PhoneBoy Approved! :)

[PhoneBoy]

(Reposted from Go Get Your CCSA and CCSE at CPUG University)

If you’re looking to get your Check Point CCSA and CCSE certifications, I can’t think of a better way to do it than going and taking your training from CPUG University. This 6-day boot camp, class taught by Barry Stiefel, is focused on teaching the key concepts necessary to pass both certifications. The $3995 USD for this bootcamp includes lunch and dinner as well as exam vouchers for both tests.

Aside from the focused courseware, the lab setup is nothing short of fantastic. You spend less time troubleshooting basic network functionality–something I’ve done in my own classes I taught more than a decade ago–and more time actually learning Check Point.

That isn’t to say that things go flawlessly in these labs. In many of the labs, the monitoring software made it very easy to isolate configuration issues. In one case, it took us a couple of hours to get to the bottom of a nasty misconfiguration. I eventually was able to isolate it by using fw monitor–something I haven’t used in ages! However, in that trouble, we learned a lot. Isn’t that the point of going to class?

The class is not for inexperienced networking people. Check Point experience will be a huge plus and will ensure you get the most out of it. All of us in the class had quite a bit of experience, which made the class a lot of fun.

For me? The biggest shock was how little I had missed. The last version I seriously played with was NG AI (R54). R60 wasn’t that different, and quite frankly, neither was R65 the couple of times I’ve seen it. The concepts are the same. The UI has been refined a bit. Troubleshooting works more or less the same.

The other thing that makes this class effective is the fact that the exams are given right in the classroom–while the content is still fresh in your mind! No wonder he has such a high pass rate, which our class added to those percentages!

If you can get yourself to San Francisco, I can’t think of a more cost or time efficient way to get your CCSA and CCSE!

[dbrown3611]

Congrats PhoneBoy!

btw.... I've only been involved with Check Point for a couple years. I inherited both of your books when I took my present position. They have both been very valueable to me in learning CP.

[hotrod_952@hotmail.com]

Unfortunate my company can't afford to send me to training this year. However, I would like to purchase some reading materials to assist in my studying for CCSA/CCSE. Any recommendations?

[HomiD]

I dont know if you already got your answer but I'll add my two cents here. Before I went to San Francisco to attend Barry's class this August, I got a hold of this book Configuring Check Point NGX VPN-1/Firewall-1 but only had time to read the first 6 chapters and they were very helpful for the CCSA exam. If you read the whole book, it will help with CCSE too. Barry is also one of the author's of this book.

[boldin]

I would also recommend the actual courseware (expensive, yes). It does cover the majority of what you need for the certs, but you must have some real-life practical experience in order for some of the material to make good sense. It also only focuses on test material. Yes, there's always some stuff on the exam that's not covered in the courseware, but it's the best source of information you'll find and most reliable.

You can usually find some used ones on eBay and the like for significantly cheaper. If you have more than one firewall admin, you can go in together on them, like I did, and pass them around among those who paid in...

[jamesfraze]

Another great source of information for the tests and general knowledge is to read the help files and supporting docs. The help files are context related, so if you are looking at ClusterXl settings for example, clicking help will give you details related to that section only.

The actual pdf files that are provided by Check Point are pretty dry, but are useful for understanding how stuff works. I would stay away from the pdf for exams, but read them to be an expert. In particular look for the "ARTG", which contains troubleshooting information. I also do google.com/alerts for pdfs on the checkpoint.com site. filetype:pdf site:checkpoint.com - you'll often find instructor documents that google finds :)

What I do, is download all of the PDFs I can about the products and keep them in a directory. When it's time to search for info, I do a keyword search and scan all of the PDFs. Since Check Point won't use indexes or Tables of Contents that are useful - this system helps me find which documents/sections to read in their PDFs. Don't forget the LATEST release notes - you'll learn a ton from reading them and keeping them handy when issues come up.

You can also look in books.google.com to review some of the books. The courseware are great - but aren't sold except maybe on ebay.

Here are some of the books that I have and use often (besides courseware books & PDF):

Syngress - Configuring Check Point NGX VPN-1 Firewall-1 (IBSN: 1-59749-031-8)
Syngress - Check Point NG (ISBN:1-928994-74-1)
SYBEX - CCSE NG Check Point certified security Expert Study Guide (IBSN: 0-7821-4116-1)

There are others - find them using the books.google.com and then look for used ones on Amazon.com Even if the info is old (NG for example), most of it still applies.

I do not recommend any training course until you have labbed it out yourself in vmware server or esxi (both are free). The courses are fast paced and more of a review in prep for a test the next day instead of a way to actually learn. You'll learn most by simply setting up a lab and reading through the docs - at least, more will "stick" that way. You can usually get a 30 day license (over and over) by asking your Check Point rep and explain you want a lab to test out the product.

I use http://jmemorize.org to create flash cards on ports, requirements, order of events, process names, icons, etc. It's a free program that I use to take notes and prepare for tests. It turned me from a C student into a test taking king. It helps with cramming, and verbatim memorization better than any tool I've ever used. Basically you read, summarize in question form, then use the flash card. Don't make lazy flashcards with 1 word answers, and don't make huge, impossible to remember answers/questions either. The goal is to be able to absorb the question and have a complete answer in 2 - 3 seconds per flash card. Don't under estimate this tool to learn!

example flashcard:

What port controls policy push?
Policy Push happens over port 18192

is better than:

Policy push
18192


I also take notes with WikidPad - wiki notebook/outliner for windows because I can sort and organize them for quick reference later. though it's harder to memorize from that program, it's better for reference.

That's my advice - hope it helps you.