Set Up Network Access for External Services
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Set Up Network Access for External Services

Table of Contents

Set Up Network Access for External Services

By default, the firewall uses the MGT interface to access remote services, such as DNS servers, content updates, and license retrieval. If you do not want to enable external network access to your management network, you must set up an in-band data port to provide access to required external services and set up service routes to instruct the firewall what port to use to access the external services.
Do not enable management access from the internet or from other untrusted zones inside your enterprise security boundary. Follow the Best Practices for Securing Administrative Access to ensure that you are properly securing your firewall.
This task requires familiarity with firewall interfaces, zones, and policies. For more information on these topics, see Configure Interfaces and Zones and Set Up a Basic Security Policy.
  1. Decide which port you want to use for access to external services and connect it to your switch or router port.
    The interface you use must have a static IP address.
  2. Log in to the web interface.
    Using a secure connection (https) from your web browser, log in using the new IP address and password you assigned during initial configuration (https://<IP address>). You will see a certificate warning; that is okay. Continue to the web page.
  3. (
    Optional
    ) The firewall comes preconfigured with a default virtual wire interface between ports Ethernet 1/1 and Ethernet 1/2 (and a corresponding default security policy and zones). If you do not plan to use this virtual wire configuration, you must manually delete the configuration to prevent it from interfering with other interface settings you define.
    You must delete the configuration in the following order:
    1. To delete the default security policy, select
      Policies
      Security
      , select the rule, and click
      Delete
      .
    2. To delete the default virtual wire, select
      Network
      Virtual Wires
      , select the virtual wire and click
      Delete
      .
    3. To delete the default trust and untrust zones, select
      Network
      Zones
      , select each zone and click
      Delete
      .
    4. To delete the interface configurations, select
      Network
      Interfaces
      and then select each interface (ethernet1/1 and ethernet1/2) and click
      Delete
      .
    5. Commit
      the changes.
  4. Configure the interface you plan to use for external access to management services.
    1. Select
      Network
      Interfaces
      and select the interface that corresponds to the port you cabled in Step 1.
    2. Select the
      Interface Type
      . Although your choice here depends on your network topology, this example shows the steps for
      Layer3
      .
    3. On the
      Config
      tab, expand the
      Security Zone
      drop-down and select
      New Zone
      .
    4. In the Zone dialog, enter a
      Name
      for new zone, for example Management, and then click
      OK
      .
    5. Select the
      IPv4
      tab, select the
      Static
      radio button, and click
      Add
      in the IP section, and enter the IP address and network mask to assign to the interface, for example 192.168.1.254/24. You must use a static IP address on this interface.
    6. Select
      Advanced
      Other Info
      , expand the
      Management Profile
      drop-down, and select
      New Management Profile
      .
    7. Enter a
      Name
      for the profile, such as allow_ping, and then select the services you want to allow on the interface. For the purposes of allowing access to the external services, you probably only need to enable
      Ping
      and then click
      OK
      .
      These services provide management access to the firewall, so only select the services that correspond to the management activities you want to allow on this interface. For example, don’t enable HTTP or Telnet because those protocols transmit in plaintext and therefore aren’t secure. Or if you plan to use the MGT interface for firewall configuration tasks through the web interface or CLI, you don’t enable HTTP, HTTPS, SSH, or Telnet so that you prevent unauthorized access through the interface (if you must allow HTTPS or SSH in this scenario, limit access to a specific set of
      Permitted IP Addresses
      ). For details, see Use Interface Management Profiles to Restrict Access.
    8. To save the interface configuration, click
      OK
      .
  5. Configure the Service Routes.
    By default, the firewall uses the MGT interface to access the external services it requires. To change the interface the firewall uses to send requests to external services, you must edit the service routes.
    This example shows how to set up global service routes. For information on setting up network access to external services on a virtual system basis rather than a global basis, see Customize Service Routes to Services for Virtual Systems.
    1. Select
      Device
      Setup
      Services
      Global
      and click
      Service Route Configuration
      .
      For the purposes of activating your licenses and getting the most recent content and software updates, you will want to change the service route for
      DNS
      ,
      Palo Alto Networks Services
      ,
      URL Updates
      , and
      AutoFocus
      .
    2. Click the
      Customize
      radio button, and select one of the following:
      • For a predefined service, select
        IPv4
        or
        IPv6
        and click the link for the service. To limit the drop-down list for Source Address, select
        Source Interface
        and select the interface you just configured. Then select a Source Address (from that interface) as the service route.
        If more than one IP address is configured for the selected interface, the
        Source Address
        drop-down allows you to select an IP address.
      • To create a service route for a custom destination, select
        Destination
        , and click
        Add
        . Enter a
        Destination
        IP address. An incoming packet with a destination address that matches this address will use as its source the Source Address you specify for this service route. To limit the drop-down for Source Address, select a
        Source Interface
        . If more than one IP address is configured for the selected interface, the
        Source Address
        drop-down allows you to select an IP address.
    3. Click
      OK
      to save the settings.
    4. Repeat Steps 5.2 - 5.3 above for each service route you want to modify.
    5. Commit
      your changes.
  6. Configure an external-facing interface and an associated zone and then create a security policy rule to allow the firewall to send service requests from the internal zone to the external zone.
    1. Select
      Network
      Interfaces
      and then select the external-facing interface. Select
      Layer3
      as the
      Interface Type
      ,
      Add
      the
      IP
      address (on the
      IPv4
      or
      IPv6
      tab), and create the associated
      Security Zone
      (on the
      Config
      tab), such as Internet. This interface must have a static IP address; you do not need to set up management services on this interface.
    2. To set up a security rule that allows traffic from your internal network to the Palo Alto Networks update server, select
      Policies
      Security
      and click
      Add
      .
    As a best practice when creating Security policy rules, use application-based rules instead of port-based rules to ensure that you are accurately identifying the underlying application regardless of the port, protocol, evasive tactics, or encryption in use. Always leave the
    Service
    set to
    application-default
    . In this case, create a security policy rule that allows access to the update server (and other Palo Alto Networks services).
  7. Create a NAT policy rule.
    1. If you are using a private IP address on the internal-facing interface, you will need to create a source NAT rule to translate the address to a publicly routable address. Select
      Policies
      NAT
      and then click
      Add
      . At a minimum you must define a name for the rule (
      General
      tab), specify a source and destination zone, Management to Internet in this case (
      Original Packet
      tab), and define the source address translation settings (
      Translated Packet
      tab) and then click
      OK
      .
    2. Commit
      your changes.
  8. Select
    Device
    Troubleshooting
    and verify that you have connectivity from the data port to the external services, including the default gateway, using the
    Ping
    connectivity test, and the Palo Alto Networks Update Server using the
    Update Server Connectivity
    test. In this example, the firewall connectivity to the Palo Alto Networks Update Server is tested.
    After you verify you have the required network connectivity, continue to Register the Firewall and Activate Subscription Licenses.
    1. Select
      Update Server
      from the Select Test drop-down.
    2. Execute
      the Palo Alto Networks Update Server connectivity test.
    3. Access the firewall CLI, and use the following command to retrieve information on the support entitlement for the firewall from the Palo Alto Networks update server:
      request support check
      If you have connectivity, the update server will respond with the support status for your firewall. Because your firewall is not registered, the update server will return the following message:
      Contact Us https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/company/contact-us.html Support Home https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/support/tabs/overview.html Device not found on this update server

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