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Palo Alto getting started guide

Sharon Burton
  • Updated

Tip

This article was accurate at the time of writing, but changes happen. If you find the instructions are outdated, leave a description in the comment field below and let us know!

Step 1: Enable console access

Having read-only access to the interface of your technology allows Expel to dig deeper during incident investigations. Our device health team uses this access to investigate potential health issues with your tech.

This procedure creates a user account for Expel that keeps the Expel activity separate from other activity on the Palo Alto console.

Note

The Expel Assembler needs access to the Palo Alto device or instance through port 443 (UI) and 443 (API) for on-premises onboardings.

For cloud instances, you need to allow Expel through the internet. Expel has 6 egress IP addresses. All requests to the API come from 1 of the 6 IP addresses:

  • 34.75.13.114

  • 34.75.152.7

  • 34.75.81.28

  • 34.75.210.18

  • 35.243.190.98

  • 104.196.158.20

  1. Log onto Palo Alto device.

  2. On console page, navigate to Device > Administrators.

  3. Click Add at the bottom left of the page.

    Screen Shot 2021-03-08 at 7.18.38 AM.png

  4. In Administrator dialog box, type expeluser for Name.

    Screen Shot 2021-03-08 at 7.19.14 AM.png

  5. Type a Password.

  6. For Administrator Type, select Dynamic.

  7. Select Superuser (read-only) from the list below Administrator Type.

  8. Click OK.

  9. Verify that expeluser is created on the console page.

Step 2: Generate API credentials

To integrate the technology with Expel, we need to create secure credentials to the API. Depending on the permissions allowed in Step 1, Expel may be able to generate API credentials. If you're unsure, reach out to your Expel customer success engineer, or email customerhealth@expel.io.

This procedure creates an authentication token that allows the Expel Assembler to access the Palo Alto API.

Note

Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) authenticated accounts on Palo Alto cannot generate API keys.

  1. In a new browser tab, open the following URL, replacing <hostname or IP address>, <username>, and <password> with the appropriate values for your Panorama console or the management interface of your Palo Alto Networks firewall: https://<hostname or ip address>/api/?type=keygen&user=<username>&password=<password>

    • <hostname or IP address> is your Palo Alto URL from your console page.

    • <username> is the username created in Step 1 (expeluser).

    • <password> is the password entered in Step 1.

  2. After the URL is complete, press Enter. Below is an example of a completed URL.

    Screen Shot 2021-03-08 at 7.19.46 AM.png

    On the next screen, the generated API key appears.

    Screen Shot 2021-03-08 at 7.20.17 AM.png

    Note

    Make note of the API key. It's used next for registration in Workbench.

Step 3: Configure the technology in Workbench

Now that we have the correct access configured and noted the credentials, we can integrate Palo Alto with Workbench.

  1. In a new browser tab, log into https://workbench.expel.io.

  2. On the console page, navigate to Settings and click Security Devices.

  3. At the top of the page, click Add Security Device.

    Screen Shot 2021-03-08 at 7.20.45 AM.png

  4. Search for and select Palo Alto.

    Screen Shot 2021-03-08 at 7.21.14 AM.png

  5. Select an Assembler from the list. Select the assembler you set up in Getting Started with Expel Workbench.

    Screen Shot 2021-03-08 at 7.21.46 AM.png

    • Type Assembler Name and Location. For example: Palo Alto and Expel Lab.

    • For PanOS, OS version must be specified if OS version is <= 6.

    • For API key type the API generated in Step 2.

    • For Server address type the hostname or IP address of the PPalo Alto management interface. Device IP can be found in the console under Dashboard > General Information > MGT IP Address.

    • © and Password in the optional Console Login section fields can be left blank, or can be filled in with the username and password created in Step 1.

  6. Click Save.

After a few minutes, refresh the Security Devices page and you see your device status reporting as Healthy, or if there is an issue, you see details of what the issue may be.

To check if alerts are coming through, navigate to Alerts on the console page. Click the icon in the upper right to switch to grid view, then check the list for device alerts.

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Comments

1 comment

Date Votes
  • Michael Shively

    Do not use a special character for the password because you receive a 403 cred invalid error. This is an issue w/ Browser. Another thing, do not use the <> in the the URL.

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