Administrative Authentication
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Administrative Authentication

Table of Contents

Administrative Authentication

You can configure the following types of authentication and authorization (role and access domain assignment) for firewall administrators:
Authentication Method
Authorization Method
Description
Local
Local
The administrative account credentials and authentication mechanisms are local to the firewall. You can define the accounts with or without a user database that is local to the firewall—see Local Authentication for the advantages and disadvantages of using a local database. You use the firewall to manage role assignments but access domains are not supported. For details, see Configure Local or External Authentication for Firewall Administrators.
SSH Keys
Local
The administrative accounts are local to the firewall, but authentication to the CLI is based on SSH keys. You use the firewall to manage role assignments but access domains are not supported. For details, see Configure SSH Key-Based Administrator Authentication to the CLI.
Certificates
Local
The administrative accounts are local to the firewall, but authentication to the web interface is based on client certificates. You use the firewall to manage role assignments but access domains are not supported. For details, see Configure Certificate-Based Administrator Authentication to the Web Interface.
External service
Local
The administrative accounts you define locally on the firewall serve as references to the accounts defined on an external Multi-Factor Authentication, SAML, Kerberos, TACACS+, RADIUS, or LDAP server. The external server performs authentication. You use the firewall to manage role assignments but access domains are not supported. For details, see Configure Local or External Authentication for Firewall Administrators.
External service
External service
The administrative accounts are defined on an external SAML, TACACS+, or RADIUS server. The server performs both authentication and authorization. For authorization, you define Vendor-Specific Attributes (VSAs) on the TACACS+ or RADIUS server, or SAML attributes on the SAML server. PAN-OS maps the attributes to administrator roles, access domains, user groups, and virtual systems that you define on the firewall. For details, see:

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