Configure Strata Cloud Manager to Secure VM Workloads and Kubernetes Clusters
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AI Runtime Security

Configure Strata Cloud Manager to Secure VM Workloads and Kubernetes Clusters

Table of Contents

Configure Strata Cloud Manager to Secure VM Workloads and Kubernetes Clusters

Strata Cloud Manager configurations to secure your VM workloads/vNets and Kubernetes clusters post downloading the AI Runtime Security instance deployment Terraform template in Strata Cloud Manager.
This page covers the configurations you need to secure your VM workloads/vNets and Kubernetes clusters, and route traffic after you apply the deployment Terraform template in your cloud environment.
Where Can I Use This?What Do I Need?
On this page you will:
  • Configure the following in Strata Cloud Manager:
    • Interfaces
    • Zones
    • NAT Policy
    • Routers
    • Security Policies
  • Secure VM workloads
  • Secure Kubernetes clusters
  • Install a Kubernetes application with Helm
  • (Optional) Configure labels in your cloud environment
AI Runtime Security is only supported for public clusters on GCP, Azure, and AWS cloud platforms.
Prerequisites
  • Deploy AI Runtime Security Instance specific to your cloud to Save and Download the Terraform template.
  • Unzip and navigate to the `<unzipped-folder>` that has the following structure:
    |____architecture |____LICENSE |____README.md |____security_project |____application_project |____helm |____modules
  • (Optional) Enable SSL/TLS decryption on AI Runtime Security to decrypt traffic between AI applications and AI models:
    The decryption helps you to detect and enforce AI security protection.
    These steps involve creating a decryption policy and exporting the Root CA from Strata Cloud Manager.
    • Select Manage → Configuration → NGFW and Prisma Access→ Security Services → Decryption.
    • Add a new decryption policy rule, or modify an existing one.
    • Configure the source and destination zones.
    • Under "Action and Advanced Inspection", set the action to decrypt.
    • Select the decryption type to SSL Forward Proxy.
    • Select a Decryption Profile to perform additional checks on traffic that matches the policy rule.
    • Go to Objects → Certificate Management.
    • Select Root CA and click Export Certificate.
    • Select Go to Objects → Certificate Management and click Save.
    • Push the changes to the AI network intercept (AI firewall) and wait for the push to complete.

GCP

AI Runtime Security post deployment configurations in Strata Cloud Manager to protect VM workloads and Kubernetes clusters.
Where Can I Use This?What Do I Need?
  1. Configure AI Runtime Security: Network intercept interfaces:
    1. Select Manage → Configuration → NGFW and Prisma Access.
    2. Select Device Settings → Interfaces.
    3. Set the Configuration Scope to your AI Runtime Security folder.
    4. In the Ethernet tab:
      Configure a Layer 3 Interface for eth1/1 and eth1/2:
      • Interfaces: eth1/1 and eth1/2
      • Location: Specify location if applicable
      • Interface Type: Layer3
      • IP Address: Dynamic (DHCP Client)
    5. Select the Loopback tab, to configure the Loopback interface:
      • In IPv4s, enter the ILB (Internal Load Balancer) private IP address
      • Set Security Zone to trust for eth1/2 and untrust for eth1/1
      • Ensure VR (Virtual Router) is set to default or the same as eth1/2
  2. Create zones. Select Manage → Configuration → NGFW and Prisma Access → Device Settings → Zones.
  3. Configure a Logical Router:
    • Create a Logical Router and add the Layer 3 interfaces (eth1/1 and eth1/2).
    • Configure a Static Route with the ILB static IP addresses for routing. Use the trust interface gateway IP address.
  4. Add a security policy (Manage → Configuration → NGFW and Prisma Access → Security Services → Security Policy → Add Rule).
    Ensure the policy allows health checks from the GCP Load Balancer (LB) pool to the internal LB IP from Strata Cloud Manager. Check session IDs to ensure the firewall responds correctly on the designated interfaces.

Configurations to Secure VM Workloads

  1. Configure Static Routes for VPC endpoints.
    1. Select Manage → Configuration → NGFW and Prisma Access → Device Settings → Routing → Logical Routers.
    2. For VPC Subnet:
      • Edit the IPv4 Static Routes and add the route for the VPC IPv4 range CIDR subnets.
      • Set the Next Hop as eth1/2.
      • Set the Destination as the trust subnet gateway IP from Strata Cloud Manager.
      • Update the static route.
      Save the Logical Router.
  2. Select Manage → Operations → Push Config and push the policy configurations to the AI network intercept (AI firewall).

Configurations to Secure the Kubernetes Clusters

  1. Add pod and service IP Subnets to AI Runtime Security trust firewall rules:
    1. Get the IP addresses for pod and service subnets:
    1. Go to Kubernetes Engine -> Clusters.
    2. Select a Cluster and copy the Cluster Pod IPv4 and IPv4 Service range IP addresses.
  2. Follow the AI Runtime Security Instance deployment in GCP to save and download the Terraform template.
  3. Edit the Terraform template to whitelist the following IP addresses in your VPC network firewall rules:
    • Navigate to the `<unzipped-folder>/architecture/security_project` directory.
    • Edit the `terraform.tfvars` file to add the copied IP addresses list to your `source_ranges`.
      firewall_rules = { allow-trust-ingress = { name = "allow-trust-vpc" source_ranges = ["35.xxx.0.0/16", "130.xxx.0.0/22", "192.xxx.0.0/16", "10.xxx.0.0/14", "10.xx.208.0/20"] # 1st 2 IPs are for health check packets. Add APP VPC/Pod/Service CIDRs priority = "1000" allowed_protocol = "all" allowed_ports = [] } }
  4. Apply the Terraform:
    terraform init terraform plan terraform apply
  5. Add static routes on the Logical Router for Kubernetes workloads:
    1. Select Manage → Configuration → NGFW and Prisma Access → Device Settings → Routing → Logical Routers.
    2. Configure Static Routes for the pod and service subnets for the Kubernetes workloads:
      Pod Subnet:
      • Edit the IPv4 Static Routes and add a route with the Pod IPv4 range CIDR.
      • Set the Next Hop as eth1/2 (trust interface).
      • Set the Destination as the trust subnet gateway IP from Strata Cloud Manager.
      Service Subnet:
      • Edit the IPv4 Static Routes add a route with the IPv4 Service range CIDR.
      • Set the Next Hop as eth1/2 (trust interface).
      • Set the Destination as the trust subnet gateway IP from Strata Cloud Manager.
  6. Add source NAT Policy for Outbound Traffic:
    1. Select Manage → Configuration → NGFW and Prisma Access → Network Policies → NAT.
    2. Create or modify a source NAT Policy:
      • Source Zone: Trust
      • Destination Zone: Untrust (eth1/1)
      • Policy Name: trust2untrust or similar.
  7. Configure NAT settings:
    Interface Address Section:
    • Set the Interface to eth1/1. (The translation happens at eth1/1).
      If needed, create a complementary rule for the reverse direction (for example, untrust2trust).
  8. Select Manage → Operations → Push Config and push the policy configurations to the AI Runtime Security instance.
    Note: If you have a Kubernetes cluster running, follow the section to install a Kubernetes application with Helm.

Install a Kubernetes Application with Helm

Follow the below steps to install a Kubernetes application on a Kubernetes cluster.
  1. Change the directory to the Helm folder:
    cd <unzipped-folder>/architecture/helm
    GKE Autopilot clusters do not support Helm deployments due to restrictions on modifying the kube-system namespace.
  2. Install the Helm chart:
    helm install ai-runtime-security helm --namespace kube-system --values helm/values.yaml
  3. Verify the Helm installation:
    #List all Helm releases helm list -A #Ensure the output shows your installation with details such as: NAME NAMESPACE REVISION UPDATED STATUS CHART APP VERSION ai-runtime-security kube-system 1 2024-08-13 07:00 PDT deployed ai-runtime-security-0.1.0 11.2.2
  4. Check the pod status:
    kubectl get pods -A #Verify that the pods with names similar to `pan-cni-*****` are present.
  5. Check the endpoint slices:
    kubectl get endpointslice -n kube-system #Confirm that the output shows an ILB IP address: NAME ADDRESSTYPE PORTS ENDPOINTS AGE my-endpointslice IPv4 80/TCP 10.2xx.0.1,10.2xx.0.2 12h
  6. Check the services running in the `kube-system` namespace:
    kubectl get svc -n kube-system #Ensure that services `pan-cni-sa` and `pan-plugin-user-secret` are listed: NAME TYPE CLUSTER-IP EXTERNAL-IP PORT(S) AGE pan-cni-sa ClusterIP 10.xx.0.1 <none> 443/TCP 24h pan-plugin-user-secret ClusterIP 10.xx.0.2 <none> 443/TCP 24h
  7. Annotate the application `yaml` or `namespace` so that the traffic from the new pods is redirected to the AI Runtime Security instance (firewall) for inspection.
    annotations: paloaltonetworks.com/firewall: pan-fw
    For example, for all new pods in the "default" namespace:
    kubectl annotate namespace default paloaltonetworks.com/firewall=pan-fw

Azure

AI Runtime Security post deployment configurations in Strata Cloud Manager to protect VM workloads and Kubernetes clusters.
Where Can I Use This?What Do I Need?

Configure Strata Cloud Manager

Interfaces

Configure AI Runtime Security (firewall) Interfaces:
  1. Navigate to Manage → Configuration → NGFW and Prisma Access→ Device Settings → Interfaces
  2. Set the Configuration Scope to your AI Runtime Security folder.
  3. Select Add Interface.
    • In the Ethernet tab, configure a Layer 3 Interface for eth1/1(trust) and eth1/2(untrust):
      • Enter Interface Name (Create interfaces for both eth1/1(trust) and eth1/2(untrust) interfaces).
      • Select Layer3Interface type.
      • In Logical Routers, select `vr-private` for eth1/1 and `vr-public` for eth1/2.
      • In Zone, select trust for eth1/1 and untrust for eth1/2.
      • Select DHCP Client type under IPV4 address.
      • Enable IPV4 for both eth1/1 and eth1/2 interfaces.
      • For eth1/2 (untrust) only, enable Automatically create default route pointing to default gateway provided by server.
      • Select Advanced Settings > Other Info.
      • Select a Management Profile swith HTTPS enabled under Administrative Management Services or create a new one:
      • Add.
    • Select the Loopback tab to configure the Loopback interface to receive health checks from each load balancer:
      • Select the Logical Routers.
      • Set the trust Zone for private Logical Router and untrust Zone for the public Logical Router.
      • In the IPv4s section, enter the private IP address of the Internal Load Balancer (ILB).
        This IP address is in the output displayed after successfully deploying the `security_project` Terraform, as described on the Deploy AI Runtime Security: Network Intercept in Azure page.
      • Expand Advanced Settings → Management Profile and add your allow-health-checks profile.
      • Add or Save.

Zones

  1. Navigate to Manage → Configuration → NGFW and Prisma Access→ Device Settings → Zones.
  2. Select Add Zone.
  3. Enter a Name.
  4. Select Layer3 Interface type.
  5. In Interfaces, add $eth1 interface for trust zone and $eth2 interface for untrust zone.
  6. Save.

NAT

Configure the NAT policies for inbound and outbound traffic:
  1. Navigate to Manage → Configuration → NGFW and Prisma Access → Network Policies → NAT.
  2. Configure NAT Policy for inbound traffic:
    1. Enter a Name indicating inbound traffic (for example, inbound-web).
    2. Original Packet:
      • In Source zones, click add and select untrust zone.
    3. Destination:
      • select untrust Zone.
      • Select any Interface.
      • In Addresses, click the add (+) icon and select the public Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) address.
    4. Choose any Service.
    5. Translated Packet:
      • In Translation, select Both.
      • In Source Address Translation, select the Dynamic IP and Port translation type.
      • In choice, select Interface Address.
      • In Interface, select eth1(ethernet1/1).
      • In Choice, select IP address.
      • Set the Static IP address as the Translation Type.
      • Select the destination Translated Address.
    6. Save.
  3. Configure NAT Policy for Outbound traffic:
    1. Enter a Name indicating inbound traffic (for example, outbound-internet).
    2. Original Packet:
      • In Source zones, click add and select trust zone.
      • In Addresses, click the add (+) icon and select the app-vnet and the Kubernetes pods CIDR you want to secure.
    3. Destination:
      • Select untrust destination zone.
      • Select any interface.
    4. Choose any Service.
    5. Translated Packet:
      • In Translation, select Source Address Only.
      • In Source Address Translation, select the Dynamic IP and Port translation type.
      • In choice, select Interface Address.
      • In Interface, select eth2(ethernet1/2).
      • In Choice, select IP address.
    6. Save.

Routers

Configure private and public virtual routers:
Azure health probe fails with a single virtual router (VR). Create multiple VRs to ensure probe success.
  1. Navigate to Manage → Configuration → NGFW and Prisma Access→ Device Settings → Routing.
  2. Enter a Name indicating private and public routers (for example, vr-private and vr-public).
  3. In Interfaces, select eth1(ethernet1/1) for vr-private route and eth2(ethernet1/2) for vr-public route.
    Refer the section on Interfaces to see how to configure the $eth1 and $eth2 interfaces.
  4. In Advanced Settings, select Edit to configure the IPV4 Static Routes for vr-private and vr-public.
    1. Select Add Static Route and add the following routes:
    2. Application routing:
      1. Enter a Name (for example, app-vnet).
      2. In Destination, enter the CIDR address of your application.
      3. In Next Hop:
        • For vr-private, select IP Address and enter the gateway IP address of the private interface (eth1/1) in the IP Address.
          The gateway IP address is the first usable IP in the subnet's range (example, 192.168.1.1 for a /24 subnet). To find it, go to Azure Portal > Virtual Networks > [Your Virtual Network] > Subnets > [Private Subnet].
        • For vr-public, select Next Router and select the `vr-private` in the Next Router.
      4. In Interface, select eth1(ethernet1/1) subnet for `vr-private` and None for `vr-public`.
    3. Default routing:
      1. Enter a Name.
      2. In Destination, enter 0.0.0.0/0.
      3. In Next Hop:
        • For vr-private, select Next Router and enter the `vr-public` in the Next Router.
        • For vr-public, select IP Address and enter the gateway IP address of the vr-public interface (eth1/2) in the IP Address.
      4. In Interface, choose None for `vr-private` and eth2(ethernet1/2) for `vr-public`.
      5. Add or Update.
    4. Azure Load Balancer’s health probe:
      1. Enter a Name.
      2. In Destination, enter the IP address of the Azure Load Balancer’s health probe (168.63.129.16/32).
      3. In Next Hop, select IP Address for vr-private and vr-public.
        • In IP Address, enter the gateway IP address of the corresponding interfaces.
      4. In Interface, select eth1(ethernet1/1) for vr-private and eth2(ethernet1/2) for vr-public.
    5. Add.
  5. Save.
  6. Static routes summary for `vr-private`:
    Route TypeNameDestinationNext HopNext Hop ValueInterface
    Application routingapp-vnetApplication CIDRIP AdderssGateway IP address of vr-privateGateway IP address of vr-private
    Default Routingdefault0.0.0.0/0Next Routervr-publicNone
    Azure LB Health Probeazure-probe168.63.129.16/32IP AddressSubnet Gateway IP addresseth1(ethernet1/1)
  7. Static route summary for `vr-public`:
    Route TypeNameDestinationNext HopNext Hop ValueInterface
    Application routingapp-vnetApplication CIDRNext Routervr-privateeth1(ethernet1/1)
    Default Routingdefault0.0.0.0/0IP AddressGateway IP address of vr-publiceth2(ethernet1/2)
    Azure LB Health Probeazure-probe168.63.129.16/32IP AddressSubnet Gateway IP addresseth2(ethernet1/2)

Security Policy

  1. Add a security policy (Manage → Configuration → NGFW and Prisma Access → Security Services → Security Policy → Add Rule).
    Ensure the policy allows health checks from the Azure Load Balancer (LB) pool to the internal LB IP from Strata Cloud Manager. Check session IDs to ensure the firewall responds correctly on the designated interfaces.

Configurations to Secure VM Workloads

  1. Configure routes for vNet endpoints as explained in the Routers section above to ensure there is a route to your application.
  2. Navigate to Manage → Operations → Push Config and push the policy configurations to your firewall (AI Runtime Security: Network intercept).
  3. Create or update the NAT policy (refer to the NAT section above) to secure the VM workloads. Set the source address of the application you want to secure.

Configurations to Secure the Kubernetes Clusters

  1. Configure static routes (refer to the routes section above) on the Logical Router for Kubernetes workloads.
  2. Follow the below configurations for pod and service subnets static routes for pod for the Kubernetes workloads:
    1. Pod Subnet and Service subnet for vr-private:
      Route TypeNameDestinationNext HopNext Hop ValueInterface
      Pod subnetpod_routePod IPV4 range CIDRIP AddressSubnet Gateway IP addresseth1(ethernet1/1)
      Service subnetservice_route172.16.0.0/24IP AddressSubnet Gateway IP addresseth1(ethernet1/1)
    2. Pod Subnet and Service subnet for vr-public:
      Route TypeNameDestinationNext HopNext Hop ValueInterface
      Pod subnetpod_routePod IPV4 range CIDRNext Routervr-privateNone
      Service subnetservice_route172.16.0.0/24Next Routervr-privateNone
  3. Refer to the NAT policy in the above section to secure the Kubernetes clusters and set the source address of the Kubernetes pods CIDR you want to secure.
  4. Navigate to Manage → Operations → Push Config and push the policy configurations to your firewall (AI Runtime Security: Network intercept).

Install a Kubernetes Application with Helm

Follow the below steps to install a Kubernetes application on a Kubernetes cluster.
  1. Change the directory to the Helm folder:
    cd <unzipped-folder>/architecture/helm
  2. Install the Helm chart:
    helm install ai-runtime-security helm --namespace kube-system --values helm/values.yaml
    Enable "Bring your own Azure virtual network" to discover Kubernetes-related vnets:
    1. In Azure Portal, navigate to Kubernetes services → [Your Cluster]→ Settings→ Networking.
    2. Under Network configuration, select Azure CNI as the Network plugin, then enable Bring your own Azure virtual network.
  3. Verify the Helm installation:
    #List all Helm releases helm list -A #Ensure the output shows your installation with details such as: NAME NAMESPACE REVISION UPDATED STATUS CHART APP VERSION ai-runtime-security kube-system 1 2024-08-13 07:00 PDT deployed ai-runtime-security-0.1.0 11.2.2
  4. Check the pod status:
    kubectl get pods -A #Verify that the pods with names similar to `pan-cni-*****` are present.
  5. Check the endpoint slices:
    kubectl get endpointslice -n kube-system #Confirm that the output shows an ILB IP address: NAME ADDRESSTYPE PORTS ENDPOINTS AGE my-endpointslice IPv4 80/TCP 10.2xx.0.1,10.2xx.0.2 12h
  6. Check the services running in the `kube-system` namespace:
    kubectl get svc -n kube-system #Ensure that services `pan-cni-sa` and `pan-plugin-user-secret` are listed: NAME TYPE CLUSTER-IP EXTERNAL-IP PORT(S) AGE pan-cni-sa ClusterIP 10.xx.0.1 <none> 443/TCP 24h pan-plugin-user-secret ClusterIP 10.xx.0.2 <none> 443/TCP 24h
  7. Annotate the application `yaml` or `namespace` so that the traffic from the new pods is redirected to the AI Runtime Security instance (firewall) for inspection.
    annotations: paloaltonetworks.com/firewall: pan-fw
    For example, for all new pods in the "default" namespace:
    kubectl annotate namespace default paloaltonetworks.com/firewall=pan-fw

(Optional) Configure Labels in Your Cloud Environment

The deployment Terraform you generate from Strata Cloud Manager, automatically adds the required labels to organize your AI Runtime Security: network intercept instances.
For manual deployments, ensure you have the following labels (key-value pairs) in your Terraform template.
  1. You need the following labels (key-value pairs) under Tags in the Terraform template file under your downloaded path `<azure|aws-deployment-terraform-path>/architecture/security_project/terraform.tfvars`. The value of these keys must be unique.
    • For GCP:
      • `paloaltonetworks_com-trust`
      • `paloaltonetworks_com-occupied`
    • For Azure and AWS:
      • paloaltonetworks.com-trust
      • paloaltonetworks.com-occupied
  2. Ensure, the network interface name in the security_project Terraform is suffixed by `-trust-vpc`.

AWS

AI Runtime Security post deployment configurations in Strata Cloud Managerto protect VM workloads and Kubernetes clusters.
Where Can I Use This?What Do I Need?
  1. Configure AI Runtime Security: Network intercept:
    1. Select Manage → Configuration → NGFW and Prisma Access.
    2. Select Device Settings → Interfaces.
    3. Set the Configuration Scope to your AI Runtime Security folder.
    4. In Ethernet tab:
      Configure a Layer 3 Interface for eth1/1:
      • Interfaces: eth1/1
      • Location: Specify the location if applicable
      • Interface Type: Layer 3
      • IP Address: Dynamic (DHCP Client)
  2. Configure zones:
    • Select Manage → Configuration → NGFW and Prisma Access → Device Settings → Zones.
    • Set Security Zone to trust for eth1/1.
  3. Configure a Logical Router:
    • Create a Logical Router and add the Layer 3 interface (eth1/1).
  4. Add a security policy (Manage → Configuration → NGFW and Prisma Access → Security Services → Security Policy → Add Rule). Set the action as allow.
  5. Select Manage → Operations → Push Config and push the policy configurations to the AI network intercept (AI firewall).

Install a Kubernetes Application with Helm

Follow the below steps to install a Kubernetes application on a Kubernetes cluster by applying the helm chart.
Prerequisites:
  • Go to your downloaded Terraform template and navigate to `<unzipped-folder>/architecture/helm`.
  • Apply the Terraform for the `security_project` as shown in the AWS deployment workflow.
    Deploying the Terraform for the security project creates the GWLB endpoints in your AWS account.
  • Open the `values.yaml` file found in the path: `<unzipped-folder>/architecture/helm`.
  • Update the `endpoints1` and `endpoints2` values with your GWLB endpoints IP addresses. Below is a sample `values.yaml` file:
    # Default values for ai-runtime-security. # This is a YAML-formatted file. # Declare variables to be passed into your templates. # Configure vpc endpoint per zone. This makes sure kubernetes # traffic is not sent across zone. Endpoints can be added or # removed based on requirements and zone availability. # GWLB VPC endpoint zone1 IP address. endpoints1: "" endpoints1zone: us-east-1a # GWLB VPC endpoint zone2 IP address. endpoints2: "" endpoints2zone: us-east-1b # PAN CNI image. cniimage: gcr.io/pan-cn-series/airs/pan-cni:latest # Resource namespace name. namespace: kube-system # Kubernetes ClusterID value range 1-2048. clusterid: 1
  • Apply the helm chart by following the below steps.
  1. Change the directory to the Helm folder:
    cd <unzipped-folder>/architecture/helm
  2. Install the Helm chart:
    helm install ai-runtime-security helm --namespace kube-system --values helm/values.yaml
  3. Verify the Helm installation:
    #List all Helm releases helm list -A #Ensure the output shows your installation with details such as: NAME NAMESPACE REVISION UPDATED STATUS CHART APP VERSION ai-runtime-security kube-system 1 2024-08-13 07:00 PDT deployed ai-runtime-security-0.1.0 11.2.2
  4. Check the pod status:
    kubectl get pods -A #Verify that the pods with names similar to `pan-cni-*****` are present.
  5. Check the endpoint slices:
    kubectl get endpointslice -n kube-system #Confirm that the output shows an ILB IP address: NAME ADDRESSTYPE PORTS ENDPOINTS AGE my-endpointslice IPv4 80/TCP 10.2xx.0.1,10.2xx.0.2 12h
  6. Check the services running in the `kube-system` namespace:
    kubectl get svc -n kube-system #Ensure that services `pan-cni-sa` and `pan-plugin-user-secret` are listed: NAME TYPE CLUSTER-IP EXTERNAL-IP PORT(S) AGE pan-cni-sa ClusterIP 10.xx.0.1 <none> 443/TCP 24h pan-plugin-user-secret ClusterIP 10.xx.0.2 <none> 443/TCP 24h
  7. Annotate the application `yaml` or `namespace` so that the traffic from the new pods is redirected to the AI Runtime Security instance (firewall) for inspection.
    annotations: paloaltonetworks.com/firewall: pan-fw
    For example, for all new pods in the "default" namespace:
    kubectl annotate namespace default paloaltonetworks.com/firewall=pan-fw