Cloud-native load balancing with Palo Alto Networks firewalls in public clouds involves understanding the distinct approaches for VM-Series and Cloud NGFW:
A . Cloud NGFW's distributed architecture model requires deployment of a single centralized firewall and will force all traffic to the firewall across pre-built VPN tunnels: This is incorrect. Cloud NGFW uses a distributed architecture where traffic is steered to the nearest Cloud NGFW instance, often using Gateway Load Balancers (GWLBs) or similar services. It does not rely on a single centralized firewall or force all traffic through VPN tunnels.
B . VM-Series firewall deployments in the public cloud will require the deployment of a cloud-native load balancer if high availability (HA) or redundancy is needed: This is correct. VM-Series firewalls, when deployed for HA or redundancy, require a cloud-native load balancer (e.g., AWS ALB/NLB/GWLB, Azure Load Balancer) to distribute traffic across the active firewall instances. This ensures that if one firewall fails, traffic is automatically directed to a healthy instance.
C . Cloud NGFW in AWS or Azure has load balancing built into the underlying solution and does not require the deployment of a separate load balancer: This is also correct. Cloud NGFW integrates with cloud-native load balancing services (e.g., Gateway Load Balancer in AWS) as part of its architecture. This provides automatic scaling and high availability without requiring you to manage a separate load balancer.
D . VM-Series firewall load balancing is automated and is handled by the internal mechanics of the NGFW software without the need for a load balancer: This is incorrect. VM-Series firewalls do not have built-in load balancing capabilities for HA. A cloud-native load balancer is essential for distributing traffic and ensuring redundancy.
Reference:
Cloud NGFW documentation: Look for sections on architecture, traffic steering, and integration with cloud-native load balancing services (like AWS Gateway Load Balancer).
VM-Series deployment guides for each cloud provider: These guides explain how to deploy VM-Series firewalls for HA using cloud-native load balancers.
These resources confirm that VM-Series requires external load balancers for HA, while Cloud NGFW has load balancing integrated into its design.