Use Panorama-Based Software Firewall License Management

Table of Contents

Serial Number and CPU ID Format for the VM-Series Firewall

Software NGFW Credits

Use Panorama-Based Software Firewall License Management

Learn about how to use the Panorama Software Firewall License plugin to license VM-Series firewalls.

Where Can I Use This?	What Do I Need?
VM-Series deployment	VM-Series 10.x or above Panorama running PAN-OS 10.1.x or above versions Customer Support Portal (CSP) account with one of the following user roles: Superuser, Standard User, Limited User, Threat Researcher, AutoFocus Trial Role, Group superuser, Group Standard User, Group Limited User, Group Threat Researcher, Authorized Support Center (ASC) User, and ASC Full Service User Superuser access to the VM-Series firewall

Where Can I Use This?

What Do I Need?

VM-Series deployment

VM-Series 10.x or above
Panorama running PAN-OS 10.1.x or above versions
Customer Support Portal (CSP) account with one of the following user roles:
- Superuser, Standard User, Limited User, Threat Researcher, AutoFocus Trial Role, Group superuser, Group Standard User, Group Limited User, Group Threat Researcher, Authorized Support Center (ASC) User, and ASC Full Service User
- Superuser access to the VM-Series firewall

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 don't 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.

Don't 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, don't 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 2.0.8 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 isn't configured. This occurs because Panorama won't forward IP-tag information to unconfigured plugins. Additionally, this issue can occur if one or more of the Panorama plugins isn't 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.

If you encounter this issue, there are two workarounds:

Uninstall the unconfigured plugin or plugins. It is recommended that you don't 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 don't, your firewalls may lose some IP-tag information.
request plugins dau plugin-name <plugin-name> unblock-device-push yes
You 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.
1. Log in to the Panorama web interface.
2. Select PanoramaPlugins.
3. Click Check Now to get the list of available plugins.
4. Search for sw_fw_license to locate the plugin.
5. Select Download and Install the Software Licensing plugin.
After you successfully install, Panorama refreshes and the Software Licensing plugin displays on the Panorama tab.
Configure a Bootstrap Definition.
1. Select PanoramaSW Firewall LicenseBootstrap Definitions.
2. Click Add.
3. Enter a descriptive Name to identify the Bootstrap Definition.
4. (Optional) Enter a Description of the Bootstrap Definition.
5. Enter the Auth Code that Panorama will use to license the VM-Series firewall when it connects to Panorama.
6. Click OK.
Configure a License Manager.
1. Select PanoramaSW Firewall LicenseLicense Managers.
2. Click Add.
3. Enter a descriptive Name to identify the License Manager.
4. (Optional) Enter a Description of the License Manager.
5. Select a Device Group from the drop-down. When a VM-Series firewall bootstrapped using the license manager connects to Panorama, it is placed in the specified device group.
6. Select a Template Stack from the drop-down. When a VM-Series firewall bootstrapped using the license manager connects to Panorama, it is placed in the specified template Stack.
7. In the Auto Deactivate field, specify the amount of time, in hours, that Panorama waits before deactivating the license of a disconnected VM-Series firewall. When you select Never, 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.
  Before deactivating, set the API key using:
  request license api-key set key <key>
  
  When an Auto Deactivate interval is configured, the plugin might also deactivate the license of stopped VM-Series firewalls in addition to disconnected firewalls.
8. Select a Bootstrap Definition from 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.
9. Click OK.
10. Commit your changes.
(Optional) Create an init-cfg.txt file for bootstrapping 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 the init-cfg.txt file. Panorama will always generate the auth-key and plugin-op-commands=panorama-licensing-mode-on for use in your init-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.
1. Select PanoramaSW Firewall LicenseLicense Managers.
2. In the Action column of a given license manager, click Show Bootstrap Parameters.
3. Copy the displayed information and paste it into a text editor to create an init-cfg.txt file for bootstrapping.
4. Click Close when finished.
(Optional) View and deactivate a managed VM-Series firewall. From the Show Devices dialogue, 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.

During the delicensing process, the software firewall license plugin successfully removes the firewall from the template stack, device group, and managed devices. However, the firewall is not removed from the log collector after delicensing is complete.
1. Select PanoramaSW Firewall LicenseLicense Managers.
2. In the Action column of a given license manager, click Show Devices.
3. 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 click Deactivate.
(Optional) Verify that Panorama has completed the necessary API calls to license connected firewalls.
1. Log in to the Panorama command line interface.
2. Execute the following command.
  show plugins sw_fw_license panorama-api-requests