[runcmd]

We are currently planning for the upgrade/replacement of our existing CheckPoint firewall configuration. In the new configuration, we will have a total of three servers. We are trying to decide between to separate configurations, proposed by vendors:

SPLAT/SPLAT/SPLAT - Three SPLAT servers, one of which is the administration server.

SPLAT/SPLAT/WIN - Two SPLAT servers and one Windows server--the Windows Server being the "SmartCenter" administration server.

My current understanding is that system administrators use workstations with the GUI installed to communicate with the SmartCenter Server, which stores the rules. The SmartCenter Server is then used to install the policies on the actual firewall servers.

Not being very familiar with SPLAT, does anyone have any comments on the benefits of one configuration option over the other? We use Tivoli Backup and have concerns about backing up the "all SPLAT" option. Does anyone know if Tivoli can backup SPLAT configuration, if the SmartCenter Server is running SPLAT? Also, my previous understanding of SPLAT was that it could not be used as a "SmartCenter" administration server. Is that incorrect?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!