topic Re: Meaning of "R" in firewall name? in General Topics

Meaning of "R" in firewall name?

HeikoAnkenbrand — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 10:01:14 GMT

I have always wondered why the "R" (R54, R60, R70,R... ) in the firewall name was used.
What is the meaning of the "R" or was that just a marketing idea?

I think: Release?

Re: Meaning of "R" in firewall name?

vinceneil666 — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 09:38:11 GMT

Release

Re: Meaning of "R" in firewall name?

HeikoAnkenbrand — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 09:59:26 GMT

Are you sure about that or is it just a guess (like mine)?

Re: Meaning of "R" in firewall name?

vinceneil666 — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 10:35:35 GMT

I am willing to go out on a limb, and say yes. I am sure 🙂

Re: Meaning of "R" in firewall name?

Timothy_Hall — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 13:58:27 GMT

I'm pretty sure it is "Release" as well. The first time I can recall the "R" being authoritatively used to name a release was version R55 to distinguish it from the "NG w/ AI" release. Prior to that it went something like this:

Firewall-1 Version 2.0
Firewall-1 Version 3.0, 3.0a, 3.0b
Firewall-1 Version 4.0, 4.1
Firewall-1 NG (Versions 5.0-5.3 called FP1, FP2, FP3) - FP stands for "Feature Pack"
Firewall-1 NG w/ AI (Version 5.4)
Firewall-1 NG R55
NGX R60 and onwards...

Re: Meaning of "R" in firewall name?

PhoneBoy — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 13:58:33 GMT

Let’s not forget 1.x releases on floppy disk!
I have lots of early memories of the 2.1c release 😉

I have also sometimes seen NG AI referred to as R54.
Also around the same time HFAs (hotfix accumulators) we’re a thing.

Re: Meaning of "R" in firewall name?

the_rock — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 14:20:37 GMT

Never thought of it, but wow, thats very interesting question :). Im thinking Gil Shwed would know FOR SURE!!!

Re: Meaning of "R" in firewall name?

Timothy_Hall — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 14:52:26 GMT

I imagine @Dorit_Dor would as well.

Re: Meaning of "R" in firewall name?

the_rock — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 15:07:51 GMT

I would put my money she would know 🙂

Re: Meaning of "R" in firewall name?

Dorit_Dor — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 15:31:23 GMT

R-releases started at 2003 w R54, as part of using release numbers ("R"-elease followed by number)

NG Jun 2001
R54 Jun 2003 (calgary)
R55 Nov 2003 (corsica)
R60 May 2005 (dallas)
R61 / R62 2006
R65 Feb 2007 (Enfield)
R70 Mar 2009
R71 / R75 2010 - foxx
R75.40 May 2012 - fiber

etc etc

Re: Meaning of "R" in firewall name?

HeikoAnkenbrand — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 06:49:41 GMT

With this we would have the "R" question 100% clarified:

R-elease

Thanks @Dorit_Dor.

Re: Meaning of "R" in firewall name?

HeikoAnkenbrand — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 06:59:20 GMT

I started with Check Piont with version 2.xx (it's been too long for me to remember the exact version).

@PhoneBoy :
We/you could do a Checkmates event about "historical Check Point versions" 😀.
Maybe you can install a 2.1c and show how it was like when we had to edit the objects.C and rules.def by hand.

Re: Meaning of "R" in firewall name?

Nik_Bloemers — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 07:44:26 GMT

I like that idea! My experience only goes back to around R65. Would love to see some of the older stuff.

Re: Meaning of "R" in firewall name?

PhoneBoy — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 14:55:52 GMT

The earliest stuff was on SunOS/Solaris, which might be difficult to get running today without vintage hardware.
Nokia IPSO (of particular interest to me) was never really VM friendly, even though it was on x86 hardware.
That said, I did see FireWall-1 3.0 in a Windows NT VM a while back, which might be as far back as we can reliably go 🙂
At one point I did have the R55 Policy Editor (what it used to be called before SmartDashboard) loaded on one of my Windows 10 PCs, which I used in Demo Mode.

Which, now that I think about it, might be the best way to demo the older versions: load the old UIs and run them in Demo Mode.
Pretty sure even the Policy Editor from 3.0 supported the Demo Mode (using *local as the hostname).

Re: Meaning of "R" in firewall name?

HeikoAnkenbrand — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 16:10:12 GMT

I still have a Sun Ultra 5 Model 333 with solaris 2.6 or 7 in the basement. I'll get the box up and see if it still works.
This is more problematic with the monitor, since the connections 13W3-to-HD15 video adapter cable ( PGX24 on-board graphics) no longer work with vga connectors.

I think this is also possible without a monitor via the serial console.

I'll see if I can install FireWall-1 v2.1. 👾

Do you already need a license?
If so, where do I get the eval lic? 🙂 🙂 🙂

Re: Meaning of "R" in firewall name?

the_rock — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 17:48:26 GMT

For eval license, I dont know, I guess Dorit Dor or Gil Shwed my friend 😉

Re: Meaning of "R" in firewall name?

HeikoAnkenbrand — Fri, 25 Jun 2021 10:56:05 GMT

So close to the goal.
The CD with FireWall-1 v2.1 is corrupted.☹️

Re: Meaning of "R" in firewall name?

the_rock — Fri, 25 Jun 2021 14:23:14 GMT

That sucks :(. Speaking of old things...I have this old mp3 player I still use when walking and running, its 4 GB capacity for songs and voice recordings, can play radio in ANY world countries (I took it with me all over the world). Its almost 20 years old and I recall I paid 15$ for it refurbished back in 2002 or 2003...the thing is indestructible, its amazing.

Re: Meaning of "R" in firewall name?

the_rock — Fri, 25 Jun 2021 14:32:58 GMT

I always wondered, unless its a secret...how do you guys come up with actual names for the codes? Ie Corsica, Calgary etc?

Re: Meaning of "R" in firewall name?

Dorit_Dor — Fri, 25 Jun 2021 15:46:18 GMT

First letter move forward by major release. Name selected by sponsor (should be theme - like cities) …

i dont personally care as much about names - only about content… i could be just fine w x1, x2, x3 etc. so you wont get more exciting stories from me on this