Right now we’re excited to announce the preview of Palo Alto Networks Cloud Subsequent Era Firewall (NGFW) for Azure, obtainable as a software program as a service (SaaS) providing in Azure Digital WAN. Azure Digital WAN (vWAN), networking as a service brings networking, safety, and routing functionalities collectively to simplify networking in Azure. With ease of use and ease inbuilt, vWAN is a one-stop store to attach, shield, route visitors, and monitor your extensive space community.

Digital WAN’s deep integration with the Palo Alto Networks managed firewall service permits you to benefit from the simplicity of a SaaS safety providing with out the hassles of managing provisioning, scaling, resiliency, software program updates, or routing. A SaaS mannequin allows a buyer to deploy an answer by merely supplying vital parameters and abstracting themselves from the administration of community digital home equipment.

On this weblog, we are going to deal with the use case, adopted by a short overview of the behind-the-scenes secret sauce that makes it occur, after which understanding key Palo Alto Networks differentiating options.

The use case

Prospects of Azure Digital WAN can now use Palo Alto Networks Cloud NGFW for Azure to safe their visitors via their Digital WAN deployments. Right now, clients with digital hubs throughout the globe can select to guard their visitors destined to on-premises, by deploying an Azure Firewall or a third-party community digital equipment (NVA). Prospects now have the extra capacity to have the ability to deploy Palo Alto Networks Cloud NGFW as a SaaS resolution and safe any attainable visitors flows of their vWAN deployment.

The totally different visitors flows which are supported by a buyer’s vWAN deployment are illustrated beneath. Flows are numbered within the desk beneath with the next assumptions:

• ‘B’ stands for a Department which is a buyer’s on-premises community related to Azure via ExpressRoute circuits, Department/Website-to-site VPN, or Distant consumer/Level-to-site connections.
• ‘V’ stands for VNet—Azure Digital networks internet hosting buyer providers and related to a Digital WAN hub. It could even be known as spoke VNet.
• ‘I’ stands for web, which implies the shopper visitors that originates from or terminates within the web and traverses via Azure Digital WAN.
• ‘H’ stands for Azure Digital hub.
• Visitors flows throughout a single hub are visitors flows originating and terminating on endpoints related to the identical digital hub. These can also be known as Intra-hub flows.
• Inter-hub flows are visitors flows that traverse throughout 2 digital hubs to get to the vacation spot.

Person expertise

Prospects can add Palo Alto Networks Cloud NGFW to an Azure Digital WAN Hub within the Azure portal. After a hub is created, click on on the hub title and navigate to Third-party Suppliers -> SaaS options –> Create SaaS and select the Palo Alto Networks Cloud NGFW choice.

After clicking “Create”, you’ll be taken to a wizard expertise the place you’ll be able to configure and customise your Cloud NGFW SaaS deployment. You’ll be able to customise key networking and safety attributes of your SaaS equivalent to deciding on public Ips, DNS proxy settings, safety insurance policies, and safety settings.

After the Cloud NGFW has been efficiently provisioned, you’ll be able to handle your SaaS Firewall by navigating to your Digital Hub -> Third-party suppliers -> SaaS options -> Handle SaaS. Discover right here for extra data on obtainable choices.

How does this all work inside Digital WAN

As talked about within the prior part, Digital WAN helps a number of flows. As an example the behind-the-scenes workings in Digital WAN, we are going to use East-West (V2V) visitors flows.

As you’ll be able to see, the complexities of visitors engineering, and infrastructure administration are fully eliminated and the consumer will get to simply deal with securing the fitting safety insurance policies for his or her community visitors.

Key highlights of the Palo Alto Networks Cloud NGFW for Azure integration with Digital WAN

Palo Alto Networks Cloud NGFW for Azure integrates with Azure Digital WAN deployments, enabling clients to guard visitors throughout their complete community. Whereas there are a number of cool and turn-key options constructed into the mixing, a number of which are value calling out are beneath:

• Machine studying powered NGFW: Cloud NGFW for Azure makes use of AI and machine studying to detect and cease recognized, unknown, and zero-day threats, enabling clients to remain forward of refined adversaries.
• Constant Safety and Administration from On-Premises to Azure: Cloud NGFW for Azure is built-in with Panorama, Palo Alto Networks coverage administration resolution. The combination of Panorama with Cloud NGFW for Azure provides a number of advantages to clients. Firstly, it allows seamless safety coverage extension from on-prem to Azure, simplifying operations and decreasing administrative workload and whole price of possession. Extra importantly, this integration enforces the identical excessive requirements of safety within the cloud, guaranteeing that clients’ cloud environments are safe and guarded towards cyber threats. Moreover, the mixing gives centralized visibility, offering priceless insights into the threats on their community enabling clients to handle their safety insurance policies via their present Panorama console, streamlining administration, permitting their cloud groups to deal with software migration and new software growth.
• Ease of use: Palo Alto Networks Cloud NGFW is designed to be extremely simple to make use of. Just like Digital WAN product ideas for simplicity and ease of use, this Palo Alto Networks built-in resolution permits clients to acquire and deploy the answer instantly from the Azure portal in just some minutes, offering instantaneous safety towards cyber threats. The answer can be painless to function as Palo Alto Networks takes care of scaling, resilience, and software program updates. This integration provides clients the agility and adaptability they should handle their cloud safety whereas specializing in their core enterprise targets.

We would like your suggestions

We look ahead to persevering with to construct out Azure Digital WAN and including extra capabilities sooner or later. We encourage you to check out Azure Digital WAN and the Palo Alto Networks Cloud NGFW SaaS and look ahead to listening to extra about your experiences to include your suggestions into the product.

Study extra

For added data, please discover these assets: