Get more GUI functionality using Pan(w)achrome!

[kiwi]

Pan(w)achrome is an extension for Google Chrome. This extension lets you connect to your Palo Alto Networks firewalls and keeps track of some very useful stats! In the background, the extension uses API in order to send commands to the device.

To use the extension, you need to first install the plugin to your Chrome browser.  To do this, simply enter the chrome web store and search for 'pan(w)achrome'.  Then hit that "ADD TO CHROME" button :

Voila ... you're done and don't need to do anything else ... seriously, that's it !!!

There's no need to configure a fancy network monitoring tool or configure SNMP or anything complicated like that.

As soon as you've added the extension to your browser, you will see the Pan(w)achrome icon at the top right of your browser as displayed below:

Obviously, the plugin has no idea which devices it should monitor.  

So how do you add your devices? Simply log into your firewalls using your Chrome browser... seriously, it's as simple as that.

When you login to your firewalls (as superuser) using your Chrome browser, the plugin will recognize this request and you will automatically be prompted to add this firewall to the extension.  Click OK to confirm:

Add your firewall to Pan(w)achrome

Congratulations, you have just added your first firewall to Pan(w)achrome!

You can keep on adding new ones and the number of added firewall will be displayed in the plugin icon:

Simply click the icon and a new tab will open on your browser, listing all the firewalls you have added:

Select the firewall you would like to check out and you will be presented with the statistics for that specific firewall.  

The top left menu allows you to select between Traffic, Sessions, Resources and Counter.    

Depending on the selected menu, you will be presented with interface information, current and historical session data,

 MP and DP resource usage and global counter information.

For more information on this awesome tool, check out the following links and video on Pan(w)achrome :

Pan(w)achrome 0.7

How to Use Pan(w)achromes Statistical Analysis

I hope this article was useful for y'all and as always feel free to add your comments/questions below.

Cheers!

*Kiwi flies away*