NGFW Online Help

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Monitoring
You can use the SMC to monitor system components and third-party devices. You can also view and filter logs, and create Reports from them.
Monitoring Forcepoint NGFW components
You can monitor Forcepoint NGFW components and view system summaries in the Management Client.
System monitoring tools in the Management Client
There are various tools and views that you can use to monitor the NGFW system.

About this Help
Introduction to the Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall solution
Before setting up Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall (Forcepoint NGFW), it is useful to know what the different components do and what engine roles are available.
Deployment
Before you can set up the system and start configuring elements, you must consider how the different SMC components should be positioned and deployed.
Setting up
After deploying the SMC components, you are ready to start using the Management Client and carrying out some of the first configuration tasks.
Monitoring
You can use the SMC to monitor system components and third-party devices. You can also view and filter logs, and create Reports from them.
- Monitoring Forcepoint NGFW components
  You can monitor Forcepoint NGFW components and view system summaries in the Management Client.
  - Getting started with monitoring the system
    There are several ways to monitor the system in the Management Client.
  - System monitoring tools in the Management Client
    There are various tools and views that you can use to monitor the NGFW system.
    - The Domain Overview
      Domain elements allow you to group elements that belong to specific configurations. The Domain Overview allows you to see the status of all Domains and their elements.
    - How the Home view is arranged
      In the Home view, you can view the status of NGFW components and monitored third-party devices.
    - Run diagnostics on SMC servers
      You can run diagnostics to check the status of the communication between all the SMC servers (Management Servers, Log Servers, and Web Portal Servers).
    - View the status of appliance configurations
      When you configure a Forcepoint NGFW appliance using the plug-and-play configuration method, you can view the status of the configuration process.
    - Shortcuts for monitoring different elements
      Actions for monitoring a component are available in the Monitoring branch of the element's right-click menu. The available actions depend on the component type.
    - How component statuses are indicated
      The status of NGFW components and monitored third-party components is indicated by colors in most views where the elements are displayed. The status of various system communications is indicated by colors in monitoring diagrams and in the Info pane.
  - Overviews and how they work
    Customizable Overviews contain information on the system’s status, including shortcuts to frequently used views and statistical charts of the system’s operation. An example of a frequently used view is a log filtered by criteria that you configured. Examples of statistical charts are engine load and traffic flow.
  - Monitoring users in the Home view
    In the Home view of the Management Client, there are user dashboards where you can see an overview of user activity.
  - Monitoring connections, blacklists, VPN SAs, users, routing, and SSL VPNs
    Firewalls track allowed connections, active VPN SAs, active users, routing, and SSL VPN sessions. Firewall, Layer 2 Firewall, and IPS engines also track combinations of IP addresses, ports, and protocols that are blacklisted.
  - View and compare Element Snapshot elements
    You can view earlier configurations of an element and compare them to the current configuration with Element Snapshots. You can also restore earlier configurations of an element.
  - Monitoring connections using Geolocation elements
    Using Geolocation elements, you can define the physical locations of network elements, such as Hosts.
  - Monitoring configurations and policies
    The engines receive their configuration when a policy is installed.
  - Monitor administrator actions
    A record of administrator actions is maintained in the SMC.
  - Monitor tasks
    You can check the status of running tasks and executed tasks (for example, upgrade tasks and system tasks).
  - Traffic captures and how they work
    You can capture network traffic data for network troubleshooting purposes. This data helps you to analyze network traffic to and from the engines.
  - Checking maintenance contract information
    You can view maintenance contract and support level information for your licenses in the Management Client by allowing your Management Server to contact Forcepoint servers.
- Monitoring third-party devices
  The SMC can be configured to log and monitor other manufacturers’ devices in much the same way as SMC components are monitored.
- Viewing and exporting logged data
  You can view log, alert, and audit entries through the log browsing views. You can view data from SMC servers, all types of engines, and from third-party components that are configured to send data to the SMC.
- Reports
  Reports are summaries of logs and statistics that allow you to combine large amounts of data into an easily viewable form.
- Filtering data
  Filters allow you to select data based on values that it contains. Most frequently, you use filters when viewing logs, but filters can also be used for other tasks, such as exporting logs and selecting data for reports.
- Working with Diagram elements
  Diagrams allow you to visualize your network security environment.
- Incident Case elements
  When suspicious activity is detected, it is important to collect information about the incident and act quickly. The Incident Case element is a tool for investigating incidents of suspicious activity.
Controlling engines
You can command and set options for engines through the Management Client or on the engine command line. You can also stop traffic manually.
SMC configuration
Security Management Center (SMC) configuration allows you to customize how the SMC components work.
Engine element configuration
You can create and modify Firewalls, IPS engines, Layer 2 Firewalls, Master NGFW Engines and Virtual NGFW Engines. You can configure the engine properties, activate optional features, and configure advanced engine settings.
Routing
Use the Management Client to configure static or dynamic routing, and use a Multi-Link configuration to manage and distribute inbound and outbound connections.
Traffic inspection policies
Policies are key elements that contain rules for allowing or blocking network traffic and inspecting the content of traffic.
Users and authentication
User accounts are stored in internal databases or external directory servers. You can use Forcepoint NGFW in the Firewall/VPN role or external authentication servers to authenticate users.
Virtual private networks
Forcepoint NGFW supports both policy-based and route-based VPNs (virtual private networks).
Maintenance and upgrades
Maintenance includes procedures that you do not typically need to do frequently.
Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting helps you resolve common problems in the Forcepoint NGFW and SMC.
Appendices

System monitoring tools in the Management Client

There are various tools and views that you can use to monitor the NGFW system.

The Domain Overview
Domain elements allow you to group elements that belong to specific configurations. The Domain Overview allows you to see the status of all Domains and their elements.
How the Home view is arranged
In the Home view, you can view the status of NGFW components and monitored third-party devices.
Run diagnostics on SMC servers
You can run diagnostics to check the status of the communication between all the SMC servers (Management Servers, Log Servers, and Web Portal Servers).
View the status of appliance configurations
When you configure a Forcepoint NGFW appliance using the plug-and-play configuration method, you can view the status of the configuration process.
Shortcuts for monitoring different elements
Actions for monitoring a component are available in the Monitoring branch of the element's right-click menu. The available actions depend on the component type.
How component statuses are indicated
The status of NGFW components and monitored third-party components is indicated by colors in most views where the elements are displayed. The status of various system communications is indicated by colors in monitoring diagrams and in the Info pane.

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