Initial setup of a subscribing unit's firewall will include a general introduction by ITCom. The unit's designated Firewall Administrators will have access to an online training document located on CTools. Check Point also has authorized training partners. A recommened course to take is Check Point Security Administration NGX I.
There are many new Check Point terms and acronyms to know and understand. Which are the most important ones?
Here are definitions for the terms most often used:
The Multi-Domain Server (MDS) houses Provider-1 system information. It contains details of the Provider-1 deployment, its administrators, and Customer management information.
A Customer Management Add-On (CMA) is the Provider-1 equivalent of the SmartCenter Server for a single Customer. Through the CMA, an administrator creates Security Policies and manages the Customer modules.
The Multi-Domain Log Module (MLM) is a special MDS container that is dedicated to collecting and storing logs. It is a Container of CLMs.
A Customer Log Module (CLM) is a log server for a single Customer. Through the CLM, an administrator can view events that occur on their firewall policy.
The Customer is the unit that subscribes to a virtual firewall.
Firewall Administrators are the designated managers of SmartConsole. They are assigned different levels of access permissions, which define their ability to view and/or modify data using the SmartConsole. At least one administrator must have full Read/Write permissions so that he or she can manage the Security Policy.
An Enforcement module is the component that enforces a Policy (for example, a Security Policy). This module is referred to as VPN-1 Pro module. The CheckPoint Express module is called the VPN-1 Express module.
A distributed deployment is a more complex deployment where the Enforcement module and the SmartCenter Server are deployed on different machines. In all deployments, SmartConsole can be installed on any machine, unless stated otherwise.
Login is the process by which the administrator connects to the SmartCenter Server using a SmartConsole. The recommended method to login to the SmartCenter Server is by using a certificate.
Objects are defined and managed in SmartDashboard to represent actual network components such as gateways, servers and networks.
A Policy Package is a set of Policies that are enforced on selected Enforcement modules. These Policies may include different types of policies, such as a Security Policy or a QoS policy.
A Security Policy defines the rules and conditions that govern which communications are permitted to enter and to leave the organization.
SmartConsoles are GUI applications used to manage different aspects of the corporate network. For example, SmartView Tracker track logs and alerts issued by the system.
The SmartCenter Server is the component that manages the database and policies, and downloads policies to Enforcement modules. This server is also referred to as SmartCenter Pro server. The Check Point Express server is called the SmartCenter Express server.
A Log Server is the repository for log entries generated on Enforcement modules, that is, the Enforcement modules send their log entries to the Log Server. A Log Server is often installed on the same machine as the SmartCenter Server.
