You can configure the firewall to use External Authentication Services for authenticating administrators who access the firewall or Panorama and end users who access services or applications through Authentication Portal. To ensure that the firewall does not waste resources by continuously trying to reach an authentication server that is unreachable, you can set a timeout interval after which the firewall stops trying to connect. You set the timeout in the server profiles that define how the firewall connects to the authentication servers. When choosing timeout values, your goal is to strike a balance between the need to conserve firewall resources and to account for normal network delays that affect how quickly authentication servers respond to the firewall.