Whats is the main features or improvements that justify an upgrade from R80.40 to R81.10 ?

[Bernardes]

Hello Mates!

Please can you share your experience of how can an environment running an R80.40 version benefits from an upgrade to R81.10?

I would like to hear your personal experience not just links about the official documentation.

What would you say that is the main reasons to upgrade? 

Thank you!

[Chris_Atkinson · Accepted solution]

For some it could be the small things like, Automatic updates to SmartConsole and the default cell setting in the access policy whilst for others it could be the alignment of Maestro.

Keen to hear what others think...

As a reminder you can see the various enhancements outlined here:
https://sc1.checkpoint.com/documents/SmartConsole/WhatsNew.html 
https://supportcenter.checkpoint.com/supportcenter/portal?eventSubmit_doGoviewsolutiondetails=&solut... 
https://blog.checkpoint.com/2021/07/21/check-point-r81-10-ai-ml-driven-threat-prevention-and-securit... 

[Bernardes]

Thank you @Chris_Atkinson for your tips and the knowledge sharing!

[the_rock · Accepted solution]

Few things I can think of...

1 - cloud integration improvements

2 - nat rules hits (this is questionable, as even TAC told me R&D advised its super inconsistent, which I can also confirm)

3 - accelerated policy push (much faster)

4 - multiple policy pushes at the same time

5 - Azure AD integration with IA blade

6 - geo policy 

To be 100% honest, dont expect any securexl improvements, there are none

https://supportcenter.checkpoint.com/supportcenter/portal?eventSubmit_doGoviewsolutiondetails=&solut...

[Bernardes]

Thank you @the_rock for your tips! 

[the_rock]

No problem! @_Val_ is correct, CP does recommend this version and I would say the same, I find its very stable and reliable.

[Bob_Zimmerman]

Also can't forget the stuff in R81. LLDP is really nice to have. I definitely prefer R81.10 to R80.40.

[Ilya_Yusupov]

Hi @the_rock ,

I would like to get some feedback about SecureXL improvements that you or any one are looking for.

Any chance  you can share some with me so i can take it internally?

Thanks,

Ilya  

[the_rock]

Thanks for your comment @Ilya_Yusupov . Well, Im not sure if this will ever be possible from securexl menu, but just speaking in general, it would be nice for example, to have securexl menu where it gives an option to the customer to disable acceleration for any given IP/service if they have a problem, regardless of what it is. Otherwise, modifying this from procedure in sk104468 can be somewhat uncomfortable for some clients.

Anyway, this is more generic feedback, rather than specifically R81.10 related.

[Ilya_Yusupov]

Thank you @the_rock for your feedback, i will take it with relevant owners in RnD to check what we can do.

If you or anyone else has more feedback's about SXL feel free to share it with me here or directly and we will do the best to address.

Thanks,

Ilya 

[_Val_]

I would also add the fact of R81.10 being the default recommended version.

[JozkoMrkvicka · Accepted solution]

R80.40 is reaching EOL in January 2024.

R81 and R81.10 are reaching EOL in October 2024.

At some point you will have to upgrade all your CP devices due to EOL or issues which will not be integrated within R80.40, while are already fixed in R81 or R81.10.

You will not get into high presure to upgrade to R81.10 if you already plan to do so.

If you upgrade to R81.10 with latest Jumbo Take, the TAC and R&D cannot close all the cases with statement that "upgrade to latest version and install the latest jumbo".

For someone none of the features are important. They just want to have the same working, reliable and supported Check Point software (RIP R80.30) like it was before the upgrade....

[Bernardes]

Thank you @JozkoMrkvicka for advice! Indeed, this statement about TAC is true!