Exam Details and Topics

The certification test is delivered through the official exam administrator, Pearson VUE. The candidates for the test can expect 75 questions to be completed within 80 minutes. The questions cover different formats, including matching, scenario-based with graphics, and multiple choice. The PCNSE exam is available in two languages: English and Japanese. The individuals should possess product competence as well as a good understanding of the unique areas of the product portfolio of Palo Alto Networks and know how to appropriately deploy at least one of them.

The exam will evaluate the learners’ skills in planning, configuring, deploying, troubleshooting, and operating the product portfolio components of Palo Alto Networks. Passing this test requires that the candidates have an understanding of security and networking policies that are utilized by PAN-OS software. The topics covered in this certification exam are highlighted below:

• Plan: 16%

  This subject area will measure the ability of the candidates to identify how the products of Palo Alto Networks work together in detecting and preventing threats. They will also need to demonstrate their ability to identify the process of designing the implementation of firewalls within High Availability to fulfill the business prerequisites that can leverage the product portfolio of Palo Alto Networks. This section also requires one’s competence in identifying the relevant configuration and interface type for specified network deployments. Additionally, it will test the skills in identifying strategies for maintaining logs with the use of Distributed Log Collection.

• Configuration Troubleshooting: 18%

  This section of the certification exam will evaluate the skills of the test takers required to identify the traffic and system issues with the use of CLI tools and web interface. It will also measure their expertise in identifying the configuration prerequisites used in carrying out packet captures; identifying the process of troubleshooting and configuring interface elements; identifying the process of troubleshooting SSL decryption failures; identifying issues associated with certificate chains of trust. Additionally, it will also assess their capacity in identifying the process of troubleshooting traffic routing problems and identifying the activities of the ACC chart.

• Configure & Deploy: 23%

  This topic requires that the students develop their skills in identifying the application definitions within the traffic log, which include insufficient data, not applicable, unknown P2P, non-sync TCP, unknown UDP, and unknown TCP. They should also have proficiency in identifying security profile sets that should be utilized; identifying the relationship that exists between credential theft prevention and URL filtering; implementing and maintaining App-ID adoption. This part also requires competence in identifying the process involved in creating security rules for the implementation of App-ID without depending on port-based rules. The questions from this area will also measure your skills in identifying the configurations for different distributed Log Collectors.

• Operate: 20%

  This domain is designed to equip the learners with the skills required to answer a variety of questions on operations. These include identifying the considerations for the configuration of external log forwarding; interpreting log files, graphs, and reports to establish threat trends and traffic. It also covers the examinees’ skills in identifying different scenarios where there are the benefits of utilizing custom signatures and identifying the process required to update Palo Alto Network systems to the latest software version. They should also be able to identify how the operations of configuration management are utilized to guarantee expected operational continuity and stability state.

• Core Concepts: 23%

  The candidates for the certification exam must be able to demonstrate their expertise in identifying the accurate order of policy evaluations according to the architecture of packet flow. This objective will also evaluate their competence in identifying the relevant threat prevention components of Palo Alto Networks to mitigate or prevent attacks. They also need to be able to identify the techniques to identify the users; identify the basic functions of residents on the data plane and management plane of Palo Alto Networks firewalls.

Reference: https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/services/education/palo-alto-networks-certified-network-security-engineer