Activate Cortex XSIAM - Learn how to activate your tenant. - Administrator Guide - Cortex XSIAM - Cortex - Security Operations

Cortex XSIAM 3.x Documentation

Product
Cortex XSIAM
Creation date
2025-07-15
Last date published
2026-06-04
Category
Administrator Guide
Abstract

Learn how to activate your tenant.

To activate a tenant, you need to log in to Cortex Gateway, a centralized portal for activating and managing tenants, users, roles, and user groups. After activating the tenant, you can then access the tenant. You must repeat this task for each tenant if you have multiple tenants. The activation process involves accessing Cortex Gateway, activating the tenant, and then accessing the tenant's resources.

Prerequisite

  • The Cortex XSIAM activation email.

  • A Customer Support Portal (CSP) account.

    You need to set up your CSP account. For more information, see How to Create Your CSP User Account.

    When you create a CSP account, you can set up two-factor authentication (2FA) to log into the CSP by using an Email, Okta Verify, or Google Authenticator (non-FedRAMP accounts). For more information, see How to Enable a Third Party IdP.

  • You have one of the following roles assigned:

    Role

    Description

    CSP role

    The Super User role is assigned to your CSP account. The user who creates the CSP account is granted the Super User role.

    Cortex role

    You must have the Account Admin role.

    If you are the first user to access Cortex Gateway with the CSP Super User role, you are automatically granted Account Admin permissions for the Cortex Gateway. You can also add Account Admin users as required.

    In the Cortex Gateway, you can activate new tenants, access existing tenants, and create and manage role-based access control (RBAC) for all of your tenants.

How to activate Cortex XSIAM
  1. Log in to Cortex Gateway.

    You can also access the link from the activation email.

  2. Enter your username and password or multi-factor authentication (if set up) by using your Customer Support Portal account credentials to sign in.

    After you sign in, you can view the following:

    • If you are a CSP Account Admin, you can see tenants allocated to your CSP account and ready for activation. After activation, you cannot move your tenant to a different CSP account.

    • Tenant details such as license type, number of endpoints, and purchase date.

    • Tenants that were activated and are now available. If you have more than one Customer Support Portal account, the tenants are displayed according to the Customer Support Portal account name.

  3. In the Available for Activation section, use the serial number to locate the tenant that needs activation, and then click Activate.

    Note

    When you activate, a production tenant is first activated. After activation, you can set up a development tenant (subject to your license).

  4. On the Tenant Activation page, define the following:

    Parameter

    Description

    Tenant Name

    Enter the name of the tenant. Use a unique name across your company account up to 59 characters long.

    Region

    Geographic location where your tenant will be hosted. For more information about supported regions, see Cortex XSIAM supported regions.

    Tenant Subdomain

    DNS record associated with your tenant. Enter a name that will be used to access the tenant directly using the full URL:

    https://<subdomain>xdr.<region>.paloaltonetworks.com

    Encryption Method

    (Optional) If you want to bring your own keys for encrypting your data, under Advanced, select BYOK and follow the instructions of the wizard as detailed in Encryption Method.

    • Default encryption (recommended)

      All data stored by Cortex XSIAM is encrypted at rest using a dedicated key management system. Cortex XSIAM provides strict key access controls and auditing, and encrypts user data at rest according to AES-256 encryption standards. We recommend using this default system.

    • BYOK (Bring your own keys)

      BYOK (Bring Your Own Keys) enables you to generate your own encryption keys and securely import and manage them via Cortex Gateway to retain greater control over your tenant data and encryption. This requires further setup.

  5. Review and agree to the terms and conditions of the Privacy policy, Terms of Use, and EULA , and then Activate your tenant.

    Note

    Activation can take about an hour and does not require you to remain on the activation page. Cortex XSIAM sends a notification to your email when the process is complete.

  6. After activation, from Cortex Gateway, in the Available Tenants, when hovering over the activated tenant, do the following:

    • Ensure that you can successfully access the tenant by clicking the Cortex XSIAM tenant name (when the tenant is active).

    • In the dialog box, view the tenant status, region, serial number, and license details.

      Note

      If you want to change your tenant's name, the subdomain, or activate a development tenant (subject to license), on the right-hand side, click the ellipsis.

      You can only change the subdomain once, and it cannot be undone.

      After deleting the subdomain, you can reuse it after 7 days.

  7. Enable and verify access to  Cortex XSIAM communication servers, storage buckets, and various resources in your firewall configuration. For more information, see Enable access to required PANW resources.