✨How to Bootstrap a Palo Alto VM Series firewall 🔐on ESXi and Connect It To SCM✨

To use Legacy Routing Engine. You have to Request that workflow. Advanced Routing Engine is the default for Strata Cloud Manager.

"Let’s talk about the problem. Manually configuring a firewall involves setting up management interfaces, importing licenses, and uploading configuration files—tasks that can be tedious and error-prone. And if you’re managing multiple firewalls? It’s a nightmare."

"That’s where bootstrapping comes in. By preparing a few key files—like init-cfg.txt for initial settings and authcodes file for activation—you can automate the entire setup process. This saves time, reduces errors, and gets your firewall online faster."

Download Free ISO Creator from this link https://www.freeisocreator.com/

Video Index:
Navigate to the Needed section of the video.

1:16 Folder Structure used to build ISO file.
4:16 Create Device Certificate AK. Pin ID & Value
5:53 Create a Deployment File
7:06 Create Folders in SCM
8:08 Download OVA
9:13 Create the ISO image12:50 Upload ISO to ESXi Data Storage
13:53 Add the ISO to the VM before booting up for the first time
16:00 Check if firewall Bootstrapped correctly.

SCM Course Coming in Q3 of 2025