ISOmorphic Tool and VMware

[ED]

Hi,

I would like to use ISOmorphic tool to install Gaia OS unattended on VMware virtual machine. But then I read this limitation: VMware Virtual Machines are not supported. So are there any other way to automate this step since I want to be able to quickly setup a lab environment in VMware when I need to do some testing?

[Daniel_Taney]

In the absence of a clean Check Point solution for this, I'd suggest leveraging built-in VMware functionality by doing one (or both) of the following:

In VMware, you could always convert the base GAIA install VM to a template. Then, just deploy a new VM from the template every time you need to test. 

Alternatively, you could take a VM snapshot after you complete the installation and keep reverting the snapshot back after you finish whatever you are testing. 

[Vladimir]

The problem with VM template approach is that it works only if FTW was not yet run.

Else, the 15 day trial timer is engaged. So for the lab environment, a lot of things must be recreated from scratch.

If you are running Check Point in production environment already, you can migrate export and migrate import your environment in to VMs located on isolated networks and use additional NAT VMs to pipe the traffic to/from the Internet (..and ,in theory, simply apply your licenses to the VMs with identical IPs, read licensing disclaimers, etc..).

Beware of the consequences of unintentionally syncing the data to the User Center, this may result in major snafu.

In this scenario, you can use VMware snapshots to preserve the desired state and to revert to it as needed.

There is also a new "Blink" product from CP, which I had no time to research yet, but it may warrant a closer look for possibility of scripted deployments.

[G_W_Albrecht]

The solution for your problem can be found here: sk69701 How to run the First Time Configuration Wizard through CLI in Gaia R76 and above. This works for Security Gateway, Security Management Server and StandAlone deployment !

An addition regarding blink: Here i have spawned a CheckMates discussion of blink experiences, Blink, anyone ? Blink can only be used for GWs.

[PhoneBoy]

To be clear, ISOmorphic is meant for reimaging physical appliances.

There are other ways to achieve the same results in VMware (e.g. using OVF files and/or other provisioning mechanisms).