Palo Alto Interview Questions

In the current era of living, Security is one of the important aspects which needs to be monitored and concerned by most organizations. Palo Alto is one of the popular cybersecurity management systems that is specifically used for managing the security among networking applications. I know you are looking to build your career that has the right opportunities and growth and Palo Alto is one of the platforms that will help you achieve success. Without taking much time, let us get into the actual part of Palo Alto. I know you are looking to attend the interview for Palo Alto and grab the positions. In this article, you will get an idea about the Palo Alto interview questions. This article contains the most frequently asked Palo Alto interview questions and answers that are curated by the experts. Let’s get started!

Palo Alto Interview Questions and Answers

1. Palo Alto has got a name called a stateful firewall. Do you know why and what does it mean?

Ans: Palo Alto is considered a stateful firewall as it is capable of handling the traffic that is being transmitted against a particular session. Each and every session is said to be matched against the security policy as well.

2. Briefly explain the different types of deployment modes that are facilitated through Palo Alto?

Ans: Palo Alto facilitates four different types of deployment modes that include the following:

1. Tap Mode: The tap mode is providing flexibility to the users, allowing them to monitor any type of traffic flow that is present in the networking system by using a tap or a switch SPAN.
2. Virtual Wire: In the virtual model of the deployment, the firewall system will be installed passively on any type of network segment which will be a combination of two interfaces together.
3. Layer 2 mode: In layer 2 mode, there will be a configuration of multiple networking interfaces either into a VLAN mode or a virtual switch mode.
4. Layer 3 deployment: The Palo Alto firewall is capable of routing and allowing the traffic that exists between the different interfaces in the layer 3 deployments. The user is responsible for adding the IP address to every interface that exists.

3. Briefly explain the advantages of using Panorama in Palo Alto?

Ans: Panorama is providing different levels of benefits when used in Palo Alto. A few of them are listed below:

1. It allows the users to update the software quickly using bulk options just through a single click.
2. It allows the users to generate a complete report, which will also help you in validating the compliance status.
3. It helps the users to use the panorama logs, which will help you in solving the issues.

4. What do you understand by the term WAF? Briefly give an idea about its uses?

Ans: WAF in Palo Alto stands for Web Application Firewall.WAF is responsible for monitoring the web applications and also improving the security and the features associated with them. It also helps in protecting the web application by ensuring that the traffic is filtered between the application and the internet.

5. Briefly explain the different terms HA, HA1, and HA2 that are facilitated through Palo Alto?

Ans: HA stands for High Availability. HA is considered a deployment model that helps in preventing single-point failures across a network. High Availability includes two different firewalls along with a configuration that is synchronized. The security features will be applicable even if one of the firewalls crashes. Hence, through this, there will not be any interruptions in the business. 

When coming to HA1 and HA2, there will not be any major difference, however, they are referred to as the different ports that are available. HA1 is called the control link and the HA2 link is called the data link. HA1 and HA2 are responsible for maintaining the synchronization of the data along with the maintenance of the state information.

6. Which type of architecture does Palo Alto use?

Ans: Palo Alto utilizes the single-pass parallel processing architecture.

7. List out the different types of links that are used to develop a HA or HA introduction?

Ans: Below listed are the four different types of links that are used for developing or establishing a HA or HA introduction.

1. HA1
2. HA2
3. Backup links
4. Packet forwarding links

8. What are the different states that are available in HA firewalls?

Ans: Below listed are the different states that are available in the HA firewall.

1. Initial state
2. Passive state
3. Active state
4. Active primary state
5. Active secondary state
6. Tentative state
7. Non-functional state
8. Suspended state

9.Briefly give an idea about the application command center (ACC)?

Ans: Application command center or simply ACC is one of the command center platforms that provide visibility and availability to the different traffic patterns, along with the actionable information in the network firewall logs.

10. Can you give a brief explanation about the different types of protections that are available in Palo Alto?

Ans: As Palo alto is known for security, it consists of two different types of protections. They are:

• Zone protection profile.
• Configuration under the network tab protection

11. Explain about APP-ID?

Ans: APP-ID in simpler terms, is called for Application identification. The APP_ID is one of the most important components in Palo Alto. The APP-ID is responsible for performing certain functions like identifying the applications and also capable of traversing the firewalls independently.

12. Briefly explain endpoint security in Palo Alto?

Ans: We all know how important security is nowadays. Endpoint security in Palo alto here refers to the feature that is responsible for protecting the user devices from unauthorized threats. User’s devices could be desktops, laptops, etc. Endpoint security is one of the security suites that is helping the users in securing the data and applications effectively across all the organizations.

13. What are the different media types supported by the firewall?

Ans: The Palo alto network provides its extensive support to two different types of media types. They are fiber optic and copper.

14. Why is Palo alto called the next-generation firewall? Briefly explain the reasons behind this?

Ans: I think many of you might have known that Palo alto is called a next-generation firewall as it has everything that is required and is considered as the intrusion prevention system. It has come up with the most important application control features which are paving a way to deliver the requirements a bit different from the other vendors when compared. It is capable of delivering all the security features that are required to the users using a single platform at its best.

15. List out the different features that Palo Alto is flexible to provide its support when it is present in the virtual wire mode?

Ans: Below listed are the different features that Palo Alto is flexible to provide its support when it is present in the virtual wire mode.

1. Content ID
2. Decryption
3. App-ID
4. NAT
5. User-ID.

16. Illustrate the differences between P500 and P200 and other higher models?

Ans: There is a difference in the software that is implemented in PA 200 and PA 500 which leads to implementation of certain activities like network processing and signature processing. When it comes to the other higher models, these include hardware processors which are dedicated to the model.

17. What is meant by virtual systems? 

Ans: A virtual system is referred to as a logical and exclusive firewall that is present in Palo Alto. The traffic that is present in the virtual system is differentiated and kept separately though it is an independent firewall. 

18. Which kind of protocol is used for the exchange of heartbeats between the HA?

Ans: The protocol that is used for the exchange of heartbeats between HA is the ICMP protocol. 

19. Explain the significance of virtual wire interface in the Palo Alto technology?

Ans: The virtual wire interface is capable of allowing the traffic transmission that exists between two interfaces and this can be performed by binding together. 

20. What do you understand by the term virtual router in Palo Alto ?

Ans: Virtual router is referred to as a firewall function which is included in the layer 3 routing. 

21. What are the different types of logs that can be viewed on the Palo Alto next generation firewalls?

Ans: The traffic logs can be viewed on the Palo Alto next generation firewalls. Some of the logs are filtering logs, GTP logs, unified logs, wildfire submissions, thread logs, correlation logs, alarm logs, configuration logs, data filter logs, alarm logs, system logs, etc.

22. What is the management port IP address and the default username and password that is available on the Palo Alto firewall?

Ans: The default IP address that is used for the management port is 192.168.1.1 and the username and password that are used is admin and admin respectively.

23. What are the steps involved to add a license on to the Palo Alto firewall?

Ans: Below are the steps that are used for the activation of the license on to the Palo Alto firewall. 

1. The primary step is to identify the activation codes for the license purchases that you have made. 
2. You will need to activate the support license. 
3. It is important that you activate each and every license that you have purchased. 
4. You need to verify the license if it is activated successfully or not. 
5. Once done you will need to perform a commit, and complete the subscription activation of the Wildfire

24. What do you understand by the term dynamic updates and how do you schedule them?

Ans: The Palo Alto networks are capable of publishing the updated and new applications using the dynamic updates. Setting up or scheduling for the dynamic updates will help you in defining the frequency levels of the firewall checks and also help in the installation and downloading of the new updates. There is an option called as scheduled which will help you to schedule the frequency level as well for the updates. You can also redefine when and how often the dynamic update should take place. You can also select the options if you want to download and install or download only based on your requirements. 

25. Why is the Palo Alto network used together with splunk?

Ans: The Palo Alto networks is capable of providing a visibility that is usually required by splunk, which will for the help to provide some useful and actionable insights. Both of these technologies work together to maintain the network security.

Conclusion:

As the statement says, Palo Alto is the next-generation firewall, you might have got an idea of its importance and features, impact in the coming days. Hence, it is important to look for the best opportunities around the globe and grab one of them. I hope the above interview questions are helpful to you. It is recommended for you to get trained and certified in this technology or platform as it depicts the future. Wishing you all the best for the interview and your future as well!