Integrate a Shared Desktop VDI with

Prisma Access

Using Terminal Server

Where Can I Use This?	What Do I Need?
Prisma Access (Managed by Strata Cloud Manager)	Prisma Access license

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is a technology that uses virtual machines to provision and manage virtual desktops. VDI deploys desktop environments using a managed server and deploys them to end-users on request. End-users access the resources they need, such as public apps and resources that are internet-based or private apps and resources available from an FTP connection, from their provisioned VDI desktops.

A VDI topology can be implemented using either shared or dedicated desktops. If the desktops are shared, multiple users are behind a single IP address and ports are used to differentiate the users.

If your VDI deployment uses a shared desktop implementation,

Prisma Access

offers a solution that allows end users to securely access internet and FTP resources using a single login, while protecting your organization’s VDI users and internal and external resources. This solution uses the Palo Alto Networks TS Agent that you install on the VDI servers.

The TS Agent is a User-ID software installed to solve the challenge associated with identifying username-to-IP address mappings when users share IP addresses. After the TS Agent is installed, all logged-on users are monitored and individual users are assigned with a specific set of ports. When

Prisma Access

receives this VDI network traffic from the VDI, it identifies the user based on the User's source port. This deployment provides you with a cloud-based solution that allows administrators to create security policy rules for VDI end users to control their access to internet and internal sites.

If your network has a default route, you can onboard one or more remote networks and implement the TS agent to easily and simply protect the users and resources in your organization.

In this deployment:

You specify a port range on the TS agent to identify specific users on Windows-based terminal servers. The TS agent notifies
Prisma Access
of the allocated port ranges, so that
Prisma Access
can enforce policy based on users and user groups.
The Remote Network enforces security and access control for FTP and internet-based resources.

You cannot redistribute user mapping information collected from a TS Agent.

To integrate a VDI using the TS Agent and a

Prisma Access

remote network in Cloud Managed

Prisma Access

, complete the following steps.

Install and configure the Palo Alto Networks TS Agent on the VDI servers.

To map all your users, you must install the TS agent on all terminal servers to which your users log in.

On the VDI Windows servers, Install and configure the Palo Alto Networks Terminal Server (TS) Agent.
Define the range of ports that the TS agent allocates to end users.
Verify the supported scale count for the TS agent from the Compatibility Matrix.
(
Optional
) If there are multiple VDI servers, configure a TS Agent on each one.

Onboard a remote network and connect it to the VDI branch site in Cloud Managed

Prisma Access

(if you haven’t done so already).

Configure options on the IPSec device (CPE) at the branch to allow the Remote Network to communicate with the VDI.

Configure IPSec and IKE crypto parameters for the IPSec tunnel that match the parameters you configured in
Prisma Access
.
Use the
Service IP
address (
Manage
Remote Networks
Service IP
) as the
Prisma Access
side of the IPSec tunnel for the Remote Network.
Configure a route on the IPSec device to allow VDI traffic to the Remote Network tunnel.
Configure a route on the IPSec device to allow the remote network traffic to the TS Agent over the tunnel.
If required, configure a security policy on the IPSec device to allow the traffic to go through the tunnel.

Configure the TS Agent to allow user mapping in the remote network.

Go to

Manage

Configuration

Identity Services

Identity Redistribution

, set the scope to

Remote Networks

, and

Add Terminal Server Agent

.

If you're using

Strata Cloud Manager

, go to

Manage

Configuration

NGFW and

Prisma Access

Identity Services

Identity Redistribution

, set the

Configuration Scope

to

Remote Networks

, and

Add Terminal Server Agent

.

Make sure that the agent is
Enabled
.
Enter a
Name
for the TS Agent.
Enter the IP address of the Windows
Host
on which the TS Agent is installed.
Enter the
Port
number on which the agent listens for user mapping requests.
The port is set to 5009 by default.
Save
your changes.



The following example has an agent configured with the Host address of 10.2.20.21 and a Port of 5009.



Allow routing between the VDI and the

Prisma Access

remote network.

Go to

Manage

Service Setup

Remote Networks

remote-network-name

Routing

and

Add

a route to the VDI subnet.

Adding this subnet allows the TS Agent to communicate to the remote network. In the following example screenshot, the VDI subnet is 10.2.20.0/24.



Go to

Manage

Configuration

Security Services

Security Policy

, set the scope to

Remote Networks

, and add a security policy rule (

Add Rule

) to allow the traffic between the VDI subnet and the remote network.

Users at remote networks who connect to

Prisma Access

from the VDI are assigned an IP address from the

Prisma Access

Infrastructure Subnet and you must allow routing between the Infrastructure Subnet and the VDI subnet.

Make sure that the rule is

Enabled

.

Source

—Set the following parameters:

Zones

—Set to

Trust

.

Addresses

— Create an address object for the Infrastructure Subnet (

Manage

Shared

Infrastructure Settings

Infrastructure Subnet

) and add the address object here.

An address object is preferred over entering the actual Infrastructure Subnet, because if the subnet changes, you can change the address object and the change is applied to all configuration where the address object is used.



Destination

—Add the VDI host that are running the TS Agent to the

Addresses

.

If you have configured the TS Agent on multiple VDI hosts, add them all here.



Applications, Services and URLs

—Add the

paloalto-terminal-svcs-agent

and to the

Application Entities

.



Verify that the implementation is working correctly.

In the TS agent,

Monitor

the agent’s status and verify that the TS agent reflects the correct username-to-port mapping.



Verify that the Remote Network’s IP address is connected to the TS agent.



Go to

File

Show Logs

and view the log messages for the TS agent.



In

Prisma Access (Managed by Strata Cloud Manager)

, go to

Activity

Log Viewer

Common/System

and verify that the remote networks are able to connect to the TS agent.



Go to

Activity

Log Viewer

Firewall/URL

and verify that the remote networks are able to enforce identity-based policies.