topic Nested plist capable for Mac GlobalProtect? in GlobalProtect Discussions

Nested plist capable for Mac GlobalProtect?

JamesH1318 — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 20:34:16 GMT

I want to get the GlobalProtect client version at portal connection, so I'm trying to get it via Portal Data Collection. The problem I'm running into is twofold:
1. There is a /Library/Preferences/com.paloaltonetworks.GlobalProtect.settings.plist and a ~/Library/Preferences/com.paloaltonetworks.GlobalProtect.settings.plist. The value I want is in the plist off the root, not the users.

2. The value I want is nested in the plist under "Palo Alto Networks" -> GlobalProtect -> PanSetup -> CurrentVersion. I tried to use "Palo Alto Networks.GlobalProtect.PanSetup.CurrentVersion" as my key but it doesn't seem to be working.

Does GlobalProtect support reading nested plist entries? And if so, how do I make sure it uses the system plist and not the users? Is there a better way to get the client version at portal connect?

Thanks!

Re: Nested plist capable for Mac GlobalProtect?

kiwi — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 13:56:33 GMT

Hi @JamesH1318 ,

Can the following KB files help you?

How to create a custom check using a plist on macOS systems

How to input a Mac Plist nested subkey in the configuration for GlobalProtect Portal Data Collection Custom Checks?

Hope these help.

Kind regards,

-Kim.

Re: Nested plist capable for Mac GlobalProtect?

JamesH1318 — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 20:51:32 GMT

Hi @kiwi,

They do help a little, yes, and thank you! What would also help is if you could tell me what you searched on to come across them as I looked for hours and never saw those. 😉

The second article helps a lot by showing me how to put in the nested keys. However, it's still not working. This snippet in the first article is interesting, "The GP app for macOS can only read plist entries in the User Preferences folder ( ~/Library/Preferences) or the System Preferences folder ( /Library/Preferences )".

There is a com.paloaltonetowrks.GlobalProtect.settings in both but the one I'm interested in is the one in /Library/Preferences. The one in ~/Library/Preferences doesn't have all of the same keys. That line in the article says User Preferences OR System Preferences, but doesn't say how to choose which one to use. I tried putting the absolute path in the plist value but that didn't work either. I think as soon as I can find how to specify to use the plist in the System Preferences, I'll have what I need.

Thanks again!

Re: Nested plist capable for Mac GlobalProtect?

JamesH1318 — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 21:09:37 GMT

For a test, I used a value that existed in the ~/Library/Preferences/com.paloaltonetworks.GlobalProtect.settings.plist file and getting the nested value worked perfectly! Now, I just need to figure out how to specify that I was to use the system one in /Library/Preferences/com.paloaltonetworks.GlobalProtect.settings.plist, which that first article implies is possible.