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Egress traffic inspection using Palo Alto VM-series firewall in multi-account AWS environment

Table of Contents

Problem statement

Centralized network security may be challenging but absolutely required by some companies. Auditors might need evidence, that network traffic undergoes an inspection, and the tool/appliance that fulfills this function is strictly isolated and protected. We can achieve this by placing the tool in the dedicated AWS account, according to the best security practices. Palo Alto VM-series firewall can act as an appliance, complemented by AWS Gateway Load Balancer for high-availability capabilities and Transit Gateway as a shared connection point for spoke VPCs.

Solution overview

In previous posts, like this and this, we already demonstrated a multi-account AWS environment with a central networking account that contains different shared components, e.g. IP management system, shared Transit Gateway with the Serverless Transit Network Orchestrator, VPN connection, etc. In this post, we will take a look at how to deploy a highly-available firewall behind a Gateway Load Balancer and combine it with the current Transit Gateway configuration.

Palo Alto VM-series firewall can protect your network and filter Infress/Egress traffic. The security VPC, firewall, and Transit Gateway reside in the central networking account within a multi-account AWS environment (Landing Zone). Spoke VPCs will be connected to the central Transit Gateway (with a default route to it), traffic will go through TGW, Gateway Load Balancer to one of VMs. If the traffic is allowed, it’s forwarded to the internet through Nat Gateway.

Here is a high-level explanation of the architecture and packet flow.

The outbound traffic flow is following:

  1. A server, located in the Production VPC, sends a packet to the internet. The first route table on the way is a subnet RT with a default route 0.0.0.0/0 to the Transit Gateway.
  2. It goes to the “Production” TGW VPC attachment. The “Spoke Route Table” is associated with it. The default route 0.0.0.0/0 targets to the “Security VPC attachment”.
  3. The next hop will be to one of the “TGW attachment” subnet, which is attached to the TGW. The subnet is associated with the route table, where a default route 0.0.0.0/0 points to the VPC endpoint for a Gateway Load Balancer.
  4. The Gateway Load Balancer receives the packet a forwards it to a healthy VM firewall (data interface). Palo Alto VM performs Layer-7 inspection. If the traffic is allowed, it sends it back to the Load Balancer. (keep in mind that the manemanagementerface is not used for data traffic. It is used only for SSH or HTTPS connection to the web UI for configuration purposes).
  5. Once the Load Balancer receives back traffic, it returns it to the original endpoint (GWLBe subnet). How to get the internet here, look at the route table, the default route 0.0.0.0/0 goes to the NAT Gateway.
  6. The NAT Gateway is deployed in the “NATGW subnet”. The next hop in the route table is 0.0.0.0/0 via Internet Gateway.
  7. Then the traffic goes back from the internet to the NAT Gateway. Now the destination IP address is in the Production VPC 10.128.12.0/24. NAT Gateway subnet is associated with the route table, where the route will be 10.0.0.0/8 to the Gateway Load Balancer endpoint.
  8. Traffic comes to the Gateway Load Balancer and is automatically forwarded to the Palo Alto VM-series firewall (data interface).
  9. The firewall inspects the traffic and sends it back to the Load Balancer (to the original VPC endpoint).
  10. Traffic comes to the “GWLBe subnet”, and according to the route table entry 10.0.0.0/8 goes to the Transit Gateway.
  11. Traffic comes to the Transit Gateway attachment “Security-VPC”, and checks a route table where routes for all attached VPCs are already propagated. The next route is 10.128.12.0/24 to the TGW attachment “Production-VPC”

Deployment and configuration

Security VPC

The following CloudFormation template can be used to deploy the Security VPC, provided above. VPC has 5 types of subnets from the diagram + one extra subnet type, one for OpenVPN Access Server that should be public and connected to the Transit Gateway. The template also creates a Gateway Load Balancer with VPC endpoints.

AWSTemplateFormatVersion: '2010-09-09'
Description: Creates VPC, 6 types of subnets, InternetGateway, security groups, and route tables

Parameters:
  projectName:
    Type: String
    AllowedPattern: "^[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9_-]*$"
    Default: ''
  projectEnv:
    Type: String
    Description: Environment type.
    Default: 'SECURITY'
  ExternalLogBucket:
    Description: '(Optional) Name of an S3 bucket where you want to store flow logs. If you leave this empty, FlowLogs will not be configured'
    Type: String
    Default: ''
  TrafficType:
    Description: 'The type of traffic to log.'
    Type: String
    Default: ALL
    AllowedValues:
    - ACCEPT
    - REJECT
    - ALL
  vpcAssociateWith:
    Type: String
    Description: Associate a transit gateway route table (Flat, Isolated, Infrastructure, or On-premises) with a transit gateway attachment.
    Default: Flat
    AllowedValues:
      - Flat
      - Isolated
      - Infrastructure
      - On-premises
    ConstraintDescription: Must be one of (Flat, Isolated, Infrastructure, or On-premises)
  vpcPropagateTo:
    Type: String
    Description: Add a route from a route table to the attachment. The value can be one or more default route table names (Flat, Isolated, Infrastructure, or On-premises)
    Default: Flat, On-premises, Isolated, Infrastructure
  IMAPPoolID:
    Type: String
    Default: ''
    Description: The ID of an IPv4 IPAM pool you want to use for allocating this VPC's CIDR.
  GlobalInternalCidr:
    Type: String
    Description: Global internal CIDR block

Conditions:
  EnableFlowLogs:
    !Not [!Equals [!Ref ExternalLogBucket, '']]

### VPC ###
Resources:
  VPC:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::VPC"
    Properties:
      EnableDnsSupport: true
      EnableDnsHostnames: true
      Ipv4IpamPoolId: !Ref IMAPPoolID
      Ipv4NetmaskLength: 20

### VPC Flow Logs ###
  FlowLogExternalBucket:
    Condition: EnableFlowLogs
    Type: 'AWS::EC2::FlowLog'
    Properties:
      LogDestination: !Sub 'arn:aws:s3:::${ExternalLogBucket}'
      LogDestinationType: s3
      ResourceId: !Ref VPC
      ResourceType: 'VPC'
      TrafficType: !Ref TrafficType

### Internet Gateway ###
  IGW:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::InternetGateway"

  GatewayAttach:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::VPCGatewayAttachment"
    Properties:
      InternetGatewayId: !Ref IGW
      VpcId: !Ref VPC

### Subnets for NAT gateways ###
  NATSubnetA:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::Subnet"
    Properties:
      AvailabilityZone: !Select [0, !GetAZs ]
      CidrBlock: !Select [ 0, !Cidr [ !GetAtt VPC.CidrBlock, 12, 8 ]]
      MapPublicIpOnLaunch: true
      VpcId: !Ref VPC

  RouteTableNatA:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::RouteTable"
    Properties:
      VpcId: !Ref VPC

  SubnetRouteTableAssociateNatA:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::SubnetRouteTableAssociation"
    Properties:
      RouteTableId: !Ref RouteTableNatA
      SubnetId: !Ref NATSubnetA

  RouteDefaultNatA:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::Route"
    DependsOn: GatewayAttach
    Properties:
      DestinationCidrBlock: 0.0.0.0/0
      GatewayId: !Ref IGW
      RouteTableId: !Ref RouteTableNatA

  RouteInternalNatA:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::Route"
    DependsOn: GwlbVpcEndpointA
    Properties:
      DestinationCidrBlock: !Ref GlobalInternalCidr
      VpcEndpointId: !Ref GwlbVpcEndpointA
      RouteTableId: !Ref RouteTableNatA

  NATSubnetB:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::Subnet"
    Properties:
      AvailabilityZone: !Select [1, !GetAZs ]
      CidrBlock: !Select [ 1, !Cidr [ !GetAtt VPC.CidrBlock, 12, 8 ]]
      MapPublicIpOnLaunch: true
      VpcId: !Ref VPC

  RouteTableNatB:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::RouteTable"
    Properties:
      VpcId: !Ref VPC

  SubnetRouteTableAssociateNatB:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::SubnetRouteTableAssociation"
    Properties:
      RouteTableId: !Ref RouteTableNatB
      SubnetId: !Ref NATSubnetB

  RouteDefaultNatB:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::Route"
    DependsOn: GatewayAttach
    Properties:
      DestinationCidrBlock: 0.0.0.0/0
      GatewayId: !Ref IGW
      RouteTableId: !Ref RouteTableNatB

  RouteInternalNatB:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::Route"
    DependsOn: GwlbVpcEndpointB
    Properties:
      DestinationCidrBlock: !Ref GlobalInternalCidr
      VpcEndpointId: !Ref GwlbVpcEndpointB
      RouteTableId: !Ref RouteTableNatB

### Nat gateways ###
  NatGatewayA:
    DependsOn: GatewayAttach
    Type: "AWS::EC2::NatGateway"
    Properties:
      AllocationId: !GetAtt EIPNatGWa.AllocationId
      SubnetId: !Ref NATSubnetA

  NatGatewayB:
    DependsOn: GatewayAttach
    Type: "AWS::EC2::NatGateway"
    Properties:
      AllocationId: !GetAtt EIPNatGWb.AllocationId
      SubnetId: !Ref NATSubnetB

  VPCSecurityGroup:
    Type: AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup
    Properties:
      GroupDescription: Default Security Group for VPC
      VpcId:
         Ref: VPC
      SecurityGroupIngress:
      - IpProtocol: "-1"
        CidrIp: !GetAtt VPC.CidrBlock
      SecurityGroupEgress:
      - IpProtocol: "-1"
        CidrIp: 0.0.0.0/0

  SGBaseIngress:
    Type: 'AWS::EC2::SecurityGroupIngress'
    Properties:
      GroupId: !Ref VPCSecurityGroup
      IpProtocol: "-1"
      SourceSecurityGroupId: !GetAtt VPCSecurityGroup.GroupId

### Elastic IPs for NAT Gateways ###
  EIPNatGWa:
    DependsOn: GatewayAttach
    Type: "AWS::EC2::EIP"
    Properties:
      Domain: vpc

  EIPNatGWb:
    DependsOn: GatewayAttach
    Type: "AWS::EC2::EIP"
    Properties:
      Domain: vpc

### Subnets for management interface of firewall ###
  MGMTSubnetA:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::Subnet"
    Properties:
      AvailabilityZone: !Select [0, !GetAZs ]
      CidrBlock: !Select [ 2, !Cidr [ !GetAtt VPC.CidrBlock, 12, 8 ]]
      MapPublicIpOnLaunch: true
      VpcId: !Ref VPC

  RouteTableMgmtA:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::RouteTable"
    Properties:
      VpcId: !Ref VPC

  SubnetRouteTableAssociateMgmtA:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::SubnetRouteTableAssociation"
    Properties:
      RouteTableId: !Ref RouteTableMgmtA
      SubnetId: !Ref MGMTSubnetA

  RouteDefaultMgmtA:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::Route"
    DependsOn: GatewayAttach
    Properties:
      DestinationCidrBlock: 0.0.0.0/0
      GatewayId: !Ref IGW
      RouteTableId: !Ref RouteTableMgmtA

  MGMTSubnetB:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::Subnet"
    Properties:
      AvailabilityZone: !Select [1, !GetAZs ]
      CidrBlock: !Select [ 3, !Cidr [ !GetAtt VPC.CidrBlock, 12, 8 ]]
      MapPublicIpOnLaunch: true
      VpcId: !Ref VPC

  RouteTableMgmtB:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::RouteTable"
    Properties:
      VpcId: !Ref VPC

  SubnetRouteTableAssociateMgmtB:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::SubnetRouteTableAssociation"
    Properties:
      RouteTableId: !Ref RouteTableMgmtB
      SubnetId: !Ref MGMTSubnetB

  RouteDefaultMgmtB:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::Route"
    DependsOn: GatewayAttach
    Properties:
      DestinationCidrBlock: 0.0.0.0/0
      GatewayId: !Ref IGW
      RouteTableId: !Ref RouteTableMgmtB

### Gateway Load Balancer Endpoint subnets ###
  GWLBeSubnetA:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::Subnet"
    Properties:
      AvailabilityZone: !Select [0, !GetAZs ]
      CidrBlock: !Select [ 4, !Cidr [ !GetAtt VPC.CidrBlock, 12, 8 ]]
      MapPublicIpOnLaunch: false
      VpcId: !Ref VPC

  RouteTableGWLBeA:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::RouteTable"
    Properties:
      VpcId: !Ref VPC

  SubnetRouteTableAssociateGWLBeA:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::SubnetRouteTableAssociation"
    Properties:
      RouteTableId: !Ref RouteTableGWLBeA
      SubnetId: !Ref GWLBeSubnetA

  RouteDefaultGWLBeA:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::Route"
    Properties:
      DestinationCidrBlock: 0.0.0.0/0
      NatGatewayId: !Ref NatGatewayA
      RouteTableId: !Ref RouteTableGWLBeA

  RouteInternalGWLBeA:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::Route"
    DependsOn: TGWSubnetsAttachment
    Properties:
      DestinationCidrBlock: !Ref GlobalInternalCidr
      TransitGatewayId: !ImportValue STNO-TGW-ID
      RouteTableId: !Ref RouteTableGWLBeA

  GWLBeSubnetB:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::Subnet"
    DependsOn: GWLBeSubnetA
    Properties:
      AvailabilityZone: !Select [1, !GetAZs ]
      CidrBlock: !Select [ 5, !Cidr [ !GetAtt VPC.CidrBlock, 12, 8 ]]
      MapPublicIpOnLaunch: false
      VpcId: !Ref VPC

  RouteTableGWLBeB:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::RouteTable"
    Properties:
      VpcId: !Ref VPC

  SubnetRouteTableAssociateGWLBeB:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::SubnetRouteTableAssociation"
    Properties:
      RouteTableId: !Ref RouteTableGWLBeB
      SubnetId: !Ref GWLBeSubnetB

  RouteDefaultGWLBeB:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::Route"
    Properties:
      DestinationCidrBlock: 0.0.0.0/0
      NatGatewayId: !Ref NatGatewayB
      RouteTableId: !Ref RouteTableGWLBeB

  RouteInternalGWLBeB:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::Route"
    DependsOn: TGWSubnetsAttachment
    Properties:
      DestinationCidrBlock: !Ref GlobalInternalCidr
      TransitGatewayId: !ImportValue STNO-TGW-ID
      RouteTableId: !Ref RouteTableGWLBeB

### Subnets for openvpn server ###
  OpenVPNSubnetC:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::Subnet"
    DependsOn: GWLBeSubnetB
    Properties:
      AvailabilityZone: !Select [2, !GetAZs ]
      CidrBlock: !Select [ 6, !Cidr [ !GetAtt VPC.CidrBlock, 12, 8 ]]
      MapPublicIpOnLaunch: true
      VpcId: !Ref VPC

  RouteTableOpenVpnC:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::RouteTable"
    Properties:
      VpcId: !Ref VPC

  RouteDefaultOpenVpnC:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::Route"
    DependsOn: GatewayAttach
    Properties:
      DestinationCidrBlock: 0.0.0.0/0
      GatewayId: !Ref IGW
      RouteTableId: !Ref RouteTableOpenVpnC

  RouteInternalOpenVpnC:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::Route"
    DependsOn: TGWSubnetsAttachment
    Properties:
      DestinationCidrBlock: !Ref GlobalInternalCidr
      TransitGatewayId: !ImportValue STNO-TGW-ID
      RouteTableId: !Ref RouteTableOpenVpnC

  SubnetRouteTableAssociateOpenVpnC:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::SubnetRouteTableAssociation"
    Properties:
      RouteTableId: !Ref RouteTableOpenVpnC
      SubnetId: !Ref OpenVPNSubnetC

### Firewall Data subnets ###
  DataSubnetA:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::Subnet"
    Properties:
      AvailabilityZone: !Select [0, !GetAZs ]
      CidrBlock: !Select [ 7, !Cidr [ !GetAtt VPC.CidrBlock, 12, 8 ]]
      MapPublicIpOnLaunch: false
      VpcId: !Ref VPC

  RouteTableDataA:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::RouteTable"
    Properties:
      VpcId: !Ref VPC

  SubnetRouteTableAssociateDataA:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::SubnetRouteTableAssociation"
    Properties:
      RouteTableId: !Ref RouteTableDataA
      SubnetId: !Ref DataSubnetA

  DataSubnetB:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::Subnet"
    Properties:
      AvailabilityZone: !Select [1, !GetAZs ]
      CidrBlock: !Select [ 8, !Cidr [ !GetAtt VPC.CidrBlock, 12, 8 ]]
      MapPublicIpOnLaunch: false
      VpcId: !Ref VPC

  RouteTableDataB:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::RouteTable"
    Properties:
      VpcId: !Ref VPC

  SubnetRouteTableAssociateDataB:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::SubnetRouteTableAssociation"
    Properties:
      RouteTableId: !Ref RouteTableDataB
      SubnetId: !Ref DataSubnetB

### Subnets for Transit gateway attachments ###
  TGWSubnetA:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::Subnet"
    Properties:
      AvailabilityZone: !Select [0, !GetAZs ]
      CidrBlock: !Select [ 9, !Cidr [ !GetAtt VPC.CidrBlock, 12, 8 ]]
      MapPublicIpOnLaunch: false
      VpcId: !Ref VPC

  RouteTableTgwA:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::RouteTable"
    Properties:
      VpcId: !Ref VPC

  SubnetRouteTableAssociateTgwA:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::SubnetRouteTableAssociation"
    Properties:
      RouteTableId: !Ref RouteTableTgwA
      SubnetId: !Ref TGWSubnetA

  RouteDefaultTgwA:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::Route"
    DependsOn: GwlbVpcEndpointA
    Properties:
      DestinationCidrBlock: 0.0.0.0/0
      VpcEndpointId: !Ref GwlbVpcEndpointA
      RouteTableId: !Ref RouteTableTgwA

  TGWSubnetB:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::Subnet"
    Properties:
      AvailabilityZone: !Select [1, !GetAZs ]
      CidrBlock: !Select [ 10, !Cidr [ !GetAtt VPC.CidrBlock, 12, 8 ]]
      MapPublicIpOnLaunch: false
      VpcId: !Ref VPC

  RouteTableTgwB:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::RouteTable"
    Properties:
      VpcId: !Ref VPC

  SubnetRouteTableAssociateTgwB:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::SubnetRouteTableAssociation"
    Properties:
      RouteTableId: !Ref RouteTableTgwB
      SubnetId: !Ref TGWSubnetB

  RouteDefaultTgwB:
    Type: "AWS::EC2::Route"
    DependsOn: GwlbVpcEndpointB
    Properties:
      DestinationCidrBlock: 0.0.0.0/0
      VpcEndpointId: !Ref GwlbVpcEndpointB
      RouteTableId: !Ref RouteTableTgwB

  TGWSubnetsAttachment:
    Type: AWS::EC2::TransitGatewayAttachment
    Properties:
      SubnetIds:
        - !Ref TGWSubnetA
        - !Ref TGWSubnetB
        - !Ref OpenVPNSubnetC
      TransitGatewayId: !ImportValue STNO-TGW-ID
      VpcId: !Ref VPC

  Gwlb:
    Type: AWS::ElasticLoadBalancingV2::LoadBalancer
    Properties:
      Name: Firewall-Gateway-LoadBalancer
      Type: gateway
      Subnets:
        - !Ref DataSubnetA
        - !Ref DataSubnetB
      Tags:
        - Key: Environment
          Value: !Ref projectEnv
        - Key: Managed_by
          Value: CloudFormation
        - Key: Project
          Value: !Ref projectName
        - Key: Tier
          Value: Private
        - Key: !Ref MAPtagKey
          Value: !Ref MAPtagValue

  GwlbEndpointService:
    Type: AWS::EC2::VPCEndpointService
    Properties:
      AcceptanceRequired: false
      GatewayLoadBalancerArns:
        - !Ref Gwlb

  GwlbVpcEndpointA:
    Type: AWS::EC2::VPCEndpoint
    DependsOn: GwlbEndpointService
    Properties:
      ServiceName: !Sub "com.amazonaws.vpce.${AWS::Region}.${GwlbEndpointService}"
      SubnetIds:
        - !Ref GWLBeSubnetA
      VpcEndpointType: GatewayLoadBalancer
      VpcId: !Ref VPC

  GwlbVpcEndpointB:
    Type: AWS::EC2::VPCEndpoint
    DependsOn: GwlbEndpointService
    Properties:
      ServiceName: !Sub "com.amazonaws.vpce.${AWS::Region}.${GwlbEndpointService}"
      SubnetIds:
        - !Ref GWLBeSubnetB
      VpcEndpointType: GatewayLoadBalancer
      VpcId: !Ref VPC

To ensure that the VM-Series firewall can inspect traffic that is routed between VPC attachments, you must enable appliance mode on the transit gateway VPC attachment for the security VPC containing the VM-Series firewall. You can enable appliance mode using the command:

aws ec2 modify-transit-gateway-vpc-attachment --transit-gateway-attachment-id <value> --options ApplianceModeSupport=enable

Firewall EC2 prerequisites

VM requires two subnets – one for management and one for data. (already created by CloudFormation)

  • Create two security groups – one for firewall management and one for data.
  • The management subnet security groups should allow HTTPS and SSH for management access.

  • Ensure that the security group(s) in your data VPC allows GENEVE-encapsulated packets (UDP port 6081).
  • The target group of the GWLB cannot use HTTP for health checks because the VM-Series firewall does not allow access with an unsecured protocol. Instead, use another protocol such as HTTPS or TCP. So we also add port 443 into the Security Group

Create a network interface (for VM

  • Create a network interface (for VM management, in the Management subnet), that will be attached for the VM later.
  • Attach the management security group to this “management” interface. Allow SSH and HTTPS.

Launch the VM-Series firewall

There are three PAYG bundles available. The licenses include are as follows:
Bundle 1: VM-Series + Threat Prevention + Premium Support.
Bundle 2: VM-Series + Threat Prevention + URL Filtering+DNS Security+Global Protect + WildFire + Premium Support.
Bundle 3: VM-Series + Advanced Threat Prevention + Advanced URL Filtering + DNS Security + Global Protect + WildFire + Premium Support.

If you have a license key, use BYOL AMI instead of bundles.

We used “Bundle 3” for the test.

  • Select the Security VPC.
  • Select the data subnet to attach to eth0.

  • Add another network interface for eth1 to act as the management interface after the interface swap. Swapping interfaces requires a minimum of two ENIs (eth0 and eth1).

There is a limitation, GWLB can send traffic only to the Eth0 interface of the VM. By default, the Eth0 interface is a Management interface of the VM that can not be used for Data traffic. That’s why we need to swap interfaces and move the Management interface to Eth1.

  • Expand the Advanced Details section and in the User data field enter as text to perform the interface swap during launch.
mgmt-interface-swap=enable
plugin-op-commands=aws-gwlb-inspect:enable
  • Select the Data Security Group for eth0 (data interface). Enable traffic on UDP port 6081.
  • Create and assign an Elastic IP address (EIP) to the ENI used for management access (eth1) to the firewall.
  • Configure a new administrative password for the firewall. You need to connect to the VM instance via SSH:
ssh -i <private_key.pem> admin@<public-ip_address>

configure
set mgt-config users admin password
commit
  • Login to the web UI (https://<management-interface-public-ip>

Configure the data-plane network interface as a Layer 3 interface on the firewall.

  • Select Network – Interfaces – Ethernet.

Click the link for ethernet 1/1 and configure it as follows:

Interface Type: Layer3

On the Config tab, assign the interface to the default virtual router.

On the Config tab, expand the Security Zone drop-down and select New Zone. Define a new zone and leave the remaining fields with default values and then click OK.

On the IPv4 tab, select DHCP Client.

If using DHCP, select DHCP Client; the private IP address that you assigned to the ENI in the AWS management console will be automatically acquired.

On the Advanced tab, create a management profile to enable HTTP/HTTPS service as part of management profile creation and allow Health check probes from GWLB.

Create security policies to allow/deny traffic. Because the VM-Series treats traffic as intrazone when integrated with a GWLB, a default intrazone rule allows all traffic. It is a best practice to override the default intrazone rule with a deny action for traffic that does not match any of your other security policy rules.

In this example, the top-level rule denies all traffic. So PING is not possible.top-level

Once we remove the top-level “deny” rule, the “allow” rule becomes a top.

Pings work

You can see the traffic in the “Monitor” tab.

Conclusion

In this post, we demonstrated how to deploy a highly-available Palo Alto VM-series firewall appliance in a separate networking account with a Gateway Load Balancer and Transit gateway, and use it for egress traffic inspection from spoke VPCs, deployed in different accounts. Spoke VPCs don’t have Internet Gateway or NAT Gateways and send all traffic through the Transit Gateway and Palo Alto Firewall to the internet. This makes the environment more secure and provides a single place for configuring packet filtering rules. The AMI for the VM-Series firewall is available in the AWS Marketplace for both the Bring Your Own License (BYOL) and the usage-based pricing options.

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