156-315.81.20 Performance Tuning (SecureXL/CoreXL) Practice Question
Exhibit
fwaccel stat SecureXL: Enabled Accelerator: Enabled Templates: Disabled
Refer to the exhibit. What is the impact of having templates disabled on this gateway?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often believe disabling templates only affects performance slightly. In reality, it forces the gateway into the slow path for every single packet, causing a massive, catastrophic impact on throughput.
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 firewall will process all packets in the connection
Templates are the core mechanism for SecureXL acceleration. When disabled, the gateway cannot create the fastpath entries needed for sustained connections. Consequently, every packet must be processed by the Firewall kernel, leading to significantly higher CPU consumption and lower throughput. This is a critical configuration issue because it renders the acceleration layer ineffective, forcing the system to perform full inspection on every packet, even for established sessions.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Only the first packet of each connection is processed by the firewall
Why it's wrong here
If templates were working correctly, only the first packet would be processed by the firewall. With templates disabled, the system cannot offload subsequent packets, meaning the firewall must process every single packet of every connection, which is significantly more resource-intensive than the intended template-based acceleration path.
- ✓
The firewall will process all packets in the connection
Why this is correct
Without templates, SecureXL cannot offload any part of the traffic flow to the fastpath. As a result, the firewall kernel is forced to inspect every packet of every connection, which drastically increases CPU overhead and reduces overall gateway throughput, negating the performance benefits of having SecureXL active.
- ✗
The gateway will automatically enable templates after 60 seconds
Why it's wrong here
SecureXL does not dynamically re-enable templates if they have been disabled by the administrator. This is a persistent configuration setting that must be manually toggled back on. Expecting the gateway to automatically resolve this configuration state is incorrect and will leave the system in a degraded state.
- ✗
This configuration is required for HTTPS Inspection
Why it's wrong here
HTTPS inspection does not require disabling SecureXL templates. In fact, SecureXL works with HTTPS inspection to ensure that the non-encrypted parts of the traffic are accelerated, while the decrypted traffic is inspected by the firewall. Disabling templates is never a standard requirement for enabling any security blade.
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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 156-315.81.20 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 156-315.81.20 exam.