Saturday, May 7, 2011

Checkpoint Backup Methods

[upgrade_export]

It doesn't backup any OS (i.e. SPLAT) settings, it only backups up Check Point settings
It will let you export on one OS and then import on a different OS (i.e. go from Windows to SPLAT)
You can upgrade_import on different hardware (i.e. go from IBM to HP)
You can restore an export from an older version to a newer version of CheckPoint. A SPLAT backup/restore requires that you have the exact same versions. Note that when upgrading from an older to newer version, you must use the newer version's upgrade_export utility to create the export file.
It restores the product list as well. The SPLAT restore command won't restore the Check Point settings if you don't have the exact same products (and product versions) installed.

[backup]

A SPLAT backup will back up both the SPLAT OS settings as well as the CheckPoint settings
Basically it's an upgrade_export with OS settings added in
Restoring a backup file requires the exact same software installation. I.e. you can't restore a backup from R55 on to R60 (the HFA level must match as well). The installed product list must match as well. Note that you can
still restore the OS settings even if your installed Check Point product list doesn't match.
The SPLAT OS settings are hardware specific. If you restore the system settings you must restore on the same hardware. However, if you only restore the Check Point settings you can restore on different hardware. Restoring just the Check Point settings is essentially the same thing as doing an "upgrade_import" of an exported file.

[snapshot]

A snapshot is even better than a backup since it contains binary files. I.e. you can revert from R60 to R55 with a snapshot. The downside to this is that a snapshot file is much larger than an upgrade_export or backup
file.
A snapshot can also roll you forward for minor software changes. For example if I revert from R60 HFA05 to HFA01 I can later revert back to R60 HFA05 from R60 HFA01
A snapshot cannot revert to a newer major release of Check Point. I.e. you can't revert from R55 to R60.
If you're reinstalling SPLAT on the same hardware you don't have to install any HFA's or change any configuration. Simply reverting to your saved snapshot file will restore all configurations and HFAs. The only
stipulation is that the major software version must match. I.e. a R60 snapshot file will only work on a R60 install (regardless of HFA level).
You can only revert on the same hardware, since the snapshot file contains hardware specific SPLAT settings.

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