156-215.81.20 Security Policy and NAT Practice Question
Exhibit
fw ctl get int fw_nat_hide_nat_map_table_size fw_nat_hide_nat_map_table_size = 5000
Refer to the exhibit. An administrator is experiencing intermittent connectivity issues for users behind Hide NAT. What might this setting indicate regarding the root cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often assume the issue is a routing or firewall policy problem, ignoring the technical limitation of the NAT table size which is a common bottleneck for high-concurrency environments.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The NAT table limit is too low for the current traffic load.
The parameter 'fw_nat_hide_nat_map_table_size' determines the maximum number of simultaneous translations the gateway can track for Hide NAT. A value of 5000 might be insufficient for a high-traffic environment with many concurrent users. When this limit is reached, new Hide NAT sessions cannot be created, leading to connectivity drops for internal hosts until existing sessions expire and free up table entries.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The gateway is running out of memory for connection states.
Why it's wrong here
While related to memory, this specific parameter is for the NAT translation map table, not the global connection state table. The global connection table is managed by different parameters. Focusing on the wrong table will lead to incorrect troubleshooting steps and failure to resolve the underlying NAT capacity issue.
- ✓
The NAT table limit is too low for the current traffic load.
Why this is correct
If the number of concurrent Hide NAT sessions exceeds 5000, new connections will be rejected by the NAT engine. This is a common bottleneck in busy environments. Increasing this value is a standard way to resolve intermittent connection issues caused by session capacity limits in the translation mapping table.
- ✗
The gateway is misconfigured and needs to be set to 0.
Why it's wrong here
Setting this value to 0 would likely disable the ability to track NAT mappings, potentially breaking all outbound traffic. This is not a recommended troubleshooting step and would likely result in a complete loss of internet connectivity for all users behind the gateway, rather than resolving the intermittent issues.
- ✗
The system is ignoring all NAT rule changes.
Why it's wrong here
This parameter is exclusively for the capacity of the translation map table. It has no bearing on whether NAT rules are applied or ignored. If NAT rules were being ignored, it would be due to other kernel parameters or a failure to install the policy properly, not the map table size.
Visual reference
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Check Point exam blueprint
This 156-215.81.20 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Check Point certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 156-215.81.20 exam.