Onboard an Azure Virtual Network
Focus
Focus
Prisma Access

Onboard an Azure Virtual Network

Table of Contents

Onboard an Azure Virtual Network

Onboard an Azure virtual network (VNet) to Prisma Access and secure access to it for mobile users and remote networks.
Where Can I Use This?
What Do I Need?
  • Prisma Access (Cloud Management)
  • Prisma Access (Panorama Managed)
When you deploy your organization’s resources using a Microsoft Azure virtual network (VNet), you can secure these resources with Prisma Access. To do so, you onboard an existing or new VNet to Prisma Access as a remote network. You also configure settings for a remote network tunnel (a site-to-site tunnel between Prisma Access and the Azure VNet) and use BGP to dynamically route traffic between them.
The following diagram shows the topology used to secure an Azure instance with Prisma Access.
For Azure-specific information about creating a site-to-site connection, see the Microsoft Azure document Create a Site-to-Site connection in the Azure portal.

Cloud Management

Onboard an Azure virtual network (VNet) to Prisma Access and secure access to it for mobile users and remote networks.

Configure a Virtual Network and Virtual Network Gateway on Azure

The Azure virtual network uses a virtual network gateway for its side of the VPN tunnel to Prisma Access. This gateway uses a subnet called GatewaySubnet. The GatewaySubnet contains IP addresses used for virtual network gateway resources and services and is part of the virtual network IP address range that you specify when you configure your virtual network on Azure.
Each Azure VPN gateway incorporates high availability by having two instances per gateway in an active-standby configuration. If an active instance goes down for planned maintenance or an unplanned outage, the instance automatically fails over to the standby instance and resumes the site-to-site VPN connections. For a planned maintenance, Azure restores the connectivity in approximately 10 to 15 seconds. For an unplanned outage, Azure restores the connectivity in approximately 1 minute to 90 seconds.
Create the virtual network and virtual network gateway using the following task.
By default, Azure will not direct internet traffic to the VPN tunnel you create in this task. To secure internet-bound traffic with Prisma Access, enable forced tunneling on Azure using PowerShell commands.
  1. In Azure, create your virtual network, if you have not already created it. See the Microsoft Azure documentation for details.
  2. Create a subnet for the gateway.
    You must name the subnet
    GatewaySubnet
    to let Azure deploy its gateway resources and Azure does not allow the use of another subnet name. Without a subnet named
    GatewaySubnet
    , gateway creation fails.
    1. In the Azure portal, navigate to the virtual network where you want to create a virtual network gateway.
    2. On your virtual network page, click
      Subnets
      to expand the Subnets page for the virtual network you created.
    3. Click
      +Gateway subnet
      at the top to open the Add subnet page.
    4. Add the address and click
      OK
      .
  3. Add a virtual network gateway.
    1. On the left side of the portal page, click
      +Create a resource
      and type
      Virtual Network Gateway
      in the search box, then press
      Enter
      .
    2. In
      Results
      , locate and click
      Virtual network gateways
      .
    3. At the bottom of the
      Virtual network gateway
      page, click
      Create virtual network gateway
      .
    4. Enter values similar to the values on the following screenshot and click
      Create
      .
      It may take up to 30 minutes to create the virtual network gateway.
  4. After Azure creates the virtual network gateway, select the virtual network gateway you created, click
    Overview
    , and make a note of the
    Public IP address
    assigned to the virtual network gateway.
  5. Click
    Configuration
    and make a note of the
    BGP ASN
    and
    BGP peer IP address(es)
    fields.

Configure IKE, IPSec, and BGP and Onboard the Azure VNet in Prisma Access

After you perform the initial configuration on Azure, create IKE and IPSec security profiles and policies and a remote network connection in Prisma Access.
For assistance with configuring security parameters on Azure, see the Microsoft Azure documents About VPN devices and IPsec/IKE parameters for Site-to-Site VPN Gateway connections and About cryptographic requirements and Azure VPN gateways.
  1. In Strata Cloud Manager, select
    Workflows
    Prisma Access Setup
    Remote Networks
    .
  2. (
    Optional
    ) If you have not already, allocate bandwidth for the remote network under
    Bandwidth Management
    .
    You allocate bandwidth by selecting bandwidth for the remote network’s compute location. Select an
    Assigned Bandwidth
    for the remote network’s compute location.
  3. Go to
    Remote Networks
    and
    Add Remote Networks
    .
    1. Give the remote network a descriptive
      Site Name
      .
    2. Select the
      Prisma Access Location
      that is closest to your Azure VNet.
    3. Select the
      IPSec Termination Node
      to use for the remote network.
    4. Enable
      ECMP Load Balancing
      .
  4. Set up the IPSec tunnel for the Azure gateway.
    1. Set Up
      the primary tunnel.
    2. Select an existing tunnel, or select
      Create New
      to create a new tunnel.
    3. Give the tunnel a descriptive
      Name
      .
    4. Select the
      Branch Device Type
      for the IPSec device at the remote network site that you’re using to establish the tunnel with Prisma Access.
    5. Specify a
      Pre-Shared Key
      .
    6. Specify a
      Branch Device IP Address
      of either
      Static IP
      or
      Dynamic IP
      .
      Setting up an
      IKE Peer Identification
      is required if you use a dynamic IP address. If you select
      Static IP
      , enter a static IP address.
    7. Select
      IKE Advanced Options
      , create an IPSec crypto profile for the IPSec tunnel, and
      Save
      the changes.
      The IPSec crypto settings you specify here must match the settings you specify on Azure. To set IKE and IPSec policies in Azure, see the Microsoft Azure documentation.
    8. Select
      IPSec Advanced Options
      , create an IKEv1 crypto profile for the gateway, and
      Save
      the changes.
  5. Set Up
    BGP routing.
    1. Enable BGP for Dynamic Routing
      .
    2. Enter the
      Peer Address
      value from Azure in the
      Peer IP address
      field and enter the
      Autonomous system number (ASN)
      value from Azure in the
      Peer AS
      field.
    1. (
      Optional
      ) Enter an address that Prisma Access uses as its
      Local IP Address
      for BGP.
      Make sure that the address you specify does not conflict or overlap with IP addresses in the Infrastructure Subnet or subnets in the remote network.
      You must configure a static route on your CPE to the BGP local address.
    2. Save
      the changes.
  6. Commit
    and
    Push
    your configuration.
  7. After the onboarding process completes, and make a note of the value in the
    Service IP
    field.

Set up Network Connectivity from your Azure Virtual Network

After you configure the remote network in Prisma Access, complete the configuration on Azure by performing the following task.
For additional information about configuring BGP on Azure, see the Microsoft Azure document Overview of BGP with Azure VPN Gateways.
  1. In Azure, create a local network gateway.
    1. In the
      Search resources, services, and docs
      search box, type
      local network gateways
      .
    2. Click
      +Add
      .
    3. Enter the following values in the text box that displays.
      • Enter a
        Name
        for the gateway.
      • Enter an
        IP address
        . Use the
        Service IP Address
        from the remote network in Prisma Access in step 7.
      • Check
        Configure BGP settings
        and enter a unique
        Autonomous system number (ASN)
        and
        BGP peer IP address
        .
      • Enter a
        Subscription
        ,
        Resource group
        , and
        Location
        for the gateway.
    4. Click
      Create
      .
  2. Create a virtual network connection.
    1. Navigate to and open the page for the virtual network gateway you created when you configured a virtual network and virtual network gateway on Azure.
      See the Microsoft Azure documentation for details.
    2. On the page for the virtual network gateway, click
      Connections
      . At the top of the Connections page, click
      +Add
      to open the Add connection page.
    3. Enter values for the new connection, then click
      OK
      .
      In the
      Shared key (PSK)
      field, use the same
      Pre-shared Key
      that you used when you created the IKE gateway in Prisma Access.
    4. Click
      OK
      .
  3. Add a new route table to use for BGP routing.
    1. Select
      +Create a resource
      on the upper left corner of the Azure portal.
    2. Select
      Networking
      , then select
      Route table
      .
    3. Add a
      Name
      ,
      Subscription
      ,
      Resource Group
      , and
      Location
      .
    4. Set
      BGP route propagation
      to
      Enabled
      .
    5. Click
      Create
      .
  4. Associate a subnet to the route table you created.
    1. Open the route table you created.
    2. Select
      Settings
      Subnets
      .
    3. Click
      Associate
      to add a subnet.
    4. In the
      Associate subnet
      column, click
      Virtual network
      .
    5. Select the virtual network you created when you configured a virtual network and virtual network gateway on Azure.
    6. Click
      OK
      .

Verify Remote Network Connectivity

To verify that the IPSec tunnel between Azure and Prisma Access is operational, perform the following steps:
  • In Azure, select the
    Connection
    you created and click
    Overview
    .
    The tunnel should show a status of
    Connected
    .
  • Verify that the BGP routes are being advertised on Azure.
    1. Open the route table you just created.
    2. Select
      Networking
      Settings
      .
    3. Select the name of a network interface.
    4. Select
      Support + troubleshooting
      Effective routes
      .
    5. Verify that the BGP routes are being advertised.
  • Check the remote network and BGP status in Prisma Access.
    In Strata Cloud Manager, select
    Workflows
    Prisma Access Setup
    Remote Networks
    .
    The
    Config Status
    should be
    In Sync
    and verify the BGP Status in
    Routing Information
    .

Secure Internet-Bound Traffic with Prisma Access

If you enable BGP, the virtual network gateway does not use static routes and uses only the routes it learns from BGP advertisements.
To secure all traffic to and from Azure, you must force traffic to pass through Prisma Access. You do this by enabling the forced tunneling feature on Azure.
Enabling forced tunneling may result in a loss of connectivity to virtual network instances over the internet. Make sure that you use another connection method (for example, a bastion host) to connect to instances over the internet.
You configure forced tunneling by using PowerShell CLI commands in your Azure account as described in the following task. For more details about forced tunneling, see the Microsoft Azure document Configure forced tunneling using the Azure Resource Manager deployment model.
To enable the feature, complete the following workflow.
These commands are examples. If you use different variables for your route tables, virtual network gateways, subnets, or resource groups, substitute those values in the commands provided in this task.
  1. Log into your PowerShell console with elevated privileges, and connect to your account.
  2. Create a new route table by entering the following commands:
    >
    New-AzureRmRouteTable -Name "DefRouteTable" -ResourceGroupName "GPCS-PM-TME" -Location "WEST US"
    >
    $rt = Get-AzureRmRouteTable -Name "DefRouteTable" -ResourceGroupName "GPCS-PM-TME"
    >
    Add-AzureRmRouteConfig -Name "DefaultRoute" -AddressPrefix "0.0.0.0/0" -NextHopType VirtualNetworkGateway -RouteTable $rt
    >
    Set-AzureRmRouteTable -RouteTable $rt
  3. Modify the subnet configuration by entering the following commands:
    >
    $vnet = Get-AzureRmVirtualNetwork -Name "GPCS-Onboarding-VMNET" -ResourceGroupName "GPCS-PM-TME"
    >
    Set-AzureRmVirtualNetworkSubnetConfig -Name "GPCS-O-Subnet-1" -VirtualNetwork $vnet -AddressPrefix "10.200.1.0/24" -RouteTable $rt
    >
    Set-AzureRmVirtualNetwork -VirtualNetwork $vnet
  4. Enable the default route for the network gateway default site by entering the following commands.
    >
    $LocalGateway = Get-AzureRmLocalNetworkGateway -Name "GPCS-Gateway-US-WEST" -ResourceGroupName "GPCS-PM-TME"
    >
    $VirtualGateway = Get-AzureRmVirtualNetworkGateway -Name "GPCS-Onboarding-Gateway" -ResourceGroupName "GPCS-PM-TME"
    >
    Set-AzureRmVirtualNetworkGatewayDefaultSite -GatewayDefaultSite $LocalGateway -VirtualNetworkGateway $VirtualGateway

Panorama

Onboard an Azure virtual network (VNet) to Prisma Access and secure access to it for mobile users and remote networks.

Configure a Virtual Network and Virtual Network Gateway on Azure

The Azure virtual network uses a virtual network gateway for its side of the VPN tunnel to Prisma Access. This gateway uses a subnet called GatewaySubnet. The GatewaySubnet contains IP addresses used for virtual network gateway resources and services and is part of the virtual network IP address range that you specify when you configure your virtual network on Azure.
Each Azure VPN gateway incorporates high availability by having two instances per gateway in an active-standby configuration. If an active instance goes down for planned maintenance or an unplanned outage, the instance automatically fails over to the standby instance and resumes the site-to-site VPN connections. For a planned maintenance, Azure restores the connectivity in approximately 10 to 15 seconds. For an unplanned outage, Azure restores the connectivity in approximately 1 minute to 90 seconds.
Create the virtual network and virtual network gateway using the following task.
By default, Azure will not direct internet traffic to the VPN tunnel you create in this task. To secure internet-bound traffic with Prisma Access, enable forced tunneling on Azure using PowerShell commands.
  1. In Azure, create your virtual network, if you have not already created it. See the Microsoft Azure documentation for details.
  2. Create a subnet for the gateway.
    You must name the subnet
    GatewaySubnet
    to let Azure deploy its gateway resources and Azure does not allow the use of another subnet name. Without a subnet named
    GatewaySubnet
    , gateway creation fails.
    1. In the Azure portal, navigate to the virtual network where you want to create a virtual network gateway.
    2. On your virtual network page, click
      Subnets
      to expand the Subnets page for the virtual network you created.
    3. Click
      +Gateway subnet
      at the top to open the Add subnet page.
    4. Add the address and click
      OK
      .
  3. Add a virtual network gateway.
    1. On the left side of the portal page, click
      +Create a resource
      and type
      Virtual Network Gateway
      in the search box, then press
      Enter
      .
    2. In
      Results
      , locate and click
      Virtual network gateways
      .
    3. At the bottom of the
      Virtual network gateway
      page, click
      Create virtual network gateway
      .
    4. Enter values similar to the values on the following screenshot and click
      Create
      .
      It may take up to 30 minutes to create the virtual network gateway.
  4. After Azure creates the virtual network gateway, select the virtual network gateway you created, click
    Overview
    , and make a note of the
    Public IP address
    assigned to the virtual network gateway.
  5. Click
    Configuration
    and make a note of the
    BGP ASN
    and
    BGP peer IP address(es)
    fields.

Configure IKE, IPSec, and BGP and Onboard the Azure VNet in Prisma Access

After you perform the initial configuration on Azure, create IKE and IPSec security profiles and policies and then create a remote network connection in Prisma Access using Panorama.
For assistance with configuring security parameters on Azure, see the Microsoft Azure documents About VPN devices and IPsec/IKE parameters for Site-to-Site VPN Gateway connections and About cryptographic requirements and Azure VPN gateways.
  1. In Panorama, select
    Remote_Network_Template
    from the
    Template
    drop-down.
  2. Select
    Network
    Network Profiles
    IKE Crypto
    and
    Add
    an IKE crypto profile for the gateway.
    Make a note of these settings; the IKE crypto settings you specify here must match the settings you specify on Azure. To set IKE and IPSec policies in Azure, see the Microsoft Azure documentation. The screenshot in the following figure uses the following settings:
    • DH Group
      :
      group2
    • Encryption
      :
      aes-256-cbc
    • Authentication
      :
      sha1
    • Key Lifetime
      :
      8 Hours
  3. Select
    Network
    Network Profiles
    IPSec Crypto
    and
    Add
    an IPSec crypto profile for the IPSec tunnel.
    The IPSec crypto settings you specify here must match the settings you specify on Azure; to set IKE and IPSec policies in Azure, see the Microsoft Azure documentation. The screenshot in the following figure uses the following settings:
    • IPSec Protocol
      :
      ESP
    • DH Group
      :
      no-pfs
    • Lifetime
      :
      8 Hours
    • Encryption
      :
      aes-256-gcm
    • Authentication
      :
      none
  4. Select
    Network
    Network Profiles
    IKE Gateways
    and
    Add
    an IKE gateway.
    1. In the
      General
      tab, change the
      Peer ID Address Type
      to
      IP
      .
    2. In the
      Peer Address
      field, enter the
      Public IP address
      from the
      Overview
      screen on Azure.
    3. Enter a
      Pre-shared Key
      .
      Make a note of this key. You use it later when you Set up Network Connectivity from your Azure Virtual Network.
    4. Click
      OK
      .
  5. Select
    Network
    IPSec Tunnels
    and
    Add
    an IPSec tunnel for the Azure gateway, specifying the
    IKE gateway
    and
    IPSec Crypto Profile
    that you created earlier in this task.
  6. Select
    Panorama
    Cloud Services
    Configuration
    Remote Networks
    and
    Add
    the Azure VPN as a remote network.
    Specify the following choices:
    • Select a
      Location
      that is closest to your Azure VNet.
    • Select the
      IPSec Termination Node
      that you want to use for this remote network.
      Prisma Access uses this node to associate remote network locations with compute locations.
    • Specify the IPSec primary tunnel that you just created in the
      IPSec Tunnel
      field.
  7. Configure BGP routing.
    1. Click the
      BGP
      tab.
    2. Enter the
      Autonomous system number (ASN)
      value from Azure in the
      Peer AS
      field and enter the
      Peer Address
      value from Azure in the
      BGP peer IP address(es)
      field.
    3. (
      Optional
      ) Enter an address that Prisma Access uses as its
      Local Address
      for BGP.
      Make sure that the address you specify does not conflict or overlap with IP addresses in the Infrastructure Subnet or subnets in the remote network.
      You must configure a static route on your CPE to the BGP
      Local Address
      .
    4. Click
      OK
      .
  8. Commit
    and
    Push
    your configuration.
  9. After the onboarding process completes, select
    Panorama
    Cloud Service
    Status
    Network Details
    Remote Networks
    and make a note of the value in the
    Service IP Address
    field.

Set up Network Connectivity from your Azure Virtual Network

After you configure the remote network in Prisma Access, complete the configuration on Azure by performing the following task.
For additional information about configuring BGP on Azure, see the Microsoft Azure document Overview of BGP with Azure VPN Gateways.
  1. In Azure, create a local network gateway.
    1. In the
      Search resources, services, and docs
      search box, type
      local network gateways
      .
    2. Click
      +Add
      .
    3. Enter the following values in the text box that displays.
      • Enter a
        Name
        for the gateway.
      • Enter an
        IP address
        . Use the
        Service IP Address
        from the remote network in Prisma Access (
        Panorama
        Cloud Service
        Status
        Network Details
        Remote Networks
        ).
      • Check
        Configure BGP settings
        and enter a unique
        Autonomous system number (ASN)
        and
        BGP peer IP address
        .
      • Enter a
        Subscription
        ,
        Resource group
        , and
        Location
        for the gateway.
    4. Click
      Create
      .
  2. Create a virtual network connection.
    1. Navigate to and open the page for the virtual network gateway you created when you configured a virtual network and virtual network gateway on Azure.
      See the Microsoft Azure documentation for details.
    2. On the page for the virtual network gateway, click
      Connections
      . At the top of the Connections page, click
      +Add
      to open the Add connection page.
    3. Enter values for the new connection, then click
      OK
      .
      In the
      Shared key (PSK)
      field, use the same
      Pre-shared Key
      that you used when you created the IKE gateway in Prisma Access.
    4. Click
      OK
      .
  3. Add a new route table to use for BGP routing.
    1. Select
      +Create a resource
      on the upper left corner of the Azure portal.
    2. Select
      Networking
      , then select
      Route table
      .
    3. Add a
      Name
      ,
      Subscription
      ,
      Resource Group
      , and
      Location
      .
    4. Set
      BGP route propagation
      to
      Enabled
      .
    5. Click
      Create
      .
  4. Associate a subnet to the route table you created.
    1. Open the route table you created.
    2. Select
      Settings
      Subnets
      .
    3. Click
      Associate
      to add a subnet.
    4. In the
      Associate subnet
      column, click
      Virtual network
      .
    5. Select the virtual network you created when you configured a virtual network and virtual network gateway on Azure.
    6. Click
      OK
      .

Verify Remote Network Connectivity

To verify that the IPSec tunnel between Azure and Prisma Access is operational, perform the following steps:
  • In Azure, select the
    Connection
    you created and click
    Overview
    .
    The tunnel should show a status of
    Connected
    .
  • Verify that the BGP routes are being advertised on Azure.
    1. Open the route table you just created.
    2. Select
      Networking
      Settings
      .
    3. Select the name of a network interface.
    4. Select
      Support + troubleshooting
      Effective routes
      .
    5. Verify that the BGP routes are being advertised.
  • Check the remote network and BGP status in Prisma Access.
    In Panorama, select
    Panorama
    Cloud Services
    Status
    Monitor
    Remote Networks
    Status
    .
    The
    Config Status
    should be
    In Sync
    and the
    BGP Status
    should be
    Established
    .

Secure Internet-Bound Traffic with Prisma Access

If you enable BGP, the virtual network gateway does not use static routes and uses only the routes it learns from BGP advertisements.
To secure all traffic to and from Azure, you must force traffic to pass through Prisma Access. You do this by enabling the forced tunneling feature on Azure.
Enabling forced tunneling may result in a loss of connectivity to virtual network instances over the internet. Make sure that you use another connection method (for example, a bastion host) to connect to instances over the internet.
You configure forced tunneling by using PowerShell CLI commands in your Azure account as described in the following task. For more details about forced tunneling, see the Microsoft Azure document Configure forced tunneling using the Azure Resource Manager deployment model.
To enable the feature, complete the following workflow.
These commands are examples. If you use different variables for your route tables, virtual network gateways, subnets, or resource groups, substitute those values in the commands provided in this task.
  1. Log into your PowerShell console with elevated privileges, and connect to your account.
  2. Create a new route table by entering the following commands:
    >
    New-AzureRmRouteTable -Name "DefRouteTable" -ResourceGroupName "GPCS-PM-TME" -Location "WEST US"
    >
    $rt = Get-AzureRmRouteTable -Name "DefRouteTable" -ResourceGroupName "GPCS-PM-TME"
    >
    Add-AzureRmRouteConfig -Name "DefaultRoute" -AddressPrefix "0.0.0.0/0" -NextHopType VirtualNetworkGateway -RouteTable $rt
    >
    Set-AzureRmRouteTable -RouteTable $rt
  3. Modify the subnet configuration by entering the following commands:
    >
    $vnet = Get-AzureRmVirtualNetwork -Name "GPCS-Onboarding-VMNET" -ResourceGroupName "GPCS-PM-TME"
    >
    Set-AzureRmVirtualNetworkSubnetConfig -Name "GPCS-O-Subnet-1" -VirtualNetwork $vnet -AddressPrefix "10.200.1.0/24" -RouteTable $rt
    >
    Set-AzureRmVirtualNetwork -VirtualNetwork $vnet
  4. Enable the default route for the network gateway default site by entering the following commands.
    >
    $LocalGateway = Get-AzureRmLocalNetworkGateway -Name "GPCS-Gateway-US-WEST" -ResourceGroupName "GPCS-PM-TME"
    >
    $VirtualGateway = Get-AzureRmVirtualNetworkGateway -Name "GPCS-Onboarding-Gateway" -ResourceGroupName "GPCS-PM-TME"
    >
    Set-AzureRmVirtualNetworkGatewayDefaultSite -GatewayDefaultSite $LocalGateway -VirtualNetworkGateway $VirtualGateway

Troubleshoot the Site-to-Site Connection

Use the procedures in this section to troubleshoot any issues you have with tunnel creation.
  • To troubleshoot the site-to-site connection in Prisma Access, log in to Panorama and select
    Logs
    System
    , then enter
    (subtype eq vpn)
    in the
    Filter
    field to view messages related to VPN tunnel creation.
  • To troubleshoot the site-to-site connection on Azure, you can download the VPN gateway configuration on Azure by selecting
    Networking
    Settings
    , selecting the name of a network interface. selecting
    Support + troubleshooting
    Effective routes
    , and clicking
    Download
    .

Recommended For You