Deploying a Security Gateway or a ClusterXL in Bridge Mode

Introduction to Bridge Mode

If you cannot divide the existing network into several networks with different IP addresses, you can install a Check Point Security Gateway Dedicated Check Point server that runs Check Point software to inspect traffic and enforce Security Policies for connected network resources. (or a ClusterXL) in the Bridge Mode Security Gateway or Virtual System that works as a Layer 2 bridge device for easy deployment in an existing topology..

A Security Gateway (or ClusterXL) in Bridge Mode is invisible to Layer 3 traffic.

When traffic arrives at one of the bridge subordinate interfaces, the Security Gateway (or Cluster Two or more Security Gateways that work together in a redundant configuration - High Availability, or Load Sharing. Members) inspects it and passes it to the second bridge subordinate interface.

Supported Software Blades in Bridge Mode

This table lists Software Blades, features, and their support for the Bridge Mode.

This table applies to single Security Gateway deployment, ClusterXL (with one switch) in Active/Active and Active/Standby deployment, and ClusterXL with four switches.

Software Blade	Support of a Security Gateway in Bridge Mode	Support of a ClusterXL in Bridge Mode	Support of VSX Virtual Systems in Bridge Mode
Firewall
IPS Check Point Software Blade on a Security Gateway that inspects and analyzes packets and data for numerous types of risks (Intrusion Prevention System).
URL Filtering Check Point Software Blade on a Security Gateway that allows granular control over which web sites can be accessed by a given group of users, computers or networks. Acronym: URLF.
DLP
Anti-Bot Check Point Software Blade on a Security Gateway that blocks botnet behavior and communication to Command and Control (C&C) centers. Acronyms: AB, ABOT.
Anti-Virus Check Point Software Blade on a Security Gateway that uses real-time virus signatures and anomaly-based protections from ThreatCloud to detect and block malware at the Security Gateway before users are affected. Acronym: AV.	⁽¹⁾	⁽¹⁾	⁽¹⁾
Application Control Check Point Software Blade on a Security Gateway that allows granular control over specific web-enabled applications by using deep packet inspection. Acronym: APPI.
HTTPS Inspection Feature on a Security Gateway that inspects traffic encrypted by the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol for malware or suspicious patterns. Synonym: SSL Inspection. Acronyms: HTTPSI, HTTPSi.	⁽²⁾	⁽²⁾
Identity Awareness Check Point Software Blade on a Security Gateway that enforces network access and audits data based on network location, the identity of the user, and the identity of the computer. Acronym: IDA.	⁽³⁾	⁽³⁾
Threat Emulation Check Point Software Blade on a Security Gateway that monitors the behavior of files in a sandbox to determine whether or not they are malicious. Acronym: TE. - ThreatCloud emulation			Yes in Active/Active Bridge Mode No in Active/Standby Bridge Mode
Threat Emulation - Local emulation			No in all Bridge Modes
Threat Emulation - Remote emulation			Yes in Active/Active Bridge Mode No in Active/Standby Bridge Mode
Threat Extraction Check Point Software Blade on a Security Gateway that removes malicious content from files. Acronym: TEX.			Yes in Active/Active Bridge Mode No in Active/Standby Bridge Mode
Zero Phishing Check Point Software Blade on a Security Gateway (R81.20 and higher) that provides real-time phishing prevention based on URLs. Acronym: ZPH.
UserCheck
QoS Check Point Software Blade on a Security Gateway that provides policy-based traffic bandwidth management to prioritize business-critical traffic and guarantee bandwidth and control latency.	(see sk89581)	(see sk89581)	(see sk79700)
HTTP / HTTPS proxy
Security Servers - SMTP, HTTP, FTP, POP3
Client Authentication
User Authentication
Multi-Portal (Mobile Access Check Point Software Blade on a Security Gateway that provides a Remote Access VPN access for managed and unmanaged clients. Acronym: MAB. Portal, Identity Awareness Captive Portal, Data Loss Prevention Check Point Software Blade on a Security Gateway that detects and prevents the unauthorized transmission of confidential information outside the organization. Acronym: DLP. Portal, and so on)
IPsec VPN Check Point Software Blade on a Security Gateway that provides a Site to Site VPN and Remote Access VPN access.
Mobile Access

Notes:

Does not support the Anti-Virus in Traditional Mode.
HTTPS Inspection in Layer 2 works as Man-in-the-Middle, based on MAC addresses:
- Client sends a TCP [SYN] packet to the MAC address X.
- Security Gateway creates a TCP [SYN-ACK] packet and sends it to the MAC address X.
- Security Gateway in Bridge Mode does not need IP addresses, because CPAS takes the routing and the MAC address from the original packet.
Note - To be able to perform certificate validation (CRL/OCSP download), Security Gateway needs at least one interface to be assigned with an IP address. Probe bypass can have issues with Bridge Mode. Therefore, we do not recommend Probe bypass in Bridge Mode configuration.
Identity Awareness in Bridge Mode supports only the AD Query authentication.

Limitations in Bridge Mode

You can configure only two subordinate interfaces in a single Bridge interface. You can think of this Bridge interface as a two-port Layer 2 switch. Each port can be a Physical interface, a VLAN interface, or a Bond interface.

These features and deployments are not supported in Bridge Mode:

Assigning an IP address to a Bridge interface in ClusterXL.
NAT rules (specifically, Firewall kernel in logs shows the traffic as accepted, but Security Gateway does not actually forward it). For more information, see sk106146.
Access to Multi-Portal (Mobile Access Portal, Identity Awareness Captive Portal, Data Loss Prevention Portal, and so on) from bridged networks, if the bridge does not have an assigned IP address.
Clusters with more than two Cluster Members..
Full High Availability Cluster.
Asymmetric traffic inspection in ClusterXL in Active/Active Bridge Mode.

(Asymmetric traffic inspection is any situation, where the Client-to-Server packet is inspected by one Cluster Member Security Gateway that is part of a cluster., while the Server-to-Client packet is inspected by the other Cluster Member. In such scenarios, several security features do not work.)

For more information, see sk101371: Bridge Mode on Gaia OS and SecurePlatform OS.