Free and Premium Paloalto Networks PCNSE Dumps Questions Answers

Palo Alto Networks recommends following a specific upgrade path when upgrading PAN-OS to ensure compatibility and minimize the risk of issues. The recommended path involves sequential upgrades through major releases.

B. The detailed upgrade path from PAN-OS 10.1 to 11.0.x involves:

First, upgrading to the latest preferred maintenance release of the current PAN-OS version (10.1) to ensure that all the latest fixes and improvements are applied.

Next, upgrading to the base version of the next major release (PAN-OS 10.2.0), followed by upgrading to the latest preferred maintenance release of PAN-OS 10.2. This step ensures that the firewall is on a stable and supported version before proceeding to the next major release.

Finally, upgrading to the base version of PAN-OS 11.0 (11.0.0), followed by the desired PAN-OS 11.0.x version. This step completes the upgrade to the new major version, providing access to new features and improvements, such as TLSv1.3 support for management access.

This sequential upgrade path is designed to ensure a smooth transition between major versions, maintaining system stability and security.

To protect against DNS misconfigurations, Advanced DNS Security and Advanced URL Filtering licenses (Option C) enable DNS sinkholing and domain monitoring. In an Anti-Spyware profile (Option D), the DNS Policies section allows adding specific domains to detect and block misconfigured records pointing to third-party sources.

Option A (Threat Prevention) lacks DNS-specific features for this use case. Option B (Vulnerability Protection) doesn’t include DNS misconfiguration settings. Documentation confirms Anti-Spyware with DNS Security for this purpose.

 The correct packet-flow sequence is C. PBF > Static route > Security policy enforcement. This sequence describes the order of operations that the firewall performs when processing a packet. PBF stands for Policy-Based Forwarding, which is a feature that allows the firewall to override the routing table and forward traffic based on the source and destination addresses, application, user, or service. PBF is evaluated before the static route lookup, which is the default method of forwarding traffic based on the destination address and the longest prefix match. Security policy enforcement is the stage where the firewall applies the security policy rules to allow or block traffic based on various criteria, such as zone, address, port, user, application, etc12. References: Policy-Based Forwarding, Packet Flow Sequence in PAN-OS

The two attributes that a forward trust certificate should have for SSL Forward Proxy decryption are:

B: A private key. This is the key that the firewall uses to sign the certificates that it generates for the decrypted sessions. The private key must be securely stored on the firewall and not shared with anyone1.

D: A certificate authority (CA) certificate. This is the certificate that the firewall uses to issue the certificates for the decrypted sessions. The CA certificate must be trusted by the client browsers and devices that receive the certificates from the firewall1.

To create Security rules in Panorama that reference specific users and groups from Active Directory (AD), the Panorama-managed firewalls need access to user-to-group mapping information. This is achieved through Group Mapping, which relies on User-ID functionality. In a Panorama-managed environment, a "master device" must be designated within the device group to provide this Group Mapping data. The master device is a firewall that retrieves user and group information from AD (via LDAP or User-ID agent) and shares it with other firewalls in the device group. This ensures consistent user-based policies across all devices in the group.

Option B (User-ID Redistribution) is incorrect because redistribution is used to share IP-to-user mappings, not group mappings, and is typically configured between firewalls or via Panorama’s User-ID redistribution feature, not a requirement for selecting users/groups in rules. Option C (User-ID Certificate profile) is unrelated, as it pertains to certificate-based authentication, not AD group mapping. Official documentation specifies that a master device with Group Mapping configured is essential for this scenario.

In a situation where Panorama and its managed firewalls lack internet access, updating PAN-OS requires a manual upload of the downloaded PAN-OS images. The process involves:

D. Upload the image to Panorama > Device Deployment > Software menu, and deploy it to the firewalls:

The engineer first uploads the downloaded PAN-OS images to Panorama. This is done through the "Device Deployment" section, specifically under the "Software" menu. This area of Panorama's interface is designed for managing PAN-OS versions and software updates for the managed devices.

Once the PAN-OS images are uploaded to Panorama, the engineer can then deploy these images to the firewalls directly from Panorama. This process allows for centralized management of software updates, ensuring that all firewalls can be updated to the latest PAN-OS version in a consistent and controlled manner, even without direct internet access.

This method streamlines the update process for environments with strict security requirements, allowing for the efficient deployment of necessary PAN-OS updates to maintain security and functionality.

When the peer device will act as the initiator and none of the peer addresses are known, the administrator can enable Passive Mode to establish the VPN connection. Passive Mode tells the firewall to wait for the peer device to initiate the VPN connection. The other options are incorrect. Option A, setting up certificate authentication, would require the administrator to know the peer device's certificate. Option C, using the Dynamic IP address type, would require the administrator to know the peer device's dynamic IP address. Option D, configuring the peer address as an FQDN, would require the administrator to know the peer device's fully qualified domain name.

A and D are the best practice deployment modes for the firewall if the company wants to add threat prevention to the network without redesigning the network routing. This is because these modes allow the firewall to act as a transparent device that does not affect the existing network topology or routing1.

A: VirtualWire mode allows the firewall to be inserted into any existing network segment without changing the IP addressing or routing of that segment2. The firewall inspects traffic between two interfaces that are configured as a pair, called a virtual wire. The firewall applies security policies to the traffic and forwards it to the same interface from which it was received2.

D: Layer 2 mode allows the firewall to act as a switch that forwards traffic based on MAC addresses3. The firewall inspects traffic between interfaces that are configured as Layer 2 interfaces and belong to the same VLAN. The firewall applies security policies to the traffic and forwards it to the appropriate interface based on the MAC address table3.

Verified References:

1:

2:

3:

When using certificate authentication for firewall administration on Palo Alto Networks devices, the method used for authorization is typically the Local database. Certificate authentication ensures that the entity attempting to access the firewall is in possession of a valid certificate. Once the certificate is validated for authentication, the authorization process determines what level of access or permissions the authenticated entity has. This is usually managed locally on the firewall, where administrators can define roles and permissions associated with different users or certificates. Thus, the authorization process, in this case, leverages the Local database to enforce access controls and permissions, aligning with best practices for secure management of network devices.

The best description of the Cluster Synchronization Timeout (min) is the maximum time that the local firewall waits before going to Active state when another cluster member is preventing the cluster from fully synchronizing. This is a parameter that can be configured in an HA cluster, which is a group of firewalls that share session state and provide high availability and scalability. The Cluster Synchronization Timeout (min) determines how long the local firewall will wait for the cluster to reach a stable state before it decides to become Active and process traffic. A stable state means that all cluster members are either Active or Passive, and have synchronized their sessions with each other. If there is another cluster member that is in an unknown or unstable state, such as Initializing, Non-functional, or Suspended, then it may prevent the cluster from fully synchronizing and cause a delay in traffic processing. The Cluster Synchronization Timeout (min) can be set to a value between 0 and 30 minutes, with a default of 0. If it is set to 0, then the local firewall will not wait for any other cluster member and will immediately go to Active state. If it is set to a positive value, then the local firewall will wait for that amount of time before going to Active state, unless the cluster reaches a stable state earlier12. References: Configure HA Clustering, PCNSE Study Guide (page 53)

These are the two links that can be used to configure an active/active high availability pair. An active/active high availability pair consists of two firewalls that are both active and share the traffic load between them1. To configure an active/active high availability pair, the following links are required2:

HA1: This is the control link that is used for exchanging heartbeat messages and configuration synchronization between the firewalls. It can be a dedicated interface or a subinterface. It can also have a backup link for redundancy.

HA2: This is the data link that is used for forwarding sessions from one firewall to another in case of failover or load balancing. It can be a dedicated interface or a subinterface. It can also have a backup link for redundancy.

HA3: This is the session owner synchronization link that is used for synchronizing session information between the firewalls in different virtual systems. It can be a dedicated interface or a subinterface. It is only required for active/active high availability pairs, not for active/passive pairs.

The Test Policy Match tool in Palo Alto Networks' management systems (such as Panorama or the firewall interface) allows administrators to simulate traffic against configured security policies. This tool is critical for ensuring that the correct policies are applied to specific traffic patterns and that no unintended access is granted.

Test Policy Match enables you to input parameters like source IP, destination IP, application, user, and more, and the system will determine which policy would apply.

It is especially useful for verifying the device-group hierarchy in multi-tenant or Panorama-managed environments, ensuring that inherited or overridden rules are correctly applied.

The tool also helps to proactively check that traffic will be blocked or allowed as intended, reducing misconfigurations and preventing unwanted traffic.

A. Preview Changes: This feature is used to review configuration changes before committing them but does not simulate or validate policy matches.

B. Managed Devices Health: This option is related to checking the health and connectivity status of managed devices, not policies.

D. Policy Optimizer: This tool is used to refine existing security policies by identifying overly permissive rules or unused objects, not for testing specific traffic matches.

Key Points:Why not the other options?The Test Policy Match tool is the most appropriate choice for the scenario described.

A, C, and D are the correct answers because they are the parts of a template that an engineer can configure in Panorama. A template is a collection of device and network settings that can be pushed to multiple firewalls from Panorama1. A template can contain settings such as2:

A: NTP Server Address: This is the address of the Network Time Protocol server that synchronizes the time on the firewall.

C: Authentication Profile: This is the profile that defines how the firewall authenticates users and administrators.

D: Service Route Configuration: This is the configuration that specifies which interface and source IP address the firewall uses to access external services, such as DNS, email, syslog, etc.

The standalone User-ID agent (Option C) offloads user-to-IP mapping to an external server, reducing the firewall’s management CPU usage compared to the integrated agent, which runs on the firewall. Option A is false; neither requires domain membership. Option B is incorrect; the integrated agent uses more resources. Option D is false; the standalone agent can run on any server. The original answer (B) was incorrect, contributing to the 83% Core Concepts score.

A template is a set of configuration options that can be applied to one or more firewalls or virtual systems managed by Panorama. A template can include settings from the Device and Network tabs on the firewall web interface, such as login banner, SSL decryption exclusion, and dynamic updates4. These settings can be configured in a template named “Global” and included in all template stacks. A template stack is a group of templates that Panorama pushes to managed firewalls in an ordered hierarchy4. References: Manage Templates and Template Stacks, PCNSE Study Guide (page 50)

The Palo Alto Networks Best Practices for Anti-Spyware Profiles recommend enabling single-packet captures (PCAP) for medium, high, and critical severity threats. This allows for capturing the first packet of the malicious traffic for further analysis and investigation. PCAP should not be enabled for low and informational severity threats, as they generate a relatively high volume of traffic and are not particularly useful compared to potential threats2. References: Create the Data Center Best Practice Anti-Spyware Profile, Security Profile: Anti-Spyware, PCNSE Study Guide (page 57)

Hover over an attribute in the table below the chart and click the arrow icon to the right of the attribute.

Palo Alto firewalls can gather User-ID mappings from proxies via Syslog (Option B), parsing log messages with user-IP data, and XFF Headers (Option D), extracting user info from HTTP headers (X-Forwarded-For) if the proxy supports it.

Option A (Client Probing) queries clients, not proxies. Option C (Server Monitoring) targets servers like AD, not proxies. Documentation lists these methods for proxy integration.

The engineer should review the legal compliance regulations and acceptable usage policies with their leadership before implementing SSL Forward Proxy decryption for their organization. SSL Forward Proxy decryption allows the firewall to decrypt and inspect the traffic from internal users to external servers. This can raise privacy and legal concerns for the users and the organization. Therefore, the engineer should ensure that the leadership is aware of the implications and benefits of SSL Forward Proxy decryption and that they have a clear policy for informing and obtaining consent from the users. Option A is incorrect because browser-supported cipher documentation is not relevant for SSL Forward Proxy decryption. The firewall uses its own cipher suite to negotiate encryption with the external server, regardless of the browser settings. Option B is incorrect because cipher documentation supported by the endpoint operating system is not relevant for SSL Forward Proxy decryption. The firewall uses its own cipher suite to negotiate encryption with the external server, regardless of the endpoint operating system. Option C is incorrect because URL risk-based category distinctions are not relevant for SSL Forward Proxy decryption. The firewall can decrypt and inspect traffic based on any URL category, not just risk-based ones.

"Understand local laws and regulations about the traffic you can legally decrypt and user notification requirements."

When a local configuration override occurs on a firewall managed by Panorama, the administrator can enforce Panorama’s centralized management by pushing the template configuration with the "Force Template Values" option. This option overwrites any local changes on the firewall, ensuring that the Panorama-defined configuration (e.g., interface settings) takes precedence and prevents further overrides unless explicitly allowed.

Option A (device-group commit push) applies to policies and objects, not templates. Option C (commit force from CLI) reinforces local changes, not Panorama’s control. Option D (reload running config) is disruptive and doesn’t enforce Panorama’s template. The "Force Template Values" option is the documented method for this use case.

The firewall can use three multi-factor authentication methods to authenticate access to the firewall: SMS, user certificate, and one-time password. These methods can be used in combination with other authentication factors, such as username and password, to provide stronger security for accessing the firewall web interface or CLI. The firewall can integrate with various MFA vendors that support these methods through RADIUS or SAML protocols5. Voice and fingerprint are not supported by the firewall as MFA methods. References: MFA Vendor Support, PCNSE Study Guide (page 48)

To determine the egress interface a Palo Alto Networks firewall will use to route a specific IP address, the appropriate command is test routing fib-lookup ip 10.2.5.3 virtual-router default. This command performs a Forwarding Information Base (FIB) lookup for the specified IP address within the context of the specified virtual router, which in this case is the default virtual router. The FIB lookup process checks the routing table and the associated forwarding information to determine the next-hop and the egress interface for the given IP address. This command is instrumental for troubleshooting and verifying routing decisions made by the firewall to ensure that traffic is routed as expected through the network infrastructure.

The Advanced Routing Engine in Palo Alto Networks firewalls enhances the capabilities of routing functionalities, allowing for more complex and robust routing configurations. To enable the Advanced Routing Engine on a Palo Alto Networks firewall, an administrator needs to navigate to the Network tab, select Virtual Routers, and then access the settings for the specific virtual router they wish to configure. Within the Router Settings under the General tab, there's an option to enable Advanced Routing features. After enabling this option, the administrator must commit the changes and perform a system reboot for the changes to take effect. This process allows the firewall to utilize advanced routing protocols and features, enhancing its ability to manage and route traffic more efficiently across different network segments.

When sizing a decryption firewall deployment, two factors that should be considered are the encryption algorithm and the TLS protocol version. These factors affect the amount of resources and processing power that the firewall needs to decrypt and inspect SSL/TLS traffic.

The encryption algorithm is the method that the server and the client use to encrypt and decrypt the data exchanged in an SSL/TLS session. Different encryption algorithms have different levels of security and performance. For example, AES is a symmetric encryption algorithm that is faster and more efficient than RSA, which is an asymmetric encryption algorithm. However, RSA is more secure than AES because it uses public and private keys to encrypt and decrypt data, while AES uses a single shared key. The firewall must support the encryption algorithms that are used by the servers and clients that it decrypts, and it must have enough CPU and memory resources to handle the decryption workload12.

The TLS protocol version is the standard that defines how the server and the client establish and maintain an SSL/TLS session. Different TLS protocol versions have different features and requirements for encryption algorithms, cipher suites, certificates, handshake messages, etc. For example, TLS 1.3 is the latest and most secure version of TLS, which supports only strong encryption algorithms and cipher suites, such as AES-GCM and ChaCha20-Poly1305, and requires elliptic curve certificates. The firewall must support the TLS protocol versions that are used by the servers and clients that it decrypts, and it must have enough hardware acceleration resources to handle the decryption speed34.

The number of security zones in decryption policies and the number of blocked sessions are not relevant factors for sizing a decryption firewall deployment. The number of security zones in decryption policies only affects how the firewall matches traffic to decryption rules based on source and destination zones, but it does not affect the decryption performance or resource consumption. The number of blocked sessions only indicates how many sessions are denied by the firewall based on security policy or decryption policy rules, but it does not affect the decryption capacity or throughput56.

 Encryption Algorithms, TLS Protocol Versions, Decryption Policy, PCNSE Study Guide (page 60)

The table displays NAT rules configured on the firewall. The key points are:

Source Zone and Destination Zone define the traffic flow.

Source Address and Destination Address specify the IP addresses involved.

Service indicates the type of traffic (e.g., any, ping).

Source Translation and Destination Translation show the translated IP addresses for NAT.

Issue and Resolution Options

The application server at 192.168.197.40 can establish outbound connections but faces issues with inbound connections due to the shared NAT IP 198.51.100.88. The external database server cannot establish a secure connection back to 192.168.197.40.

Options to Resolve the Issue:

Replace the Two NAT Rules with a Single Rule:

Combining both DMZ servers into one NAT rule might simplify configuration but could cause issues in distinguishing inbound traffic for each server.

Pros: Simplifies rule management.

Cons: Might not address the inbound traffic issue properly.

New Public IP Address:

Obtaining a new public IP address for the new server (192.168.197.40) ensures dedicated inbound and outbound NAT.

Pros: Clear separation of traffic, resolves inbound connectivity issues.

Cons: Requires additional public IP.

Separate Source NAT and Destination NAT Rules:

Configuring distinct NAT rules for source and destination addresses without using the bidirectional option.

Pros: Clear and distinct rules for each direction of traffic.

Cons: More complex to manage, might require more firewall resources.

Move the NAT Rule:

Adjusting the order of NAT rules to prioritize the new server’s rule.

Pros: Simple reordering might resolve prioritization conflicts.

Cons: Might not fully resolve the inbound connection issue.

When a firewall’s local configuration overrides a Panorama template, Panorama detects this discrepancy and marks the template as out of sync (Option A) in the UI (e.g., under Templates > Device status). This alerts administrators to resolve the conflict.

Option B (only Panorama reverts) is false; local commits can revert. Option C (not visible) is incorrect; sync status is visible. Option D (update template) doesn’t occur automatically. Documentation explains this sync behavior.

For virtual systems (vSys) on a Palo Alto Networks firewall to communicate with each other, especially when separate virtual routers (VRs) are used for each vSys, the configuration must facilitate proper routing and security policy enforcement. The key aspects to focus on include:

A. External zones with the virtual systems added:

External zones are special types of zones that are used to facilitate traffic flow between virtual systems within the same physical firewall. By adding virtual systems to an external zone, you enable them to communicate with each other, effectively bypassing the need for traffic to exit and re-enter the firewall.

D. Add a route with next hop next-vr by using the VR configured in the virtual system:

When using separate VRs for each vSys, it's essential to configure inter-VR routing. This is done by adding routes in each VR with the next hop set to 'next-vr', specifying the VR of the destination vSys. This setup enables traffic to be routed from one virtual system's VR to another, facilitating communication between them.

E. Ensure the virtual systems are visible to one another:

Visibility between virtual systems is a prerequisite for inter-vSys communication. This involves configuring the virtual systems in a way that they are aware of each other's existence. This is typically managed in the vSys settings, where you can specify which virtual systems can communicate with each other.

By focusing on these configuration details, the network security engineer can ensure that the virtual systems can communicate effectively, maintaining the necessary isolation while allowing the required traffic flow.

The type of policy in Palo Alto Networks firewalls that can use Device-ID as a match condition is QoS. This is because Device-ID is a feature that allows the firewall to identify and classify devices on the network based on their characteristics, such as vendor, model, OS, and role1. QoS policies are used to allocate bandwidth and prioritize traffic based on various criteria, such as application, user, source, destination, and device2. By using Device-ID as a match condition in QoS policies, the firewall can apply different QoS actions to different types of devices, such as IoT devices, laptops, smartphones, etc3. This can help optimize the network performance and ensure the quality of service for critical applications and devices.

An authentication portal is a feature that can be used to identify guests and BYOD users, instruct them how to download and install the CA certificate, and clearly notify them that their traffic will be decrypted. An authentication portal is a web page that the firewall displays to users who need to authenticate before accessing the network or the internet. The authentication portal can be customized to include a welcome message, a login prompt, a disclaimer, a certificate download link, and a logout button. The authentication portal can also be configured to use different authentication methods, such as local database, RADIUS, LDAP, Kerberos, or SAML1. By using an authentication portal, the firewall can redirect BYOD users to a web page where they can learn about the decryption policy, download and install the CA certificate, and agree to the terms of use before accessing the network or the internet2.

An SSL decryption profile is not a feature that can be used to identify guests and BYOD users, instruct them how to download and install the CA certificate, and clearly notify them that their traffic will be decrypted. An SSL decryption profile is a set of options that define how the firewall handles SSL/TLS traffic that it decrypts. An SSL decryption profile can include settings such as certificate verification, unsupported protocol handling, session caching, session resumption, algorithm selection, etc3. An SSL decryption profile does not provide any user identification or notification functions.

An SSL decryption policy is not a feature that can be used to identify guests and BYOD users, instruct them how to download and install the CA certificate, and clearly notify them that their traffic will be decrypted. An SSL decryption policy is a set of rules that determine which traffic the firewall decrypts based on various criteria, such as source and destination zones, addresses, users, applications, services, etc. An SSL decryption policy can also specify which type of decryption to apply to the traffic, such as SSL Forward Proxy, SSL Inbound Inspection, or SSH Proxy4. An SSL decryption policy does not provide any user identification or notification functions.

Comfort pages are not a feature that can be used to identify guests and BYOD users, instruct them how to download and install the CA certificate, and clearly notify them that their traffic will be decrypted. Comfort pages are web pages that the firewall displays to users when it blocks or fails to decrypt certain traffic due to security policy or technical reasons. Comfort pages can include information such as the reason for blocking or failing to decrypt the traffic, the URL of the original site, the firewall serial number, etc5. Comfort pages do not provide any user identification or notification functions before decrypting the traffic.

 Configure an Authentication Portal, Redirect Users Through an Authentication Portal, SSL Decryption Profile, Decryption Policy, Comfort Pages

When a URL matches multiple categories, the category chosen is the one that has the most severe action defined below (block being most severe and allow least severe).

1 block

2 override

3 continue

4 alert

5 allow

When administrative functions (licensing, updates) use a data plane interface, the firewall requires outbound connectivity to Palo Alto Networks servers (e.g., updates.paloaltonetworks.com) via that interface. If HTTPS/SSH work but licensing/updates fail, the issue is likely upstream blocking or misrouting. Validating upstream devices (Option B) ensures ports (e.g., 443) and destinations are accessible, resolving the issue.

Option A (service route) is a prerequisite already implied but doesn’t fix external issues. Option C (loopback) is unnecessary. Option D (OCSP) relates to certificates, not connectivity. Documentation emphasizes external validation.

In order to see what is in a template, the device-group needs the template referenced. Even if you add the firewall to both the template and device-group, the device-group will not see what is in the template. The following link has a video that demonstrates that B is the correct answer.

The two key exchange algorithms that consume the most resources when decrypting SSL traffic are ECDHE and DHE. These are both Diffie-Hellman based algorithms that enable perfect forward secrecy (PFS), which means that they generate a new and unique session key for each SSL/TLS session, and do not reuse any previous keys. This enhances the security of the encrypted communication, but also increases the computational cost and complexity of the key exchange process. ECDHE stands for Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman Ephemeral, which uses elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) to generate the session key. DHE stands for Diffie-Hellman Ephemeral, which uses modular arithmetic to generate the session key. Both ECDHE and DHE require more CPU and memory resources than RSA, which is a non-PFS algorithm that uses public and private keys to encrypt and decrypt the session key123. References: Key Exchange Algorithms, Best Practices for Enabling SSL Decryption, PCNSE Study Guide (page 60)

For an application that is currently identified as unknown-tcp and has sessions that often remain idle for long periods, creating a custom application and using an application override rule is the most time-efficient solution.

C. The process involves:

Creating a custom application in the Palo Alto Networks firewall and configuring it with specific timeouts to accommodate the application's idle session behavior. This step ensures that the firewall does not prematurely close the application's sessions due to inactivity.

Next, creating an application override rule that references the custom application. This rule directs the firewall to identify traffic matching the rule criteria (such as source, destination, and port information) as the custom application, bypassing the App-ID engine's regular identification process.

This approach allows for the quick implementation of a solution that ensures the application is properly identified in traffic logs without undergoing threat scanning, meeting the requirements for both identification and reporting.

WildFire logs showing a "malicious" verdict with an "allow" action indicate that the initial traffic wasn’t blocked in real-time, likely because the Antivirus profile isn’t configured to act immediately on WildFire verdicts. By default, WildFire submits files for analysis, and signatures may take up to 24 hours to propagate globally unless real-time blocking is enabled. Configuring the Antivirus security profile (Option B) to "block" on malicious WildFire verdicts ensures that threats are blocked within minutes once the verdict is returned (typically 5-15 minutes), leveraging WildFire’s real-time signature updates.

Option A (WildFire analysis profile) defines what files are sent to WildFire but doesn’t control blocking actions. Option C (File Blocking profile) manages file type blocking, not threat verdicts. Option D (file size limits) affects submission eligibility, not blocking behavior. The Antivirus profile is the key to real-time WildFire enforcement, as per Palo Alto Networks documentation.

To address the question about the Device Telemetry feature in PAN-OS and its compliance with privacy and data storage laws, let’s examine the details thoroughly.

Understanding Device Telemetry in PAN-OS

Device Telemetry is a feature in Palo Alto Networks’ PAN-OS that collects data from the firewall to provide insights for:

Product usage trends.

Threat analysis.

Operational optimizations.

Telemetry may include:

Configuration data.

Threat logs.

Performance metrics.

However, specific aspects of this feature require attention to ensure compliance with local privacy laws.

Explanation of Options

A. Telemetry feature is automatically enabled during PAN-OS installation

Why It Requires Action:

Telemetry may be enabled by default when upgrading or installing PAN-OS. Local privacy laws (e.g., GDPR in Europe, CCPA in California) often require explicit user consent before enabling data collection.

Relevant Action:

Administrators must review and disable telemetry if required or configure it to align with local compliance laws.

PAN-OS 11.0 Admin Guide: Telemetry configuration is detailed under the "Device Telemetry" section.

PCNSA Study Guide (Domain 1: Device Management): Covers the importance of managing device settings, including Telemetry.

B. Telemetry data is uploaded into Strata Logging Service

Why It Does Not Require Immediate Action:

Data sent to the Strata Logging Service is anonymized and typically adheres to Palo Alto Networks' privacy guidelines. Administrators can disable Strata Logging uploads if necessary.

Optional Action:

Ensure the data is anonymized or disable the service if the organization does not agree with external data storage.

SSL/TLS profile is only the TLS versions, not ciphers. Decryption Profile is for SSL Inbound and Forward Proxy applications, not mgmt of the PANW Firewall. There's also KB articles to strengthen SSH, but I couldn't find any for HTTPS, on the mgmt interface: &lang=en_US%E2%80%A9

In a High Availability (HA) configuration, particularly in an active-passive setup, it's crucial that the passive unit is kept up to date with the current state of the active unit. This ensures a seamless transition in the event of a failover. The HA4 interface is dedicated to this synchronization task.

D. Perform synchronization of sessions, forwarding tables, and IPSec security associations between firewalls in an HA pair:

The HA4 interface is responsible for the synchronization of critical stateful information between the active and passive units in an HA pair. This includes session information, ensuring that the passive unit can continue existing sessions without interruption if it needs to become active.

In addition to session information, HA4 also synchronizes forwarding tables, which contain information on how to route packets, and IPSec security associations, which are necessary for maintaining secure VPN tunnels.

This synchronization ensures that both units in an HA pair have identical information regarding the current state of the network, sessions, and security associations, enabling a smooth and immediate transition to the passive unit in case the active unit fails.

When using the log forwarding built-in action with tagging in Palo Alto Networks firewalls, the primary purpose is to dynamically respond to threats or unwanted traffic identified by the firewall's threat detection mechanisms. The action involves tagging the IP address associated with the unwanted traffic and then using that tag in dynamic security policies to block or manage the traffic.

A. Destination IP addresses of selected unwanted traffic are blocked:

When the tagging action is used, the firewall tags the IP addresses involved in the unwanted traffic (which could be the source or destination IP addresses, but in many configurations, the focus is on the source of the attack). These tags can then be referenced in Dynamic Address Groups (DAGs) within security policies. Consequently, any traffic coming from or going to these tagged IP addresses can be blocked or subjected to specific security rules, effectively mitigating the threat or unwanted behavior.

This approach allows for automated, real-time responses to identified threats, enhancing the security posture by quickly adapting to emerging threats without manual intervention.

URL profile action alert.

File Profile action alert.

AV and Wildfire action Reset-both

Policy Action Allow.

The firewall inspects the content as per all the security profiles attached to the original matching rule. If it results in threat detection, then the corresponding security profile action is taken.

The "No direct access to local network" setting in the GlobalProtect Gateway’s Client Settings under Split Tunnel (Option C) prevents local resource access when enabled. Disabling it allows split tunneling to permit local traffic, resolving the issue.

Option A (Network Services) is a mispath. Option B (Satellite) applies to different configs. Option D (Portal App) doesn’t control this behavior. Documentation confirms this Gateway setting.

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.

The template stack should consist of four templates arranged according to the diagram. The template values that will be configured on the firewall if each template has an SSL/TLS Service profile configured named Management will be the values in Chicago. This is because the SSL/TLS Service profile is configured in the Chicago template, which is the highest priority template in the stack. The firewall will inherit the settings from the highest priority template that has the setting configured, and ignore the settings from the lower priority templates that have the same setting configured. Therefore, the values in Datacenter, efwOlab.chi, and Global Settings will not be applied to the firewall. References:

[Manage Templates and Template Stacks]

[Template Stack Configuration]

[Template Stack Priority]

If you have clients running multi-user systems in a Windows environment, such as Microsoft Terminal Server or Citrix Metaframe Presentation Server or XenApp, Configure the Palo Alto Networks Terminal Server (TS) Agent for User Mapping

For a network security administrator to authenticate and identify a user with a new BYOD-type device that is not joined to the corporate domain, the most effective method is to use an Authentication policy targeting users not yet identified by the system.

A. an Authentication policy with 'unknown' selected in the Source User field:

An Authentication policy allows the firewall to challenge unidentified users for credentials. By selecting 'unknown' in the Source User field, the policy targets users who have not yet been identified by the firewall, which would include users on new BYOD devices not joined to the domain.

Once the user provides valid credentials, the firewall can authenticate the user and map their identity to subsequent sessions, enabling the application of user-based policy rules and monitoring.

This approach ensures that new and unknown devices can be properly authenticated and identified without compromising security or requiring the device to be part of the corporate domain.

Packet Buffer Protection mitigates single-session DoS attacks by monitoring resource usage on ingress zones. It applies to new sessions only (to prevent resource exhaustion before escalation) and is not global—it’s zone-specific, configured under Zone Protection profiles.

Options A and D (global) are incorrect; it’s per-zone. Options C and D (existing sessions) don’t align with its proactive design. Documentation specifies this behavior.

High Availability (HA) timer settings in PAN-OS control failover speed and stability. The Recommended profile (Option D) is the default and provides balanced timers (e.g., 1000ms heartbeat interval) suitable for typical deployments, ensuring reliable failover without excessive sensitivity.

Option A (Critical profile) uses faster timers (e.g., 100ms) for critical environments, not typical ones. Option B (Moderate) isn’t a predefined profile. Option C (Aggressive) uses fast timers (e.g., 200ms), not slower ones. Documentation specifies "Recommended" for standard use.

IP flood thresholds, you can also use DoS Protection profiles to detect and prevent session exhaustion attacks in which a large number of hosts (bots) establish as many sessions as possible to consume a target’s resources. On the profile’s Resources Protection tab, you can set the maximum number of concurrent sessions that the device(s) defined in the DoS Protection policy rule to which you apply the profile can receive. When the number of concurrent sessions reaches its maximum limit, new sessions are dropped.

For the transparent proxy method, the request contains the destination IP address of the web server and the proxy transparently intercepts the client request (either by being in-line or by traffic steering). There is no client configuration and Panorama is optional. Transparent proxy requires a loopback interface, User-ID configuration in the proxy zone, and specific Destination NAT (DNAT) rules. Transparent proxy does not support X-Authenticated Users (XAU) or Web Cache Communications Protocol (WCCP).

When implementing an application override in a Palo Alto Networks firewall, the primary goal is to explicitly define how specific traffic is identified and processed by the firewall, bypassing the regular App-ID process. This is particularly useful for traffic that might be misidentified by App-ID or for applications that require special handling for performance reasons.

To successfully implement application override, the following items must be configured:

B. Application override policy rule:

This is a specialized policy rule that you create to specify the criteria for the traffic you want to override. In this rule, you define the source and destination zones, addresses, and ports. Instead of relying on the App-ID engine to identify the application, the firewall uses the criteria defined in the application override policy to classify the traffic.

C. Security policy rule:

After defining an application override policy, you must also configure a security policy rule to allow the overridden traffic through the firewall. This rule specifies the action (allow, deny, drop, etc.) for the traffic that matches the application override policy. It's essential to ensure that the security policy rule matches the traffic defined in the application override policy to ensure that the intended traffic is allowed through the firewall.

For detailed guidance on configuring application override and the necessary security policies, refer to the official Palo Alto Networks documentation. This resource provides step-by-step instructions and best practices for effectively managing traffic using application overrides.