M-Series Setup Overview
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M-Series Setup Overview

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M-Series Setup Overview

Deploy an M-Series appliance in Management Only, Panorama, or Log Collector mode to centrally manage your firewalls and collect logs.
Where Can I Use This?What Do I Need?
  • NGFW (Managed by Panorama)
  • M-series hardware appliance
When setting up an M-Series appliance, you can deploy it using one of three operational modes:
  • Management Only Mode: Dedicates the appliance entirely to managing firewalls and Dedicated Log Collectors, providing no local log collection capabilities aside from basic system and configuration logs.
  • Panorama Mode: Deploys the appliance as a management server that also collects logs locally, which requires you to configure RAID disk arrays to make them available for logging.
  • Log Collector Mode: Sets up the appliance as a Dedicated Log Collector, which also requires you to configure the RAID disk arrays for logging before finalizing the Log Collector setup,

Set Up an M-Series Appliance in Management Only Mode

How to set up an M-Series appliance in Management Only mode.
Set up the Panorama management server in Management Only mode to dedicate Panorama to managing firewalls and Dedicated Log Collectors. Panorama in Management Only mode have no log collection capabilities, except for config and system logs, and requires a Dedicated Log Collector to store logs.
If you configured a local Log Collector, the local Log Collector still exists on Panorama when you change to Management Only mode despite having no log collection capabilities. Deleting the local Log Collector (PanoramaManaged Collectors) deletes the Eth1/1 interface configuration the local Log Collector uses by default. If you decide to delete the local Log Collector, you must reconfigure the Eth1/1 interface.
  1. Rack mount the M-Series appliance. Refer to the M-Series Appliance Hardware Reference Guide for instructions.
  2. Change to Management Only mode.
    1. Switch from Panorama mode to Management Only mode:
      request system system-mode management-only
    2. Enter Y to confirm the mode change. The Panorama management server reboots. If the reboot process terminates your terminal emulation software session, reconnect to the Panorama management server to see the Panorama login prompt.
      If you see a CMS Login prompt, this means the Panorama management server has not finished rebooting. Press Enter at the prompt without typing a username or password.
    3. Log back in to the CLI.
    4. Verify that the switch to Management Only mode succeeded:
      show system info | match system-mode
      If the mode change succeeded, the output displays:
      system mode:management-only

Set Up an M-Series Appliance in Panorama Mode

  1. Rack mount the M-Series appliance. Refer to the M-Series Appliance Hardware Reference Guide for instructions.
  2. Configure each array. This task is required to make the RAID disks available for logging. Optionally, you can add disks to Increase Storage on the M-Series Appliance.

Set Up an M-Series Appliance in Log Collector Mode

  1. Rack mount the M-Series appliance. Refer to the M-Series Appliance Hardware Reference Guide for instructions.
  2. Configure each array. This task is required to make the RAID disks available for logging. Optionally, you can add disks to Increase Storage on the M-Series Appliance.