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Palo Alto NGFW lab 17 of 30

Policy-based forwarding and dual-ISP failover

Give the depot a second internet line: path-monitored static routes for automatic failover, source NAT per ISP, and a policy-based forwarding rule that sends the big file-transfer site over the backup line while it's healthy. Pull the plug on the primary ISP and watch the firewall reroute.

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 17 - Policy-based forwarding and dual-ISP failover

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

The scenario

The depot now has two internet lines:

  • ISP-A (primary, 203.0.113.0/24) carries everything today.
  • ISP-B (backup, 192.0.2.0/24) is connected but unused.

Calder wants:

  1. Automatic failover to ISP-B when ISP-A's gateway stops answering, and back again when it recovers.
  2. Large file transfers to files.example.org (198.51.100.30) to use ISP-B whenever ISP-B is healthy, keeping ISP-A free for everyone else.

Each ISP serves the same test sites, and the page title says which ISP carried the request: "via ISP-A" or "via ISP-B". Logins: FW1 admin / Lab-Access-1.

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

  • Configure static route path monitoring and a floating backup route
  • Write source NAT rules per egress interface for two ISPs
  • Create a policy-based forwarding rule with next-hop monitoring
  • Explain where PBF sits in the packet flow and how it interacts with NAT and routing
  • Verify failover with the routing table, path monitor status and live traffic

The tasks

  1. The starting point
  2. A path-monitored primary route and a floating backup
  3. Source NAT for each ISP
  4. Policy-based forwarding for the file site
  5. Pull the plug on ISP-A

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 Policy-based forwarding and dual-ISP failover4 nodes and 3 networks, 7 links. Every link is listed as text below the diagram.FW1Client-PCISP-AISP-BInsideISP-A-LinkISP-B-Linketh0eth0mgmtethernet1/2eth0ethernet1/1ethernet1/3
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 ethernet1/2 to Inside (network)
  • FW1 ethernet1/1 to ISP-A-Link (network)
  • FW1 ethernet1/3 to ISP-B-Link (network)
  • Client-PC eth0 to Inside (network)
  • ISP-A eth0 to ISP-A-Link (network)
  • ISP-B eth0 to ISP-B-Link (network)
Nodes in Policy-based forwarding and dual-ISP failover, 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
ISP-AEVE-NG GUI server (Docker)eve-gui-server:latest1 vCPU, 512 MB
ISP-BEVE-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 17 - Policy-based forwarding and dual-ISP failover 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.