Configure a Policy Based Forwarding Rule
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Next-Generation Firewall

Configure a Policy Based Forwarding Rule

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Configure a Policy Based Forwarding Rule

Configure a Policy Based Forwarding (PBF) rule for your managed firewall.
Contact your account team to enable Cloud Management for NGFWs using Strata Cloud Manager.
Where Can I Use This?
What Do I Need?
  • NGFW (Managed by Strata Cloud Manager)
  • VM-Series, funded with Software NGFW Credits
  • AIOps for NGFW Premium license (use the Strata Cloud Manager app)
Use a Policy Based Forwarding (PBF) rule to direct traffic to a specific egress interface on the firewall and override the default path for the traffic.
  1. Log in to
    Strata Cloud Manager
    .
  2. Select
    Manage
    Configuration
    NGFW and Prisma Access
    Network Services
    Policy Based Forwarding
    and select the Configuration Scope where you want to configure the PBF rule.
    You can select a folder or firewall from your
    Folders
    or select
    Snippets
    to configure the PBF rule in a snippet.
  3. Add Rule
    .
  4. Enter a descriptive
    Name
    for the PBF rule.
  5. (
    Optional
    ) Enter a
    Description
    for the PBF rule.
  6. Select the PBF rule
    Position
    .
    • Pre-Rule
      —Policy rule is added to the top of the rule order and evaluated head of any locally defined policy rules and post-rules.
      If no position is selected, the PBF rule is created as a pre-rule by default.
    • Post-Rule
      —Policy rule is added to the bottom of the rule order and evaluated after the pre-rules and locally defined rules.
  7. (
    Optional
    ) To trigger the specified forwarding
    Action
    at a daily, weekly, or nonrecurring frequency, select or create a
    Schedule
    .
  8. Configure the traffic Source.
    1. Select the source
      Type
      to which you’ll apply the forwarding policy rule.
      • Zones
        Add Zones
        and select a zone.
      • Interface
        Add Interface
        and select a Layer 3 interface.
        Only Layer 3 interfaces are supported; loopback interfaces don’t support PBF.
        To enforce symmetric return, you must select a source interface.
    2. Specify the source
      Addresses
      to which the PBF policy rule applies.
      Individual addresses, address groups, or external dynamic lists (EDL) are supported as source addresses. A PBF policy rule is configured to apply to
      Any Address
      by default.
      Click
      Negate
      to exclude one or more source addresses from the PBF rule.
    3. Specify the source
      Users
      to whom the policy rule applies.
      Individual users or user groups as source users. A PBF policy rule is configured to apply to
      Any User
      by default.
      Click
      Negate
      to exclude one or more source users from the PBF rule.
  9. Configure the traffic Destination
    Addresses
    to which the PBF policy rule applies.
    Individual addresses, address groups, or external dynamic lists (EDL) are supported as destination addresses. A PBF policy rule is configured to apply to
    Any Address
    by default.
    Click
    Negate
    to exclude one or more destination addresses from the PBF rule.
  10. Select the Applications and Services that you want to control using PBF.
    • (
      Optional
      )
      Add Applications
      to add one or more applications to control.
      Any Application
      is selected by default if you don’t add any applications.
      Palo Alto Networks doesn’t recommend application-specific rules for use with PBF. PBF rules might be applied before the firewall has enough information to determine the application. Whenever possible, use a service object, which is a Layer 4 port (TCP or UDP) used by the protocol or application. For more details, see Service Versus Applications in PBF.
    • Add Services
      to add one or more services to control. You can also
      Add Service Groups
      to add multiple services as a single service entity.
      Any Services
      is selected by default if you don’t add any services or service groups.
  11. Define the Forwarding action and network information for packets that match the PBF policy rule.
    1. Select the
      Action
      to take when matching a packet.
      • Forward
        (default)—Directs packet to the specified
        Egress Interface
        .
      • Discard
        —Drops the packet.
      • No PBF
        —Excludes the packets that match the criteria for source, destination, application, or service defined in the rule. Matching packets use the route table instead of PBF; the firewall uses the route table to exclude the matched traffic from the redirected port.
    2. (
      Forward only
      ) Select the
      Egress Interface
      to forward matching packets to.
    3. (
      Forward only
      ) Select the
      Next Hop
      .
      • None
        (default)—The destination IP address of the packet is used as the next hop. Forwarding fails if the destination IP address isn’t in the same subnet as the egress interface.
      • IP Address
        —Enter an IP address or select an address object of type
        Ip Netmask
        to which the firewall forwards matching packets. An IPv4 address object must have a
        /32
        netmask.
      • FQDN
        —Enter an FQDN or select or create an address object of type FQDN to which the firewall forwards matching packets. The FQDN must resolve to an IPv4 address.
        This FQDN must resolve to an IP address that belongs to the same subnet as the interface you configured for PBF; otherwise, the firewall rejects the resolution and the FQDN remains unresolved.
    4. (
      Optional; Forward only
      ) Enable
      Monitor
      to verify connectivity to a target IP address or to the
      Next Hop
      IP address if no IP address is specified.
      1. Select a monitoring
        Profile
        or
        Create New
        to specify the action when the monitored address is unreachable.
      2. You can
        Disable this rule if nexthop/monitor ip is unreachable
        .
      3. Enter a target
        IP Address
        to monitor.
    5. (
      Required for asymmetric routing environments; Optional otherwise
      )
      Enforce Symmetric Return
      and
      Add
      or more IP address in the
      Next Hop Address List
      .
      You can add up to eight next-hop IP addresses. Tunnel and PPoE interfaces are not supported as a next-hop IP address.
  12. Save
    .
  13. Push Config
    to push your configuration changes.

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