The Palo Alto Networks firewall can be configured and managed locally or it can be managed centrally using Panorama, the Palo Alto Networks centralized security management system. If you have six or more firewalls deployed in your network, use Panorama to achieve the following benefits:

• Reduce the complexity and administrative overhead in managing configuration, policies, software and dynamic content updates. Using device groups and templates on Panorama, you can effectively manage firewall-specific configuration locally on a firewall and enforce shared policies across all firewalls or device groups.
• Aggregate data from all managed firewalls and gain visibility across all the traffic on your network. The Application Command Center (ACC) on Panorama provides a single glass pane for unified reporting across all the firewalls, allowing you to centrally analyze, investigate and report on network traffic, security incidents and administrative modifications.

The procedures that follow describe how to manage the firewall using the local web interface. If you want to use Panorama for centralized management, first Perform Initial Configuration and verify that the firewall can establish a connection to Panorama. From that point on you can use Panorama to configure your firewall centrally.