Set Up Network Access for External Services

Decide which interface 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.

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.

(

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:

To delete the default security policy, select
Policies
Security
, select the rule, and click
Delete
.
To delete the default virtual wire, select
Network
Virtual Wires
, select the virtual wire and click
Delete
.
To delete the default trust and untrust zones, select
Network
Zones
, select each zone and click
Delete
.
To delete the interface configurations, select
Network
Interfaces
and then select each interface (ethernet1/1 and ethernet1/2) and click
Delete
.
Commit
the changes.

Configure the interface you plan to use for external access to management services.

Select
Network
Interfaces
and select the interface that corresponds to the interface you cabled in Step 1.
Select the
Interface Type
. Although your choice here depends on your network topology, this example shows the steps for
Layer3
.
On the
Config
tab, expand the
Security Zone
drop-down and select
New Zone
.
In the Zone dialog, enter a
Name
for new zone, for example Management, and then click
OK
.
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.
Select
Advanced
Other Info
, expand the
Management Profile
drop-down, and select
New Management Profile
.
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.
To save the interface configuration, click
OK
.

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.

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
.
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.
Click
OK
to save the settings.
Repeat Steps 5.2 - 5.3 above for each service route you want to modify.
Commit
your changes.

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.

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.
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).

Create a NAT policy rule.

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
.
Commit
your changes.

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.

Select

Update Server

from the Select Test drop-down.

Execute

the Palo Alto Networks Update Server connectivity test.

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