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Running OSPF on Cisco and Palo Alto Firewall for inter-zone communication

Running OSPF on Cisco and Palo Alto Firewall for inter-zone communication

  • February 13, 2024
  • Posted by: Lyfey Technologies
  • Categories: Cisco, Networking
115 Comments

In this article, we guide you through a step-by-step configuration of configuring OSPF protocol on a network with Palo Alto Firewall and Cisco routers to achieve Interzone communication. Configuration of Palo Alto firewall is done on CLI.

Step 1: Basic configurations on Palo Alto Firewall

set deviceconfig system hostname PA01
set deviceconfig system type static 
set deviceconfig system timezone Africa/Nairob
set deviceconfig system domain lab.local
set deviceconfig system ip-address 192.168.71.130
set deviceconfig system netmask 255.255.255.0
set deviceconfig system default-gateway 192.168.71.128
set deviceconfig system dns-setting servers primary 8.8.8.8
set deviceconfig system dns-setting servers secondary 1.1.1.1

Step 2: Configure interfaces on the PaloAlto Firewall

set network interface ethernet ethernet1/1 link-state up
set network interface ethernet ethernet1/1 comment ZONE_DMZ_1
set network interface ethernet ethernet1/1 layer3 interface-management-profile Ping
set network interface ethernet ethernet1/1 layer3 ip 10.251.250.100/24
set network interface ethernet ethernet1/2 comment INSIDE_ZONE
set network interface ethernet ethernet1/2 link-state up
set network interface ethernet ethernet1/2 layer3 interface-management-profile Ping
set network interface ethernet ethernet1/2 layer3 ip 10.251.253.100/24 
set network interface ethernet ethernet1/3 comment DMZ_ZONE2
set network interface ethernet ethernet1/3 link-state up
set network interface ethernet ethernet1/3 layer3 interface-management-profile Ping
set network interface ethernet ethernet1/3 layer3 ip 10.251.252.100/24 
set network interface ethernet ethernet1/4 layer3 ip 178.0.0.100/24 
set network interface ethernet ethernet1/4 layer3 interface-management-profile Ping
set network interface ethernet ethernet1/4 comment OUTSIDE_ZONE
set network interface ethernet ethernet1/4 link-state up

Step 3: Configure Virtual router instance, assign interfaces to the virtual router and activate OSPF processes on the interfaces in different areas.


set network virtual-router VR02 
set network virtual-router VR01 protocol ospf enable yes
set network virtual-router VR01 protocol ospf router-id 100.100.100.100
set network virtual-router VR01 interface [ ethernet1/1 ethernet1/2 ethernet1/3 ethernet1/4 ]
set network virtual-router VR01 protocol ospf area 0.0.0.3 type normal 
set network virtual-router VR01 protocol ospf area 0.0.0.3 interface ethernet1/4 enable yes
set network virtual-router VR01 protocol ospf area 0.0.0.3 interface ethernet1/4 link-type broadcast 
set network virtual-router VR01 protocol ospf area 0.0.0.0 type normal 
set network virtual-router VR01 protocol ospf area 0.0.0.0 interface ethernet1/2 enable yes
set network virtual-router VR01 protocol ospf area 0.0.0.0 interface ethernet1/2 link-type broadcast 
set network virtual-router VR01 protocol ospf area 0.0.0.1 type normal 
set network virtual-router VR01 protocol ospf area 0.0.0.1 interface ethernet1/1 enable yes
set network virtual-router VR01 protocol ospf area 0.0.0.1 interface ethernet1/1 link-type broadcast 
set network virtual-router VR01 protocol ospf area 0.0.0.2 type normal 
set network virtual-router VR01 protocol ospf area 0.0.0.2 interface ethernet1/3 enable yes
set network virtual-router VR01 protocol ospf area 0.0.0.2 interface ethernet1/3 link-type broadcast
commit

Step 4: Configure your security zones on the Firewall and assign interfaces to respective zones accordingly

set zone OUTSIDE_ZONE network layer3 ethernet1/4
set zone INSIDE_ZONE network layer3 ethernet1/2
set zone DMN_ZONE1 network layer3 ethernet1/1
set zone DMZ_ZONE2 network layer3 ethernet1/3

Step 5: Configure a security policy to allow communication between zones. We allow communication among all zones in our lab simulation.

set rulebase security rules Allow_ALL to any
set rulebase security rules Allow_ALL from any
set rulebase security rules Allow_ALL source any
set rulebase security rules Allow_ALL destination any
set rulebase security rules Allow_ALL source-user any
set rulebase security rules Allow_ALL category any
set rulebase security rules Allow_ALL application any
set rulebase security rules Allow_ALL service application-default
set rulebase security rules Allow_ALL hip-profiles any
set rulebase security rules Allow_ALL action allow
Step 6: Configure the routers in different zones as follows:
*********************************R1
enable
configure terminal
hostname R1
interface FastEthernet0/0
 ip address 10.251.253.10 255.255.255.0
!
router ospf 10
 router-id 1.1.1.1
 log-adjacency-changes
 network 10.251.253.0 0.0.0.255 area 0
!
*******************************R2
enable
configure terminal
hostname R2
interface FastEthernet0/0
 ip address 10.251.250.10 255.255.255.0
!
router ospf 10
 router-id 2.2.2.2
 log-adjacency-changes
 network 10.251.250.0 0.0.0.255 area 1
!
********************************R3
enable
configure terminal
hostname R3
!
interface Loopback0
 ip address 3.3.3.3 255.255.255.255
 ip ospf 10 area 2
!
interface FastEthernet0/0
 ip address 10.251.252.10 255.255.255.0
!
router ospf 10
 router-id 3.3.3.3
 log-adjacency-changes
 network 10.251.252.0 0.0.0.255 area 2
*****************************R4
enable
configure terminal
hostname R4
!
interface FastEthernet0/0
 ip address 178.0.0.10 255.255.255.0
!
router ospf 10
 router-id 4.4.4.4
 log-adjacency-changes
 network 178.0.0.0 0.0.0.255 area 3
!

Step 7: Verification. Check the status of OSPF on the routers in different zones and on the Palo Alto FW. Check the routing table on the FW to confirm we are able to learn routes through OSPF protocol.

We have OSPF adjacency between our FW and the outside router.
We have four adjacencies in full state on the Firewall
We have learned OSPF routes on our Firewall.


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