Onboard a Firewall

1. Review the prerequisites for onboarding your firewall to Strata Cloud Manager.
2. Activate the Strata Logging Service license.

   Skip this step if you already activated the Prisma Access (Managed by Strata Cloud Manager) license on the same tenant you are activating AIOps for NGFW Premium license.
3. Activate the AIOps for NGFW Premium license.

   Skip this step if you already activated the AIOps for NGFW Premium license.
4. (Optional) Activate the Cloud Identity Engine license.

   Activate Cloud Identity Engine (CIE) if you plan to use user-based authentication policy rules. CIE activation is not required for initial onboarding and can be activated at a later time as needed.
5. Register the firewall with the Palo Alto Networks Customer Support Portal (CSP) and activate licenses.

   1. Log in to the firewall web interface and find the Serial # under the General Information widget in the Dashboard.
   2. Register the firewall.
   3. Activate the Support license on the firewall.
6. Install the device certificate on the firewall.

   This is required to successfully authenticate the firewall with the Palo Alto Networks CSP and use Strata Cloud Manager.
7. Configure the firewall Panorama Settings required to connect to Strata Cloud Manager.

   1. Log in to the firewall web interface.
   2. Configure the firewall DNS and NTP servers.

      This is required to successfully connect the firewall to Strata Cloud Manager and install software and content updates.

      1. Select DeviceSetupServices and edit the Services.
      2. Select Servers and configure the Primary DNS Server and Secondary DNS Server.
      3. Select NTP and configure the Primary and Secondary NTP Server Address.
      4. Click OK.
   3. Configure the Panorama Settings.

      1. Select DeviceSetupManagement and edit the Panorama Settings.
      2. Select Managed By Cloud Service.
      3. (NGFW (Managed by Strata Cloud Manager) Running PAN-OS 11.2 and later) Select the Port used for connectivity between the NGFW (Managed by Strata Cloud Manager) and Strata Cloud Manager.

         • Default—The default TCP port 3978. This port is dedicated for communication between the NGFW (Managed by Strata Cloud Manager) and Strata Cloud Manager.
         • 443—TCP port 443 is the standard port used for HTTP traffic encrypted with SSL. Using port 443 for NGFW (Managed by Strata Cloud Manager) and Strata Cloud Manager communication greatly simplifies network configuration management for both administrators and end users.
           Additionally, using port 443 reduces your network attack surface by reducing the number of open ports on your network.
      4. (Optional for (NGFW (Managed by Strata Cloud Manager) Running PAN-OS 11.2 and later) Check Enable Compress Config to compress the size of the configuration file exchanged between the NGFW (Managed by Strata Cloud Manager) and Strata Cloud Manager, and vice versa, to increase file transfer times.
         Enabling this setting does not cause load or delay in firewall processing or increase commit operation times.
      5. Click OK.

   4. Commit.
8. (Optional) Create a Device Onboarding Rule to associate the firewall with a folder and push a configuration when the firewall first connects to Strata Cloud Manager.
9. Associate a firewall with your Palo Alto Networks Customer Support Portal (CSP) account.

   1. Log in to Strata Cloud Manager.
   2. In the bottom-left corner of the window, select the icon for your tenant and select SettingsDevice Associations.

   3. Add Devices.
   4. Select one or more firewalls you want to onboard with your CSP account.

      You can use the firewall serial number you gathered in the previous step to search for a specific firewall.
   5. Save.

10. Associate the firewall with Strata Cloud Manager.

    1. In Device Associations, select the firewall you added and Associate Apps.

    2. For the Licensed Products, select AIOps for NGFW.
    3. From the Select Firewall Model, License Type, and Term drop-down, select the firewall and support license to apply to the firewall.

       The model for the firewall license must match the firewall model you are onboarding to Strata Cloud Manager.
    4. Apply Licenses.

    5. In the Device Associations page, verify the Associated Apps for the onboarded firewall display AIOps for NGFW and Strata Logging Service.
11. Add the available device to Strata Cloud Manager.

    1. Select WorkflowsNGFW SetupDevice ManagementAvailable Devices.
    2. In the Available Devices select the firewall you just added.
    3. Move to Cloud Management.

       You are prompted to confirm the number of selected firewalls. Click Move to Cloud Management to continue.

    4. (Optional) Apply Labels to the onboarded firewall.

       You can select an existing label or create a new label by typing the label you want to create.

       Click Move to Cloud to continue adding the firewall to Strata Cloud Manager.

    5. Confirm that the selected firewall is now listed in the list of Cloud Managed Devices and that the Onboarding Status shows Success.

12. Verify that the firewall successfully onboarded to Strata Cloud Manager.

    Two configuration pushes occur by default to the firewall after successful onboarding to Strata Cloud Manager. The first push from Strata Cloud Manager automatically enables the Advanced Routing Engine and restarts the firewall. The second pushes the configuration from Strata Cloud Manager to the firewall.

    If the Advanced Routing Engine is not automatically enabled as part of the onboarding process to Strata Cloud Manager, you need to manually enable Advanced Routing on the firewall.

    1. Select WorkflowsNGFW SetupDevice ManagementCloud Managed Devices.

       You should see the serial number for the firewall that you just added, but you won’t see any additional device information for it yet.
    2. Log in to the firewall CLI and verify the firewall successfully connected to Strata Cloud Manager.

       After you connect the firewall to Strata Cloud Manager, it’s automatically converted to logical router mode, restarted, and Strata Cloud Manager pushes the default configuration to the firewall.

       For this to work, make sure:

       • You’ve completed the earlier step to install the device certificate on the firewall.
       • The firewall meets the prerequisites for Strata Cloud Manager.
       • You’ve resolved variables. If variables aren’t resolved, Strata Cloud Manager will fail to push the default configuration to the firewall.

       admin> show cloud-management-status

       Verify the firewall successfully connected to a Strata Cloud Manager Endpoint and that the Connected status displays Yes.

       Once the firewall is Connected, the firewall automatically converts to logical router mode and restarts, and Strata Cloud Manager pushes the default configuration to the firewall.
    3. Return to Strata Cloud Manager and select WorkflowsNGFW SetupDevice Management and verify that the details for the firewall appear, such as serial number, model, type, and IP address.

       By default, newly onboarded firewalls are added to the All Firewalls folder.
13. Create and associate your firewall with a folder.

    Folders are used to logically group your firewalls for simplified configuration management. Skip this step if you created a device onboarding rule to automatically move the firewall to a target folder.

    (HA only) Both firewalls must be in the same folder to configure HA. If you need to configure your firewalls in a high availability (HA) configuration, be sure to plan your folder structure accordingly and move both firewalls to the same folder before you configure HA.

    Additionally, firewalls in an HA configuration can't be moved to a new folder. To move them, you must first break the HA configuration, move both firewalls to the new folder, and then reconfigure HA.

    1. Select WorkflowsNGFW SetupFolder Management and Add Folder to create a new folder.
    2. Locate the newly added firewall that is associated with the All Firewalls by default.
    3. In the Action column, Move the firewall to the folder you created.
14. (Optional) Modify the displayed firewall name.

    By default, firewalls onboarded to Strata Cloud Manager display the firewall serial number as the displayed firewall name throughout Strata Cloud Manager. Rename the displayed firewall from the serial number to a more user-friendly name to make it easier to identify.

    1. Select WorkflowsNGFW SetupFolder Management and locate the firewall you onboarded.
    2. In the Actions column, expand the Actions menu and Edit.
    3. Enter a new Display Name for the firewall.
    4. Save.
15. Review the predefined interface and logical router configurations.

    The predefined interfaces and logical router configuration are required to successfully push configuration changes to managed firewalls after they’re successfully added to Strata Cloud Manager.

    • $eth-internet (eth1/3)—Ethernet interface for outbound internet connections. Associated with the default logical router configuration.
    • $eth-local (eth1/4)—Ethernet interface for local network connections. Associated with the default router configuration.

    The predefined interface and logical router configuration are associated with the default All Firewalls folder and are inherited by all other folders you create. You might reassign the $eth-internet and $eth-local interfaces for a newly created folder or for the individual firewall as needed.

    1. Select ManageConfigurationDevice SettingsInterfacesEthernet and verify that $eth-internet and $eth-local are displayed.

       To reassign the interface, click the interface name to select a new Default Interface Assignment and Save.

    2. Select ManageConfigurationDevice SettingsRoutingLogical Routers and verify the default logical router is displayed.

16. Push Config to push your configuration changes.
17. Select ManageOperationPush Status and to verify that your configuration push was successful.
18. Finally, check the Strata Cloud Manager Command Center and confirm that your firewall appears in the Summary view.