Hi Michael, I've been using CheckPoint Firewall products for the last 4 years now, both on Windows platforms and Linux based platforms (I'm not including Solaris as we're not talking about it now). If we were talking about a CheckPoint Firewall 2000 I would by far say Linux.
However, if you're apting for a Firewall NG based Firewall, my suggestion is as follows: CheckPoint has a product called SecurePlatform. This product is actually a hardened RedHat 7.2 distribution, which installs directly from the CD, with a very easy to follow wizard for installation. I'm all for manual installations, and doing everything yourself, but when it came to NG, this product proved to be the easiest to install. Regarding hardware, I'm very sorry that your company purchased DELL servers for this task, cause they SUCK ! I have several DELL servers in my company, and to be completely honest, working with them is a serious pain. Every update never goes easy, kernel compilations are virtually impossible, and they don't support Linux that well. My suggestion is using an Intel SCB2 motherboard with SCSI drives, which I already tested and installed about 5 firewalls like these, they work like a charm. If you want, you can visit my site for information on installing Firewall 2000 on Linux RedHat 6.2 at http://www.net-gurus.net. I will be releasing a Secure Platform document soon, so you will be able to see how the installation goes. In addition, I hope to install a ClusterXL package soon, so that installation will be released too. Regards, Nir Simionovich IT Manager m-Wise Ltd. [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Bulebush" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2002 6:12 PM Subject: Checkpoing NG on Linux or Windows? Hello everyone, We're about to migrate to Checkpoint NG soon, and I've been tasked to gather data to determine which version of OS we will run our software on. We have already purchased 6 Dell systems (I'm unsure of specs), so the choices are Windows NT, 2000, or a Linux flavor. I'm looking for recommendations, and perhaps links to performance ratings to use as a comparison for each. Also, I'd love to hear the horror stories, so I'm not as blind sided as I was with our McAfee WebShield from months past! Thanks for your help guys. Michael Bulebush Trusted Information Systems U.S. Department of Energy, NETL Pittsburgh, PA (412) 386-4783 daytime (412) 371-8882 off-hours --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.389 / Virus Database: 220 - Release Date: 17/09/2002
