Perform Initial Configuration for an Air Gapped Firewall

Gather the required information from your network administrator.
Private IP address for the management (MGT) port
Netmask
Default gateway
DNS server address
NTP server address
Install and power on the firewall.
Review your firewall hardware reference guide for details and best practices.
Connect to the firewall.
You must log in using the default
admin
username. You are immediately prompted to change the default
admin
password before you can continue. The new password must be a minimum of eight characters and include a minimum of one lowercase and one uppercase character, as well as one number or special character.
You can connect to the firewall in one of the following ways:
Connect a serial cable from your computer to the Console port and connect to the firewall using terminal emulation software (9600-8-N-1). Wait a few minutes for the boot-up sequence to complete; when the firewall is ready, the prompt changes to the name of the firewall, for example
PA-220 login
.
Log in to the firewall web interface by connecting an RJ-45 Ethernet cable from your computer to the MGT interface on the firewall. From a browser, go to
https://192.168.1.1
.
You may need to change the IP address on your computer to an address in the 192.168.1.0/24 network, such as 192.168.1.2, to access this URL.
(
Best Practices
) Disable Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP).
ZTP can only be disabled from the firewall CLI. The firewall reboots after you disable ZTP.
Continue to the next steps after the firewall has rebooted and you can log back in.
PA-5400 Series, PA-3400 Series, PA-1400 Series, and PA-400 Series

admin> set system ztp disable
All Other Firewalls

admin> request disable-ztp
Configure the network settings for the air gapped firewall.
The following commands set the interface IP allocation to
static
, configures the IP address for the MGT interface, the Domain Name Server (DNS), and Network Time Protocol (NTP) server.
admin> 
configure
admin# 
set deviceconfig system type static
admin# 
set deviceconfig system ip-address <IP-Address> netmask <Netmask-IP> default-gateway <Gateway-IP>
admin# 
set deviceconfig system dns-settings servers primary <IP-Address> secondary <IP-Address>
admin# 
set deviceconfig system ntp-servers primary-ntp-server ntp-server-address <IP-Address>
admin# 
set deviceconfig system ntp-servers secondary-ntp-server ntp-server-address <IP-Address>
Register the firewall with the Palo Alto Networks Customer Support Portal (CSP).
Log in to the Palo Alto Networks CSP.
Click
Register a Device
.
Select
Register device using Serial Number
and click
Next
.
Enter the required
Device Information
.
Enter the firewall
Serial Number
.
Check (enable)
Device will be used offline
.
Select the PAN-OS
OS Release
running on the firewall.
Enter the required
Location Information
.
Enter the
City
the firewall is located in,
Enter the
Postal Code
the firewall is located in,
Enter the
Country
the firewall is located in.
Agree and Submit
.
Skip this step
when prompted to generate the optional
Day 1 Configuration
config file.
Download your firewall license keys.
The license key files are required to activate your firewall licenses when air gapped.
Log in to the Palo Alto Networks CSP.
Select
Product
Devices
and locate the firewall you added.
Download all license keys files from the download links available
License
column.
You must download a license key file for each license you want to active on the firewall.
Active the firewall licenses.
Log in to the firewall web interface.
Select
Device
Licenses
and
Manually upload license key
.
Click
Choose File
to select the license key file you downloaded in the previous step and click
OK
.
Repeat this step to uploaded and activate all licenses.
(
Optional
) Configure general firewall settings as needed.
Select
Device
Setup
Management
and edit the General Settings.
Enter a
Hostname
for the firewall and enter your network
Domain
name. The domain name is just a label; it will not be used to join the domain.
Enter
Login Banner
text that informs users who are about to log in that they require authorization to access the firewall management functions.
As a best practice, avoid using welcoming verbiage. Additionally, you should ask your legal department to review the banner message to ensure it adequately warns that unauthorized access is prohibited.
Enter the
Latitude
and
Longitude
to enable accurate placement of the firewall on the world map.
Click
OK
.
Commit
your changes.
Upgrade the firewall PAN-OS and dynamic content versions.
Review the PAN-OS Upgrade Guide and PAN-OS Release Notes for detailed information about your target PAN-OS upgrade version.
Log in to the Palo Alto Networks CSP.
Download dynamic content updates.
Select
Updates
Dynamic Updates
.
Select the dynamic
Content type
you want to install.
Download
the dynamic content update to your local device.
Repeat this step to download all required dynamic content updates.
Download a PAN-OS software update.
Select
Updates
Software Updates
.
For the
Content type
, select the firewall model. For the
Release type
, select
All
(default) or
Preferred
.
In the
Download
column, click the PAN-OS version to download the software image to your local device.
Log in to the firewall web interface.
Select
Device
Dynamic Updates
and
Upload
the dynamic content updates you downloaded.
Repeat this step to
Browse
and select all the dynamic content release versions.
Install
the dynamic content updates.
Select
Device
Software
and
Upload
the PAN-OS software image you download.
Install
the PAN-OS software version.
The firewall needs to restart to finish installing the PAN-OS software upgrade.
Connect the firewall to your network.
Disconnect the firewall from your computer.
(
All firewalls except for the PA-5450
) Connect the MGT port to a switch port on your management network using an RJ-45 Ethernet cable. Make sure that the switch port you cable the firewall to is configured for autonegotiation.
(
PA-5450 only
) Connect the MGT port to a switch port on your management network using a Palo Alto Networks certified SFP/SFP+ transceiver and cable.
Verify the air gapped firewall connectivity.
Log in to the firewall web interface.
Select
Device
Troubleshooting
.
Verify the firewall can reach required internal devices.
For
Select Test
, select
ping
.
For the
Host
, enter an internal IP address to verify the firewall can reach a device in the air gapped network.
Click
Execute
and wait for the test to complete.
Click the
Test Result
when displayed to review the
Result Detail
to confirm the firewall can successfully ping the internal device.
Repeat this step to verify the firewall can reach all required internal devices.
Verify the firewall cannot reach devices outside of the air gapped network.
For
Select Test
, select
ping
.
For the
Host
, enter an external IP address to verify the firewall cannot reach devices outside of the air gapped network.
Click
Execute
and wait for the test to complete.
Click the
Test Result
when displayed to review the
Result Detail
to confirm the firewall cannot ping the external device.