Troubleshooting guide

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Chapter 1: Troubleshooting Overview
Troubleshooting VPN-1/FireWall-1 issues can be very complex. Problems can be caused by
network topologies, platform issues and the wide range of VPN-1/FireWall-1 features. Efficient
troubleshooting must start with a carefully organized plan.
Troubleshooting Guidelines
1. Define the problem as a list of symptoms.
Every problem can be described as a collection of symptoms. The first step is to define these
symptoms.
Possible symptoms are error and log messages, malfunctions of certain modules and user
complaints.
2. Make sure you have as much related information as you can.
Collect the log messages, error messages, and other symptom descriptions. Collect related
information from product User Guides, release notes and any other source.
Verify that the modules involved are correctly configured.
3. Find a list of causes to every symptom.
Using the gathered information, try to find as many potential causes as you can for every
symptom.
Put the most likely cause first on the list and organize the rest in the same way.
4. Start checking the causes one by one.
Make sure you initialize your environment setting before every test. Go from the most likely
cause to the less.
5. Consult other reference sources
Release notes, web sites, mailing lists, and Support. All these can be reached from the
Check Point Premium Support site at http://www.checkpoint.com/support/technical/
(password required).
Information to Gather
Before contacting Technical Support, gather all necessary information about the problem. For a
description of the of required information, Refer to
• “Chapter 12: What To Send Technical Support,” page 126
• “Contacting Check Point Worldwide Technical Services by Telephone,” page 133 and
“Contacting Check Point Worldwide Technical Services by E-mail,” page 135