PCSFE Sample Questions Answers

CN-Series firewall is the software firewall that would help a prospect interested in securing an environment with Kubernetes. Kubernetes is a platform that provides orchestration, automation, and management of containerized applications. Kubernetes environment requires network security that can protect the inter-service communication from cyberattacks and enforce granular security policies based on application or workload characteristics. CN-Series firewall is a containerized firewall that integrates with Kubernetes and provides visibility and control over container traffic. CN-Series firewall can help a prospect interested in securing an environment with Kubernetes by inspecting and enforcing security policies on traffic between containers within a pod, across pods, or across namespaces in a Kubernetes cluster. KN-Series, ML-Series, VM-Series, and Cloud next-generation firewall are not software firewalls that would help a prospect interested in securing an environment with Kubernetes, but they are related solutions that can be deployed on different platforms or environments. References: Palo Alto Networks Certified Software Firewall Engineer (PCSFE), [CN-Series Datasheet], [CN-Series Concepts], [What is Kubernetes?]

The appropriate file format for Kubernetes applications is .yaml. YAML is a human-readable data serialization language that is commonly used for configuration files. Kubernetes applications are defined and deployed using YAML files that specify the desired state and configuration of the application components, such as pods, services, deployments, or ingresses. YAML files for Kubernetes applications follow a specific syntax and structure that adhere to the Kubernetes API specifications. .exe, .json, and .xml are not appropriate file formats for Kubernetes applications, but they are related formats that can be used for other purposes. References: Palo Alto Networks Certified Software Firewall Engineer (PCSFE), [What is YAML?], [Kubernetes Basics], [Kubernetes API Overview]

 The two factors that lead to improved return on investment for prospects interested in Palo Alto Networks virtualized next-generation firewalls (NGFWs) are:

• Decreased likelihood of data breach
• Reduced time to deploy

Palo Alto Networks virtualized NGFWs are virtualized versions of the Palo Alto Networks next-generation firewall that can be deployed on various cloud or virtualization platforms. Palo Alto Networks virtualized NGFWs provide comprehensive security and visibility across hybrid and multi-cloud environments, protecting applications and data from cyberattacks. By using Palo Alto Networks virtualized NGFWs, prospects can decrease the likelihood of data breach by applying granular security policies based on application, user, content, and threat information, and by leveraging cloud-delivered services such as Threat Prevention, WildFire, URL Filtering, DNS Security, and Cortex Data Lake. By using Palo Alto Networks virtualized NGFWs, prospects can also reduce the time to deploy by taking advantage of automation and orchestration tools such as Terraform, Ansible, CloudFormation, ARM templates, and Panorama plugins that simplify and accelerate the deployment and configuration of firewalls across different cloud platforms. Reduced operational expenditures and reduced insurance premiums are not factors that lead to improved return on investment for prospects interested in Palo Alto Networks virtualized NGFWs, but they may be potential benefits or outcomes of using them. References: Palo Alto Networks Certified Software Firewall Engineer (PCSFE), [VM-Series Datasheet], [CN-Series Datasheet], [Cloud Security Solutions]

CN-Series firewall can protect communications between Dockers by firewalling. Dockers are software platforms that provide containerization technology for packaging and running applications in isolated environments. Communications between Dockers are network connections between containers within a Docker host or across Docker hosts. CN-Series firewall is a containerized firewall that integrates with Kubernetes and provides visibility and control over container traffic. CN-Series firewall can protect communications between Dockers by firewalling, which is the process of inspecting and enforcing security policies on network traffic based on application, user, content, and threat information. CN-Series firewall can also leverage threat prevention technologies, such as antivirus, anti-spyware, vulnerability protection, URL filtering, file blocking, data filtering, and WildFire analysis, to block any malicious content or activity in the communications between Dockers. CN-Series firewall does not protect communications between Dockers by runtime security, vulnerability management, or data loss prevention (DLP), as those are not features or functions of CN-Series firewall. References: [Palo Alto Networks Certified Software Firewall Engineer (PCSFE)], [CN-Series Datasheet], [CN-Series Concepts], [What is Docker?]

The two statements that apply to the VM-Series plugin are:

• It can be upgraded independently of PAN-OS.
• It enables management of cloud-specific interactions between VM-Series firewalls and supported public cloud platforms.

The VM-Series plugin is a software component that extends the functionality of the PAN-OS operating system to support cloud-specific features and APIs. The VM-Series plugin can be upgraded independently of PAN-OS to provide faster access to new cloud capabilities and integrations. The VM-Series plugin enables management of cloud-specific interactions between VM-Series firewalls and supported public cloud platforms, such as AWS, Azure, GCP, Alibaba Cloud, and Oracle Cloud. These interactions include bootstrapping, licensing, scaling, high availability, load balancing, and tagging. The VM-Series plugin cannot manage capabilities common to both VM-Series firewalls and hardware firewalls, as those are handled by PAN-OS. The VM-Series plugin cannot manage Panorama plugins, as those are separate software components that extend the functionality of the Panorama management server to support cloud-specific features and APIs. References: Palo Alto Networks Certified Software Firewall Engineer (PCSFE), [VM-Series Plugin Overview], [VM-Series Plugin Release Notes]

The two design options that address split brain when configuring high availability (HA) are:

• Adding a backup HA1 interface
• Using the heartbeat backup

Split brain is a condition that occurs when both firewalls in an HA pair assume the active role and start processing traffic independently, resulting in traffic duplication, policy inconsistency, or session disruption. Split brain can be caused by network failures, device failures, or configuration errors that prevent the firewalls from communicating their HA status and synchronizing their configurations and sessions. Adding a backup HA1 interface is a design option that addresses split brain when configuring HA. The HA1 interface is used for exchanging HA state information and configuration synchronization between the firewalls. Adding a backup HA1 interface provides redundancy and failover protection for the HA1 interface, ensuring that the firewalls can maintain their HA communication and avoid split brain. Using the heartbeat backup is a design option that addresses split brain when configuring HA. The heartbeat backup is a mechanism that allows the firewalls to send additional heartbeat messages through an alternate path, such as a management interface or a data interface, to verify the health of the peer firewall. Using the heartbeat backup prevents split brain caused by network failures or device failures that affect the primary HA interfaces. Bundling multiple interfaces in an aggregated interface group and assigning HA2, and sending heartbeats across the HA2 interfaces are not design options that address split brain when configuring HA, but they are related features that can enhance performance and reliability. References: Palo Alto Networks Certified Software Firewall Engineer (PCSFE), [High Availability Overview], [Configure HA Backup Links], [Configure Heartbeat Backup]

Containers are the elements that a CN-Series firewall can secure traffic between. Containers are isolated units of software that run on a shared operating system and have their own resources, dependencies, and configuration. A CN-Series firewall can inspect and enforce security policies on traffic between containers within a pod, across pods, or across namespaces in a Kubernetes cluster. Host containers, source applications, and IPods are not valid elements that a CN-Series firewall can secure traffic between. References: Palo Alto Networks Certified Software Firewall Engineer (PCSFE), [CN-Series Concepts], [What is a Container?]

DNS Security is a service that provides inbound traffic protection by preventing DNS-based attacks. DNS Security uses machine learning and threat intelligence to identify and block malicious domains, command and control (C2) traffic, and DNS tunneling. References: [DNS Security]

A Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) must be configured to use a Layer 3 underlay network in order to secure traffic in a Cisco ACI environment. A Layer 3 underlay network is a physical network that provides IP connectivity between devices, such as routers, switches, and firewalls. A Palo Alto Networks NGFW must use a Layer 3 underlay network to communicate with the Cisco ACI fabric and receive traffic redirection from the Cisco ACI policy-based redirect mechanism. A Palo Alto Networks NGFW does not need to be deployed as a member of a device cluster, receive all forwarding lookups from the network controller, or be identified as a default gateway in order to secure traffic in a Cisco ACI environment, as those are not valid requirements or options for firewall integration with Cisco ACI. References: Palo Alto Networks Certified Software Firewall Engineer (PCSFE), [Deploy the VM-Series Firewall on Cisco ACI], [Cisco ACI Underlay Network]

Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFWs) are deployed within a Cisco ACI architecture using service graphs. Service graphs are logical representations of how traffic flows through different network services, such as firewalls, load balancers, or routers. By configuring service graphs, you can insert NGFWs into the traffic path and apply security policies to the traffic. References: [Palo Alto Networks NGFW Integration with Cisco ACI]

Deployment of the NSX Distributed Firewall (DFW) must be configured in an NSX environment to ensure proper operation of a VM-Series firewall in order to secure east-west traffic. East-west traffic is the traffic that flows between applications or workloads within a network or a cloud environment. NSX environment is a private cloud environment that provides software-defined networking (SDN) and security for heterogeneous endpoints and workloads across multiple hypervisors, containers, bare metal servers, or clouds. NSX DFW is a feature that provides distributed stateful firewalling at the hypervisor level for every virtual machine (VM) in an NSX environment. Deployment of the NSX DFW must be configured in an NSX environment to ensure proper operation of a VM-Series firewall in order to secure east-west traffic by enabling features such as service insertion, policy redirection, service chaining, orchestration, monitoring, logging, and automation for VM-Series firewalls and Panorama on NSX environment. VMware Information Sources, User-ID agent on a Windows domain server, and device groups within VMware Services Manager do not need to be configured in an NSX environment to ensure proper operation of a VM-Series firewall in order to secure east-west traffic, as those are not required or relevant components for NSX integration. References: [Palo Alto Networks Certified Software Firewall Engineer (PCSFE)], [Deploy the VM-Series Firewall on VMware NSX-T], [What is VMware NSX-T?], [What is NSX Distributed Firewall?]

Security profiles are the components that scan for threats in allowed traffic. Security profiles are sets of rules or settings that define how the firewall will inspect and handle traffic based on various threat prevention technologies, such as antivirus, anti-spyware, vulnerability protection, URL filtering, file blocking, data filtering, and WildFire analysis. Security profiles can be applied to Security policy rules to enforce granular protection against known and unknown threats in allowed traffic. Intelligent Traffic Offload, TLS decryption, and NAT are not components that scan for threats in allowed traffic, but they are related features that can enhance security and performance. References: Palo Alto Networks Certified Software Firewall Engineer (PCSFE), [Security Profiles Overview], [Threat Prevention Datasheet]

To deploy VM-Series firewalls in high availability (HA), you need to assign identical licenses and subscriptions, and deploy them on a different host. Assigning identical licenses and subscriptions ensures that both firewalls have the same features and capabilities. Deploying them on a different host ensures that they are not affected by the same host failure. References: [VM-Series High Availability]

The two valid components that are used in installation of a VM-Series firewall in an OpenStack environment are:

• OpenStack heat template in YAML Ain’t Markup Language (YAML) format
• VM-Series qcow2 image

OpenStack is a cloud computing platform that provides infrastructure as a service (IaaS) for deploying and managing virtual machines (VMs) and other resources. OpenStack environment requires network security that can protect the traffic between VMs or other cloud services from cyberattacks and enforce granular security policies based on application, user, content, and threat information. VM-Series firewall is a virtualized version of the Palo Alto Networks next-generation firewall that can be deployed on various cloud or virtualization platforms, including OpenStack. OpenStack heat template in YAML format is a valid component that is used in installation of a VM-Series firewall in an OpenStack environment. OpenStack heat template is a file that defines the resources and configuration for deploying and managing a VM-Series firewall instance on OpenStack. YAML is a human-readable data serialization language that is commonly used for configuration files. YAML format is supported for OpenStack heat templates for VM-Series firewalls. VM-Series qcow2 image is a valid component that is used in installation of a VM-Series firewall in an OpenStack environment. VM-Series qcow2 image is a file that contains the software image of the VM-Series firewall for OpenStack. qcow2 is a disk image format that supports features such as compression, encryption, snapshots, and copy-on-write. qcow2 format is supported for VM-Series images for OpenStack. OpenStack heat template in JSON format and VM-Series VHD image are not valid components that are used in installation of a VM-Series firewall in an OpenStack environment, as those are not supported formats for OpenStack heat templates or VM-Series images. References: Palo Alto Networks Certified Software Firewall Engineer (PCSFE), [Deploy the VM-Series Firewall on OpenStack], [What is YAML?], [What is qcow2?]

The two deployment modes of VM-Series firewalls that are supported across NSX-T are:

• Bootstrap
• Service Cluster

NSX-T is a software-defined network (SDN) solution that provides network virtualization, automation, and security for cloud-native applications. Bootstrap is a method of deploying and configuring VM-Series firewalls in NSX-T using a bootstrap package that contains the initial setup information, such as licenses, certificates, software updates, and configuration files. Service Cluster is a mode of deploying VM-Series firewalls in NSX-T as a group of firewalls that act as a single logical firewall to provide scalability and high availability. Prism Central, Host-based, and Service Insertion are not deployment modes of VM-Series firewalls in NSX-T, but they are related concepts that can be used for other purposes. References: Palo Alto Networks Certified Software Firewall Engineer (PCSFE), [Deploy the VM-Series Firewall on NSX-T], [Bootstrap the VM-Series Firewall for NSX-T], [Deploy the VM-Series Firewall as a Service Cluster on NSX-T]