Install Panorama on Google Cloud Platform

Table of Contents

Install Panorama on Google Cloud Platform

How to deploy a Panorama™ virtual appliance and a virtual Dedicated Log Collector on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

Where Can I Use This?	What Do I Need?
NGFW (Managed by Panorama)	Device management licence Support license Panorama Virtual Appliance license (serial number) Customer Support Portal (CSP) Account

You can now deploy Panorama™ and a Dedicated Log Collector on Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Panorama deployed on GCP is Bring Your Own License (BYOL), supports all deployment modes (Panorama, Log Collector, and Management Only), and shares the same processes and functionality as the M-Series hardware appliances. For more information on Panorama modes, see Panorama Models.

To deploy the Panorama virtual appliance on GCP, you need to build a custom image. To begin this process, you must download the Panorama tar.gz from the Palo Alto Networks Customer Support portal and upload it to a GCP storage bucket. You can then create the custom image and use the image to deploy the Panorama virtual appliance on GCP.

Download the Panorama virtual appliance image.
1. Log in to the Palo Alto Networks Support Portal.
2. Select UpdatesSoftware Updates and filter by Panorama Base Images.
3. Download the latest version of the Panorama on GCP tar.gz image.
Upload the Panorama virtual appliance image to the Google Cloud Platform.
1. Log in to the Google Cloud Console.
2. From the Products and Services menu, select Storage.
3. Click Create Bucket, configure the new storage bucket and click Create.
4. Select the storage bucket you created in the previous step, click Upload files, and select the Panorama virtual appliance image you downloaded.
5. From the Products and Services menu, select Compute EngineImages.
6. Click Create Image and create the Panorama virtual appliance image:
  Name the Panorama virtual appliance image.
  In the Source field, select Cloud Storage file from the drop-down menu.
  Click Browse and navigate to the storage bucket where you uploaded the Panorama virtual appliance image, and Select the uploaded image.
  Create the Panorama virtual appliance image.
Configure the Panorama virtual appliance.
1. From the Products and Services menu and select the Compute Engine.
2. Click Create Instance to begin deploying the Panorama virtual appliance.
3. Add a descriptive Name to easily identify the Panorama virtual appliance.
4. Select the Region and Zone where you want to deploy the Panorama virtual appliance.
5. Allocate the Machine Type and Customize the CPU cores, memory and CPU platform. Review the Setup Prerequisites for the Panorama Virtual Appliance for minimum resource requirements.
  
  If you plan to use the Panorama virtual appliance as a Dedicated Log Collector, ensure that you configure the appliance with the required resources during initial deployment. The Panorama virtual appliance does not remain in Log Collector mode if you resize the virtual machine after you deploy it, and this results in a loss of log data.
  
  The GCP zone selection determines the CPU platforms available to you. For more information, refer to Regions and Zones for details.
6. Configure the Panorama boot disk.
  For the Boot Disk, click ChangeCustom image and select the Panorama image file you uploaded in Step 2
  Review the boot disk Size and verify the system disk is 81GB.
  
  The Panorama virtual appliance must be initially installed with the Default system disk size. Installing the Panorama virtual appliance with a system disk larger than the Default system disk size is not supported and may result in limited utilization. You have the option to increase the system disk size after initial installation
  
  Click Select to save your configuration.
7. Under Identity and API access, select Allow full access to all Cloud APIs.
8. Under Firewall, select Allow HTTPS traffic.
Expand Management, security, disks, networking, sole tenancy

.
Enable access to the serial port so you can manage the Panorama virtual appliance.
1. Select Management.
2. Enter the following name-value pair as Metadata:
  serial-port-enable true
Reserve a static IP address for the management interface.
Reserve static internal and external IP addresses for the management interface in the event that if the Panorama virtual appliance is rebooted, your managed devices do not lose connection to the Panorama virtual appliance when the IP addresses are reassigned.
For more information on how to reserve IP addresses, refer to Reserving a Static Internal IP Address and Reserving a Static External IP Address.
1. Select Networking.
2. Edit the network interface.
3. Select the Panorama virtual appliance Network.
4. Select the Panorama virtual appliance Subnetwork. Instances in the same subnetwork will communicate with each other using their internal IP addresses.
5. Set the Primary internal IP address.
  Ephemeral (Automatic)— Automatically assign a primary internal IP address.
  Ephemeral (Custom)—Configure a custom IP range that GCP uses to assign a primary internal IP address.
  Reserve a static internal IP address—Manually configure a static primary internal IP address.
6. Set the External IP address.
  Ephemeral—Automatically assign an external IP address from a shared IP pool.
  Select an existing reserved external IP address.
  Create IP address—Reserve an external IP address.
7. Set IP forwarding to On to allow the Panorama virtual appliance to receive packets from non-matching destinations or source IP addresses.
Configure the SSH key. You need an SSH key to access the Panorama virtual appliance CLI to configure the administrative user password after the initial deployment.
- PuTTY Users
1. Select Security.
2. Select the Block project-wide SSH keys box. Only instance keys are currently supported for logging in to the Panorama virtual appliance after initial deployment.
3. Paste the SSH key in the comment box. For information on the correct SSH key format and how to generate SSH keys for GCP, refer to Managing SSH keys in Metadata.
  
  When generating the SSH key, save the private key in .ppk format. The private key is required to log in to the Panorama virtual appliance after the initial deployment before you can configure the administrative password.
- Linux and macOS Users
1. Generate the SSH key from the CLI of your Linux device.
  ssh-keygen -C admin@panorama -f <panorama_key_name>
  Where admin@panorama is a comment GCP requires and <panorama_key_name> is the name of the key file being generated.
2. Create an output file for the SSH key.
  cat <panorama_key_name>.pub
  After the output file for the SSH key is created, manually copy the SSH key contents.
3. Paste the public key into the SSH Keys section of the GCP instance creation.
(Optional) Add additional storage for log collection. Repeat this step as needed to add additional virtual logging disks.
If you intend to use the Panorama virtual appliance in Panorama mode or as a Dedicated Log Collector, add the virtual logging disks during initial deployment. By default, the Panorama virtual appliance is in Panorama mode for the initial deployment when you meet the Panorama mode resource requirements and have added at least one virtual logging disk. Otherwise, the Panorama virtual appliance defaults to Management Only mode in which you can manage devices and Dedicated Log Collectors, and cannot collect logs locally.
The Panorama virtual appliance on GCP only supports 2TB logging disks, and in total supports up to 24TB of log storage. You are unable to add a logging disk smaller than 2TB, or a logging disk with a size not divisible by the 2TB logging disk requirement. The Panorama virtual appliance partitions logging disks larger than 2TB into 2TB partitions.
1. Select DisksAdd new disk.
2. Enter the Name.
3. Expand the Type drop-down menu and select the desired type.
4. For the Source type, select Blank disk.
5. For the Mode, select Read/write.
6. Select the Deletion rule to configure whether to delete the virtual logging disk if the Panorama virtual appliance instance is deleted. To
7. Set the Size (GB) of the virtual logging disk.
8. Set your preferred Encryption solution for the data on the virtual logging disk.
9. Click Done.
Create the Panorama virtual appliance. The Panorama virtual appliances takes roughly 10 minutes to boot up after initial deployment.
Configure a new administrative password for the Panorama virtual appliance.
You must configure a unique administrative password before you can access the web interface of the Panorama virtual appliance. To access the CLI, use the private key to launch the Panorama virtual appliance.

The new password must be a minimum of eight characters and include a minimum of one lowercase character, one uppercase character, and one number or special character.
- If you have an SSH service installed on your computer:
1. Enter the following command to log into the Panorama virtual appliance:
  Windows Devices
  ssh -i <private_key.ppk> <username>@<public-ip_address>
  Linux Devices
  ssh -i <prive_key.ppk> -oHostKeyAlgorithms=+ssh-rsa <username>@<public-ip_address>
  
  Including -oHostKeyAlgorithms=+ssh-rsa is required to specify the host key type. An error is displayed if this is not included in the SSH login command.
2. Configure a new password using the following commands and follow the onscreen prompts:
  admin> configure admin# set mgt-config users admin password
3. If you have a BYOL that you need to, set the DNS server IP address so that the Panorama virtual appliance can access the Palo Alto Networks licensing server. Enter the following command to set the DNS server IP address:
  admin# set deviceconfig system dns-setting servers primary <ip_address>
4. Commit your changes:
  admin# commit
5. Terminate the SSH session.
- If you are using PuTTY to SSH into the Panorama virtual appliance:
1. If you are using an existing key pair and have the .ppk file available, continue to Step 11.3. If you created a new key pair or only have the .pem file of the existing key pair, open PuTTYgen and Load the .pem file.
2. Save the private key to a local accessible destination.
3. Open PuTTY and select SSHAuth and Browse for the .ppk file saved in the previous step.
4. Select Sessions and enter the public IP address of the Panorama virtual appliance. Then Open and click Yes when the security prompt appears.
5. Login as admin when prompted.
6. Configure a new password using the following commands and follow the on screen prompts:
  admin> configure admin# set mgt-config users admin password
7. Set the DNS server IP address so that the Panorama virtual appliance can access the Palo Alto Networks licensing server. Enter the following command to set the DNS server IP address:
  admin# set deviceconfig system dns-setting servers primary <ip_address>
8. Commit your changes with the command:
  admin# commit
9. Terminate the SSH session.
Register the Panorama virtual appliance and activate the device management license and support licenses.
1. (VM Flex Licensing Only) Provisioning the Panorama Virtual Appliance Serial Number.
  When leveraging VM Flex licensing, this step is required to generate the Panorama virtual appliance serial number needed to register the Panorama virtual appliance with the Palo Alto Networks Customer Support Portal (CSP).
2. Register Panorama.
  You must register the Panorama virtual appliance using the serial number provided by Palo Alto Networks in the order fulfillment email.
  This step is not required when leveraging VM Flex licensing as the serial number is automatically registered with the CSP when generated.
3. Activate the firewall management license.
  Activate/Retrieve a Firewall Management License when the Panorama Virtual Appliance is Internet-connected.
  Activate/Retrieve a Firewall Management License when the Panorama Virtual Appliance is not Internet-connected.
4. Activate a Panorama Support License.
Complete configuring the Panorama virtual appliance for your deployment needs.
- For Panorama in Log Collector Mode.
  1. Add a Virtual Disk to Panorama on Google Cloud Platform as needed.
    Adding at least one virtual logging disk is required before you can change the Panorama virtual appliance to Log Collector mode.
  2. Begin at Step 6 to switch to Log Collector mode.
    
    Enter the Public IP address of the Dedicated Log Collector when you add the Log Collector as a managed collector to the Panorama management server. You cannot specify the IP Address, Netmask, or Gateway.
- For Panorama in Panorama mode.
  1. Add a Virtual Disk to Panorama on Google Cloud Platform.
    Adding at least one virtual logging disk is required before you can change the Panorama virtual appliance to Panorama mode.
  2. Set up a Panorama Virtual Appliance in Panorama Mode.
  3. Configure a Managed Collector.
- For Panorama in Management Only mode.
  1. Set up a Panorama Virtual Appliance in Management Only Mode.
  2. Configure a Managed Collector to add a Dedicated Log Collector to the Panorama virtual appliance.
    Management Only mode does not support local log collection, and requires a Dedicated Log Collector to store managed device logs.
- For SD-WAN deployments.
  1. Increase the System Disk for Panorama on Google Cloud Platform
    To leverage SD-WAN on Panorama deployed on GCP, you must increase the the system disk to 224GB.
    
    You cannot migrate back to a 81GB system disk after successfully increasing the system disk to 224GB.
  2. Set up a Panorama Virtual Appliance in Management Only Mode.
  3. Add a Virtual Disk to Panorama on Google Cloud Platform.
    To leverage SD-WAN, you must add a single 2TB logging disk to Panorama in Management Only mode.