PBRs and ISP redundancy on SMB appliances

[Pedro_Espindola]

Hello everyone,

I have a centrally managed 1470 appliance with 2 internet connections in High Availatbility:

1. A adsl link connected to DMZ port and ISP redundancy priority 1

2. A dedicated link connected to WAN port and ISP redundancy priority 2

Link 1 is fast and great for users, but has upload limit and is unreliable for publications. So I tried to configure a PBR for the dmz network to use link 2:

dst:Any  src:172.16.30.0/24  port:Any  next-hop:Link2

I also configured automatic static NAT in the corresponding object in SmartConsole.

The problem is that when the server tries to reach the internet for updates and other checks it will use the correct link for a while and then start to fail. When this happens, fw monitor shows this:

o:WAN

O:DMZ

Access from the internet to the server continues to work.

Restarting the internet connection solves the problem for a few hours.

I also tried using the external network gateway:

dst:Any  src:172.16.30.0/24 port:Any  next-hop:<external-gateway>

What am I doing wrong?

[PhoneBoy]

At least on regular appliances, ISP Redundancy and PBR are mutually exclusive.

That may be the case here... have you opened a case with TAC?

Contact Support | Check Point Software 

[Pedro_Espindola]

I see. But then why give us this option?

I will open a service request, but I wanted to open this discussion about the differences between SMB and regular appliances and the usage of these features.

[G_W_Albrecht · Accepted solution]

This is supported according to Check Point 1100/1200R/1400 Appliances Centrally Managed Administration Guide R77.20.75 p.58:

ISP Redundancy - supported in IPv4 connections only
Multiple Internet connections can be configured in High Availability or Load Sharing modes. When you configure more than one Internet connection, the Device > Internet page lets you toggle between these options. The Advanced setting of each Internet connection lets you configure each connection's priority or weights based on the set mode.
- Clear the Route traffic through this connection by default checkbox when you do not want this Internet connection used as a default route for this gateway. The connection is used by the device only if specific, usually service-based, routing rules are defined for it. This is commonly used when you have a connection that is used for dedicated traffic. When you clear this option, this connection does not participate in High Availability or Load Balancing.

And that is not all - i know of customers using this feature successfully, too !

[G_W_Albrecht · Accepted solution]

Did you get the issue resolved yet?

[Pedro_Espindola]

Yes. After I unchecked the box "Route traffic through this connection by default" the issue seems to be resolved.

Thank you very much!