topic Re: R81.20 Failed to resolve VPN MEP gateway in Firewall and Security Management

R81.20 Failed to resolve VPN MEP gateway

darren97 — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 09:48:55 GMT

Hello,

We have a Check Point FW cluster running R81.20.

Recently, we had a customer who has two locations with the same encryption domain. To solve this, we used a MEP solution — the customer’s two locations are configured as Center Gateways and our location as a Satellite Gateway.

However, we encountered a problem. When the customer connects to our SFTP service, everything works fine. But when we try to connect to their site for a different service, we get the following error: “Failed to resolve VPN MEP gateway.”

The encryption domains are negotiated correctly, and it even worked for several days. However, without any changes on our or the customer’s side, we are now getting this error.

Has anyone experienced the same issue?

Thank you.

Re: R81.20 Failed to resolve VPN MEP gateway

darren97 — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 13:17:40 GMT

"Set Permanent Tunnels" solved the problem.

Re: R81.20 Failed to resolve VPN MEP gateway

darren97 — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 07:29:36 GMT

After "Set Permanent Tunnels", publish and install, it worked for several hours.

Unfortunately, again the same problem: Failed to resolve VPN MEP gateway.

Re: R81.20 Failed to resolve VPN MEP gateway

emmap — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 09:16:14 GMT

Are the customer gateways also Check Points?

Re: R81.20 Failed to resolve VPN MEP gateway

darren97 — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 10:54:00 GMT

No they're not.

Re: R81.20 Failed to resolve VPN MEP gateway

PhoneBoy — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 18:29:41 GMT

This is probably going to require TAC to assist in debugging.

Re: R81.20 Failed to resolve VPN MEP gateway

emmap — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 01:48:10 GMT

OK, you might need to look through the MEP options in the admin guide and see if there's some configuration you can tweak:

https://sc1.checkpoint.com/documents/R82/WebAdminGuides/EN/CP_R82_SitetoSiteVPN_AdminGuide/Content/Topics-VPNSG/MEP.htm?tocpath=Multiple%20Entry%20Point%20(MEP)%20VPNs%7C_____0#Multiple_Entry_Point_(MEP)_VPNs

You should also consider how the remote site/gateways will route back to the VPNs - are they aware they are in a MEP situation? Are they participating with the DPD coming from the CP side?