Set Up a VM-Series Firewall on an ESXi Server

The VM-Series firewall is distributed using the Open Virtualization Alliance (OVA) format, which is a standard method of packaging and deploying virtual machines. You can install this solution on any x86 device that is capable of running VMware ESXi.

In order to deploy a VM-Series firewall you must be familiar with VMware and vSphere including vSphere networking, ESXi host setup and configuration, and virtual machine guest deployment.

If you would like to automate the process of deploying a VM-Series firewall, you can create a gold standard template with the optimal configuration and policies, and use the vSphere API and the PAN-OS XML API to rapidly deploy new VM-Series firewalls in your network. For more information, see the article: VM-Series Data Center Automation.

See the following topics for information on: