Study material for CTPS and Gateway performance Optimization

[TRajkumar]

Hi Everyone,

  I planned to do CTPS and Gateway performance Optimization certification in this month.

I need any documents to prepare for those exams. If anyone has the documents or any other study material please share with me.

This is my email ID : rajkumar.t@snsin.com

Best Regards

Rajkumar T

[Don_Paterson · Accepted solution]

1. There is no exam for the Gateway Performance Optimization course.

That is only a course that can be attended live.

2. The official courseware for the CTPS course is the best study material for the CTPS Accreditation exam.

That courseware book is not something that is shared. It is paid for and assigned to only one student.

The e-book is protected (DRM) and usually acquired through attending the course. It can be otherwise purchased separately (not common). 

The student must log into Kortext to redeem and then access their Bookshelf and the courseware e-book.

3. This month ends today.

What is your end goal, your objective? Why do you want to do the exam/s?

You can reach out to your local ATC to find out more about courses and courseware.

These are your main online resources to learn about the Check Point Training and Certifications:

https://training-certifications.checkpoint.com/#/

https://support.checkpoint.com/results/sk/sk163417

https://www.pearsonvue.com/us/en/checkpoint.html

Here are a couple of Check Mates thread to learn more about the courseware (e-kits).

https://community.checkpoint.com/t5/Training-and-Certification/Clarification-on-the-E-Kits/m-p/22893... 

https://community.checkpoint.com/t5/Training-and-Certification/CCSA-CCSE-Certification-prep/m-p/2351...

Note:

CCSA and CCSE are the Core courses and have associated Certification exams.

The Specialist courses that have associated exams are Accreditation exams. 

Details in here: https://support.checkpoint.com/results/sk/sk163417

[the_rock · Accepted solution]

FWIW, besides an excellent response Don gave, here are some AI suggestions.

*****************************

Hi Rajkumar,

Unfortunately, I can’t send or share materials by email, but I can guide you to official and recommended study resources for both CTPS (Check Point Troubleshooting Professional Service) and Gateway Performance Optimization certifications.

---

🔹 1. CTPS (Check Point Troubleshooting Professional Service)

Goal:
This course and certification are focused on advanced troubleshooting of Check Point Security Gateways and Management servers.

📘 Official Study Resources:

1. Check Point Learning Portal

   • Visit: https://training.checkpoint.com

   • Search for “CTPS”.

   • The official course is Check Point Troubleshooting Expert (CTE) or CTPS depending on your certification track.

2. Courseware Topics (Typical CTPS Content):

   • Security Gateway & Management architecture overview

   • Debugging tools (fw ctl zdebug, cpview, fw monitor)

   • Packet flow (fw ctl chain, fw ctl pstat, SecureXL, CoreXL, Multi-Queueing)

   • VPN troubleshooting (IKEView, vpnd.elg)

   • Policy installation and SIC issues

   • Log server and SmartConsole connectivity troubleshooting

   • Kernel vs User mode debugging

   • ClusterXL debugging (cphaprob, fw hastat, sync issues)

3. Recommended Practice Labs:

   • Use Check Point Cloud Demo or SmartLabs (available in the training portal)

   • Practice: Packet captures, SecureXL tuning, failover testing, and debug analysis.

---

🔹 2. Gateway Performance Optimization

Goal:
Learn how to optimize performance on Security Gateways (CoreXL, SecureXL, Dynamic Workloads, etc.)

📘 Official Study Resources:

1. Course: Check Point Gateway Performance Optimization (CCTE or CCPE)

   • Available in the same portal: https://training.checkpoint.com

2. Course Topics:

   • SecureXL architecture and performance tuning

   • CoreXL configuration and performance analysis

   • Multi-Queue (MQ) and SND tuning

   • Monitoring and performance analysis using cpview

   • Traffic acceleration paths and packet flow optimization

   • VSX optimization and resource allocation

   • Analyzing slow path vs fast path traffic

   • Gaia OS tuning parameters (buffers, memory, interfaces)

3. Practice Recommendations:

   • Run performance monitoring commands:

     cpview
     fwaccel stat
     fwaccel conns
     fw ctl multik stat
     top, htop, sar
     

   • Review logs under /var/log/messages and /opt/CPsuite-R81.20/fw1/log

   • Learn to interpret performance metrics from SmartView Monitor.

---

📚 Additional References

• Check Point SecureKnowledge articles
  https://support.checkpoint.com
  (Search keywords like “CoreXL tuning”, “SecureXL best practices”, “fw monitor examples”)

• CheckMates Community (excellent peer-shared materials and discussion threads):
  https://community.checkpoint.com

• YouTube Official Check Point Channel:
  Tutorials on debugging, VPN troubleshooting, and performance tuning.
  https://www.youtube.com/@checkpointsoftware

---

[Don_Paterson]

Hey Andy,

That AI response it not at all helpful.; It is inaccurate and actually a classic example of AI hallucination (AI made up nonsense):

 CTPS (Check Point Troubleshooting Professional Service) <-- does not exist

... and that is just the first line!

CTPS = Check Point Treat Prevention Specialist.

The commands referred to are out of context and really not good to see in this thread.

The URLs wrong (site does not exist) and not the right ones for the questions. Again not in context here.

[the_rock]

I read it again after and I agree 100%, its NONSENSE, so true. I have no idea where that term even came from lol

[Don_Paterson]

The information, including the invalid links, are made up by the free AI engine in it's desperate attempt to provide a meaty answer and please the prompter (human or otherwise).

You have to add something like this to your prompts: "Provable answers only - nothing made up".

One of the big misconceptions people have when reading AI-generated text:

If the model doesn’t know something, it will often improvise rather than admit ignorance, unless explicitly told not to.

By telling it to "Cite only verifiable sources or official documentation” it can dramatically changes the model’s behaviour.

It forces the engine to:

• Stick to verified information (from known sources or direct reasoning).

• Avoid hallucinating URLs, SK numbers, or version details that don’t exist.

• Even respond with “I can’t confirm that” instead of filling gaps.

Otherwise it will make up non-existed commands, URLs, and other things.

Way to go AI...

[the_rock]

Yes sir. Its like in the old days when people would get mad when something on computers would not work...welll, lets be honest, all computers really understand is 0 and 1 lol

[Timothy_Hall]

Complete slop, just a bunch of tangentially related items strung together in an authoritative-looking way.  Why don't we have AI Copilot automatically answering questions at CheckMates anymore?  That was highly entertaining. Performance-related answers got some of the biggest laughs out of me.

[the_rock]

Maybe thats why its not used any more haha