: Device Group Policies
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Device Group Policies

Table of Contents

Device Group Policies

Device groups provide a way to implement a layered approach for managing policies across a network of managed firewalls. A firewall evaluates policy rules by layer (shared, device group, and local) and by type (pre-rules, post-rules, and default rules) in the following order from top to bottom. When the firewall receives traffic, it performs the action defined in the first evaluated rule that matches the traffic and disregards all subsequent rules. To change the evaluation order for rules within a particular layer, type, and rulebase (for example, shared Security pre-rules), see Manage the Rule Hierarchy.
Whether you view rules on a firewall or in Panorama, the web interface displays them in evaluation order. All the shared, device group, and default rules that the firewall inherits from Panorama are shaded orange. Local firewall rules display between the pre-rules and post-rules.
Evaluation Order
Rule Scope and Description
Administration Device
Shared pre-rules
Panorama pushes shared pre-rules to all the firewalls in all device groups. Panorama pushes device group-specific pre-rules to all the firewalls in a particular device group and its descendant device groups.
If a firewall inherits rules from device groups at multiple levels in the device group hierarchy, it evaluates pre-rules in the order of highest to lowest level. This means the firewall first evaluates shared rules and last evaluates the rules of device groups with no descendants.
You can use pre-rules to enforce the acceptable use policy of an organization. For example, a pre-rule might block access to specific URL categories or allow Domain Name System (DNS) traffic for all users.
These rules are visible on firewalls but you can only manage them in Panorama.
Device group pre-rules
Local firewall rules
Local rules are specific to a single firewall or virtual system (vsys).
A local firewall administrator, or a Panorama administrator who switches to a local firewall context, can edit local firewall rules.
Device group post-rules
Panorama pushes shared post-rules to all the firewalls in all device groups. Panorama pushes device group-specific post-rules to all the firewalls in a particular device group and its descendant device groups.
If a firewall inherits rules from device groups at multiple levels in the device group hierarchy, it evaluates post-rules in the order of lowest to highest level. This means the firewall first evaluates the rules of device groups with no descendants and last evaluates shared rules.
Post-rules typically include rules to deny access to traffic based on the App-ID™ signatures, User-ID™ information (users or user groups), or service.
These rules are visible on firewalls but you can only manage them in Panorama.
Shared post-rules
intrazone-default
interzone-default
The default rules apply only to the Security rulebase, and are predefined on Panorama (at the Shared level) and the firewall (in each vsys). These rules specify how PAN-OS handles traffic that doesn’t match any other rule.
The intrazone-default rule allows all traffic within a zone. The interzone-default rule denies all traffic between zones.
If you override default rules, their order of precedence runs from the lowest context to the highest: overridden settings at the firewall level take precedence over settings at the device group level, which take precedence over settings at the Shared level.
Default rules are initially read-only, either because they are part of the predefined configuration or because Panorama pushed them to firewalls. However, you can override the rule settings for tags, action, logging, and security profiles. The context determines the level at which you can override the rules:
  • Panorama—At the Shared or device group level, you can override default rules that are part of the predefined configuration.
  • Firewall—You can override default rules that are part of the predefined configuration on the firewall or vsys, or that Panorama pushed from the Shared location or a device group.

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