Perform Initial Configuration of the Panorama Virtual Appliance

Gather the required information from your network administrator.
Collect the following information for the management (MGT) interface:
IP address for the management (MGT) interface
Netmask
Default gateway
DNS server IP address
To complete the configuration of the MGT interface, you must specify the IP address, netmask (for IPv4) or prefix length (for IPv6), and default gateway. If you omit settings (such as the default gateway), you can access Panorama only through the console port for future configuration changes. As a best practice, always commit a complete MGT interface configuration.
Access the console of the Panorama virtual appliance.
Access the console.
On an ESXi server:
Launch the VMware vSphere Client.
Select the
Console
tab for the Panorama virtual appliance and press enter to access the login screen.
On vCloud Air:
Access the vCloud Air web console and select your
Virtual Private Cloud OnDemand
region.
Select the
Virtual Machines
tab, right-click the Panorama virtual machine, and select
Open In Console
.
Enter your username and password to log in (default is admin for both).
On AWS, Azure, GCP, KVM, and Hyper-V:
Log in to the Panorama CLI.
Change the default administrator password.
Starting with PAN-OS 9.0.4, the predefined, default administrator password (admin/admin) must be changed on the first login on a device. 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.
Be sure to use the best practices for password strength to ensure a strict password and review the password complexity settings.
To ensure that the management interface remains secure, configure the Minimum Password Complexity (
Panorama
Setup
Management
).
Click the
admin
link on the left side of the web interface footer.
Enter the
Old Password
and the
New Password
and record the new password in a safe location.
Click
OK
.
Configure the network access settings for the MGT interface.
Panorama uses the MGT interface for management traffic, high availability synchronization, log collection, and communication within Collector Groups.
Enter the following commands, where

<Panorama-IP>

is the IP address you want to assign to the Panorama management interface,

<netmask>

is the subnet mask,

<gateway-IP>

is the IP address of the network gateway, and

<DNS-IP>

is the IP address of the DNS server:

> 
configure  
# 
set deviceconfig system ip-address 
<Panorama-IP> netmask 
<netmask> default-gateway 
<gateway-IP> dns-setting servers primary 
<DNS-IP>  
# 
commit  
# 
exit

Troubleshoot Connectivity to Network Resources to verify network access to external services required for firewall management, such as the default gateway, DNS server, and the Palo Alto Networks Update Server, as shown in the following example:


Configure the general settings.
Using a secure connection (HTTPS) from a web browser, log in to the Panorama web interface using the IP address and password you assigned to the management interface (https://<IP address>).
Select
Panorama
Setup
Management
and edit the General Settings.
Enter a
Hostname
for the server and enter the network
Domain
name. The domain name is just a label; Panorama doesn’t use it to join the domain.
Align the clock on Panorama and the managed firewalls to use the same
Time Zone
, for example GMT or UTC. If you plan to use the Cortex Data Lake, you must configure NTP so that Panorama can stay in sync with the Cortex Data Lake.
Timestamps are recorded when Panorama receives the logs and the managed firewalls generate the logs. Aligning the time zones on Panorama and the firewalls ensures that the timestamps are synchronized and the process of querying logs and generating reports on Panorama is harmonious.
Enter the
Latitude
and
Longitude
to enable accurate placement of the Panorama management server on the world map.
Enter the
Serial Number
you received in the order fulfillment email.
Click
OK
to save your changes.
(
Optional
) Modify the management interface settings.
Select
Panorama
Setup
Interfaces
and click
Management
.
If your firewalls connect to the Panorama management server using a public IP address that is translated to a private IP address (NAT), enter the public IP in the
Public IP Address
field, and the private IP in the
IP Address
field to push both addresses to your firewalls.
Select which Network Connectivity Services to allow on the interface (such as
SSH
access).
Don’t select
Telnet
or
HTTP
. These services use plaintext and are less secure than the other services.
Click
OK
to save your changes to the interface.
Commit your configuration changes.
Select
Commit
Commit to Panorama
and
Commit
your changes.
Next steps...
If necessary, Expand Log Storage Capacity on the Panorama Virtual Appliance.
(
Best Practice
) Replace the default certificate that Panorama uses to secure HTTPS traffic over the management (MGT) interface.
Activate a Panorama Support License
Activate/Retrieve a Firewall Management License when the Panorama Virtual Appliance is Internet-connected
Install Content and Software Updates for Panorama.
Set Up Administrative Access to Panorama.