Our first ever Quantum Spark Masters session
Slides are attached.
Q&A is below.
\Will R81.10.05 be available for centrally managed deployments?
GA for centrally managed R81.10 will be released in R81.10.05, later this year.
Can I use SD-WAN features in SmartConsole and/or the device WebUI?
Initially, these features will only be available thru Infinity Portal.
How many of the applications require you to decrypt SSL to correctly identify the application?
Very few. We enhanced our application identification to detect them on the first packet. This is done via DNS, SNI, Known IPs, Heuristics, and caching applications done by SSL Inspection for future identification.
How will Quantum SD-WAN be licensed?
While the exact details will be finalized, it is expected to be an add-on license based on the gateway's base price.
SmartAccel will give you more performance. What will you get less to get this performance?
SmartAccel is specific to certain applications and is down to the admin to configure which apps to apply the feature to. The traffic flows for these applications will be fully accelerated by SecureX, improving performance. Other apps would be unaffected and inspected fully.
Will Infinity Spark place the SMP Portal? And if so, how will the migration process work?
Infinity Spark management will ultimately replace SMP. We will have a documented process closer to the release date.
Will the Spark appliances ever be able to use the Terminal Server Agent (MUH)?
This is planned, yes.
Open Server is supported?
We’re discussing SMB appliances, where Open Server doesn't apply. We will have a similar solution for maintain (non-SMB) gateways too that’s currently in EA.
In general, do you advise managing SMB gateways from central SMS or Infinity Portal?
It really depends on your use case. The question is either Local vs SmartConsole vs SMP. SMP gives you greater scalability, templates, central policies, etc. However, SmartConsole would (currently) give you greater flexibility, SD-WAN, etc.
SD-WAN is a major selling point for other vendors where it is included. Check Point should think about this also without asking for a fee.
Some of our competitors include SD-WAN for free, but we believe our feature set is more complete and able to manage and deploy across multiple appliances via central management.
Is it planned to integrate Spark appliances with Identity Collector?
It's supported in R81.10.00 for centrally managed and will be supported for locally managed in R81.10.05.
Could the OS revision naming be changed slightly to combat the confusion between Gaia and Gaia Embedded? Such as calling Spark versions S81.10.00?
Most probably no, we do distinguish between Gaia and Gaia Embedded
Will Embedded Gaia become available on, say, a 3800 appliance?
Not planned.
Any plans to add dedicated Wi-Fi access points for Spark or the overall Quantum series? When we are talking about larger Spark appliances, being forced to use 3rd party Access Points kind of detracts from the Check Point ecosystem.
We are investigating this, yes.
Can we send logs to a Syslog server?
Yes, this can be configured in the device WebUI. If you use SMP management then the logs are all available through SMP in a much more useable format.
Will there be an update of the VMware image to test the SMB software in your lab environment?
I presume we will update the Quantum Edge images with an R81.10 version. Refer to this SK for updates: https://supportcenter.checkpoint.com/supportcenter/portal?eventSubmit_doGoviewsolutiondetails=&solut...
Any plans to support 2FA authentication for VPN by OTPs like Google Authenticator?
We are planning to add SAML support for Remote Access to the Quantum Spark line, which should resolve most of these issues.
Any plans to finally remove SNX limitation which can be used only with IE browser?
Yes. If you have precise requirements around this, please contact your local Check Point Office.
Will we see Power over Ethernet again?
Currently not in the plans. If you have requirements for this, please reach out to your local Check Point office.
Are R80.20.xx versions Still Being Developed?
Most of our efforts will be around R81.10.xx versions, but we will continue to release important fixes to R80.20.xx.
Using SMP is at no extra cost for SMB appliances having a valid subscription. Will that change whenever SMP would transition to something else?
Presently no plans on changing this when SMP moves to Infinity Portal.
Any plan to add more Quantum spark appliances options? (With more GE ports, Wifi 6, LTE on small appliances)
Yes, watch this space 🙂
LDAP Proxy, to use Active Directory integration when managed on Smart-1 Cloud?
This is already supported in R81.10.00, but Smart-1 Cloud does not currently support this. It is expected to be available once Smart-1 Cloud is upgraded to R81.20 (expected Q4 2022).
When will the secondary WAN port be supported on the 1800?
Timelines for this have not been finalized. If you have a requirement for this, please contact your local Check Point office.
