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Palo Alto NGFW lab 13 of 30

Certificates, PKI and SSL/TLS service profiles

Replace the firewall's self-signed web certificate with a proper PKI: create a Calder root CA on the firewall, issue a management certificate with the right names, enforce TLS 1.2 or later with an SSL/TLS service profile, distribute the root to clients, import an external CA, and build a certificate profile.

Run this lab

It needs Lite: its 4 nodes are set to 5 vCPU and 7,680 MB in total. That fits the free demo too.

In your workspace: Shared, then Palo Alto NGFW PAN-OS 11 guided labs, then 13 - Certificates PKI and SSL-TLS service profiles

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Level
Advanced
Time
About 50 minutes
Nodes need
5 vCPU, 7,680 MB
Smallest plan
Lite

The scenario

Every administrator who opens https://fw1.calder.lab clicks through a certificate warning, and so do auditors, which looks bad in a security review. You will:

  1. Make the firewall the issuing CA for the depot.
  2. Give its management interface a real certificate.
  3. Enforce modern TLS.
  4. Teach Client-PC to trust the new root.

You'll also import the internet's "Lab Public Root CA" so lab 14 can trust sites signed by it.

Before you start. Start all the nodes. The firewall takes 6-8 minutes to boot and comes up with this lab's starting configuration already loaded. Wait until the FW1 console shows FW1 login:, then log in as admin / Lab-Access-1. Until the management plane is ready it answers Login incorrect, even with the right password. The Linux hosts are ready within seconds.

What you’ll practise

  • Generate a root CA and a CA-signed server certificate on the firewall
  • Explain subject, subject alternative names, key usage and the chain of trust
  • Apply an SSL/TLS service profile with a minimum TLS version to the management interface
  • Export the root CA to clients and import an external CA with the API
  • Create a certificate profile for certificate-based authentication

The tasks

  1. Look at what's there now
  2. Create the Calder root CA and a management certificate
  3. An SSL/TLS service profile for the web interface
  4. Distribute the root CA to Client-PC
  5. Import an external CA
  6. A certificate profile

The Lab Tasks pane has the scenario, these tasks, the checks to run, hints and the full solution.

Topology and devices

The network as it opens in EVE-NG, drawn from the lab’s own canvas, and the image each node runs.

Topology of Certificates PKI and SSL-TLS service profiles4 nodes and 3 networks, 7 links. Every link is listed as text below the diagram.FW1Client-PCweb01InternetInsideOutsideDMZeth0ethernet1/3eth0mgmtethernet1/2eth0ethernet1/1
4 nodes and 3 networks, with the interface names each link uses. On a narrow screen, scroll the diagram sideways.
Every link, as text
  • FW1 mgmt to Inside (network)
  • FW1 ethernet1/1 to Outside (network)
  • FW1 ethernet1/2 to Inside (network)
  • FW1 ethernet1/3 to DMZ (network)
  • Client-PC eth0 to Inside (network)
  • web01 eth0 to DMZ (network)
  • Internet eth0 to Outside (network)
Nodes in Certificates, PKI and SSL/TLS service profiles, with the image each runs and the vCPU and RAM it’s set to
NodeDeviceImage in Add NodeSet to
FW1Palo Alto Networks VM-Series (PAN-OS)paloalto-11.2.52 vCPU, 5,632 MB
Client-PCEVE-NG GUI server (Docker)eve-gui-server:latest1 vCPU, 1,024 MB
web01EVE-NG GUI server (Docker)eve-gui-server:latest1 vCPU, 512 MB
InternetEVE-NG GUI server (Docker)eve-gui-server:latest1 vCPU, 512 MB

How to open this lab

  1. Sign in to your workspace at lab.cloudlabbox.com.

  2. In File Manager, open Shared, then the folder Palo Alto NGFW PAN-OS 11 guided labs.

  3. Open 13 - Certificates PKI and SSL-TLS service profiles and start its nodes, then open Lab Tasks for the scenario and the steps.

The lab is read-only. You can start the nodes and configure the devices, but changes to the topology can’t be saved. To change it, rebuild it in your own folder.

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CloudLabBox is independent of Palo Alto Networks and Cisco. The lab follows exam topics and isn’t vendor training material; vendor names identify the exams and the images in the workspace.