Setting up PAN OS for API access

[Pritam39]

I am trying to enable XML API to my Palo Alto v8.1 firewall. Despite documented steps, it doesnt seem to work. How do I verify if the XML API is setup correctly? Is there a clear step by step process to get the API access enabled?

[Remo]

Hi @Pritam39 

On the managementinterface the API is enabled by default if you have enabled https access. On https://FIREWALL/api you can browse the available API commands. All about this API is documented on the paloalto documentation website. Here you can find the page about getting started with the API:  https://docs.paloaltonetworks.com/pan-os/8-1/pan-os-panorama-api/get-started-with-the-pan-os-xml-api...

Hope this helps!

[Pritam39]

Thank for that info. It confirms what I had understood earlier. We have a scanner that uses API calls and cannot scan the firewall although we have followed the steps in that document. The scanner uses Username/Passwords and not Keys so we have not generated the API Key. The error in the scanner says it discovered a 'HTTP' service in place of 'HTTPS'

[Remo]

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@Pritam39 wrote:

The error in the scanner says it discovered a 'HTTP' service in place of 'HTTPS'

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Is maybe http instead of https enabled on your mgmt interface? Or is the error a general error as https is also http - only encrypted at the transport layer.