Checkpoint Firwall

[Penguin]

hi,
what is a Checkpoint Firewall?it is a software that installed into a machine or it is a device that is mount into the rack?is this product very good?i hav seen some ceritfication on this but dont know what is it about...

[SoggyBottom]

Checkpoint is probably the market leader in the Hardware Firewall business.

I use them everyday, and find them to do the trick if your have the $$$.

[iNViCTuS]

Checkpoint itself produces firewall software that can be run on many different platforms. It is not a hardware device, although they have a strong alliance with Nokia in which the Checkpoint software ships preinstalled on the Nokia IP devices.

[SoggyBottom]

You are indeed correct iNViCTuS (although I was trying to distinguish the difference between personal Firewalls (ie. ZoneAlarm, SyGate etc...)

To elaborate, CP Firewalls are rarely used to exclusively Firewall the host that the software resides on, like a Personal Firewall. They are used to Firewall untrusted networks, your Internet Connection and segregate your crucial systems from you Internal Network (DMZ)

As iNViCTuS said, the CP Software can be run on a variety of platforms, Solaris, Win2K and they also come in an appliance form (which is basically a preconfigured and prehardened machines).

You can also have a number of CF modules around your network which are all centrally managed by a management console where you update the rules etc...

They also have a lot of other features like keeping state, authentication etc...

[DalamarArgent]

Hi Penguin,

CP Firewalls are a very friendly, easy to understand, and nice corporate firewall.
You will notice that I did not put secure into the last statement, as it is my firm belief that firewalls, as with everything , are as secure as the administrator makes them. Haveing a firewall does not mean you are protected at all.

As the previous people who replied stated, CP FW1 can be installed on multiple operating systems, and can be hardware based. A nice feature is that no matter what you install on, the Gui always stays pretty much the same...

Other nice features include centralised or decentralised management stations, as well as failover capabilites between CP FW1 firewalls. They also work nicely with VPN's.

Cheers