Palo Alto Panorama is a centralized management system that provides you with global visibility, and control over multiple Palo Alto Networks next-generation firewalls from one central location. It allows you to manage your network’s security policies across all locations consistently. This article provides a step-by-step guide on how to set up Palo Alto Panorama for central policy control.
Step One: Initial Setup of Palo Alto Panorama
The initial setup of Palo Alto Panorama involves a few key steps. First, you need to install the Panorama Management Server. This can be done either on a dedicated server or a virtual machine, depending on your organization’s requirements. After the server is installed, you will need to configure the management interfaces. These interfaces will be used to manage the Panorama server and to communicate with the managed firewalls.
Next, you will need to activate the Panorama licenses. These licenses are necessary to enable certain features and capacities on Panorama. After activation, you can then add the firewalls that you want to manage. This is done by adding the serial numbers of the firewalls to the Panorama server. Once the firewalls are added, they will appear in the managed devices list.
Step Two: Configuring Central Policy Control
Once the initial setup is complete, the next step is configuring central policy control. This involves creating device groups and templates. Device groups are used to manage policies for a group of firewalls, while templates are used to manage network and device settings. You can create different device groups and templates based on your organization’s requirements.
After creating the device groups and templates, you can then create and manage security policies. These policies define the traffic flow through the managed firewalls. You can create policies based on various criteria such as source, destination, application, and user. Once the policies are created, they can be pushed to the managed firewalls.
The final step in configuring central policy control is setting up log forwarding. Panorama can forward logs from the managed firewalls to external servers for storage and analysis. You can set up log forwarding based on various criteria such as log type, severity, and threat category. This allows you to keep track of all the activities on your network.
In conclusion, setting up Palo Alto Panorama for central policy control involves two main steps: initial setup and configuring central policy control. The initial setup involves installing the Panorama server, configuring the management interfaces, activating the licenses, and adding the firewalls. Configuring central policy control involves creating device groups and templates, managing security policies, and setting up log forwarding. By following these steps, you can effectively manage your network’s security policies from one central location.