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Need advice for CCSA newbie

ranjitcool

Hey Guys,

I am good with servers, bad at networking. Got my network+ done.

@ work they use checkpoint NXG R65 (i think i got the model right). Want to get a CCSA before heading to CCNA.

Barely worked with firewalls, willing to learn.

Looked on ebay, found Nokia IP330 IP2330 Checkpoint Rack Firewall VPN Router - shall i buy that and setup an environment at home to start messing with it?

Please advice if I can be successfull in this. Quick learner so I can grasp things fast.

Thanks
RJ

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Comments

BobMead

Pick up the cbtnuggets for CCSA from Cbtnuggets.com, I will show you everything you need to know about Check Point.

Devilsbane

Is checkpoint an industry standard? Until recently I had never heard of them. I wouldn't mind learning their product, but it would seem silly to spend a lot of time and money to get certified in something, and then never work anywhere where it was needed.

Bl8ckr0uter

Devilsbane wrote: »

Is checkpoint an industry standard? Until recently I had never heard of them. I wouldn't mind learning their product, but it would seem silly to spend a lot of time and money to get certified in something, and then never work anywhere where it was needed.

They are a pretty popular firewall. Many large companies use them.

NightShade03

They are generally used for those in the fortune 500, outside of that everything I have seen is mostly Cisco. You think Cisco is expensive though.....holy **** check point is so insane.

ranjitcool

Thanks for writing guys, i bought myself the nokia ip330 checkpoint firewall from ebay. I will get the cbt nuggets and use it to learn the firewall. I am not sure if ip330 will help me know the firewall well.

I am learning it as it is used at my work and I need to get started somewhere right?

Thanks
RJ

nel

ive seen quite a few implementations of checkpoint/juniper deployments. So from my experiance they seem to be a popular choice. Definitely a cert i would like to pick up at some point. The only thing i found was the training materials were scarce - the official training book from checkpoint is like $600 or something!! no way am i paying that for a book! £30-40 like cisco etc yeah but i thought that was a tad steep. Theres always the official documentation i guess too.

Wut

Does Check Point still offer 15 days trial software ?

NightShade03

30 days.

boredgamelad

Devilsbane wrote: »

Is checkpoint an industry standard? Until recently I had never heard of them. I wouldn't mind learning their product, but it would seem silly to spend a lot of time and money to get certified in something, and then never work anywhere where it was needed.

I just wanted to comment on this; I know it's been a while since you asked but I have a little insight into the answer. I work for an MSSP that specializes in firewalls and firewall security. We sell and lease Check Point firewalls to a large portion of our clients. About 60% of our client base uses Check Point and this includes companies like Aramark and GlaxoSmithKline. Around 25% use Juniper and the rest are F5 Big-IP and Cisco ASAs for the most part. CCSA + another associate cert is considered minimum for our level 2 engineers and the same goes for our competitors. A CCSE puts you at the top of the L2 bracket. So there are some very big companies out there that use Check Point and there are maybe more than most people would expect.

However, from what I've heard from colleagues (this may or may not be true elsewhere but it apparently is within our organization), many network/security engineers who go into Check Point certification only do so once they've begun work at a company that actually uses their products. They tend to get certified because the company they're working for requires it for advancement, as part of their training, or in order for the business to remain a partner (all three of these apply to my employer).

cmitchell_00

NightShade03 wrote: »

They are generally used for those in the fortune 500, outside of that everything I have seen is mostly Cisco. You think Cisco is expensive though.....holy **** check point is so insane.

I would agree Checkpoint is higher in cost than Cisco but, Cisco is becoming the standard everywhere. I can remember when Cisco was the newbie and Checkpoint/SonicWall/Junpier had their foothold on the market; fast forward 12 years. (CISCO Know it; Love It etc.; It's the future...)