B. Create a custom application, define its properties, then create an application override and reference the custom application

Explanation:
When troubleshooting, sometimes you need to bypass App-ID and content inspection so that traffic is forwarded purely based on port/protocol without being altered or blocked by application signatures or content scanning.
The supported method in Palo Alto Networks firewalls is to use an Application Override Policy:
Create a custom application that represents the traffic (e.g., based on port and protocol).
Apply an Application Override Policy to match the specific traffic and map it to the custom app.
This tells the firewall to skip App-ID and content inspection for that traffic, allowing raw forwarding for troubleshooting.

❌ Why the other options are incorrect:
A. Create a custom application … ensure scanning options unchecked
Custom applications alone don’t bypass App-ID processing or content inspection. You still need the App Override policy for that.
C. Create a new security rule without Security Profiles
This only skips threat/content profiles (like AV, Anti-Spyware, URL filtering), but App-ID inspection still happens. Doesn’t fully bypass inspection. V D. Create a new security rule and disable Server Response Inspection
This only skips Server Response Inspection (SRI) for HTTP responses, not full App-ID or content inspection. Very limited.

📖 Reference:
Palo Alto Networks Docs – Application Override:
“An Application Override policy allows you to bypass App-ID and Content-ID inspection for specified traffic. The firewall assigns the traffic to a custom application and forwards it without further inspection.”

D. Active

Explanation:
The firewall will remain in the Active state. This outcome is determined by the specific, hierarchical configuration of the Link and Path Monitoring settings:

1.Failure Condition "any" for the overall feature:
This is the top-level setting. It means that the firewall will consider the monitoring to have failed if any of the configured link groups reports a failure.
2.Group Failure Condition "all" for the specific link group:
This link group contains two member interfaces: ethernet1/1 and ethernet1/2. The "all" condition means that every member interface in this group must be down for the entire group to be considered failed.
3.Analysis of the failure:
Only one interface (ethernet1/1) has failed. Since the group failure condition is "all," the link group itself is NOT considered failed. Because the link group is not failed, the overall Failure Condition ("any") is not met.
Therefore, the active firewall does not detect a failure condition from its monitoring and has no reason to relinquish its active state. It will continue operating as the active firewall.

Why the Other Options Are Incorrect:
A. Active-Secondary:
This state is specific to Active/Active HA mode, not the Active/Passive mode described in the scenario.
B. Non-functional:
This is not a standard HA state. A firewall in a non-functional state would be completely offline.
C. Passive:
The firewall would only transition to Passive if it determined itself to be less healthy than its peer. Since the link monitoring did not trigger a failure condition (because only one of two "all" links is down), the active firewall has no reason to give up its active role.

Reference:
Palo Alto Networks Administrator Guide | High Availability | Link and Path Monitoring: The documentation explains the hierarchy of these settings. The overall failure condition is evaluated based on the status of the link groups. A link group's status is determined by its member interfaces based on its group failure condition ("any" or "all"). In this case, with group condition "all," the group only fails if all members are down.

C. Cortex Data Lake

Explanation:
Device Telemetry includes data related to the health, performance, and status of the firewall itself (e.g., system resources, threat prevention metrics, HA status). When a firewall has a device certificate installed, it authenticates with Palo Alto Networks services to securely transmit this telemetry data to Cortex Data Lake for storage and analysis. This data is used for features like Device Health, Threat Prevention Health, and AIOps for NGFW.

Why the other options are incorrect:
A. On Palo Alto Networks Update Servers:
Update servers are used for downloading content updates (e.g., antivirus, applications) and software images. They do not store telemetry data.
B. M600 Log Collectors:
M-Series appliances (like M-600) are on-premises log collectors that aggregate and forward logs. They are not used for storing device telemetry; telemetry is sent directly to CDL.
D. Panorama:
Panorama is used for centralized management and log aggregation from multiple firewalls. While it can collect logs and configuration data, device telemetry is specifically designed to be sent to Cortex Data Lake for cloud-based analytics and reporting.

Reference:
Palo Alto Networks Documentation:
The "Device Telemetry" section explicitly states that telemetry data is sent to and stored in Cortex Data Lake. This is integral to the operation of cloud-based services like Device Health and AIOps.
PCNSE Exam Blueprint (Domain 4:
Management and Operations): Understanding the role of Cortex Data Lake in storing telemetry and logs is a key part of managing Palo Alto Networks firewalls.

D. show s/stem state filter-pretty sys.sl*

Explanation:
This specific CLI command is designed to display detailed, raw diagnostic information about the physical hardware components, including transceivers (SFPs). It is the most comprehensive tool for troubleshooting physical layer issues.

Command: show system state filter-pretty sys.sl*
Output: This command will return a large output. You must then search within it for the specific interface (e.g., ethernet1/1). The output for the transceiver will include all the required details:
Transceiver Type: (e.g., SFP, SFP+, SFP28)
Vendor Name & Part Number: The manufacturer and model number of the transceiver.
Tx-Power: The transmitted optical power level (in dBm).
Rx-Power: The received optical power level (in dBm). This is critical for diagnosing fiber issues.

Why the Other Options Are Incorrect:
A. show chassis status slot s1:
This command provides a high-level overview of hardware components (like fans, power supplies, and slots) but does not provide the detailed, low-level diagnostic information about a specific transceiver's power levels and vendor details.
B. show system state filter ethernet1/1:
This is an incomplete command. The correct syntax requires a specific filter (like sys.sl*) to target the relevant subsystem that manages physical interfaces and transceivers.
C. show system state filter sw.dev interface config:
This command would show the software configuration of the interface (e.g., speed, duplex) but not the physical diagnostic data from the transceiver itself (e.g., power levels, vendor info).

Reference:
Palo Alto Networks Knowledge Base Articles & CLI Guide:
The show system state filter-pretty sys.sl* command is the well-documented method for obtaining detailed transceiver diagnostics. This is a standard troubleshooting step for physical link issues, especially when using third-party optics, to verify compatibility and signal integrity.

A. Navigate to Panorama > Managed Collectors, and open the Statistics windows for each Log Collector during the peak time.

Explanation of Incorrect Options

Option B (Monitor > Unified Logs):
The Unified Log viewer is an analytical tool for security events, not a performance monitor. Manually calculating a rate by dividing the total log count by a time range is highly inefficient, error-prone, and impractical for large volumes of data. It does not provide a real-time or historical logs-per-second value.
Option C (Panorama > Managed Devices > Health):
This path shows the egress log generation rate from each individual firewall's perspective. The critical distinction is that the question asks for the ingress processing rate at the central Log Collectors. Network congestion, collector resources, or queueing can cause these two rates to differ significantly. This method measures the wrong metric and requires checking multiple devices.
Option D (ACC > Network Activity):
The Application Command Center (ACC) is a visualization tool for session-based traffic and threat analysis. It is wholly divorced from the backend log processing pipeline. It provides insights into network patterns but offers zero data on the performance, capacity, or rate of the Log Collectors themselves.

Why Option A is Correct
The Panorama > Managed Collectors menu is the administrative interface for the Log Collector group, a core component of the logging architecture. The Statistics tab for each collector is the purpose-built tool for operational health monitoring. It provides precise, historical graphs for the exact metrics needed:

Log Processing Rate:
A direct readout of logs processed per second.
Input/Output Queue Depth:
Shows if the collector is keeping up or falling behind.
System Metrics:
CPU and memory usage of the collector.
By selecting the known peak time range in this window, the engineer instantly retrieves the maximum processing rate achieved by the system, fulfilling the requirement in the fewest steps.

Valid References
Palo Alto Networks Administrator Guide:
The section "Monitor the Log Collector"
explicitly states:
"To monitor the rate at which the Log Collector is processing logs, and to see the number of logs in its input and output queues, open the Statistics window." This is the definitive administrative procedure for this task.
PCNSE Exam Blueprint (Domains):
This question tests knowledge from:
Domain 4:
Management and Operations (Monitoring and Reporting) - Knowing how to assess system performance.
Domain 5:
Panorama - Understanding the role and management of Panorama services like Log Collectors.
Domain 1:
Architecture - Understanding the separation of data plane (firewall log generation) and management plane (log collection processing).

C. Enable SSL tunnel over TCP in a new agent configuration for the specific user.

Explanation:

Why This Option?
1.Problem:
Intermittent connectivity due to UDP packet loss (as seen in packet captures).
Solution: Force the user’s GlobalProtect client to use TCP instead of UDP for reliability.

2.Configuration:
Create a new Agent Configuration (under Network > GlobalProtect > Agent Settings) with:
Tunnel Mode = SSL (which uses TCP port 443).
Assign this configuration to the specific user via User/Group ID or Source IP.

Why Not Other Options?
A.GlobalProtect gateways don’t have per-user SSL tunnel settings—this is configured in agent settings.
B.Prioritizing UDP would worsen the packet loss issue.
D.Bandwidth allocation doesn’t fix packet loss; it only manages throughput.

Steps:
Navigate to: Network > GlobalProtect > Agent Settings > Add.
Set Tunnel Protocol = SSL (forces TCP).
Scope to the user via Source User or Source IP.

Reference:
GlobalProtect Admin Guide:
"Use Agent Configurations to enforce TCP-based SSL tunnels for users experiencing UDP issues."

B. It matches to the New App-IDs in the most recently installed content releases.

Explanation:
The New App-ID characteristic in Palo Alto Networks firewalls is designed to help administrators monitor newly introduced applications that may require updates to Security policy. When you create a report under Monitor > Reports > Application Reports > New Applications, the firewall identifies “new” applications based on the most recently installed content release—not based on time duration or system reboot.
This means the report will only include App-IDs that were added in the latest content update installed on the firewall, regardless of when that update was downloaded or how long ago the system was rebooted.
This behavior is confirmed in Palo Alto’s official documentation:
“The New App-ID characteristic always matches to only the new App-IDs in the most recently installed content releases.”

❌ Why the other options are incorrect
A. Last 90 days:
Time-based filtering is not used. The firewall doesn’t track App-ID age by days.
C. Last 30 days:
Same issue—App-ID identification is based on content version, not time.
D. Since last reboot:
Rebooting the firewall has no impact on App-ID classification. The report is tied to content updates, not system uptime.

🔗 Reference:
You can find this behavior detailed in Palo Alto’s Monitor New App-IDs documentation