SSE-Engineer Palo Alto Networks Security Service Edge Engineer Questions and Answers

When onboarding a discovered application forZTNA Connector, configuring aTCP pingallows Prisma Access to accurately report the application'savailability.TCP ping(also known as aTCP connection check) verifies whether the application's service port isopen and responsive, ensuring that the application is reachable before allowing user connections. This method is more reliable thanICMP ping, as many cloud and SaaS applicationsblock ICMP trafficfor security reasons.

To meet the customer’s requirements,GlobalProtect and Remote Networksshould be used as follows:

GlobalProtect: This enables secure access for mobile users, ensuring internet filtering, data center connectivity, and access to branch locations.

Remote Networks: This is used to provide security and connectivity for branch locations, ensuring internet filtering and data center access.

Service Connections: These allow both mobile users and branch locations to securely connect to the data center for internal resources.

This configuration ensures that mobile users and branch locations can securely access the internet while maintaining asegregated and secureconnection to internal resources. It also aligns with Prisma Access's best practices forsecurity enforcement, traffic filtering, and centralized management.

The"400 Bad Request"error when attemptingSAML authenticationthrough theCloud Identity Engine (CIE)suggests amisconfiguration in the SAML metadata. This typically occurs when theendpoint URLs, certificates, or entity IDsdo not match betweenCloud Identity Engine and the IdP portal. To resolve this, verify that:

TheSAML metadatauploaded toCloud Identity Enginematches theconfiguration from the IdP.

TheACS (Assertion Consumer Service) URL, Entity ID, and certificateare correctly set.

There are no incorrect or expired certificates in theCloud Identity Engine and IdP configuration.

By ensuring theSAML metadatais properly configured inboth systems, authentication should proceed without errors.

In Prisma Access's default routing mode, the service connections establish BGP sessions with the customer premises equipment (CPE) in the data centers. To ensure traffic destined for mobile users in a specific region (e.g., North America) traverses the service connection in that same region, you need to control the route advertisements.

Filtering out the mobile user pool prefixes from the other region on each service connection achieves this by:

Preventing the data center in one region from learning the specific mobile user prefixes of the other region.For example, the North American service connection would filter out the mobile user pool prefixes allocated to European users.

Ensuring that when a data center needs to send traffic to a mobile user, it will only see and use the route advertised by the service connection in the appropriate geographical region.This forces the traffic to enter the Prisma Access infrastructure through the intended regional service connection.

Let's analyze why the other options are incorrect based on official documentation regarding default routing mode:

A. Configure BGP on the customer premises equipment (CPE) to prefer the assigned community string attribute on the mobile user prefixes in its respective Prisma Access region.While BGP communities can be used for influencing routing decisions, in the context ofdefault routing modeand ensuring regional traffic flow, relying solely on the CPE to prefer community strings might not be the most robust or direct method to guarantee traffic traverses the correct regional service connection. The service connection itself needs to control the advertisement of prefixes.

C. Configure BGP on the customer premises equipment (CPE) to prefer the MED attribute on the mobile user prefixes in its respective Prisma Access region.The BGP MED (Multi-Exit Discriminator) attribute is primarily used to influence the path selectionbetweenautonomous systems (AS) or within the same AS at different entry points. In this scenario, where serviceconnections are advertising prefixes, filtering at the source (service connection) is a more direct and reliable way to ensure regional traffic flow than relying on the MED attribute on the CPE.

D. Configure each service connection to prepend the BGP ASN five times for mobile user pool prefixes originating from the other region.BGP AS path prepending is a mechanism to make a path less desirable. While this could influence routing, it doesn't guarantee that traffic will always take the intended regional path. Filtering provides a more definitive control over which routes are advertised and learned.

Therefore, configuring each service connection to filter out the mobile user pool prefixes from the other region in the advertisements to the data center is the verified method to ensure traffic destined for mobile users traverses the service connection in the appropriate region when using Prisma Access in default routing mode.

SincePhase 1 of the IPSec tunnel is establishedbutPhase 2 traffic is not being received, theTunnel logsinStrata Logging Serviceshould be reviewed.Tunnel logsprovide visibility into IPSec tunnel establishment,Phase 2 negotiation, and any errors or dropped packets related to encrypted traffic. This will help identify whetherESP (Encapsulating Security Payload) traffic is being blocked, mismatched security associations (SAs) exist, or if there are other issues with Prisma Access responding to Phase 2-encrypted packets.

When the "Overlapping Subnets" checkbox is selected during the Remote Network onboarding process in Prisma Access, the deployment enables Private Application access using Prisma Access for Users(ZTNA or Private Access). This feature is designed to handle scenarios where multiple sites use the same IP subnet by leveraging NAT (Network Address Translation) and segmentation to avoid conflicts.

Since overlapping subnets can create routing challenges for direct remote network-to-remote network communication, Prisma Access does not support Remote Network-to-Remote Network or Mobile User communication in this case. Private application access is supported as Prisma Access correctly routes requests based on application-layer intelligence rather than IP-based routing.

Palo Alto Networks documentation explicitly states that the"Preview Changes"functionality within the Strata Cloud Manager (SCM) push dialogue allows engineers to review a detailed summary of all modifications that will be applied to the Prisma Access configuration before committing the changes. This is the primary and most reliable method to ensure only the intended changes are deployed.

Let's analyze why the other options are incorrect based on official documentation:

A. Review the SCM portal for blue circular indicators next to each configuration menu item and ensure only the intended areas of configuration have this indicator.While blue circular indicators might signify unsaved changes within a specific configuration section, they do not provide a comprehensive, consolidated view ofallpending changes across different policy areas. This method is insufficient for verifying the entirety of the intended modifications.

B. Compare the candidate configuration and the most recent version under "Config Version Snapshots".While comparing configuration snapshots is a valuable method for understanding historical changes and potentially identifying unintended deviationsaftera push, it does not provide a real-time preview of thependingchanges before they are applied during the current modification session

C. Select the most recent job under Operations > Push Status to view the pending changes that would apply to Prisma Access.The "Push Status" section primarily displays the status anddetails ofcompletedorin-progresspush operations. It does not offer a preview of the changesbeforea push is initiated.

Therefore, the "Preview Changes" feature within the push dialogue is the documented and recommended method for an engineer to verify that only the intended changes will be applied when modifying Prisma Access policy configuration in Strata Cloud Manager (SCM).

When multitenancy is enabled in Prisma Access (Managed by Panorama), a key characteristic is the isolation of resources between tenants. Palo Alto Networks documentation emphasizes that each tenant operates within its own logically separate Prisma Access environment. This includes dedicated compute instances, ensuring that the performance and security of one tenant are not impacted by the activities of another.

Let's analyze why the other options are incorrect based on official documentation:

A. Service connection licenses will be assigned only to the first tenant, and these service connections can be shared with the other tenants. This statement is incorrect. In a multitenant Prisma Access deployment, licenses are typically managed and allocated per tenant. While the underlying infrastructure might be shared by Palo Alto Networks, the logical resources and often the licensing are segmented for each tenant. Sharing service connections across completely separate tenants would violate the principle of tenant isolation.  

B. A single tenant cannot consist solely of mobile users or solely of remote networks. This statement is incorrect. Prisma Access multitenancy allows for flexibility in how tenants are configured. A tenant can be designed to exclusively serve mobile users, exclusively connect remote networks, or a combination of both, depending on the organizational structure and requirements.  

D. There is flexibility to manage different tenants using separate Panoramas, which allows for better organization and management of the multiple tenants. While it is possible to have multiple Panorama instances managing different parts of a large infrastructure, when discussing multitenancy within a single Prisma Access instance (as implied by the question "enabling multitenancy in Prisma Access (Managed by Panorama))", all configured tenants are managed by that single Panorama instance. Managing different tenants with separate Panoramas is a different architectural consideration, not a defining characteristic of enabling multitenancy within one Prisma Access deployment managed by a specific Panorama.

Therefore, the defining characteristic of Prisma Access multitenancy (Managed by Panorama) is the allocation of dedicated Prisma Access instances and compute resources for each tenant, ensuring logical separation and resource isolation

When the "Overlapping Subnets" checkbox is selected during the Remote Network onboarding process in Prisma Access, the deployment enables Private Application access using Prisma Access for Users(ZTNA or Private Access). This feature is designed to handle scenarios where multiple sites use the same IP subnet by leveraging NAT (Network Address Translation) and segmentation to avoid conflicts.

Since overlapping subnets can create routing challenges for direct remote network-to-remote network communication, Prisma Access does not support Remote Network-to-Remote Network or Mobile User communication in this case. Private application access is supported as Prisma Access correctly routes requests based on application-layer intelligence rather than IP-based routing.

SaaS Security Inline allows engineers to customize the risk scores assigned to different SaaS applications based on various factors. By manipulating these risk scores, you can influence how these applications are treated within Security policies.

To limit the use of unsanctioned SaaS applications:

Lower the risk score of sanctioned applications:This makes them less likely to trigger policies designed to restrict high-risk activities.

Increase the risk score of unsanctioned applications:This elevates their perceived risk, making them more likely to be caught by Security policies configured to block or limit access based on risk score thresholds.

Then, you would create Security policies that take action (e.g., block access, restrict features) based on these adjusted risk scores. For example, a policy could be configured to block access to any SaaS application with a risk score above a certain threshold, which would primarily target the unsanctioned applications with their inflated scores.

Let's analyze why the other options are incorrect based on official documentation:

B. Increase the risk score for all SaaS applications to automatically block unwanted applications.Increasing the risk score forallSaaS applications, including sanctioned ones, would lead to unintended blocking and disruption of legitimate business activities. Risk score customization is intended for differentiation, not a blanket increase.

C. Build an application filter using unsanctioned SaaS as the category.While creating an application filter based on the "unsanctioned SaaS" category is a valid way to identify these applications, it directly filters based on the category itself, not the risk score. Risk score customization provides a more nuanced approach where you can define thresholds and potentially allow some low-risk activities within unsanctioned applications while blocking higher-risk ones.

D. Build an application filter using unsanctioned SaaS as the characteristic.Similar to option C, using "unsanctioned SaaS" as a characteristic in an application filter allows you to directly target these applications. However, it doesn't leverage the risk score customization feature to control access based on a graduated level of risk.

Therefore, the most effective way to use risk score customization to limit unsanctioned SaaS application usage is by lowering the risk scores of sanctioned applications and increasing the risk scores of unsanctioned ones, and then building Security policies that act upon these adjusted risk scores.

The error messages indicate that Prisma Access is encountering certificate issues while attempting to decrypt traffic to "google.com." This suggests that theserver has pinned certificates, meaning it does not allow man-in-the-middle (MITM) decryption by Prisma Access. Since pinned certificates prevent traffic decryption, a solution is tocreate a "do not decrypt" rule for the hostname "google.com."This will allow traffic to flow without triggering certificate errors while maintaining secure communication with Google's servers.

Palo Alto Networks documentation clearly states that when configuring the traffic replication feature in Prisma Access, you mustspecify an internal security applianceas the destination for the mirrored traffic. This appliance, typically a Palo Alto Networks next-generation firewall or a third-party security tool, is responsible for receiving and analyzing the replicated traffic for various purposes like threat analysis, troubleshooting, or compliance monitoring.

Let's analyze why the other options are incorrect based on official documentation:

B. Dedicated cloud storage location:While Prisma Access logs and other data might be stored in the cloud, themirrored trafficfor real-time analysis is directly streamed to a designated security appliance, not a passive storage location.

C. Panorama:Panorama is the centralized management system for Palo Alto Networks firewalls. While Panorama can receive logs and manage the configuration of Prisma Access, it is not the direct destination for real-time mirrored traffic intended for immediate analysis.  

D. Strata Cloud Manager (SCM):Strata Cloud Manager is the platform used to configure and manage Prisma Access. It facilitates the setup of traffic replication, including specifying the destination appliance, but it does not directly receive or analyze the mirrored traffic itself.  

Therefore, the mirrored traffic from the traffic replication feature in Prisma Access is directed to a specified internal security appliance for analysis.