R80.20 - Portable SmartConsole + Tips and Tricks

[HeikoAnkenbrand]

The Portable SmartConsole is also available for R80.20.

Portable SmartConsole is a version of the SmartConsole client which is deployed without the installer of SmartConsole.
This package encapsulates all content into the directory where it is deployed so that it can be carried around in a portable device.
Another advantage of this version is that it allows side by side versions of the SmartConsole of the same release on the same computer.

The following SK Portable SmartConsole for R80.x  describes the download and installation.

Tip 1

There are new features that you can use independently. For example with R80.20, there are 2 user interfaces when looking at Check Point logs. Thus it is possible to use both log views independently:

- The default viewer when opening the SmartConsole application on your Windows machine.

- The default viewer when opening the logs on your web browser.

Tomer Sole describes this very well in the following article How to switch to the new log viewer inside SmartConsole (and maybe get a little performance improvem....

Furthermore, it is possible to change various settings for your  Smartconsole and Portable SmartConsole in the file:

SmartConsole.exe.config

This allows, for example, both log views to be used in two consoles. Or you can use one console by default and adapt the other one to your needs.

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Tip 2

Or you can start SmartConsole with different credentials automatically:

SmartConsole.exe -p SmartConsole.LoginParams

For this purpose create the following file "SmartConsole.LoginParams".

Format of the XML (none of these parameters is mandatory😞

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RemoteLaunchParemeters xmlns:xsi="http😕/www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http😕/www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<Username>username</Username>
<ServerIP>1.2.3.4</ServerIP>
<DomainName>BerlinDomain</DomainName>
<ReadOnly>False</ReadOnly>
<CloudDemoMode>False</CloudDemoMode>
<Password>password</Password>             <<< Should be used with caution!!!
</RemoteLaunchParemeters>

Tip 3

Now it is possible to start portable SmartConsole and the regular SmartConsole at the same time.

So you can e.g. view the logs and edit the policy at the same time with different SmartConsole settings (e.g. old and new log view).

Important!  You must use two different admin accounts for this hack.

Tip 4

Each administrator can manage multiple SmartConsole sessions at the same time in R80.20+.

To enable working in multiple sessions:

1) Open the relevant permission profile.
2) Make sure the Manage Sessions permission is selected on the Management page.
3) Open SmartConsole > Manage & Settings View > Sessions > Advanced.
4) Select Each administrator can manage multiple SmartConsole sessions at the same time.
5) Publish the change.

Or look at this video:

[Hong_Ning]

Great:-)

[Denenico_Grimal]

Hi Heiko Ankenbrand,

is it possible to use the login parameters with the regular SmartConsole also?

Denenico

[HeikoAnkenbrand]

Hi Denenico,

Yes it is possible.

Regards,

Heiko

[Alexander_Rodio]

Where can I find the file SmartConsole.exe.config?

[HeikoAnkenbrand]

Hi Alexander,

Open the SmartConsole folder "C:\Program Files (x86)\CheckPoint\SmartConsole\R80.20\PROGRAM\" or the folder where you extracted portable SmartConsole.

Regards,

Heiko

[PhoneBoy]

I'm pretty sure you can enable multiple sessions per user and have two or more sessions going at the same time with the same user.

[HeikoAnkenbrand]

Hi Dameon Welch-Abernathy,

THX, I hadn‘t see that before.

But you can use the SmartConsoles with different log views and other different settings.

Regards

Heiko

[PhoneBoy]

This feature was added in R80.20.M1.

[Antonio_Gerbino]

Tks Heiko.  I will try to use the portable version!

[Slavisa_Stojkov]

nice info.

[Maik_H_]

Now it is possible to activate the policy view and the log view at the same time.

[HeikoAnkenbrand]

To enable working in multiple sessions look at this video: