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Cloud infrastructure segmentation with Check Point next-generation firewall

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Updated at November 26, 2024

This guide describes how to deploy a secure network infrastructure based on the Check Point next-generation firewall solution. The infrastructure comprises three segments, each hosting an isolated set of resources grouped by function. For example, the dedicated DMZ segment is where public-facing applications are placed; whereas the MGMT segment hosts the cloud infrastructure management resources. The segments communicate with each other via a virtual Check Point next-generation firewall, which provides end-to-end protection and traffic control across the segments.

If you need to ensure NGFW fault tolerance and high availability of the deployed applications, use this recommended solution.

The solution has the following basic segments (folders):

  • The public folder contains the internet-facing resources.
  • The mgmt folder is used to manage the cloud infrastructure and host internal resources. It includes VMs for infrastructure protection and network segmentation into security zones (fw), a VM of the centralized firewall management server (mgmt-server), and a VM with WireGuard VPN configured for secure access to the management segment over a VPN (jump-vm).
  • The dmz folder enables you to publish applications with public access from the internet.

For more information, see the project repository.

To deploy a secure network infrastructure based on the Check Point next-generation firewall:

  1. Prepare your cloud.
  2. Prepare the environment.
  3. Deploy your resources.
  4. Configure the firewall gateway.
  5. Test the solution.
  6. Requirements for production deployment.

If you no longer need the resources you created, delete them.

Next-Generation Firewall

Yandex Cloud Marketplace offers multiple NGFW solutions. This scenario uses Check Point CloudGuard IaaS. Its features include:

  • Firewall, NAT, IPS, antivirus, and anti-bot protect services.
  • Application layer granular traffic control, session logging.
  • Centralized security management with Check Point Security Management.
  • This example uses the basic access control and NAT policies for the Check Point solution.

Yandex Cloud Marketplace offers PAYG and BYOL licensing for Check Point CloudGuard IaaS. This example uses the BYOL option with a 15-day trial:

We recommend the following options for production use:

Prepare your cloud

Sign up for Yandex Cloud and create a billing account:

  1. Go to the management console and log in to Yandex Cloud or create an account if you do not have one yet.
  2. On the Yandex Cloud Billing page, make sure you have a billing account linked and it has the ACTIVE or TRIAL_ACTIVE status. If you do not have a billing account, create one.

If you have an active billing account, you can go to the cloud page to create or select a folder for your infrastructure to operate in.

Learn more about clouds and folders.

The infrastructure support cost includes:

Required quotas

Warning

The tutorial involves deploying a resource-intensive infrastructure.

Make sure your cloud has sufficient quotas not being used by resources for other jobs.

Amount of resources used by the tutorial
Resource Amount
Folders 3
Virtual machines 4
VM vCPUs 12
VM RAM 20 GB
Disks 4
SSD size 240 GB
HDD size 20 GB
Cloud networks 3
Subnets 3
Route tables 2
Security groups 5
Static public IP addresses 2
Static routes 3

Prepare the environment

The tutorial uses Windows software and the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).
The infrastructure is deployed using Terraform.

Configure WSL

  1. Check if WSL is installed on your PC. To do this, run the following command in the CLI terminal:

    wsl -l

    If WSL is installed, the terminal will display a list of available distributions, for example:

    Windows Subsystem for Linux Distributions:
docker-desktop (Default)
docker-desktop-data
Ubuntu

  2. If WSL is not installed, install it and repeat the previous step.

  3. In addition, you can install a familiar Linux distribution, e.g., Ubuntu, on top of WSL.

  4. To make the installed distribution the default system, run:

    wsl --setdefault ubuntu

  5. To switch the terminal to the Linux subsystem operation mode, run:

    wsl ~

Note

All steps described below are completed in the Linux terminal.

Create a service account with the admin privileges for the cloud

  1. In the management console, select the folder where you want to create a service account.

  2. In the list of services, select Identity and Access Management.

  3. Click Create service account.

  4. Enter a name for the service account, e.g., sa-terraform.

    The name format requirements are as follows:

    • The name must be from 3 to 63 characters long.
    • It may contain lowercase Latin letters, numbers, and hyphens.
    • The first character must be a letter and the last character cannot be a hyphen.

  5. Click Create.

  6. Assign the account the admin role:

    1. On the management console home page, select the cloud.
    2. Click the Access permissions tab.
    3. Find the sa-terraform account in the list and click .
    4. Click Edit roles.
    5. Click Add role in the dialog box that opens and select the admin role.

If you do not have the Yandex Cloud command line interface yet, install and initialize it.

The folder specified in the CLI profile is used by default. You can specify a different folder using the --folder-name or --folder-id parameter.

  1. Create a service account:

    yc iam service-account create --name sa-terraform

    Where name is the service account name. The naming requirements are as follows:

    • The name must be from 3 to 63 characters long.
    • It may contain lowercase Latin letters, numbers, and hyphens.
    • The first character must be a letter and the last character cannot be a hyphen.

    Result:

    id: ajehr0to1g8b********
folder_id: b1gv87ssvu49********
created_at: "2024-01-04T09:03:11.665153755Z"
name: sa-terraform

  2. Assign the account the admin role:

    yc resource-manager cloud add-access-binding <cloud_ID> \
  --role admin \
  --subject serviceAccount:<service_account_ID>

    Result:

    done (1s)

To create a service account, use the create REST API method for the ServiceAccount resource or the ServiceAccountService/Create gRPC API call.

To assign the service account a role for a cloud or folder, use the updateAccessBindings REST API method for the Cloud or Folder resource:

  1. Select the role to assign to the service account. You can find the description of the roles in the Yandex Identity and Access Management documentation in the Yandex Cloud role reference.

  2. Get the ID of the service accounts folder.

  3. Get an IAM token required for authorization in the Yandex Cloud API.

  4. Get a list of folder service accounts to find out their IDs:

    export FOLDER_ID=b1gvmob95yys********
export IAM_TOKEN=CggaATEVAgA...
curl \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer ${IAM_TOKEN}" \
  "https://iam.api.cloud.yandex.net/iam/v1/serviceAccounts?folderId=${FOLDER_ID}"

    Result:

    {
 "serviceAccounts": [
  {
   "id": "ajebqtreob2d********",
   "folderId": "b1gvmob95yys********",
   "createdAt": "2018-10-18T13:42:40Z",
   "name": "my-robot",
   "description": "my description"
  }
 ]
}

  5. Create the request body, e.g., in the body.json file. Set the action property to ADD and roleId to the appropriate role, such as editor, and specify the serviceAccount type and service account ID in the subject property:

    body.json:

    {
  "accessBindingDeltas": [{
    "action": "ADD",
    "accessBinding": {
      "roleId": "editor",
      "subject": {
        "id": "ajebqtreob2d********",
        "type": "serviceAccount"
      }
    }
  }]
}

  6. Assign a role to a service account. For example, for a folder with the b1gvmob95yys******** ID:

    export FOLDER_ID=b1gvmob95yys********
export IAM_TOKEN=CggaAT********
curl \
  --request POST \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer ${IAM_TOKEN}" \
  --data '@body.json' \
  "https://resource-manager.api.cloud.yandex.net/resource-manager/v1/folders/${FOLDER_ID}:updateAccessBindings"

Install the required utilities

  1. Install Git using the following command:

    sudo apt install git

  2. Install Terraform:

    1. Go to the root folder:

      cd ~

    2. Create a folder named terraform and open it:

      mkdir terraform
cd terraform

    3. Run the following command to download the terraform_1.3.9_linux_amd64.zip archive from the official website:

      curl --location --remote-name https://hashicorp-releases.yandexcloud.net/terraform/1.3.9/terraform_1.3.9_linux_amd64.zip

    4. Install the zip utility and unpack the ZIP archive:

      apt install zip
unzip terraform_1.3.9_linux_amd64.zip

    5. Add the path to the folder with the executable to the PATH variable:

      export PATH=$PATH:~/terraform

    6. Make sure that Terraform is installed by running this command:

      terraform -help

  3. Create a configuration file specifying the provider source for Terraform:

    1. Create a file named .terraformrc using the native nano editor:

      cd ~
nano .terraformrc

    2. Add the following section to the file:

      provider_installation {
  network_mirror {
    url = "https://terraform-mirror.yandexcloud.net/"
    include = ["registry.terraform.io/*/*"]
  }
  direct {
    exclude = ["registry.terraform.io/*/*"]
  }
}

      For more information about setting up mirrors, see the Terraform documentation.

Deploy your resources

  1. Clone the GitHub repository and go to the yc-network-segmentation-with-checkpoint script folder:

    git clone https://github.com/yandex-cloud-examples/yc-network-segmentation-with-checkpoint.git
cd yc-network-segmentation-with-checkpoint

  2. Set up the CLI profile to run operations on behalf of the service account:

    If you do not have the Yandex Cloud command line interface yet, install and initialize it.

    The folder specified in the CLI profile is used by default. You can specify a different folder using the --folder-name or --folder-id parameter.

    1. Create an authorized key for your service account and save the file:

      yc iam key create \
  --service-account-id <service_account_ID> \
  --folder-id <ID_of_folder_with_service_account> \
  --output key.json

      Where:

      • service-account-id: Service account ID.
      • folder-id: ID of the folder in which the service account was created.
      • output: Name of the file with the authorized key.

      Result:

      id: aje8nn871qo4********
service_account_id: ajehr0to1g8b********
created_at: "2023-03-04T09:16:43.479156798Z"
key_algorithm: RSA_2048

    2. Create a CLI profile to run operations on behalf of the service account:

      yc config profile create sa-terraform

      Result:

      Profile 'sa-terraform' created and activated

    3. Set the profile configuration:

      yc config set service-account-key key.json
yc config set cloud-id <cloud_ID>
yc config set folder-id <folder_ID>

      Where:

      • service-account-key: File with the service account authorized key.
      • cloud-id: Cloud ID.
      • folder-id: Folder ID.

    4. Add the credentials to the environment variables:

      export YC_TOKEN=$(yc iam create-token)
export YC_CLOUD_ID=$(yc config get cloud-id)
export YC_FOLDER_ID=$(yc config get folder-id)

  3. Get your PC's IP address:

    curl 2ip.ru

    Result:

    192.240.24.87

  4. Open the terraform.tfvars file in the nano editor to edit as follows:

    1. The line with the cloud ID:

      cloud_id = "<cloud_ID>"

    2. The line with a list of allowed public IP addresses for jump-vm access:

      trusted_ip_for_access_jump-vm = ["<PC_external_IP>/32"]
    Description of variables in terraform.tfvars
    Parameter
    name    		 Needs
    editing    		 Description Type Example
    cloud_id Yes ID of your cloud in Yandex Cloud string b1g8dn6s3v2e********
    az_name - Yandex Cloud availability zone to host your resources. string ru-central1-d
    security_segment_names - List of segment names. The first segment is for the management resources, the second, for the resources with public internet access, the third, for the DMZ. If you need more segments, add them at the end of the list. When adding a segment, make sure to specify the subnet prefix in subnet_prefix_list. list(string) ["mgmt", "public", "dmz"]
    subnet_prefix_list - List of subnet prefixes as indicated in the security_segment_names list. Specify one prefix for each segment. list(string) ["192.168.1.0/24", "172.16.1.0/24", "10.160.1.0/24"]
    public_app_port - TCP port for a DMZ application open for outside internet connection number 80
    internal_app_port - Internal TCP port of a DMZ application to which the NGFW will direct traffic. You may specify the same port as public_app_port or a different one. number 8080
    trusted_ip_for_access_jump-vm Yes List of public IPs or subnets trusted to access the jump VM. Used in the incoming rule of the jump VM security group. list(string) ["A.A.A.A/32", "B.B.B.0/24"]
    jump_vm_admin_username - Username for connecting to jump VM over SSH. string admin
    wg_port - UDP port for inbound traffic as indicated in the Jump VM WireGuard settings. number 51820

    Warning

    We recommend specifying additional segments in advance if you may need them later on, as a cloud-based NGFW VM does not support adding new network interfaces after it is created.

  5. Deploy the resources in the cloud using Terraform:

    1. Initialize Terraform:

      terraform init

    2. Check the Terraform file configuration:

      terraform validate

    3. Check the list of cloud resources you are about to create:

      terraform plan

    4. Create resources:

      terraform apply

  6. After the terraform apply process is over, the command line will output a list of information on the deployed resources. Later on, you can view this information by running the terraform output command:

    Expand to view the information on deployed resources
    Name Description Sample value
    dmz-web-server_ip_address DMZ web server IP address for publishing a test application from the DMZ segment. Used for configuring destination NAT on a firewall. 10.160.1.100
    fw-mgmt-server_ip_address Firewall management server IP address. 192.168.1.100
    fw_gaia_portal_mgmt-server_password Default password for the initial connection to the firewall management server IP address over HTTPS. admin
    fw_mgmt_ip_address Firewall IP address in the management network. 192.168.1.10
    fw_public_ip_address Public firewall IP address. D.D.D.D
    fw_sic-password One-time password for adding a firewall to the firewall management server The terraform output command does not return this variable. To view its value, run terraform output fw_sic-password.
    fw_smartconsole_mgmt-server_password Password for connecting to the firewall management server through the Check Point SmartConsole GUI. The terraform output command does not return this variable. To view its value run terraform output fw_smartconsole_mgmt-server_password.
    jump-vm_path_for_WireGuard_client_config Configuration file for enabling a secure WireGuard VPN connection to the jump VM. ./jump-vm-wg.conf
    jump-vm_public_ip_address_jump-vm Jump VM public IP E.E.E.E
    path_for_private_ssh_key File with a private key used to connect to VMs over SSH (jump VM, firewalls, management server, and DMZ web server) ./pt_key.pem

Configure the firewall gateway

This guide describes how to configure firewalls with basic access control and NAT policies required for performance testing but insufficient for production deployment.

Learn more about Check Point features and configuration with our free course, Deep Dive into Network Security.

Connect to the control segment via a VPN

After deploying the infrastructure, the mgmt folder will contain a VM named jump-vm based on an Ubuntu image with the WireGuard VPN configured for a secure connection. Set up a VPN tunnel to jump-vm on your PC to access the mgmt, dmz, and public segment subnets.

To set up the VPN tunnel:

  1. Get the username in the Linux subsystem:

    whoami

  2. Install WireGuard on your PC.

  3. Open WireGuard and click Add Tunnel.

  4. In the dialog box that opens, select the jump-vm-wg.conf file in the yc-network-segmentation-with-checkpoint folder.
    To find the directory created in a Linux subsystem, e.g., Ubuntu, type the file path in the dialog box address bar:

    \\wsl$\Ubuntu\home\<Ubuntu_user_name>\yc-network-segmentation-with-checkpoint

    Where <Ubuntu_user_name> is the name of the current Linux distribution user.

  5. Click Activate to activate the tunnel.

  6. Check network connectivity with the management server via the WireGuard VPN tunnel by running the following command in the terminal:

    ping 192.168.1.100

    Warning

    If the packets fail to reach the management server, make sure that the mgmt-jump-vm-sg security group rules for incoming traffic have your PC external IP address specified.

Run SmartConsole

To manage and set up the Check Point solution, install and run the SmartConsole GUI client:

  1. Connect to the NGFW management server by opening https://192.168.1.100 in your browser.

  2. Sign in with admin for username and admin for password.

  3. In the Gaia Portal interface that opens, download the SmartConsole GUI client. To do this, click Manage Software Blades using SmartConsole. Download Now!.

  4. Install SmartConsole on your PC.

  5. Get the SmartConsole access password:

    terraform output fw_smartconsole_mgmt-server_password

  6. Open SmartConsole and sign in with admin for username, 192.168.1.100 for the management server IP, and your SmartConsole password.

Add the firewall gateway

Add the FW firewall gateway to the management server using the Wizard:

  1. In the Objects drop-down list at the top left, select More object types → Network Object → Gateways and Servers → New Gateway....

  2. Click Wizard Mode.

  3. In the dialog box that opens, enter the following:

    • Gateway name: FW
    • Gateway platform: CloudGuard IaaS
    • IPv4: 192.168.1.10

  4. Click Next.

  5. Get the firewall access password:

    terraform output fw_sic-password

  6. In the One-time password field, type the previously obtained password.

  7. Click Next, and then Finish.

Configure the FW gateway network interfaces

Configure the eth0 network interface:

  1. In the Gateways & Servers tab, open the FW gateway setup dialog. To do this, double-click the added FW in the list.
  2. In the Topology table within the Network Management tab, select the eth0 interface, click Edit, and then click Modify... in the window that opens.
  3. Under Security Zone, activate Specify Security Zone and select InternalZone.

In the same way, configure the eth1 and eth2 network interfaces:

  1. For the eth1 interface, specify ExternalZone under Security Zone.
  2. For the eth2 interface, in the Leads To section, select Override and enable Interface leads to DMZ. Under Security Zone, set DMZZone.
Interface IPv4 address/mask Leads To Security Zone Anti Spoofing
eth0 192.168.1.10/24 This network (Internal) InternalZone Prevent and Log
eth1 172.16.1.10/24 Internet (External) ExternalZone Prevent and Log
eth2 10.160.1.10/24 This network, DMZ (Internal) DMZZone Prevent and Log

Create network objects

  1. In the Objects drop-down list at the top left, select New Network... to create networks named mgmt, public, and dmz with the following data:

    Name Network address Net mask
    mgmt 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0
    public 172.16.1.0 255.255.255.0
    dmz 10.160.1.0 255.255.255.0

    For the DMZ network, set up Automatic Hide NAT to hide the addresses of internet-facing VMs hosted in the DMZ segment behind the IP address of the FW gateway in the public segment. To do this:

    1. In the dmz network editing dialog box, go to the NAT tab.
    2. Activate Add automatic address translation rules, select Hide from the drop-down list, and enable Hide behind the gateway.

  2. In the Objects drop-down list at the top left, select New Host... and create hosts named dmz-web-server and FW-public-IP with the following data:

    Name IPv4 address
    dmz-web-server 10.160.1.100
    FW-public-IP 172.16.1.10

  3. Select More object types → Service → New TCP... to create a TCP service for the application deployed in the DMZ segment and specify TCP_8080 as its name and 8080 as the port.

Set security policy rules

To add a security rule:

  1. In the Security policies tab, select Policy under Access Control.
  2. In the rule table, right-click next to the New Rule option in the context menu and select Above or Below.
  3. In a new line:
    • In the Name column, enter Web-server port forwarding on FW.
    • In the Destination column, select the FW-public-IP object.
    • In the Services & Applications column, select the http object.
    • In the Action column, select Accept.
    • In the Track column, select Log.

In the same way, add the other basic rules from the table below to test the firewall policies, run NLB health checks, publish a test application from the DMZ segment, and test its fault tolerance.

No Name Source Destination VPN Services & Applications Action Track Install On
1 Web-server port forwarding on FW Any FW-public-IP Any http Accept Log Policy Targets (All gateways)
2 FW management mgmt FW, mgmt-server Any https, ssh Accept Log Policy Targets (All gateways)
3 Stealth Any FW, mgmt-server Any Any Drop Log Policy Targets (All gateways)
4 mgmt to DMZ mgmt dmz Any Any Accept Log Policy Targets (All gateways)
5 mgmt to public mgmt public Any Any Accept Log Policy Targets (All gateways)
6 ping from dmz to internet dmz ExternalZone Any icmp-reguests (Group) Accept Log Policy Targets (All gateways)
7 Cleanup rule Any Any Any Any Drop Log Policy Targets (All gateways)
Description the access management policy rules
Number Name Description
1 Web-server port forwarding on FW Allows external internet access to the IP address of a public segment firewall on TCP port 80
2 FW management Allows access to firewalls and the firewall management server from the MGMT segment for management tasks.
3 Stealth Denies access to firewalls and the firewall management server from other segments.
4 mgmt to DMZ Allows access from the MGMT segment to DMZ for management tasks.
5 mgmt to public Allows access from MGMT to the public segment for management tasks.
6 ping from dmz to internet Allows outbound ICMP packets from the DMZ segment to the Internet for performance testing.
7 Cleanup rule Denies access to other traffic.

Set up a static NAT table

The destination NAT routes user requests to the application's web server in the DMZ segment.

It will translate the destination IP address to the web server IP and the destination port to TCP port 8080 in the headers of packets with user requests sent to a DMZ application.

To set up the NAT tables of the FW gateway:

  1. Go to the NAT subsection of the Access Control section.

  2. In the rule table menu and select Add rule to top.

  3. In a new line:

    • In the Original Destination column, select the FW-public-IP object.
    • In the Original Services column, select the http object.
    • In the Translated Destination column, select the dmz-web-server object.
    • In the Translated Services column, select the TCP_8080 object.

    The NAT table will display this rule:

    No Original Source Original Destination Original Services Translated Source Translated Destination Translated Services Install On
    1 Any FW-public-IP http Original dmz-web-server TCP_8080 Policy Targets (All gateways)

Apply the security policy rules

  1. Click Install Policy at the top left of the screen.
  2. In the dialog box that opens, click Publish & Install.
  3. In the next dialog, click Install and wait for the process to complete.

Test the solution

  1. To find out the public IP address of the firewall, run the following command in the terminal:

    terraform output fw_public_ip_address

  2. Make sure the network infrastructure can be accessed from the outside by opening the following address in the browser:

    http://<FW_public_IP_address>

    If the system is accessible from the outside, you will see the Welcome to nginx! page.

  3. Make sure the firewall security policy rules that allow traffic are active. To do this, go to your PC’s yc-network-segmentation-with-checkpoint directory and connect to the DMZ VM over SSH:

    cd ~/yc-network-segmentation-with-checkpoint
ssh -i pt_key.pem admin@<internal_IP_address_of_VM_in_DMZ_segment>

  4. To check that there is access from the VM in the DMZ segment to a public resource on the internet, run this command:

    ping ya.ru

    The command must run according to the ping from dmz to internet rule that allows traffic.

  5. Make sure the security policy rules that prohibit traffic are applied.
    To check that Jump VM in the mgmt segment cannot be accessed from the dmz segment, run this command:

    ping 192.168.1.101

    This command must fail according to the Cleanup rule that prohibits traffic.

  6. In SmartConsole, open the LOGS & MONITOR section; in the Logs tab, find the entries made during testing to see which security rules and actions were applied to the traffic.

Requirements for production deployment

  • If you need to ensure NGFW fault tolerance and high availability of deployed applications, use this recommended solution.
  • Make sure to change the passwords provided in check-init...yaml files via the metadata service:
    • SIC password for connecting the firewall and the firewall management server.
    • Check Point SmartConsole password.
    • Admin user password for the firewall management server. You can change this password in Gaia Portal.
  • Save the pt_key.pem private SSH key to a secure location or recreate it separately from Terraform.
  • Delete the public IP address of the jump VM if you do not plan on using it.
  • If you plan to use the jump VM for connecting to the management segment with WireGuard VPN, change the WireGuard keys in the jump VM and admin workstation.
  • Set up access control and NAT policies for your installation in the Check Point NGFW.
  • In security groups within segments, set up the required rules for deployed applications.
  • Do not assign public IP addresses to the VMs in those segments where the Check Point NGFW routing tables are used. The only exception is the MGMT segment where routing tables do not use the 0.0.0.0/0 default route.
  • Select your preferred Check Point CloudGuard IaaS license and image (see Next-Generation Firewall).

How to delete the resources you created

To stop paying for the resources you created, run this command:

terraform destroy

Terraform will permanently delete all the resources: networks, subnets, VMs, folders, etc.

As the resources you created reside in folders, a faster way to delete all resources is to delete all the folders using the Yandex Cloud console and then delete the terraform.tfstate file from the yc-network-segmentation-with-checkpoint folder on your PC.

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