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Palo Alto NGFW lab 11 of 30

URL filtering with custom categories and external dynamic lists

Control web access the way the depot's acceptable-use policy says: custom URL categories for gaming and finance sites, a URL filtering profile with block and alert actions, external dynamic lists of bad IP addresses and URLs fetched from web01, and a service route so the management plane can fetch them.

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 11 - URL filtering with custom categories and external dynamic lists

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

The scenario

Calder's acceptable-use policy for the depot says:

  1. No gaming or gambling sites (games.example.net, casino.example.org).
  2. Banking is allowed but must be logged (bank.example.com). Lab 14 will also exempt it from decryption.
  3. The security team publishes threat feeds on web01:
    • a list of known-bad IP addresses;
    • a list of known-bad URLs.

      The firewall must block both and pick up changes automatically.

The test sites are on the Internet node. Client-PC resolves the names through its hosts file. Logins: FW1 admin / Lab-Access-1.

Licensing. Vendor URL categories (PAN-DB) need an Advanced URL Filtering subscription, and this lab firewall has none. Custom URL categories and external dynamic lists do not, and they're what you'll use.

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

  • Create custom URL categories and use them in a URL filtering profile
  • Explain how the firewall sees URLs in HTTP and HTTPS (Host header and SNI)
  • Create IP and URL external dynamic lists and use them in policy
  • Configure a service route for external dynamic list updates
  • Read URL logs and refresh and inspect a dynamic list from the CLI

The tasks

  1. Custom URL categories
  2. A URL filtering profile
  3. An IP external dynamic list
  4. A URL external dynamic list

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 URL filtering with custom categories and external dynamic lists4 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 URL filtering with custom categories and external dynamic lists, 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 11 - URL filtering with custom categories and external dynamic lists 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.