer requirement.
 
Question
What happens on policy installation, database installation , saving after deleting something on rulebase etc? What are the differences?
Answer
Policy install is for applying those changes made in the rule base & “install database” is for changes you made in the User properties, it saves it to management server. Here is the definition from CheckPoint… The User Database contains information about each user, including authentication schemes and encryption keys. The User Database resides on the SmartCenter machine and on the firewalled workstations. When a user’s properties change, the change does not take effect immediately. The VPN-1 gateways on which the security policy is installed must be notified of the change by installing the User Database.
 
Question
Can we get free checkpoint simulator software like packet tracer(cisco0?
Answer
 
No we cannot get free checkpoint simulator as it requires user center access
 
Question
 
What are the types of NAT and how to configure it in Check Point Firewall?
Answer
The types of NAT is already been answered and to configure the same We can enable NAT by selecting NAT tab under object which we are creating.
 
Question
What is the Differnce between TCPDUMP and FWMONITOR on checkpoint?
Answer
tcpdump, this will show the request & reply packets on the interface level whereas fwmonitor will show each and every step of packet processing done on the firewall.
 
Question
 
What are the different authentication methods used in VPNs?
 
Answer
 
The authentication methods used in VPN’s are EAP auth mehtod, MS-CHAP auth method, Unencrypted passowrds and SPAP
 
Question
How Checkpoint Component communicate and Syncs with each other?
Answer
 
Through SIC checkpoint component communicate
 
Question
Diff between Check point and asa or ohter fw which one is better??
Answer
In my view, i will prefer Checkpoint as it has very good features & it provides multiple functionality which are not available in other Security Vendor.
 
Question
 
Can we create virtual gateway on Checkpoint ? If yes .. How ?
Answer
 
Yes, we can create Virtual Gateways on checkpoint. There are separate hardware model available VSX platform which can be used for virtual gateways.
 
Question
 
Can we configure TACACS+ auth for gaia portal/SSH?
Answer
No, accessing gaia portal through TACACS+ is not supported.
 
Question
Which encryption algorithm has the highest bit strength
Answer
AES has the highest strength