156-587 Check Point Certified Troubleshooting Expert - R81.20 (CCTE) Questions and Answers

The Check Point process responsible for Mobile VPN connections, particularly those associated with the Mobile Access Software Blade (which includes SSL VPN and clientless access), is cvpnd (Connectra VPN Daemon).

Exact Extracts and Supporting Information:

Check Point CLI Reference Guide (for cvpnd_admin):

"cvpnd_admin. Description. Changes the behavior of the Mobile Access cvpnd process."

This command utility directly interacts with cvpnd for Mobile Access functionalities.  

Check Point Daemon Lists (e.g., from "tech :: stuff - Checkpoint Daemons and Processes Explained" or similar CCTE R81.20 documentation):

Under the "Mobile Access Blade" section, CVPND is typically listed as:"CVPND - Connectra VPN Daemon. Main daemon for the Mobile Access Software Blade."  

It's also often noted that the cpwd_admin list command (Check Point WatchDog) shows this process as "CVPND".  

Commands like cvpnstart and cvpnstop are used to manage this daemon.  

Exam Preparation Materials (e.g., ExamTopics for 156-586):

A question directly asking "Which process is responsible for Mobile VPN connections?" with options including cvpnd, vpnk, fwk, and vpnd, typically indicates cvpnd as the correct answer.

Explanation of other options:

B. fwk: This is a general suffix often related to firewall worker processes or kernel modules, not a specific high-level daemon for Mobile VPN.

C. vpnd: This is the main VPN daemon, primarily responsible for site-to-site IPsec VPNs and some traditional IPsec remote access clients. While it handles VPN functions, cvpnd is specialized for Mobile Access.  

D. vpnk: This refers to VPN kernel-level operations and modules (e.g., handling the actual encryption/decryption of traffic processed by IPsec SAs). It is not the user-space daemon that manages Mobile VPN sessions and policies.

Therefore, cvpnd is the specific process dedicated to managing Mobile VPN connections within the Check Point architecture.

Reference (based on official Check Point documentation naming and functionality):

Check Point R81.20 CLI Reference Guide (details for cvpnd_admin).

Check Point R81.20 Administration Guides (sections discussing Mobile Access architecture and daemons).

Commonly known Check Point process lists available in CCTE study materials.

When a user space process crashes unexpectedly, the operating system often creates acore dumpfile. This file is a snapshot of the process's memory at the time of the crash, including information such as:

Program counter:This indicates where the program was executing when it crashed.

Stack pointer:This shows the function call stack, which can help trace the sequence of events leading to the crash.

Memory contents:This includes the values of variables and data structures used by the process.

Register values:This shows the state of the processor registers at the time of the crash.

Core dump files can be analyzed using debuggers like GDB to understand the cause of the crash.

Why other options are incorrect:

B. kernel_memory_dump dbg:This refers to a kernel memory dump, which is generated when the operating system kernel itself crashes.

C. core analyzer:This is a tool used to analyze core dump files, not the file itself.

D. coredebug:This is not a standard term for any type of crash dump file.

Check Point Troubleshooting References:

Check Point's documentation mentions core dumps in the context of troubleshooting various processes, such as fwd (firewall) and cpd (Check Point daemon). You can find information on enabling core dumps and analyzing them in the Check Point administration guides and knowledge base articles.

The Global Domain is one of the relational database domains in the Postgres database that stores the management configuration. The purpose of the Global Domain is to serve as the global database for Multi-Domain Security Management (MDSM) and contain the global objects and policies that are shared across all domains. The Global Domain also stores the global settings, such as the administrator roles, the LDAP servers, the IPS profiles, and the SmartEvent views. The Global Domain can be managed by the Global Domain Administrator or the Super User Administrator using the SmartConsole. The Global Domain can be backed up and restored using the mds_backup and mds_restore commands.

When troubleshootingcrasheson a Security Gateway (or any Linux-based system), the file type that is typically generated and used for in-depth analysis is acore dump.

A core dump captures the memory state of a process at the time it crashed and is critical for root-cause analysis.

Other options:

A. tcpdump: A packet capture file, not a crash-related file.

C. fw monitor: A Check Point packet capture tool, but not for crash debugging.

D. CPMIL dump: Not a common or standard crash dump reference in Check Point.

cpsemd is the process responsible for logging into the SmartEvent GUI. Therefore, you need to check the status of this process and debug it, if necessary. Usually, the issue withthe cpsemd process is that it is crashing, or not coming up. What causes this process to crash or not come up is that the PostgreSQL database is down. Therefore, in order to run the cpsemd process successfully, you need to run the PostgreSQL database successfully.

The main components of Check Point’s Security Management architecture are1:

Management server: This is the central component that manages the security policy, configuration, and licenses for the Security Gateways and other Check Point devices. It also provides the SmartConsole interface for the administrators to manage the security environment.

Management database: This is the database that stores the security policy, configuration, and objects for the Security Management Server. It also stores the logs and events from the Security Gateways and other Check Point devices.

Log server: This is the component that receives and stores the logs and events from the Security Gateways and other Check Point devices. It also provides the SmartLog and SmartEvent interfaces for the administrators to view, analyze, and manage the logs and events.

Automation server: This is the component that provides the REST API and the CLI for the administrators to automate and script the security management tasks.

1: (CCTE) - Check Point Software

 Log indexing is a feature that enables faster and more efficient log searches in SmartLog and SmartEvent. To enable log indexing on the Security Management Server (SMS), you need to edit the SMS object in SmartConsole and go to the “Logs” tab. There you can configure the log indexing settings, such as the index location, the index size, the index frequency, and the index retention123. References:

1: CCTE Courseware, Module 2: Advanced Logs and Monitoring, Slide 9

2: Check Point R81 Logging and Monitoring Administration Guide, Chapter 2: Log Indexing, Page 17

3: Check Point R81 Logging and Monitoring Administration Guide, Chapter 2: Log Indexing, Page 18

 The error message “SmartLog is not active or Failed to parse results from server” indicates that there is a problem with the SmartLog server process, which is responsible for indexing and querying the logs. One possible cause of this problem is a corrupted log file or a mismatched IP address in the logging configuration files. Another possible cause is a communication failure between the SmartLog server and the CPM process or the SmartConsole client. To resolve this issue, the first thing to try is to restart the SmartLog server process by running the command smartlog_server restart on the Security Management Server or the Log Server. This command will stop the SmartLog server, clean the buffer, and start it again. This may fix the corrupted log file or the communication issue. If the problem persists, other steps may be needed, such as checking the network connectivity, the firewall rules, the logging configuration files, the CPM process, or the SmartConsole client.

The Resource Application Daemon (RAD) is a critical component in Check Point’s Application Control and URL Filtering blades, responsible for processing and categorizing web traffic. The configuration file $FWDIR/conf/rad_settings.C on the Security Gateway defines settings related to RAD’s operation.

Option A: Incorrect. The rad_settings.C file does not store entitlement information for Application Control or URL Filtering. Entitlements are managed by the Security Management Server and stored in licensing databases, not in this file.

Option B: Incorrect. The rad_settings.C file does not specify how the Security Gateway communicates with the Security Management Server’s RAD service. Communication settings are typically handled by SIC (Secure Internal Communication) and other configuration files, such as $FWDIR/conf/fwopsec.conf.

Option C: Correct. The rad_settings.C file contains proxy settings for the RAD daemon, such as HTTP proxy configurations used for accessing external services (e.g., Check Point’s online URL Filtering database). This is critical when the Gateway requires a proxy to reach external resources for URL categorization.

Option D: Incorrect. Hostname settings for the online application detection engine are not stored in rad_settings.C. These are typically managed by the Application Database (application_db.C) or resolved via DNS.

The simplest and most efficient way to check all dropped packets in real time is C. fw ctl zdebug + drop in expert mode. This command is a shortcut command that sets the kernel debug flags to a predefined value and prints the debug output to the standard output. It is useful for general debugging of common issues, such as traffic drops, NAT, VPN, or clustering. It has a small buffer size and does not require additional steps to start or stop the debugging. However, it has some limitations, such as it cannot be used with SecureXL, it cannot filter the output by chain modules, and it cannot save the output to a file12.

The other commands are not as simple or efficient as the fw ctl zdebug + drop command. The command tail -f $FWDIR/log/fw.log |grep drop in expert mode will only show the drops that are logged in the fw.log file, which may not include all the drops that occur in the kernel. The command cat /dev/fw1/log in expert mode will show the raw binary data of the kernel debug buffer, which is not human-readable and may contain irrelevant information. The command Smartlog will show the drops that are indexed and stored in the SmartEvent database, which may not be in real time and may depend on the log server performance12.

1: https://sc1.checkpoint.com/documents/R81.10/WebAdminGuides/EN/CP_R81.10_AdvancedTechnicalReferenceGuide/html_frameset.htm  2: https://www.checkpoint.com/downloads/training/DOC-Training-Data-Sheet-CCTE-R81.10-V1.0.pdf

The Check Point R81.20 Gaia Administration Guide describes fw ctl zdebug as a key troubleshooting tool for real-time packet analysis, particularly for drops. The CCTE R81.20 course emphasizes using fw ctl zdebug for kernel-level debugging, including monitoring dropped packets.

For precise details, refer to:

Check Point R81.20 Gaia Administration Guide, section on “fw ctl zdebug” (available via Check Point Support Center).

CCTE R81.20 Courseware, which covers advanced troubleshooting techniques for packet drops (available through authorized training partners).

While specific Check Point CCTE R81.20 official documentation that explicitly singles out "Handlers" from the given options as the sole component for storing Rule Base matching state-related information is not readily available in the provided search snippets, CCTE exam preparation materials consistently point to "Handlers" as the correct answer for this question.

In the broader context of Check Point's packet processing and Unified Policy architecture, several components are involved in rule base matching:

According to Check Point's sk120964 - ATRG: Unified Policy (relevant for R81.20):

Connection/Transaction: This logical entity "Saves rulebase matching state and classification objects (CLOBs)."

Manager: This component acts as a "Mediator between other components. Responsible for the whole rule base execution process. Creates connection/transactions, as required. Sends logs."  

Classifiers: These are "CMI_LOADER applications" (e.g., Network, Identity, Application Control) that provide classification data (CLOBs) used in the matching process.

Observers: An "Observer is a unit collecting CLOBs for classification refinement."

"Handlers" in a general firewall architecture are typically components (which can be kernel modules or processes) responsible for managing active connections and their progression through policy enforcement. As such, they would inherently be involved in maintaining and accessing state information related to rule base matching for those connections. The "Connection/Transaction" objects, which store the rule base matching state, are created by the Manager and would be managed by such Handlers during the lifecycle of a connection.

Therefore, in the context of the CCTE R81.20 exam, "Handlers" are understood to be the packet processing components that store this Rule Base matching state-related information. The state itself is conceptually saved within Connection/Transaction objects, which are orchestrated by the Manager and utilized by various processing components often referred to as Handlers.

Reference (based on Unified Policy component roles from official Check Point documentation):

Check Point Support Center sk120964: ATRG: Unified Policy. (Last Modified: 2024-12-29, relevant for R81.20)."Connection/Transaction. Saves rulebase matching state and classification objects (CLOBs)."

"Manager. Mediator between other components. Responsible for the whole rule base execution process. Creates connection/transactions, as required.