B. Tentative

Explanation:
In an active/active HA configuration, firewalls monitor specific interfaces or paths (e.g., data links) beyond just the HA control link. When a firewall detects a failure in one of these monitored paths (e.g., a critical data interface goes down), it enters the Tentative state.

Tentative State:
This is a transitional state where the firewall suspects a problem but has not yet taken action (like triggering a failover). It continues to communicate with its peer to determine the severity of the issue. If the path failure is confirmed, the firewall may then change state (e.g., to non-functional) and potentially trigger a failover if it affects its ability to process traffic.

Why the Other Options Are Incorrect:
A. Initial:
This is the state when the firewall is booting up and initializing HA, before it establishes communication with its peer.
C. Passive:
This state is used in active/passive HA, where the firewall is fully functional but does not process traffic unless the active peer fails. It is not a state for path monitoring failures.
D. Active-secondary:
This is a healthy state in active/active HA where the firewall is processing traffic for its assigned context (e.g., a specific vsys). It does not indicate a failure.

Reference:
PAN-OS HA documentation defines the Tentative state as the state a member enters when it detects a monitored interface or path failure but is still operational and communicating with its peer (PAN-OS Administrator’s Guide, "High Availability States" section). This allows for graceful handling of partial failures without immediate, disruptive failovers.

C. In close proximity to the servers it will be monitoring

Explanation:
An administrator plans to install the Windows User-ID agent on a domain member system to enable user-to-IP mapping on a Palo Alto Networks firewall for identity-based policies. The best practice for choosing the installation location is to place the User-ID agent in close proximity to the servers it will be monitoring, such as domain controllers (DCs) or other systems generating authentication logs (e.g., Windows Security Event Logs). This reduces latency in collecting and processing log data, ensures efficient communication with monitored servers (via WMI or WinRM), and minimizes network overhead. The agent can be installed on a dedicated server or a DC, but proximity to the monitored servers optimizes performance, especially in large or distributed networks.

Why Other Options Are Incorrect:
A. On the same RODC that is used for credential detection:
Installing on a Read-Only Domain Controller (RODC) is not ideal, as RODCs have limited write capabilities and may not support real-time log collection or credential detection effectively. The PCNSE Study Guide advises against RODC placement unless specifically required, and proximity to monitored servers takes precedence.
B. In close proximity to the firewall it will be providing User-ID to:
While proximity to the firewall reduces latency in sending User-ID mappings, the agent’s primary task is collecting data from monitored servers. Network optimization is better served by placing it near the data source, with firewall communication handled via IP connectivity. The PAN-OS 11.1 Administrator’s Guide prioritizes server proximity.
D. On the DC holding the Schema Master FSMO role:
The Schema Master is a critical Flexible Single Master Operation (FSMO) role for AD schema changes, and installing the agent on this DC could impact its performance or availability. Best practice avoids placing additional workloads on FSMO role holders unless necessary. The PCNSE Study Guide recommends a separate system or a less critical DC.

Practical Steps:
Identify the DCs or servers generating authentication logs (e.g., via Windows Event ID 4624).
Select a domain member system (or DC) near these servers, ensuring low-latency network access. Download the User-ID agent from the Palo Alto support portal.
Install the agent, configuring it under Device > User Identification > User-ID Agent.
Add the monitored servers (e.g., via WMI) and set polling intervals.
Commit and verify mappings in Monitor > User-ID > User Mapping.

References:
Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS 11.1 Administrator’s Guide:
Recommends proximity to monitored servers.
Palo Alto Networks PCNSE Study Guide:
Details User-ID agent placement best practices.

A. Minimum TLS version
B. Certificate
D. Maximum TLS version

Explanation:
To enable secure Web UI access on a Palo Alto Networks firewall via a trusted interface, the administrator must configure an SSL/TLS Service Profile with the following key settings:

Certificate
This is the server certificate used to authenticate the firewall to the browser.
It must be valid and trusted by client systems to avoid certificate warnings.
You can import a third-party certificate or generate one on the firewall.

Minimum TLS Version
Defines the lowest TLS protocol version allowed for secure connections.
Recommended to set this to TLS 1.2 or higher to avoid weak protocols.

Maximum TLS Version
Defines the highest TLS protocol version supported.
For management access, TLS 1.3 is supported and preferred for stronger security.
These three settings ensure that the Web UI uses a trusted certificate and secure protocol versions, which are essential for encrypted management access.

❌ Why the Other Options Are Incorrect:
C. Encryption Algorithm
→ Not directly configurable in the SSL/TLS Service Profile. Cipher suites are automatically selected based on the TLS versions.
E. Authentication Algorithm
→ Not a setting in SSL/TLS Service Profiles. Authentication is handled separately via admin credentials or certificate-based auth.

References:
Configure an SSL/TLS Service Profile – Palo Alto Networks
Secure Web-GUI Access Using Certificates – Knowledge Base

A. Go to Device > High Availability> General > HA Pair Settings > Setup and configuring the peer IP for heartbeat backup

Explanation:
The image confirms that Heartbeat Backup is showing as Down in the HA dashboard. This typically means the firewall is unable to communicate with its peer over the configured backup heartbeat channel.

To troubleshoot this:
Navigate to Device > High Availability > General > HA Pair Settings
Ensure the peer IP address for Heartbeat Backup is correctly configured
Verify that the interface used for heartbeat backup is up, reachable, and not blocked by firewall policies
📚 Reference:
Palo Alto Networks – Configure HA Heartbeat Backup

❌ Why Other Options Are Wrong:
B. Management Interface Settings:
Not related to heartbeat backup unless you're using the management interface for HA (rare).
C. Election Settings:
Controls HA role election — not heartbeat communication.
D. Packet Forwarding Settings:
Not relevant to heartbeat backup configuration.

B. Create a URL filtering profile
C. Enable User-ID.
E. Create a decryption policy rule.

Explanation:
Credential Phishing Prevention (CPP) inspects username/password submissions to websites and prevents corporate credentials from being used on untrusted sites.
When traffic is encrypted with SSL/TLS, three things must be in place:

1.Decryption Policy (E)
The firewall must decrypt HTTPS traffic so it can inspect the credential submission.
Without SSL decryption, CPP cannot see the form post.
2.User-ID Enabled (C)
CPP needs to know who the user is and validate their credentials against corporate directories.
Enabling User-ID allows the firewall to correlate usernames with IPs.
3.URL Filtering Profile (B)
Credential phishing checks rely on URL categories (e.g., corporate sites vs. phishing/malicious sites).
You must attach a URL Filtering profile to the Security Policy rule to enable CPP actions.

❌ Why the Others Are Wrong

A. Configure a URL profile to block the phishing category
→ Not required. You don’t have to block phishing outright; CPP itself can enforce credential submission rules. A URL profile is needed (option B), but blocking phishing specifically is optional, not a prerequisite.
D. Create an anti-virus profile
→ Irrelevant to CPP. Antivirus protects against malware, not credential theft.

📘 Reference
From Palo Alto Networks Docs:
“To enable credential phishing prevention for SSL traffic, you must configure SSL Forward Proxy decryption, enable User-ID, and apply a URL Filtering profile to the security policy rule.” (Source: PAN-OS Admin Guide – Credential Phishing Prevention)

C. Syslog listener

Explanation:
The environment has multiple, diverse authentication sources (network access control for wireless, Windows domain controllers, and an MDM for smartphones), all generating authentication logs. The Syslog listener on the User-ID agent (or the firewall itself) can be configured to parse these syslog messages from all these different systems. This allows the firewall to collect IP-to-username mappings from every authentication event, regardless of the source, ensuring maximum coverage.

Why Other Options Are Incorrect:
A. Captive portal:
This only captures users who explicitly authenticate via a web portal. It would miss all passive authentications happening via the NAC, Windows logins, and MDM.
B. Standalone User-ID agent:
While the agent can integrate with some systems (like WMI for Windows DCs), it lacks native connectors for many NAC systems and MDM solutions. Its coverage would be limited compared to syslog, which is a universal logging format.
D. Agentless User-ID with redistribution:
This refers to using a intermediate server to collect logs and redistribute them, but it adds complexity. The native syslog listener capability is already designed to directly ingest and parse logs from these varied sources without an additional redistribution layer.

Reference:
Palo Alto Networks documentation emphasizes the syslog listener as the most flexible method for aggregating user mappings from heterogeneous sources (PAN-OS Administrator’s Guide, "User-ID Syslog Listening" section). By creating custom parsers for each log format, the firewall can achieve comprehensive coverage across NACs, MDMs, and domain controllers.

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