Free Practice Questions for Paloalto Networks NGFW-Engineer Exam

When configuring a new firewall virtual system (VSYS) on a Palo Alto Networks firewall, one of the resources that can be assigned is the sessions limit. This setting allows the administrator to control the number of active sessions that can be handled by the VSYS, ensuring that each virtual system has an appropriate allocation of resources based on its needs.

In a multi-vsys (Virtual System) architecture on a Palo Alto Networks firewall, communication between two virtual systems can occur internally through the firewall's backplane without requiring the traffic to exit through a physical interface to an external switch or router. To facilitate this internal routing, a specialized zone type is required.

While Layer 3 zones are used for standard routed traffic and are bound to physical or logical interfaces, theExternalzone type is specifically designed for inter-vsys communication. When an engineer configures two virtual systems to talk to one another, they must create a zone in each VSYS and set the Type toExternal. These zones act as the logical "entry" and "exit" points for traffic crossing the VSYS boundary.

For the traffic flow to be successful, the Virtual Router in the source VSYS must have a route (typically a next-vr route) pointing to the Virtual Router in the destination VSYS. However, from a security policy perspective, the firewall sees the traffic as egressing the External zone of the source VSYS and ingressing the External zone of the destination VSYS. Without defining these zones asExternal, the firewall cannot logically associate the session with the internal backplane hand-off, and the traffic will be dropped despite having correct routing entries. This architectural requirement ensures that even internal virtual traffic remains subject to the firewall's zone-based security inspection.

To create SD-WAN interfaces through an API, the correct approach is to use the REST API's "sdwanInterfaces" parameter on a firewall device. This parameter allows you to configure SD-WAN interfaces directly on the firewall devices via API, ensuring that the required interfaces are set up and managed for SD-WAN functionality.

To ensure continuous, secure connectivity and consistent policy enforcement with GlobalProtect in an enterprise environment that uses user- and machine-based certificate authentication, the approach should:

Distribute root and intermediate CAs via Panorama templates: This ensures that all firewalls managed by Panorama share the same trusted certificate authorities for consistency and security.

Use distinct certificate profiles for user vs. machine certificates: This enables separate handling of user and machine authentication, ensuring that both types of certificates are managed and validated appropriately.

Reference an internal OCSP responder: By integrating OCSP checks, the firewall can validate certificate revocation in real-time, meeting the security requirement while minimizing the overhead and latency associated with traditional CRLs (Certificate Revocation Lists).

Automate certificate deployment with Group Policy: This ensures that machine certificates are deployed in a consistent and scalable manner across the enterprise, reducing manual intervention and minimizing user disruption.

This approach supports the requirements for pre-logon, OCSP checks, and minimal user disruption, while maintaining a secure, automated, and consistent authentication process across all firewalls managed via Panorama.

Use of dynamic routing protocols: An IP address is needed on the tunnel interface to participate in dynamic routing protocols (like OSPF, BGP, etc.) over the tunnel. This allows the firewall to advertise routes and receive updates over the tunnel.

Tunnel monitoring: The IP address on the tunnel interface can also be used for monitoring the tunnel's status. Tunnel monitoring (such as IPSec tunnel monitoring) requires an IP address on the tunnel interface to check the health and availability of the tunnel.

Server monitoring is the most reliable method for mapping users to IP addresses in PAN-OS. This method allows the firewall to monitor specific servers, such as Microsoft Active Directory (AD) or LDAP servers, to dynamically retrieve and update user-to-IP mappings. It provides a more accurate and up-to-date mapping of users to their associated IP addresses, as it directly queries user databases in real time.

To successfully implement an IPSec VPN on a Palo Alto Networks NGFW, the security architect must account for two distinct types of traffic:Control Plane(tunnel negotiation) andData Plane(traffic through the tunnel).

First, for the tunnel to establish, the firewall must permit negotiation traffic. While IKE (UDP 500/4500) is the protocol used, Palo Alto Networks uses theIPSec container applicationto represent the underlying encrypted tunnel traffic. This traffic is typically destined for the firewall's own "Local" zone (the management/loopback or physical interface IP). Therefore, a policy must exist to allow theipsec-esp-udpor the broaderIPSecapplication between the external-facing zone and theLocal zone.

Second, once the tunnel is active, the decrypted traffic emerges from theTunnel Interface. This interface must be assigned to a security zone (often a dedicated "VPN" zone or an existing internal zone). Because the NGFW is a stateful, zone-based firewall, theinterzone-defaultpolicy is "Deny" by default. Consequently, a pair of security policies is required to allow data to flow: one for traffic entering the tunnel (e.g., Trust to VPN) and one for traffic exiting the tunnel (e.g., VPN to Trust). Without these specific rules, the tunnel may show as "Up" (Phase 1 and 2 complete), but no production data will pass through it.