How to sizing a quantum spark

[Degree]

Hi Team,

Any idea to size a small gateway like spark base on the number of the user?

ie.  I need a SMB gateway that can cater 50 users.

Does anyone have a documentation for the sizing of SMB gateway per user or throughput?

SMB Gateways (Spark) Quantum Spark (SMB) 

[Blason_R]

Check Point local SE should be able to help you. Did you contact them?

[Degree]

Thank you @Blason_R 

[the_rock]

Hopefully below is helpful to you.

Andy

https://www.checkpoint.com/downloads/products/1500-security-gateway-datasheet.pdf

[Degree]

thank you @the_rock  🙂

[G_W_Albrecht · Accepted solution]

From SMB-Onboarding-Kit:

[Degree]

Is it possible to send me the document/links for reference?

[G_W_Albrecht]

https://community.checkpoint.com/t5/Partner-Resource-Hub/SMB-Onboarding-Deck/ta-p/167017/jump-to/fir...

[genisis__]

Is there a doc or video which compares a spark 1800 with 6200 so we can see what features and functions are different to make a more informed technical choice rather the just looking at the figures on a datasheet?  I'm also interested in knowing the CPU differences.

[PhoneBoy]

All SMB appliances (including 1800) are ARM based and run Embedded Gaia.
All other appliances use Intel processors and run Regular Gaia.
Even if we provided more precise details on the processors used (which we don't), ARM and Intel have different performance characteristics.

You can see a partial list of differences between Embedded Gaia and regular Gaia here: https://support.checkpoint.com/results/sk/sk92741
Specific software features that aren't supported on Embedded Gaia are listed here: https://support.checkpoint.com/results/sk/sk178604 

[CheckPointerXL]

that's a very good point, anyway in today real pre-sales world it is hard to justify to customers the pricing list.

i will put here some recent tasks:

- customer need to choose between 1575 and 1595: same hardware capabilities, roughly 20% better performance and....price doubled... so difficult to explain, am i missing something?

- customer need to choose between 1600 and 3600: 3600 has lower hardware capabilities, performance roughly same,  but price is again almost doubled.... Can Gaia justify this? So difficult

so, under a performance point of view is very difficult to find an explanation... and other stuff, like Intel VS ARM or Gaia VS Gaia embedded seems to be poor valid characteristics... that's maybe something important for SE figure like us which daily fight with Gaia embedded CLi and his lacks.

[Amir_Ayalon]

If you find yourself struggling with Gaia Embedded CLI, you are probably used to Gaia, and you probably an enterprise / branch user - so you should keep using MT GAIA.

if you are small / medium business who would rather enjoy simple configuration, simple management but need strong performance and (many LAN interfaces) - better use the 1800.

[Chris_Atkinson]

Are you comparing just the "wired" models since the 1595 also has the 5G option.. 

[PhoneBoy]

In general, the products are intended for different segments of the market.
As a result, there are some differences in capabilities and pricing.
Your local Check Point office should be able to address any specific pricing issues. 

[CheckPointerXL]

Hi all,

any relevant feature to highlight between new quantum spark PRO line (1535,1555,1575,1595) and "old" line (1530,1550,1570,1590)? I'm going deep inside datasheets but it seems a classic Product Line refresh, Am i wrong?

Any particular reason to get a quote for a 1590 and not a 1595 or viceversa?

thank you

[genisis__]

From what I can tell it looks like 5G support, and I suspect newer CPU under the hood.

[Chris_Atkinson]

WiFi6 is also an enhancement offered with the PRO series for those needing wireless Lan capability.

[PhoneBoy]

If you need to run R80.20.xx for some reason, you will need to get a 1590 as I assume the new appliances only support R81.10.xx.
Otherwise, I believe the main benefits of the newer appliances are WiFi6, 5G support, and a modest performance improvement.

[genisis__]

Are there an vids comparing 1800 to 6200 appliances?  Would like to know the differences, especially when it comes to cli functions. 

[PhoneBoy]

There are no videos comparing the two that I'm aware of (at least produced by Check Point).

In general, there are some CLI differences between Embedded Gaia and regular Gaia.
Some of the clish syntax is different, but I believe most of the same functions are there on both.
One thing Embedded Gaia has that regular Gaia does not is the ability to edit access policy via the CLI (if a locally managed device).
Expert mode is different due to the nature of the underlying OS (regular Gaia is based on RHEL, Embedded Gaia is not).
Debugging gateway functions is substantially similar between the two, though in some cases, the debug steps might be different.

[genisis__]

great thanks.

From a CPU point of view, I believe there is an ARM processor used, is this multi-threaded?  I basically thinking elephant flows here and ensuring there is at least 4 cores available.

[PhoneBoy]

All Check Point appliances have a minimum of two cores and are 64bit capable, both of which are required by the R8x code base.
The only current SMB appliances that have less than four cores are the 1530 and 1570 (they have three).
The 1550 and 1590 both have four cores, and I believe the 1600/1800 appliances have 12 cores (at different clock speeds).

If you're concerned about elephant flows, note that Hyperflow is not yet available on SMB appliances.
Hyperflow is a feature added to R81.20 to assist with processing elephant flows that use Medium Path. 

[genisis__]

Awesome thanks,  and yes it was related to elephant flows; with 12 cores at least a flow should not impact the rest of the box.
I did not think hyperflow was going to be usable on appliances with less then 20 cores.

I did also note in the datasheet, there appears to be no support for LOM cards, which is a real shame.

[G_W_Albrecht]

LOM cards are for another market segment - this is Embedded GAiA Flash-Based  (except 1800) intended for SMBs ! LOM is available starting with Mid-Sized Enterprise models (6x00).

[genisis__]

Shame as this would dame handy option on all models.

[the_rock]

Good point.

[genisis__]

Yeah - considering the benefits of what the LOM can bring when centrally managing a large estate, its seem as though this is a valuable oversight, perhaps this can be consider for newer Spark devices.

[the_rock]

I agree 100% mate.

Andy

[PhoneBoy]

At minimum, Hyperflow requires 8 cores.

[Greg_Harbers]

Hi Damien,
is it confirmed that the 15x5 series appliances need R81.10.xx? 

And is there a comparison doc betwen the 15x0 and 15x5 appliances that lists the differences?

Thanks