The Local Agent Settings applet on the Palo Alto Networks Broker VM enables you to:
Deploy the Broker VM proxy—To deploy Cortex XDR in restricted networks where endpoints do not have a direct connection to the internet, setup the Broker VM to act as a proxy that routes all the traffic between the Cortex XDR management server and XDR agents/XDR Collectors via a centralized and controlled access point. This enables your agents and XDR Collectors to receive security policy updates, upgrades, and send logs and files to Cortex XDR without a direct internet connection. The Broker VM acts like a transparent proxy and doesn’t decrypt the secure connection between the server and the XDR agent/XDR Collectors, and hides the XDR agent’s/XDR Collector's original IP addresses. If your network topology includes SSL decryption in an upstream proxy/firewall, the Broker VM does not participate in the trust relationship as it is not initiating the connection to the server to be fully transparent.
Enable Broker caching—To reduce your external network bandwidth loads, you can cache XDR agent installations, upgrades, and content updates on your Cortex XDR Broker VM. The Broker VM retrieves from Cortex XDR the latest installers and content files every 15 minutes and stores them for a 30-days retention period since an agent last asked for them. If the files were not available on the Broker VM at the time of the ask, the agent proceeds to download the files directly from the Cortex XDR server. If asked by an agent, the Broker VM can also cache a specific installer that is not on the list of latest installers.
The following are prerequisites and limitations for the Local Agent Settings applet.
Requirement | Description |
|---|---|
General | Each local setting on the Broker VM can support up to 50,000 agents. NoteThis is assuming a standard hardware setup with 2vCPU 8GB memory. |
Agent Proxy |
|
Agent Installer and Content Caching |
|
Agent Communication with Broker VM | Agents communicate with the Broker VM using Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (https) over port 443. You must ensure this port is open so that the Broker VM is accessible to all agents that are configured to use its cache. |
After you configure and register your Palo Alto Networks Broker VM, proceed to set up your Local Agent Settings applet.
Select → → → .
In either the Brokers tab or the Clusters tab, locate your Broker VM.
(Optional) To set up the Agent Proxy:
Right-click the Broker VM, select Configure.
Ensure your proxy server is configured. If not, proceed to add it as described in Configure the Broker VM.
You can either right-click the Broker VM and select → , or hover in the APPS column, and select → .
In the Activate Local Agent configuration, enable Agent Proxy by setting the Proxy to Enabled, and specify the Port. You can also configure the Listening Interface, where the default is set to All.
Note
When you install your XDR agents, you must configure the IP address of the Broker VM and a port number during the installation. You can use the default 8888 port or set a custom port. You are not permitted to configure port numbers between 0-1024 and 63000-65000, or port numbers 4369, 5671, 5672, 5986, 6379, 8000, 9100, 15672, 25672. Additionally, you are not permitted to reuse port numbers you already assigned to the Syslog Collector applet.
(Optional) To setup up Agent Installer and Content Caching:
Ensure you uploaded your SHA256-based certificates.
If not, upload them as described in Configure the Broker VM and Save.
Specify the Broker VM FQDN.
Right-click the Broker VM, select Configure. Under Device Name, enter your Broker VM FQDN. This FQDN record must be configured in your local DNS server.
Activate the Local Agent Settings applet on the Broker VM.
You can either right-click the Broker VM and select → , or in the APPS column, select → .
Activate installer and content caching.
In the Activate Local Agent configuration, enable Agent Installer and Content Caching by setting Caching to Enabled.
To enable agents to start using Broker VM caching, you must add the Broker VM as a download source in your Agent Settings profile and select which Broker VMs to use, as described in Add a New Agent Settings Profile. Then, ensure the profile is associated with a policy for your target agents.
After a successful activation, the APPS field displays Local Agent Settings with a green dot indicating a successful connection. Hover over it to view the applet status and resource usage.
To help you easily troubleshoot connectivity issues for a Local Agent Settings applet on the Palo Alto Networks Broker VM, Cortex XDR displays a list of Denied URLs. These URLs are displayed when you hover over the Local Agent Settings applet to view the Connectivity Status. As a result, in a situation where the Local Agent Settings applet is reported as activated with a failed connection, you can easily determine the URLs that need to be allowed in your network environment.
Manage the local agent settings. After the local agent settings have been activated, hover over the Local Agent Settings connection in the APPS column to display the settings, and select:
Configure to change your settings.
Deactivate to disable the local agent settings altogether.