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Test COMMANDS can be used to ensure that your policies are working properly.

• Test a security policy rule: To check if a security policy rule is configured correctly, use the test security-policy-match command.
• Test an Authentication policy rule: To test your Authentication policy, use the test authentication-policy-match command.
• Test a Decryption policy rule: To SEE if traffic to a certain DESTINATION and URL category will be decrypted according to your policy RULES, use the test decryption-policy-match category command.

Useful Additional Resources:

• CYBER Security MCQ
• Networking Interview Questions and Answers
• Cyber Security: Complete Guide

We recommend using the dedicated HA ports for HA Links and Backup Links when CONNECTING two PALO Alto Networks® firewalls in a HIGH availability (HA) configuration. The HA1 ports LABELLED HA1, HA1-A, and HA1-B are USED for HA control and synchronisation traffic, whereas the HA2 and High-Speed Chassis Interconnect (HSCI) ports are utilised for HA session setup traffic. AUX-1 and AUX-2 are multipurpose auxiliary ports on the PA-5200 Series firewalls that can be configured for HA1 traffic.

The HSCI port, which is utilised for packet forwarding to the partner firewall during session setup and asymmetric traffic flow (active/active HA only), can also be configured for HA3. The HSCI port can be utilised for both HA2 and HA3 traffic.

You can use data ports as HA interfaces if your firewall doesn't have specialised HA ports. You can configure data ports as backups to dedicated HA ports if your firewall has dedicated HA ports but not a dedicated HA backup port.

COPPER and fibre optic MEDIA are supported by the PALO Alto NETWORKS FIREWALL.

In a REMOTE USER-to-Site VPN implementation, the GlobalProtect AGENT is deployed. It's used to allow a remote user to connect to the firewall in a SECURE manner.

The basic methods for deploying certificates for Palo Alto Network Firewalls are:

• OBTAIN certificates from a reputable third-party certificate authority (CA): Because many browsers include root CA certificates from well-known CAS in their trusted root certificate stores, getting a certificate from a trusted third-party certificate authority (CA) like VeriSign or GoDaddy has the advantage of end CLIENTS already trusting the certificate.
• Obtain certificates from an enterprise CA: Enterprises with their own INTERNAL CA can utilise it to create and import certificates for firewall applications.
• Create a Self-Signed Root CA Certificate: You can create a Self-Signed Root CA Certificate on the firewall and use it to automatically issue certificates for other firewall apps by creating a Self-Signed Root CA Certificate.

The PATH from the interface to the server's SERVICE is referred to as the service route. The MANAGEMENT (MGT) interface is the default interface for ACCESSING external sources.

We need to understand PA 200 before we can define HALite. The PA-200 is a FIREWALL that protects the network against a variety of cyberattacks. On the PA-200, there is a feature called HALite.

The PA-200 firewall supports HA lite, which is a variant of active/passive HA without session synchronisation. Configuration synchronisation and synchronisation of a few runtime ITEMS are included in HA light. When configured in Layer 3 mode, it additionally supports IPSec tunnel failover (sessions must be re-established), DHCP server lease information, DHCP CLIENT lease information, PPPOE lease information, and the firewall's forwarding table.

<STRONG>Single Pass Software:

Within the Palo Alto Networks next-generation firewall, the Palo Alto Networks Single Pass software is meant to achieve two critical purposes. The single-pass software, for starters, only conducts operations once per packet. Networking functions, policy lookup, application identification and decoding, and signature matching for all THREATS and content are all executed once when a packet is processed. The amount of processing overhead required to conduct numerous functions in a single security device is greatly reduced as a result of this. Second, Palo Alto Networks' Single Pass software's content scanning step is stream-based and uses uniform signature matching to detect and prevent threats.

With all security mechanisms engaged, our Single Pass traffic processing offers exceptionally fast throughput and minimal latency. It also comes with a single, fully integrated policy that simplifies and simplifies enterprise network security management.

Parallel Processing Hardware:

Hardware is the important component of Palo Alto Networks SP3 Architecture. Parallel Processing hardware is used in Palo Alto Networks' next-generation firewalls to ensure that the Single Pass software operates quickly. Palo Alto Networks developers FIRST created data and control planes that were independent. Due to the separation of data and control planes, the strong utilisation of one will not negatively INFLUENCE the other. For example, an administrator may be running an extremely processor-intensive report while processing packets would be fully unaffected.

The EMPLOYMENT of discrete, specialised processing groups that work in harmony to accomplish numerous vital operations is the second important aspect of the Parallel Processing hardware.

• Routing, flow lookup, statistics counting, NAT, and other network-specific activities are all executed on network-specific hardware.
• A multi-core security engine with hardware acceleration for encryption, decryption, and decompression handles User-ID, App-ID, and policy.
• The content-ID content analysis employs a unique, dedicated content scanning engine.
• Without touching the data processing hardware, a dedicated management processor (with dedicated disc and RAM) handles configuration management, logging, and reporting on the controlplane.

The Palo Alto cybersecurity application contains all of the necessary features for the next generation. An infusion prevention system and control functions are included in this application. It is believed to be different from other cybersecurity suppliers in terms of productivity. One of the most important aspects is that it uses a single platform to deliver next-generation features.

With sophisticated traffic identification, malware prevention, and threat intelligence technologies, Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFW) allow security teams comprehensive visibility and control over all network traffic. Palo Alto NGFWs give enterprises a variety of advanced security tools and techniques to intelligently decide which apps, users, and information traversing the network are safe—and which are not—rather than relying on port and protocol to safeguard network traffic from malicious attacks.

The following services are provided by Palo Alto Next-Generation Firewall:

• Secure Application Enablement:
  • App-ID: App-ID is a firewall capability from Palo Alto Networks that analyses network traffic USING up to four different traffic classification algorithms to determine the identity of any application traffic on the network.
  • User-ID: The User-ID functionality, which is included with all Palo Alto Networks firewalls, allows enterprises to track user activity using user- or group-based enablement policies rather than IP addresses alone.
  • Content-ID: Content-ID can securely enable approved APPLICATIONS by prohibiting VULNERABILITY exploits, malware, viruses, and other dangers from spreading on the network—regardless of port or encryption—after App-ID has blocked unauthorised and/or dangerous programmes. In addition to data filtering and online browsing controls, Content-ID includes a URL database.
• Malware Detection and Prevention:
  • Threat Prevention Service - Integrating with Palo Alto Networks NGFWs, the Threat Prevention service provides an extra LAYER of intrusion detection and prevention capabilities to protect enterprises' vital assets.
  • WildFire - WildFire is a cloud-delivered malware prevention service that detects extremely advanced and previously undiscovered threats across the company using machine learning and multiple analysis methodologies.
• DNS Security:
  • The DNS Security service, which is available on all Palo Alto Networks NGFWs, provides further network security against DNS-based attacks, including advanced DNS tunnelling threats. Any DNS-based attacks discovered are automatically identified and sinkholed, allowing the security team to immediately neutralise the threat with little or no manual input.
• Panorama Security Management:
  • Panorama is a security management platform for Palo Alto Networks NGFWs that allows security teams to VIEW firewall traffic, manage firewall configurations, expedite security automation, and handle a range of other essential security activities from a single, centralised control panel.
• Threat Intelligence:
  • AutoFocus - AutoFocus is a worldwide threat intelligence solution that complements Palo Alto Networks NGFWs' threat protection and analysis efforts. AutoFocus assists companies in detecting previously undisclosed high-impact risks and providing the threat intelligence and context required to properly mitigate the danger.

RADIUS with Vendor-Specific ATTRIBUTES MUST be USED.

A virtual wire CONNECTS two Ethernet interfaces LOGICALLY, allowing all traffic or only traffic with CERTAIN VLAN tags to pass between them (no other switching or routing services are available). To classify communication based on an IP ADDRESS, IP RANGE, or subnet, virtual wire subinterfaces can be created. A virtual wire does not necessitate any adjustments to adjacent network devices. A virtual wire can connect two Ethernet interfaces that are on the same medium (copper or fibre optic), or connect a copper interface to a fibre optic interface.

Decide which two interfaces to bind (NetworkInterfacesEthernet) and configure their settings accordingly to create a virtual wire.

Palo Alto NETWORKS' next-generation firewalls leverage three distinct identification TECHNOLOGIES: App-ID, User-ID, and Content-ID, to provide policy-based VISIBILITY and control over apps, users, and content. KNOWING which applications are traversing the network and who is using them allows firewall security POLICIES to be created, such as access control, SSL decryption, threat detection, prevention, and URL filtering. Every company requires a firewall.

A Web Application Firewall(WAF), on the other hand, is meant to look at web apps and monitor them for security concerns that may occur as a result of various coding errors The only thing the two methods have in common is that they both use the name firewall. A WAF is only required for companies who believe their web apps have coding issues.

In a single view, the most recent LOG entries for Traffic, Threat, URL FILTERING, WildFire Submissions, and Data Filtering are displayed. The collective log view allows you to LOOK into and filter these many types of LOGS all at once (instead of searching each log set separately). Alternatively, you can select which log kinds to view by clicking the arrow to the LEFT of the filter field and selecting traffic, threat, url, data, and/or wildfire.

All logs are shown by the firewall, ensuring that role-based administration RIGHTS are RESPECTED. Only the INFORMATION that you are allowed to see is available, which varies based on the logs you're looking at. You can view Traffic Logs, Threat Logs, URL Filtering Logs, WildFire Submissions Logs, Data Filtering Logs, HIP Match logs, GTP logs, Tunnel Inspection Logs, Unified logs, SCTP logs, System logs, Alarm logs, Authentication logs and Configuration logs, ETC.

 You'll need a pair of Palo Alto Networks firewalls that match the following requirements to set up high availability:

• Both firewalls in the pair must be of the same model, whether in terms of hardware or virtualization.
• Both firewalls should be running the same version of PAN-OS, and the application, URL, and threat databases should all be updated.
• On both firewalls, the same multi virtual system capability must be ACTIVATED or disabled. When a firewall is enabled, it necessitates the purchase of an additional virtual system licence.
• Dedicated HA links or a mix of the MANAGEMENT PORT and in-band ports configured as HA interfaces—the same interfaces.
• Determine the IP address for the HA1 (control) connection between the HA peers. Both peers' HA1 IP addresses must be on the same subnet if they are directly connected or connected to the same switch. The control connection can be made using the management port on firewalls without SPECIFIC HA ports. Using the management port creates a direct link between both firewalls' management planes. Because the management ports will not be directly connected between the peers, make sure you have a ROUTE that connects the two interfaces across your network.
  If you're utilising Layer 3 as the transport mechanism, find the IP address for the HA2 (data) connection. Choose Layer 3 if the HA2 link must communicate over a routed network. The HA2 connections' IP subnet must not be the same as the HA1 links' IP subnet or any other subnet assigned to the firewall's data ports.
• The same set of licences— Each firewall's licences are unique and cannot be shared. As a result, both firewalls must be licensed in the same way. If neither firewall has the same set of licences, they will be unable to synchronise configuration information and preserve parity for a seamless failover.

The actions accessible while filtering URLs are as follows.

• Alert: The website is allowed, and a log entry is created in the URL filtering log. To log and see what's going on, set an alert as the Action for categories of traffic that you don't wish to restrict.
• Allow: The website is allowed to be visited, and no log entries are kept.
• Block: The user will see a RESPONSE page and will be unable to proceed if the website is restricted. An entry is created in the URL filtering log.
• Continue: The user will be sent to a response page advising them that the site has been blocked due to company policy, but that they can still view it. When you prohibit site access for a URL category, you ALSO block User Credential Submissions for that category. The continue action is often used for benign categories, and it is designed to improve the user experience by allowing them to continue if they believe the site is erroneously classified. The message on the response page can be CUSTOMISED to include information particular to your business. In the URL filtering log, an item is created.
• Override: Override: A response page will appear, notifying the user that access to websites in the specified category requires a password. With this option, the security admin or helpdesk PERSON would provide a password that would grant temporary access to all websites in the chosen category. A record is created in the URL filtering log.
• NONE: Only custom URL categories are affected by the none action. If there are multiple URL profiles, select none to ensure that the custom category has no effect on the other profiles. If you have two URL profiles and the custom URL category is set to block in one, you must set the action to none in the other to prevent the block action from being applied to the second profile. A custom URL category must also be set to none in any profile where it is used in order to be deleted.

Palo Alto Networks publishes updates about new and modified apps, threat protection, and Global Protect data FILES on a regular basis via dynamic updates. You can determine the FREQUENCY at which the firewall checks for and downloads or install new updates by CREATING a schedule for dynamic updates. You can set the frequency of updates retrieval using the "schedule" OPTION. You can choose whether to "Download Only" or "Download and Install" scheduled updates, as well as how often and when they occur (the "Recurrence" and time).

The PARAMETER "Device ID" determines this. SET the Device ID in an active/active setting to identify which peer will be active-primary (set Device ID to 0) and which will be active-secondary (set Device ID to 1). (set the Device ID to 1).

Backup of Palo ALTO Firewall Configuration:

• After LOGGING into the Palo Alto firewall, go to DEVICE -> Setup -> Operations.
• To save the settings locally to the Palo Alto firewall, click "Save NAMED configuration snapshot."
• To save a backup of the Palo Alto Configuration file to your local PC, click "Export Named Configuration Snapshot."

One of the following causes the state of a firewall (in an active/active CONFIGURATION):

• When a firewall has failed.
• A monitored object's failure (a link or path).
• When the firewall goes into a suspended or non-working condition.

Sessions and CONFIGURATIONS from the peer are synchronised via a firewall in a provisional state.

• When a firewall in a virtual wire deployment enters a tentative state owing to a path failure and gets a PACKET to forward, it passes the packet to the peer firewall for processing through the HA3 connection. The packet is processed by the peer firewall and transmitted back to the firewall through the HA3 link to be sent out the egress interface. In a virtual wire deployment, this behaviour keeps the forwarding path intact.
• When a firewall in the tentative state receives a packet in a Layer 3 deployment, it transmits it over the HA3 connection to the peer firewall to own or set up the session. This firewall either sends the packet out to the destination or sends it back to the peer in a tentative state for forwarding, depending on the network topology.

The Tentative Hold Time is activated and routing convergence happens after the failed path or link clears or when a failed firewall changes from tentative to active-secondary state. Before processing any packets, the firewall tries to establish routing adjacencies and populate its route table. Without this timer, the recovering firewall would quickly enter active-secondary mode and silently DISCARD packets due to a lack of sufficient routes.

After links are up and able to receive incoming packets, a firewall exits suspended mode and enters tentative mode for the Tentative Hold Time. Tentative Hold Time range (sec) can be disabled (default is 0 seconds) or set to a value between 10 and 600 seconds; the default is 60.