Use Panorama-Based Software Firewall License Management
Learn about how to use the Panorama Software Firewall
License plugin to license VM-Series firewalls.
The Panorama Software Firewall License plugin
allows you to automatically license a VM-Series firewall when it
connects to Panorama. If your VM-Series firewalls are located in
the perimeter of your deployment and do not have connectivity to
the Palo Alto Networks licensing server, the Software Firewall License
plugin simplifies the license activation process by using Panorama
to license the VM-Series firewall.
Additionally, the Software
Firewall License plugin simplifies the license activation and deactivation
of VM-Series firewalls in environments that use auto-scaling and
automation to deploy and delete firewalls to address changes in
the cloud.
Pay-as-you-go (PAYG) licenses are not supported
for use with this plugin.
Do not use the Software
Firewall License plugin to license the VM-Series firewall for VMware
NSX. The Panorama plugin for VMware NSX automatically licenses VM-Series
firewalls deployed in NSX and NSX-T
Also, do not use this
plugin to license firewalls deployed in device groups that include instances
of the VM-Series firewall deployed in NSX-T.
To install
the Panorama Software Firewall License plugin, you must be using Panorama
10.0.0 or later and VM-Series plugin 2.0.4 or later. Your VM-Series
firewalls must be running PAN-OS 9.1.0 or later.
The
VM-Series firewall for Azure requires VM-Series plugin 2.0.7 or
later.
If you have a standalone Panorama or two Panorama
appliances installed in an HA pair with multiple plugins installed,
plugins might not receive updated IP-tag information if one or more
of the plugins is not configured. This occurs because Panorama will not
forward IP-tag information to unconfigured plugins. Additionally,
this issue can occur if one or more of the Panorama plugins is not
in the Registered or Success state (positive state differs on each
plugin). Ensure that your plugins are in the positive state before
continuing or executing the commands described below.The commands
described are not persistent across reboots and must be used again for
any subsequent reboots. For Panorama in HA pair, the commands must
be executed on each Panorama.
If you encounter this issue,
there are two workarounds:
- Uninstall the unconfigured plugin or plugins. It is recommended that you do not install a plugin that you do not plan to configure right away
- You can use the following commands to work around this issue. Execute the following command for each unconfigured plugin on each Panorama instance to prevent Panorama from waiting to send updates. If you do not, your firewalls may lose some IP-tag information.request plugins dau plugin-name <plugin-name> unblock-device-push yesYou can cancel this command by executing:request plugins dau plugin-name <plugin-name> unblock-device-push no
The
commands described are not persistent across reboots and must be
used again for any subsequent reboots. For Panorama in HA pair,
the commands must be executed on each Panorama.
- Install the Software Firewall License Plugin for Panorama.
- Log in to the Panorama web interface.
- Select.PanoramaPlugins
- ClickCheck Nowto get the list of available plugins.
- Search for sw_fw_license to locate the plugin.
- SelectDownloadandInstallthe Software Licensing plugin.
After you successfully install, Panorama refreshes and the Software Licensing plugin displays on thePanoramatab. - Configure a Bootstrap Definition.
- Select.PanoramaSW Firewall LicenseBootstrap Definitions
- ClickAdd.
- Enter a descriptiveNameto identify the Bootstrap Definition.
- (Optional) Enter aDescriptionof the Bootstrap Definition.
- Enter theAuth Codethat Panorama will use to license the VM-Series firewall when it connects to Panorama.
- ClickOK.
- Configure a License Manager.
- Select.PanoramaSW Firewall LicenseLicense Managers
- ClickAdd.
- Enter a descriptiveNameto identify the License Manager.
- (Optional) Enter aDescriptionof the License Manager.
- Select aDevice Groupfrom the drop-down. When a VM-Series firewall bootstrapped using the license manager connects to Panorama, it is placed in the specified device group.
- Select aTemplate Stackfrom the drop-down. When a VM-Series firewall bootstrapped using the license manager connects to Panorama, it is placed in the specified template Stack.
- In theAuto Deactivatefield, specify the amount of time, in hours, that Panorama waits before deactivating the license of a disconnected VM-Series firewall. When you selectNever, Panorama does not deactivate a disconnected VM-Series firewall. Auto Deactivate is set to Never by default. You can set the deactivation time, in hours, from one to 24.When a Auto Deactivate interval, the plugin might deactivate the license of stopped VM-Series firewalls that are managed by the same license manager of firewalls that deactivate as expected.
- Select aBootstrap Definitionfrom the drop-down. The selected bootstrap definition specifies the auth code used by Panorama to license the VM-Series firewalls associated with the license manager.
- ClickOK.
- Commityour changes.
- (Optional) Create aninit-cfg.txtfile for bootstrap the VM-Series firewall. After configuring a license manager, you can copy and paste bootstrap parameters generated by Panorama when deploy your VM-Series firewalls. Depending on your deployment, the parameters displayed might be a subset of those shown in the image below. For example, if your Panorama appliance is deployed in a public cloud, the bootstrap parameters will not include the public IP address for Panorama. In that case, you must manually enter the public IP address in theinit-cfg.txtfile. Panorama will always generate the auth-key andplugin-op-commands=panorama-licensing-mode-onfor use in yourinit-cfg.txt.The auth key displayed here is generated by Panorama and used to authenticate the VM-Series firewall connection to Panorama. Additionally, this auth key is used instead of the VM auth key that you might generate on Panorama and add to your init-cfg.txt file.If you use the auth key displayed here in your init-cfg.txt file, do not use a manually generated VM auth key.
- Select.PanoramaSW Firewall LicenseLicense Managers
- In the Action column of a given license manager, clickShow Bootstrap Parameters.
- Copy the displayed information and paste it into a text editor to create aninit-cfg.txtfile for bootstrapping.
- ClickClosewhen finished.
- (Optional) View and deactivate a managed VM-Series firewall. From theShow Devicesdialogue, you can view the devices associated with a given license manager. You can view the name, serial number, management IP address, connection status, and amount of time Panorama waits to deactivate a disconnected firewall. Additionally, you can manually deactivate the license of managed VM-Series firewall.
- Select.PanoramaSW Firewall LicenseLicense Managers
- In the Action column of a given license manager, clickShow Devices.
- To manually deactivate a connected or disconnected (but not yet deactivated) managed VM-Series firewall, select a one or more listed VM-Series firewalls and clickDeactivate.
- (Optional) Verify that Panorama has completed the necessary API calls to license connected firewalls.
- Log in to the Panorama command line interface.
- Execute the following command.show plugins sw_fw_license panorama-api-requests