Floating IP Address and Virtual MAC Address
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Next-Generation Firewall Docs
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PAN-OS 11.1 & Later
- PAN-OS 11.1 & Later
- PAN-OS 11.0 (EoL)
- PAN-OS 10.2
- PAN-OS 10.1
- PAN-OS 10.0 (EoL)
- PAN-OS 9.1 (EoL)
- Cloud Management of NGFWs
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- Management Interfaces
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- Launch the Web Interface
- Use the Administrator Login Activity Indicators to Detect Account Misuse
- Manage and Monitor Administrative Tasks
- Commit, Validate, and Preview Firewall Configuration Changes
- Commit Selective Configuration Changes
- Export Configuration Table Data
- Use Global Find to Search the Firewall or Panorama Management Server
- Manage Locks for Restricting Configuration Changes
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- Define Access to the Web Interface Tabs
- Provide Granular Access to the Monitor Tab
- Provide Granular Access to the Policy Tab
- Provide Granular Access to the Objects Tab
- Provide Granular Access to the Network Tab
- Provide Granular Access to the Device Tab
- Define User Privacy Settings in the Admin Role Profile
- Restrict Administrator Access to Commit and Validate Functions
- Provide Granular Access to Global Settings
- Provide Granular Access to the Panorama Tab
- Provide Granular Access to Operations Settings
- Panorama Web Interface Access Privileges
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- Reset the Firewall to Factory Default Settings
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- Plan Your Authentication Deployment
- Pre-Logon for SAML Authentication
- Configure SAML Authentication
- Configure Kerberos Single Sign-On
- Configure Kerberos Server Authentication
- Configure TACACS+ Authentication
- Configure TACACS Accounting
- Configure RADIUS Authentication
- Configure LDAP Authentication
- Configure Local Database Authentication
- Configure an Authentication Profile and Sequence
- Test Authentication Server Connectivity
- Troubleshoot Authentication Issues
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- Keys and Certificates
- Default Trusted Certificate Authorities (CAs)
- Certificate Deployment
- Configure the Master Key
- Export a Certificate and Private Key
- Configure a Certificate Profile
- Configure an SSL/TLS Service Profile
- Configure an SSH Service Profile
- Replace the Certificate for Inbound Management Traffic
- Configure the Key Size for SSL Forward Proxy Server Certificates
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- HA Overview
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- Prerequisites for Active/Active HA
- Configure Active/Active HA
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- Use Case: Configure Active/Active HA with Route-Based Redundancy
- Use Case: Configure Active/Active HA with Floating IP Addresses
- Use Case: Configure Active/Active HA with ARP Load-Sharing
- Use Case: Configure Active/Active HA with Floating IP Address Bound to Active-Primary Firewall
- Use Case: Configure Active/Active HA with Source DIPP NAT Using Floating IP Addresses
- Use Case: Configure Separate Source NAT IP Address Pools for Active/Active HA Firewalls
- Use Case: Configure Active/Active HA for ARP Load-Sharing with Destination NAT
- Use Case: Configure Active/Active HA for ARP Load-Sharing with Destination NAT in Layer 3
- HA Clustering Overview
- HA Clustering Best Practices and Provisioning
- Configure HA Clustering
- Refresh HA1 SSH Keys and Configure Key Options
- HA Firewall States
- Reference: HA Synchronization
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- Use the Dashboard
- Monitor Applications and Threats
- Monitor Block List
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- Report Types
- View Reports
- Configure the Expiration Period and Run Time for Reports
- Disable Predefined Reports
- Custom Reports
- Generate Custom Reports
- Generate the SaaS Application Usage Report
- Manage PDF Summary Reports
- Generate User/Group Activity Reports
- Manage Report Groups
- Schedule Reports for Email Delivery
- Manage Report Storage Capacity
- View Policy Rule Usage
- Use External Services for Monitoring
- Configure Log Forwarding
- Configure Email Alerts
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- Configure Syslog Monitoring
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- Traffic Log Fields
- Threat Log Fields
- URL Filtering Log Fields
- Data Filtering Log Fields
- HIP Match Log Fields
- GlobalProtect Log Fields
- IP-Tag Log Fields
- User-ID Log Fields
- Decryption Log Fields
- Tunnel Inspection Log Fields
- SCTP Log Fields
- Authentication Log Fields
- Config Log Fields
- System Log Fields
- Correlated Events Log Fields
- GTP Log Fields
- Audit Log Fields
- Syslog Severity
- Custom Log/Event Format
- Escape Sequences
- Forward Logs to an HTTP/S Destination
- Firewall Interface Identifiers in SNMP Managers and NetFlow Collectors
- Monitor Transceivers
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- User-ID Overview
- Enable User-ID
- Map Users to Groups
- Enable User- and Group-Based Policy
- Enable Policy for Users with Multiple Accounts
- Verify the User-ID Configuration
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- App-ID Overview
- App-ID and HTTP/2 Inspection
- Manage Custom or Unknown Applications
- Safely Enable Applications on Default Ports
- Applications with Implicit Support
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- Prepare to Deploy App-ID Cloud Engine
- Enable or Disable the App-ID Cloud Engine
- App-ID Cloud Engine Processing and Policy Usage
- New App Viewer (Policy Optimizer)
- Add Apps to an Application Filter with Policy Optimizer
- Add Apps to an Application Group with Policy Optimizer
- Add Apps Directly to a Rule with Policy Optimizer
- Replace an RMA Firewall (ACE)
- Impact of License Expiration or Disabling ACE
- Commit Failure Due to Cloud Content Rollback
- Troubleshoot App-ID Cloud Engine
- Application Level Gateways
- Disable the SIP Application-level Gateway (ALG)
- Maintain Custom Timeouts for Data Center Applications
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- Decryption Overview
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- Keys and Certificates for Decryption Policies
- SSL Forward Proxy
- SSL Forward Proxy Decryption Profile
- SSL Inbound Inspection
- SSL Inbound Inspection Decryption Profile
- SSL Protocol Settings Decryption Profile
- SSH Proxy
- SSH Proxy Decryption Profile
- Profile for No Decryption
- SSL Decryption for Elliptical Curve Cryptography (ECC) Certificates
- Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS) Support for SSL Decryption
- SSL Decryption and Subject Alternative Names (SANs)
- TLSv1.3 Decryption
- High Availability Not Supported for Decrypted Sessions
- Decryption Mirroring
- Configure SSL Forward Proxy
- Configure SSL Inbound Inspection
- Configure SSH Proxy
- Configure Server Certificate Verification for Undecrypted Traffic
- Post-Quantum Cryptography Detection and Control
- Enable Users to Opt Out of SSL Decryption
- Temporarily Disable SSL Decryption
- Configure Decryption Port Mirroring
- Verify Decryption
- Activate Free Licenses for Decryption Features
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- Policy Types
- Policy Objects
- Track Rules Within a Rulebase
- Enforce Policy Rule Description, Tag, and Audit Comment
- Move or Clone a Policy Rule or Object to a Different Virtual System
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- External Dynamic List
- Built-in External Dynamic Lists
- Configure the Firewall to Access an External Dynamic List
- Retrieve an External Dynamic List from the Web Server
- View External Dynamic List Entries
- Exclude Entries from an External Dynamic List
- Enforce Policy on an External Dynamic List
- Find External Dynamic Lists That Failed Authentication
- Disable Authentication for an External Dynamic List
- Register IP Addresses and Tags Dynamically
- Use Dynamic User Groups in Policy
- Use Auto-Tagging to Automate Security Actions
- CLI Commands for Dynamic IP Addresses and Tags
- Application Override Policy
- Test Policy Rules
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- Network Segmentation Using Zones
- How Do Zones Protect the Network?
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PAN-OS 11.1 & Later
- PAN-OS 11.1 & Later
- PAN-OS 11.0 (EoL)
- PAN-OS 10.2
- PAN-OS 10.1
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- Tap Interfaces
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- Layer 2 and Layer 3 Packets over a Virtual Wire
- Port Speeds of Virtual Wire Interfaces
- LLDP over a Virtual Wire
- Aggregated Interfaces for a Virtual Wire
- Virtual Wire Support of High Availability
- Zone Protection for a Virtual Wire Interface
- VLAN-Tagged Traffic
- Virtual Wire Subinterfaces
- Configure Virtual Wires
- Configure a PPPoE Client on a Subinterface
- Configure an IPv6 PPPoE Client
- Configure an Aggregate Interface Group
- Configure Bonjour Reflector for Network Segmentation
- Use Interface Management Profiles to Restrict Access
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- DHCP Overview
- Firewall as a DHCP Server and Client
- Firewall as a DHCPv6 Client
- DHCP Messages
- Dynamic IPv6 Addressing on the Management Interface
- Configure an Interface as a DHCP Server
- Configure an Interface as a DHCPv4 Client
- Configure an Interface as a DHCPv6 Client with Prefix Delegation
- Configure the Management Interface as a DHCP Client
- Configure the Management Interface for Dynamic IPv6 Address Assignment
- Configure an Interface as a DHCP Relay Agent
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- DNS Overview
- DNS Proxy Object
- DNS Server Profile
- Multi-Tenant DNS Deployments
- Configure a DNS Proxy Object
- Configure a DNS Server Profile
- Use Case 1: Firewall Requires DNS Resolution
- Use Case 2: ISP Tenant Uses DNS Proxy to Handle DNS Resolution for Security Policies, Reporting, and Services within its Virtual System
- Use Case 3: Firewall Acts as DNS Proxy Between Client and Server
- DNS Proxy Rule and FQDN Matching
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- NAT Rule Capacities
- Dynamic IP and Port NAT Oversubscription
- Dataplane NAT Memory Statistics
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- Translate Internal Client IP Addresses to Your Public IP Address (Source DIPP NAT)
- Create a Source NAT Rule with Persistent DIPP
- PAN-OS
- Strata Cloud Manager
- Enable Clients on the Internal Network to Access your Public Servers (Destination U-Turn NAT)
- Enable Bi-Directional Address Translation for Your Public-Facing Servers (Static Source NAT)
- Configure Destination NAT with DNS Rewrite
- Configure Destination NAT Using Dynamic IP Addresses
- Modify the Oversubscription Rate for DIPP NAT
- Reserve Dynamic IP NAT Addresses
- Disable NAT for a Specific Host or Interface
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- Network Packet Broker Overview
- How Network Packet Broker Works
- Prepare to Deploy Network Packet Broker
- Configure Transparent Bridge Security Chains
- Configure Routed Layer 3 Security Chains
- Network Packet Broker HA Support
- User Interface Changes for Network Packet Broker
- Limitations of Network Packet Broker
- Troubleshoot Network Packet Broker
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- Enable Advanced Routing
- Logical Router Overview
- Configure a Logical Router
- Create a Static Route
- Configure BGP on an Advanced Routing Engine
- Create BGP Routing Profiles
- Create Filters for the Advanced Routing Engine
- Configure OSPFv2 on an Advanced Routing Engine
- Create OSPF Routing Profiles
- Configure OSPFv3 on an Advanced Routing Engine
- Create OSPFv3 Routing Profiles
- Configure RIPv2 on an Advanced Routing Engine
- Create RIPv2 Routing Profiles
- Create BFD Profiles
- Configure IPv4 Multicast
- Configure MSDP
- Create Multicast Routing Profiles
- Create an IPv4 MRoute
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PAN-OS 11.2
- PAN-OS 11.2
- PAN-OS 11.1
- PAN-OS 11.0 (EoL)
- PAN-OS 10.2
- PAN-OS 10.1
- PAN-OS 10.0 (EoL)
- PAN-OS 9.1 (EoL)
- PAN-OS 9.0 (EoL)
- PAN-OS 8.1 (EoL)
- Cloud Management and AIOps for NGFW
Floating IP Address and Virtual MAC Address
In a Layer 3 deployment of HA active/active mode, you
can assign floating IP addresses, which move from one HA firewall
to the other if a link or firewall fails. The interface on the firewall
that owns the floating IP address responds to ARP requests with
a virtual MAC address.
Floating IP addresses are recommended when you need functionality
such as Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP). Floating IP addresses
can also be used to implement VPNs and source NAT, allowing for
persistent connections when a firewall offering those services fails.
As shown in the figure below, each HA firewall interface has
its own IP address and floating IP address. The interface IP address
remains local to the firewall, but the floating IP address moves
between the firewalls upon firewall failure. You configure the end
hosts to use a floating IP address as its default gateway, allowing you
to load balance traffic to the two HA peers. You can also use external
load balancers to load balance traffic.
If a link or firewall fails or a path monitoring event causes
a failover, the floating IP address and virtual MAC address move
over to the functional firewall. (In the figure below, each firewall
has two floating IP addresses and virtual MAC addresses; they all
move over if the firewall fails.) The functioning firewall sends
a gratuitous ARP to update the MAC tables of the connected switches
to inform them of the change in floating IP address and MAC address
ownership to redirect traffic to itself.
After the failed firewall recovers, by default the floating IP
address and virtual MAC address move back to firewall with the Device
ID [0 or 1] to which the floating IP address is bound. More specifically,
after the failed firewall recovers, it comes on line. The currently
active firewall determines that the firewall is back online and checks
whether the floating IP address it is handling belongs natively
to itself or the other firewall. If the floating IP address was
originally bound to the other Device ID, the firewall automatically
gives it back. (For an alternative to this default behavior, see Use
Case: Configure Active/Active HA with Floating IP Address Bound
to Active-Primary Firewall.)
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Each firewall in the HA pair creates a virtual MAC address for
each of its interfaces that has a floating IP address or ARP
Load-Sharing IP address.
The format of the virtual MAC address on PA-7000, PA-7000b, PA-5400, PA-5200, PA-3200
Series, and CN-Series firewalls is B4-0C-25-XX-YY-ZZ, where B4-0C-25 is the vendor ID
(of Palo Alto Networks in this case), and the next 24 bits indicate the Device ID, Group
ID and Interface ID as follows:
7 6 5 | 4 | 3 2 1 0 7 6 | 5 4 3 2 | 1 0 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 |
---|---|---|---|---|
111 | Device-ID | Group-ID | 0000 | Interface-ID |
The following graphic provides an example. Suppose the HA firewall has an Interface ID of
66. The number 66 in binary is 01000010. The Firewall Info row of the pink section shows
the rightmost ten bit positions have a 1 in the 64 (binary) column and a 1 in the 2
(binary) column, totaling 66, and two leading zeroes. The green section contains fixed
zeroes. Now suppose the firewall Group ID is 58. The number 58 in binary is 111010, as
shown in the Firewall Info row of the purple section. Finally, suppose the Device ID is
1, as shown in the Firewall Info row of the blue section. The Firewall Info row of the
yellow section contains fixed ones. When you look at the full string of bits, starting
from the left, the orange octet totals 254 (decimal), the pale blue octet totals 128
(decimal), and the bright green octet totals 66 (decimal). Converting decimal to hex, we
have FE-80-42. Therefore, the full virtual MAC address including the Palo Alto Networks
vendor ID is B4-0C-25-FE-80-42.
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The format of the virtual MAC address on the remaining firewall models is 00-1B-17-00-xx-yy,
where 00-1B-17 is the vendor ID (of Palo Alto Networks in this case), 00 is fixed, xx
indicates the Device ID and Group ID as shown in the following figure, and yy is the
Interface ID:
7 | 6 | 5 4 3 2 1 0 | 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 |
---|---|---|---|
Device-ID | 0 | Group-ID | Interface-ID |
When a new active firewall takes over, it sends gratuitous ARPs
from each of its connected interfaces to inform the connected Layer
2 switches of the new location of the virtual MAC address. To configure
floating IP addresses, see Use
Case: Configure Active/Active HA with Floating IP Addresses.