Gaia Installation

[t0neex]

Hello, I'm so so beginner about Checkpoint :). I was searching a subject about installation Checkpoint R80 but can't find anything. My question is;

Can I setup the Checkpoint R80 without Isomorphic? Via USB or DVD 

[PhoneBoy]

On what precise hardware?
Generally isomorphic is required to take the ISO and install it on a bootable USB drive.

[t0neex]

Firstly, thanks for your response 🙂

But i can't reach Isomorphic download link.

So, I need to setup R80 but i can't 🙂

Is there any way to create bootable USB or DVD? For R80

My Regards,

[PhoneBoy]

The only supported method is to use isomorphic.
Some of our downloads require having an active support agreement associated with your account.

Another tool may work, but it's not tested and not supported.
Also note that even with this tool, not every USB drive can be used.
You might be able to burn the ISO to a DVD drive and boot off that.
However, I haven't tried that. 

What is your precise goal here?
On what precise hardware?
And what precise version do you plan to install?
I assume you don't mean R80, which is End of Support in the next few weeks, but some version of R80.x or even R81.

[t0neex]

Thank you very much for your answer.

I'll setup the R80.40 version on my IBM Server. But I'm not company so i don't have active support agreement.

Today, I'll burn the ISO to a DVD drive and boot off that.

I hope this will 🙂

[PhoneBoy · Accepted solution]

There are many IBM Servers, not all of which are supported installation targets.
Review your precise model against the HCL here: https://www.checkpoint.com/support-services/hcl/
If your goal is to merely learn Check Point, you can load it in a virtualized environment (VMware) where the underlying hardware is less relevant.
Or better yet: leverage the pre-built environments we have with CheckMates Labs (under the Learn menu).

[t0neex]

Thank you very much for the link to see the supported devices. My device is IBM 3650 M4 and it is supported. Last Friday I burned the Gaia installation DVD. And i inserted it my device. I've had a lot of problems but finally I did it and it is working now 🙂 ISOMorphic is definitely needed to avoid problems. Thank you very much for your support and guidance so far.😊

I wish you have a good day.

Best regards.

[Bob_Zimmerman]

You definitely don't need ISOmorphic for that system. I have a six of them in production, I think. When I set them up, I just fed the ISO image to the LOM's KVMS. It worked beautifully.

As someone learning the system, there are a few things of which you should be aware. Most notably, when you cleanly install a new system like that, it can run with all local features for 15 days with no explicit license. Antivirus, IPS, URL filtering, and a few others require definition updates, which aren't covered by this 15-day "plug-n-play eval". Once this 15 day window is up, you can generate a new eval license in the User Center, or you can just wipe the box and reinstall it.

The software also works very well in VMware Workstation and VirtualBox. I haven't personally tried it in other desktop hypervisors, but I would expect it to work in almost any (maybe not bhyve or vmm). This is nice because Check Point environments rarely involve just one server. Doing it this way rather than directly on hardware, you can test out clustering, management HA, VPNs between multiple firewalls managed by the same management server, and far more.