User-ID with Azure AD

[djohnson229]

Hey all, I've set up User-ID with on-prem AD servers a few times - quite straightforward.

My question is, how do I set up User-ID when my customer uses Azure AD (with no on-prem servers)? I need to someone get the user-to-IP mappings on the firewall but pulled from Azure AD but not sure how its done. I did see/hear about the "Cloud Identity Engine" but wasn't clear on whether this would do the job or if there is a better way....

Any pointers would be appreciated.

Thanks

DJ

[TomYoung]

Hi @djohnson229 ,

That is a great question.  I have wondered the same thing myself.  This docs walk through a process where CIE combined with the Authentication Portal can get User-to-IP mappings -> https://docs.paloaltonetworks.com/pan-os/10-1/pan-os-new-features/identity-features/cloud-identity-e....

The Authentication Portal would be best if it can be setup to authenticate in the background rather than have the user type their credentials in, but that would require the same creds on the PC and Azure AD.  You could also use certificates.

There are other ways to get User-to-IP mappings depending on what you have in place.

1. Use GlobalProtect with internal host detection to require login but not tunnel to a gateway.  (I have not tested this method.)
2. Retrieve mappings from 802.1x configure on wireless and/or wired.

Thanks,

Tom

[djohnson229]

Hi there, thanks so much for the reply. I find this solution pretty lame from Palo.... Previously with on-prem AD the user experience didn't change, they simply logged in as they normally did and the firewall would learn the user-to-IP mapping from AD. Very simple/easy....

Now with Azure AD, I have to deploy Cloud Identity Engine (new product) and the user experience is different - the user is required to authenticate in a portal or use Global Protect (new software agent on PCs) to authenticate users in order to learn user-to-IP mappings. Its pretty clunky in my opinion.....

Note: I do know about other User-ID methods - including syslog, etc but I want my firewalls to integrate directly with AD.

[TomYoung]

Hi @djohnson229 ,

I totally understand your side of the story.  It is not as seamless.

I can take a guess at the PANW side:

1. Azure AD has no MAC address to link the user to the IP address which exists with a local AD DC.
2. Why didn't they build CIE into the NGFW?  I would assume they looked at this 1st but decided to move it to the cloud for some reason.

At least they have a solution for Azure AD User-ID.  Maybe it will get better.

Thanks,

Tom

[djohnson229]

Yeah we are on the same page Tom 🙂

Regarding point 1, I don't believe the MAC address is anything to do with it. Regarding point 2, I agree it would be much better if the CIE could be built into the NGFW somehow - no-one wants "more stuff" to manage.......

Thanks man

Darren

[TomYoung]

Hi @djohnson229 ,

I believe the MAC address is the common parameter on the local AD DC that is used to link the username in the authentication logs with the IP address in the DHCP logs.  How does the User-ID agent know which username goes with which IP address?  I can't think of anything else.

Thanks,

Tom

[djohnson229]

I thought that the event logs in AD (that the firewall looks at) contained the username in the authentication and the IP address that the authentication came from (the users PC). From this the firewall has the user to IP mapping...

I didn't think there was anything related to the MAC address in the AD event logs - the MAC address would only be relevant if the AD DC was on the same layer 2 network (VLAN) as every user which is not really practical. I could be wrong here though.....

[TomYoung]

Hi @djohnson229 ,

That makes sense.  Do you think Azure AD knows the IP address of the user when they authenticate?

Slightly different topic:  I think the Windows agent works if the user has a domain computer.

Thanks,

Tom

[djohnson229]

I don't think Azure does no - thats the problem (and why the other solutions have been provided).