B. shared pre-rules
DATACENTER_DG pre-rules
rules configured locally on the firewall
shared post-rules
DATACENTER.DG post-rules
shared default rules

Explanation:
When Panorama pushes policies to firewalls in a device group like DATACENTER_DG, the rules are evaluated in a strict order to ensure consistent policy enforcement. The correct deployment order is:
Shared pre-rules – Global rules pushed to all firewalls
DATACENTER_DG pre-rules – Device-group-specific rules applied before local rules
Local firewall rules – Rules configured directly on the firewall
Shared post-rules – Global rules applied after local rules
DATACENTER_DG post-rules – Device-group-specific rules applied after shared post-rules
Shared default rules – Predefined rules like intrazone-default and interzone-default
This order ensures that organization-wide policies are enforced first, followed by device-specific logic, and finally default behavior.

📘 Authoritative Source:
Panorama Device Group Policies – Palo Alto TechDocs

C. The application has been identified as web-browsing.
D. The session did not go through SSL decryption processing.

Explanation:
Analyzing the session details from the show session id 380280 output:

C. The application has been identified as web-browsing.
The output explicitly states: application : web-browsing. This confirms that App-ID successfully classified the traffic.

D. The session did not go through SSL decryption processing.
The output shows: session proxied : True. This indicates the session was processed by the firewall's proxy (e.g., for security profiles like Threat Prevention, URL Filtering).
However, there is no mention of decryption (e.g., no decrypted flag or SSL-specific fields). Crucially, the source and destination IPs in the s2c flow are different from the c2s flow, and NAT is applied (address/port translation : source), but this is unrelated to decryption.
If SSL decryption had occurred, the output would typically show details like the decryption policy, certificate information, or a decrypted marker. Its absence indicates the traffic was not decrypted.

Why the Other Options Are Incorrect:
A. The session went through SSL decryption processing.:
There is no evidence of decryption in the output. The proxied flag refers to L7 processing (e.g., security profiles), not specifically to decryption.
B. The session has ended with the end-reason unknown.:
The output shows state : ACTIVE and time to live : 2 sec, meaning the session is still active and has not ended. The end-reason field is only relevant after a session closes.

Reference:
PAN-OS session diagnostics: The show session id command provides detailed session attributes. The absence of decryption-related fields (e.g., decryption policy, ssl-decrypt) indicates no decryption occurred (PAN-OS CLI Reference Guide). The application field confirms App-ID results.

D. Add the relevant container application when creating cloned rules

Explanation:
When migrating port-based rules to application-based rules with the Policy Optimizer, the goal is to ensure that policies continue to work even if Palo Alto Networks adds new child applications under an existing parent application (e.g., Office365, YouTube, Facebook).
By selecting the container application (sometimes called a parent application), all current and future child apps automatically match the rule. This provides future-proofing because if PAN adds new signatures or sub-applications under that container, the policy will still allow them without manual updates.
At the same time, using a container application ensures that only traffic related to that application family is matched, preventing unrelated traffic from being permitted.

❌ Why the other options are incorrect:
A. Create a custom application and define it by ports
This defeats the purpose of migrating to App-ID. It would revert to port-based logic and won’t adapt to new applications.
B. Create an application filter based on category and risk
Application filters are too broad. They could unintentionally allow unrelated applications within the same category/risk level. Not precise enough for the requirement.
C. Add specific applications that are seen when creating cloned rules
This works only for currently observed applications, but it won’t cover future child applications. You’d need to update rules manually each time Palo Alto adds a new sub-application.

📖 Reference
Palo Alto Networks Documentation – Policy Optimizer:
“When possible, use container applications instead of individual applications to ensure the policy is future-proof and continues to match when new child applications are added.”

B. The modification will not be visible in Panorama.

Detailed Explanation:

When a local override is applied on a firewall (modifying a Panorama-pushed configuration):

B. The modification will not be visible in Panorama.
Panorama does not automatically detect or display locally overridden values on the firewall.
The firewall retains its local changes, but Panorama still shows its original template configuration.

Why the Other Options Are Incorrect:

A. Panorama does not automatically flag templates as "out of sync" due to local overrides (manual review is required).
C. Both Panorama and the firewall CLI can revert overrides (Panorama is not the only method).
D. Panorama does not auto-update templates with locally overridden values (changes must be manually pushed from Panorama).

Best Practice:
Use "Force Template Values" in Panorama to eliminate local overrides and enforce centralized management.

Reference:
Panorama Local Overrides Documentation

D. Values in Chicago

Explanation:
In Panorama, when multiple templates are combined into a template stack, the firewall inherits configuration values based on template priority. The template at the top of the stack has the highest precedence, and its values override those in lower-priority templates if the same object (e.g., SSL/TLS Service profile named "Management") is defined in multiple templates.

According to the retrieved reference:
"The firewall will inherit the settings from the highest priority template that has the setting configured, and ignore the settings from the lower priority templates that have the same setting configured."
So, if all four templates in the stack (Global Settings, Datacenter, efwOlab.chi, and Chicago) define an SSL/TLS Service profile named Management, the firewall will use the version from the Chicago template—assuming it is highest in the stack.

🔗 Authoritative Reference:
Palo Alto Networks TechDocs: Templates and Template Stacks
Cramkey PCNSE Lab Discussion: SSL/TLS Profile Inheritance

D. Transparent proxy

Explanation:
The existing architecture described is a classic Transparent Proxy deployment.

Key Characteristics: In a transparent proxy setup:
The client's browser is not explicitly configured to use a proxy. It sends standard HTTP/HTTPS requests directly to the web server's IP address.
Network infrastructure (like a firewall policy using PBF or the firewall itself as a gateway) transparently redirects this web traffic to the proxy device (in this case, the PAN-OS firewall) for inspection.
The client is unaware of the proxy's involvement; the interception is seamless.
The scenario explicitly states: "HTTP and SSL requests contain the IP address of the web server and the client browser is redirected to the proxy." This is the definitive description of transparent proxy operation.

Why the Other Options Are Incorrect:
A. DNS proxy:
This is unrelated. A DNS proxy intercepts and filters DNS requests. It does not handle HTTP/HTTPS web traffic redirection.
B. Explicit proxy:
In an explicit proxy setup, the client browser must be manually configured (or via PAC file) with the proxy server's IP address and port. The client sends requests to the proxy, not directly to the web server. This contradicts the scenario where clients send requests to the web server's IP and are then redirected.
C. SSL forward proxy:
This is a decryption method, not a proxy deployment method. SSL Forward Proxy is the technique a transparent or explicit proxy uses to decrypt and inspect outbound SSL/TLS traffic. The question is about how the traffic is redirected to the proxy, not what the proxy does with the traffic once it gets it.

Reference:
Palo Alto Networks Administrator Guide | Web Proxy | Proxy Deployment Modes:
The documentation clearly distinguishes between Transparent and Explicit proxy modes. It defines Transparent Proxy as a method where "you can redirect web traffic to the firewall without configuring individual web browsers" and where "the original destination IP of the client request is the actual web server." This perfectly matches the described legacy architecture.

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).