Paloalto Networks PCNSE Exam Made Easy: Step-by-Step Preparation Guide

The three authentication types that can be used to authenticate users are:

• A: Local database authentication. This is the authentication type that uses the local user database on the firewall or Panorama to store and verify user credentials1.
• C: Cloud authentication service. This is the authentication type that uses a cloud-based identity provider, such as Okta, PingOne, or PingFederate, to authenticate users and provide SAML assertions to the firewall or Panorama2.
• E: Kerberos single sign-on. This is the authentication type that uses the Kerberos protocol to authenticate users who are logged in to a Windows domain and provide them with seamless access to resources on the firewall or Panorama3.

https://docs.paloaltonetworks.com/pan-os/9-1/pan-os-new-features/user-id-features/dynamic-user-groups

Use the dynamic user group in a policy to regulate traffic for the members of the group. You will need to configure at least two rules: one to allow initial traffic to populate the dynamic user group and one to deny traffic for the activity you want to prevent (in this case, questionable-activity). To tag users, the rule to allow traffic must have a higher rule number in your rulebase than the rule that denies traffic.

https://docs.paloaltonetworks.com/pan-os/10-2/pan-os-admin/policy/use-dynamic-user-groups-in-policy

When deploying a large number of firewalls, such as 15 GlobalProtect gateways around the world, it's crucial to have a scalable configuration approach. Panorama offers several features to help scale configurations efficiently:

B. Template stacks:

• Template stacks in Panorama allow administrators to create a collection of configuration templates that can be applied to multiple firewalls or device groups. This enables the consistent deployment of shared settings (such as network configurations, security profiles, etc.) across all managed firewalls, ensuring uniformity and reducing the effort required to manage individual firewall configurations.

D. Variables:

• Variables in Panorama provide a way to customize template configurations for individual firewalls or device groups without altering the overall template. For example, a variable can be used to define a unique IP address, hostname, or other specific settings within a shared template. When the template is applied, Panorama replaces the variables with the actual values specified for each device or device group, allowing for customization within a standardized framework.

By using template stacks and variables, an administrator can rapidly deploy and manage configurations across multiple GlobalProtect gateways, ensuring consistency while still accommodating site-specific requirements. This approach streamlines the deployment process and enhances the manageability of a widespread GlobalProtect infrastructure.

To troubleshoot SSL Decryption issues and check the details of the Forward Trust certificate, Forward Untrust certificate, and SSL Inbound Inspection certificate, the PAN-OS CLI command debug dataplane show ssl-decrypt ssl-certs is used. This command provides detailed information about the SSL certificates involved in decryption and inspection processes, allowing administrators to verify certificate validity, issuer details, and other critical parameters. Understanding the certificate details is crucial in diagnosing issues related to SSL decryption, such as certificate validation errors or misconfigurations that could lead to decryption failures.

https://docs.paloaltonetworks.com/panorama/9-1/panorama-admin/manage-firewalls/manage-device-groups/manage-unused-shared-objects

https://knowledgebase.paloaltonetworks.com/KCSArticleDetail?id=kA10g000000Cm1CCAS

External zones are a unique zone type on Palo Alto Networks firewalls that facilitate the movement of traffic between virtual systems on the same physical appliance. These zones are required when multiple virtual systems (vsys) are configured on a single firewall and there is a need to allow inter-vsys traffic without the need for the traffic to leave the firewall and re-enter. An external zone is associated with a specific virtual system and enables traffic to pass from one virtual system to another securely, thereby simplifying traffic management and reducing the need for additional physical interfaces or external routing to handle inter-vsys communication.

An administrator should configure proxy IDs to route interesting traffic through the VPN tunnel when the peer device is a policy-based VPN device. Proxy IDs are used to identify the traffic that belongs to a particular IPSec VPN and to direct it to the appropriate tunnel. Proxy IDs consist of a local IP address, a remote IP address, and an application (protocol and port numbers). Each proxy ID is considered to be a VPN tunnel and is counted towards the IPSec VPN tunnel capacity of the firewall. Proxy IDs are required for IKEv1 VPNs and optional for IKEv2 VPNs. If the proxy ID is not configured, the firewall uses the default values of source IP: 0.0.0.0/0, destination IP: 0.0.0.0/0, and application: any, which may not match the peer’s policy and result in a failure to establish the VPN connection. References:

• Proxy ID for IPSec VPN
• Set Up an IPSec Tunnel

https://docs.paloaltonetworks.com/pan-os/11-0/pan-os-networking-admin/bfd/bfd-overview/bfd-for-dynamic-routing-protocols

https://knowledgebase.paloaltonetworks.com/KCSArticleDetail?id=kA10g000000ClbXCAS https://live.paloaltonetworks.com/t5/general-topics/phase-2-tunnel-is-not-up/td-p/424789

Schedule content updates so that they download-and-install automatically. Then, set a Threshold that determines the amount of time the firewall waits before installing the latest content. In a security-first network, schedule a six to twelve hour threshold. https://docs.paloaltonetworks.com/pan-os/8-1/pan-os-admin/threat-prevention/best-practices-for-content-and-threat-content-updates/best-practices-security-first.html#id184AH00F06E

https://docs.paloaltonetworks.com/pan-os/10-1/pan-os-upgrade/software-and-content-updates/best-practices-for-app-and-threat-content-updates/best-practices-security-first