Palto Alto PCNSE Practice Exam Questions

Explanation:

Why This Command?
The show session all filter nat source command displays all sessions where source NAT is applied.
It filters sessions specifically for source NAT translations, which is what the administrator needs.

Breakdown of the Command:
show session all → Displays all active sessions.
filter nat source → Filters to show only sessions with source NAT.

Why Not the Other Options?
A. show session all filter nat-rule-source → Incorrect syntax (no such filter exists).
B. show running nat-rule-ippool rule "rule_name" → Shows NAT pool configuration, not active NAT sessions.
C. show running nat-policy → Displays configured NAT policies, not live NAT sessions.

Additional Useful NAT Commands:
show session all filter nat → Shows all NAT sessions (source & destination).
show running nat-policy → Lists configured NAT rules.
show session id → Inspects a specific NAT session.

Reference:
Palo Alto Networks CLI Reference Guide (under Session Monitoring & NAT Commands).

Explanation:

For compliance-driven segmentation where each contractor must manage only their assigned device group and template, the most appropriate role is Device Group and Template Admin. This predefined role in Panorama allows:
Scoped access to specific device groups and templates
Ability to deploy policies and objects within their domain
No access to broader Panorama configuration or other device groups
This ensures least privilege and aligns with compliance requirements by isolating administrative domains.

📘 Reference:
Palo Alto Networks Role-Based Access Control Guide confirms that this role is designed for managing device-group-specific configurations. Also validated by Ace4Sure PCNSE explanation.

Why Other Options Are Incorrect:
A. Dynamic Read-only Superuser: Read-only access prevents policy deployment.
B. Dynamic Admin with Panorama Admin role: Panorama Admin has broad access—violates compliance isolation.
D. Custom Panorama Admin: Possible but unnecessarily complex; predefined role is more efficient and secure.

Explanation:
To authenticate a user on a new BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) that isn't part of the corporate domain, a network security administrator needs to configure an Authentication policy. This policy should be set to match traffic where the source user is 'unknown'.
1.Authentication Policy: This type of policy's primary function is to trigger user authentication. It directs the user to a captive portal or some other form of authentication method before allowing them access to network resources.
2.unknown' User:
When a user with a new device connects to the network, the Palo Alto Networks firewall initially doesn't have any identity information about them. The firewall classifies their traffic as coming from an 'unknown' user.
3.Authentication Workflow:
The user's device attempts to access a resource (e.g., a website).
The firewall's security policy allows the traffic to proceed, but the Authentication policy with the 'unknown' source user matches the session.
This match triggers the authentication mechanism, such as a Captive Portal.
The user is redirected to the portal to enter their credentials.
Once authenticated, the firewall learns the user's identity and can apply more specific security policies to their traffic.

The other options are incorrect:
B. Authentication policy with 'known-user' selected:
This would only apply to users the firewall has already identified. It would not work for a new, unauthenticated BYOD device.
C & D. Security policy with 'known-user' or 'unknown' selected:
A Security policy is used to permit or deny traffic based on applications, users, and zones. While a security policy can be based on user identity, it doesn't trigger the authentication process itself. The authentication policy is what initiates the user's identification.

Explanation:

Why Tunnel Mode?
1.Split-Tunneling Requirements:
Access Route: Defines which traffic goes through the VPN (e.g., corporate subnets).
Destination Domain: Allows tunneling only for specific domains (e.g., *.company.com).
Application: Controls VPN routing per application (e.g., only tunnel Outlook).
Tunnel Mode is the only GlobalProtect gateway setting that supports all three split-tunneling methods simultaneously.
2.How It Works:
In Tunnel Mode, the GlobalProtect client:
Evaluates traffic against split-tunnel rules (routes/domains/apps).
Selectively routes matching traffic through the VPN.
Non-matching traffic (e.g., public web browsing) goes directly to the internet.

Why Not Other Options?
B. Satellite Mode
Used for cloud gateways, not split-tunneling control.
C. IPSec Mode
Legacy VPN (no support for domain/application-based split-tunneling).
D. No Direct Access
Disables split-tunneling entirely (forces all traffic through VPN).

Key Configuration:
Under Network > GlobalProtect > Gateways > [Gateway] > Agent > Split Tunnel:
Enable Tunnel Mode.
Configure:
Access Routes (e.g., 10.0.0.0/8).
Domains (e.g., *.internal.com).
Applications (e.g., ms-outlook.exe).

Reference:
Palo Alto GlobalProtect Admin Guide:
"Tunnel Mode enables granular split-tunneling by access route, domain, and application.

Explanation:

1.management plane:
This plane handles administrative tasks such as configuration, logging, and reporting. It is supported by a separate processor, RAM, and hard drive to ensure these tasks do not interfere with real-time traffic processing.
2.signature matching:
This involves identifying threats using stream-based, uniform signature matching techniques. It targets exploits (via Intrusion Prevention System - IPS), viruses, spyware, command-and-control (C2) traffic, and stolen sensitive data (SSN).
3.security processing:
This plane performs advanced security functions using high-density parallel processing, enabling flexible and standardized handling of complex security tasks across multiple cores or processors.
4.network processing:
This focuses on network-related tasks, leveraging hardware-accelerated processing for per-packet route lookups, MAC address lookups, and Network Address Translation (NAT) to optimize performance.
These mappings align with the Palo Alto Networks firewall architecture, where different planes are dedicated to specific functions, supported by specialized hardware or processing capabilities. This design ensures efficient handling of management, security, and network tasks.

References:
Palo Alto Networks Documentation:
Firewall Architecture Overview
Palo Alto Networks Technical Whitepapers:
Single-Pass Parallel Processing Architecture

Explanation:

Why ECDSA Over RSA?
1.Performance Impact:
ECDSA (Elliptic Curve Cryptography) is less CPU-intensive than RSA for decryption, especially for bulk traffic.
RSA relies on large prime numbers, requiring more computational power for key exchanges and signing operations.
Switching non-sensitive traffic to ECDSA reduces decryption overhead while maintaining security.
2.Resource Optimization:
The firewall is near capacity, so optimizing decryption efficiency is critical.
ECDSA provides comparable security to RSA with shorter key lengths (e.g., 256-bit ECDSA ≈ 3072-bit RSA)

. Why Not the Other Options?
A. Use RSA
Increases load (RSA is more resource-intensive than ECDSA).
B. Highest TLS version
TLS 1.3 improves security but doesn’t reduce decryption load (may even increase it).
D. SSL Forward Proxy
Irrelevant—this is for outbound decryption, not reducing resource usage.

Additional Optimization Tips:
Exclude low-risk traffic from decryption (e.g., public websites).
Use Session Timeouts to limit long-lived decrypted sessions.
Monitor Decryption Profiles to fine-tune policies.

Reference:
Palo Alto Networks Decryption Best Practices:
"ECDSA is recommended for reducing CPU load during decryption, particularly for non-critical traffic."

Explanation:

Recall Panorama Deployment Modes
1.Panorama Mode
Full management + log collection.
Logs stored locally (Panorama / Dedicated Log Collectors).
2.Log Collector Mode
Panorama works only as a log collector.
Stores logs locally.
3.Legacy Mode
Pre–PAN-OS 8.0, combined mgmt + logging.
Deprecated.
4.Management Only Mode
Panorama manages devices (device-groups, templates, policies).
Does not store logs locally.
All logs can be forwarded to Cortex Data Lake (CDL).
✔ Exactly what the question requires.

Evaluate the options
A. Log Collector → Stores logs locally → ❌
B. Panorama → Stores logs locally → ❌
C. Legacy → Deprecated, still stores locally → ❌
D. Management Only → Sends logs only to Cortex Data Lake → ✅

Official Reference
Palo Alto Networks – Panorama Deployment Modes
“Use Management Only mode if you want Panorama to manage firewalls while all logs are forwarded to Cortex Data Lake, with no local log storage.”

Explanation:

Why This Sequence?
1.Policy-Based Forwarding (PBF):
Evaluated first (before routing).
Overrides normal routing if a matching PBF rule exists.
2.Static Route (or Routing Table):
If no PBF match, the firewall checks the routing table (static/dynamic routes).
3.Security Policy Enforcement:
After routing is determined, traffic must pass security policies before egress.

Why Not Other Options?
AZone Protection and Packet Buffer Protection are security features, not routing steps.
BGP is a routing protocol (processed after PBF, but NAT happens before routing).
DOSPF is a routing protocol (evaluated after NAT and security policies).

Reference:
Palo Alto Packet Flow Order:
PBF → 2. Routing (Static/Dynamic) → 3. Security Policies → 4. Egress.