A great way to start the Palo Alto Networks Certified Network Security Engineer (PCNSE PAN-OS 10) preparation is to begin by properly appreciating the role that syllabus and study guide play in the Palo Alto PCNSE certification exam. This study guide is an instrument to get you on the same page with Palo Alto and understand the nature of the Palo Alto PCNSE exam.
Our team of experts has composed this Palo Alto PCNSE exam preparation guide to provide the overview about Palo Alto Network Security Engineer exam, study material, sample questions, practice exam and ways to interpret the exam objectives to help you assess your readiness for the Palo Alto PCNSE PAN-OS 10 exam by identifying prerequisite areas of knowledge. We recommend you to refer the simulation questions and practice test listed in this guide to determine what type of questions will be asked and the level of difficulty that could be tested in the Palo Alto PCNSE certification exam.
Palo Alto PCNSE Exam Overview:
|
Exam Name
|
Network Security Engineer |
| Exam Number | PCNSE PAN-OS 10 |
| Exam Price | $175 USD |
| Duration | 80 minutes |
| Number of Questions | 75 |
| Passing Score | Variable (70-80 / 100 Approx.) |
| Recommended Training |
Firewall Essentials - Configuration and Management (EDU-210) Panorama - Managing Firewalls at Scale (EDU-220) Firewall - Troubleshooting (330) Firewall 10.0 - Optimizing Firewall Threat Prevention (EDU-214) |
| Exam Registration | PEARSON VUE |
| Sample Questions | Palo Alto PCNSE Sample Questions |
| Practice Exam | Palo Alto Networks Certified Network Security Engineer Practice Test |
Palo Alto PCNSE Exam Topics:
| Section | Weight | Objectives |
|---|---|---|
| Plan | 16% |
- Identify how the Palo Alto Networks products work together to detect and prevent threats - Given a scenario, identify how to design an implementation of the firewall to meet business requirements that leverage the Palo Alto Networks product portfolio - Given a scenario, identify how to design an implementation of firewalls in High Availability to meet business requirements that leverage the Palo Alto Networks product portfolio - Identify the appropriate interface type and configuration for a specified network deployment - Identify strategies for retaining logs using Distributed Log Collection - Given a scenario, identify the strategy that should be implemented for Distributed Log Collection - Identify how to use template stacks for administering Palo Alto Networks firewalls as a scalable solution using Panorama - Identify how to use device group hierarchy for administering Palo Alto Networks firewalls as a scalable solution using Panorama - Identify planning considerations unique to deploying Palo Alto Networks firewalls in a public cloud - Identify planning considerations unique to deploying Palo Alto Networks firewalls in a hybrid cloud - Identify planning considerations unique to deploying Palo Alto Networks firewalls in a private cloud - Identify methods for authorization, authentication, and device administration - Identify the methods of certificate creation on the firewall - Identify options available in the firewall to support dynamic routing - Given a scenario, identify ways to mitigate resource exhaustion (because of denial-of-service) in application servers - Identify decryption deployment strategies - Identify the impact of application override to the overall functionality of the firewall - Identify the methods of User-ID redistribution - Identify VM-Series bootstrap components and their function |
| Deploy and Configure | 23% |
- Identify the application meanings in the Traffic log (incomplete, insufficient data, non-syn TCP, not applicable, unknown TCP, unknown UDP, and unknown P2P)
- Given a scenario, identify the set of Security Profiles that should be used
- Identify the relationship between URL filtering and credential theft prevention - Implement and maintain the App-ID adoption - Identify how to create security rules to implement App-ID without relying on port-based rules - Identify configurations for distributed Log Collectors - Identify the required settings and steps necessary to provision and deploy a next-generation firewall - Identify which device of an HA pair is the active partner - Identify various methods for authentication, authorization, and device administration within PAN-OS software for connecting to the firewall - Identify how to configure and maintain certificates to support firewall features - Identify the features that support IPv6 - Identify how to configure a virtual router - Given a scenario, identify how to configure an interface as a DHCP relay agent - Identify the configuration settings for site-to-site VPN - Identify the configuration settings for GlobalProtect - Identify how to configure features of NAT policy rules - Given a configuration example including DNAT, identify how to configure security rules - Identify how to configure decryption - Given a scenario, identify an application override configuration and use case - Identify how to configure VM-Series firewalls for deployment - Identify how to configure firewalls to use tags and filtered log forwarding for integration with network automation |
| Operate | 20% |
- Identify considerations for configuring external log forwarding - Interpret log files, reports, and graphs to determine traffic and threat trends - Identify scenarios in which there is a benefit from using custom signatures - Given a scenario, identify the process to update a Palo Alto Networks system to the latest version of the software - Identify how configuration management operations are used to ensure desired operational state of stability and continuity - Identify the settings related to critical HA functions (link monitoring; path monitoring; HA1, HA2, HA3, and HA4 functionality; HA backup links; and differences between A/A and A/P HA pairs and HA clusters) - Identify the sources of information that pertain to HA functionality - Identify how to configure the firewall to integrate with AutoFocus and verify its functionality - Identify the impact of deploying dynamic updates - Identify the relationship between Panorama and devices as pertaining to dynamic updates versions and policy implementation and/or HA peers |
| Configuration Troubleshooting | 18% |
- Identify system and traffic issues using the web interface and CLI tools - Given a session output, identify the configuration requirements used to perform a packet capture - Given a scenario, identify how to troubleshoot and configure interface components - Identify how to troubleshoot SSL decryption failures - Identify issues with the certificate chain of trust - Given a scenario, identify how to troubleshoot traffic routing issues |
| Core Concepts | 23% |
- Identify the correct order of the policy evaluation based on the packet flow architecture - Given an attack scenario against firewall resources, identify the appropriate Palo Alto Networks threat prevention component to prevent or mitigate the attack - Given an attack scenario against resources behind the firewall, identify the appropriate Palo Alto Networks threat prevention component to prevent or mitigate the attack - Identify methods for identifying users - Identify the fundamental functions residing on the management plane and data plane of a Palo Alto Networks firewall - Given a scenario, determine how to control bandwidth use on a per-application basis - Identify the fundamental functions and concepts of WildFire - Identify the purpose of and use case for MFA and the Authentication policy - Identify the dependencies for implementing MFA - Given a scenario, identify how to forward traffic - Given a scenario, identify how to configure policies and related objects - Identify the methods for automating the configuration of a firewall |
Palo Alto PCNSE PAN-OS 10 Exam Description:
The Palo Alto Networks Certified Network Security Engineer (PCNSE) is a formal, third-party proctored certification that indicates that those who have passed it possess the in-depth knowledge to design, install, configure, maintain, and troubleshoot most implementations based on the Palo Alto Networks platform.