PCNSA Device Management and Services Practice Question
An administrator notices repeated login failures from external IP 10.0.0.1 in the system logs. The admin wants to permanently block all traffic from that IP. Which approach is best practice?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse management-plane controls (like admin lockout or management profile block lists) with data-plane traffic controls, leading candidates to select options that only restrict administrative access rather than blocking all traffic from the IP.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Create a security policy to block the IP and commit
Creating a security policy to block the IP and committing it is the standard, persistent method to block all traffic from a specific external IP address in Palo Alto Networks firewalls. This approach uses the firewall's stateful inspection engine to deny traffic at the network layer, ensuring the block survives reboots and is enforced across all interfaces.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Create a security policy to block the IP and commit
Why this is correct
A security policy denies all traffic from that IP through the firewall.
- ✗
Use the admin lockout feature
Why it's wrong here
Only prevents admin login attempts, not general traffic.
- ✗
Create a static route to null0 via CLI
Why it's wrong here
Does not block traffic; routing is not the issue.
- ✗
Use a Zone Protection profile
Why it's wrong here
Zone Protection handles flood protection, not a specific IP block.
- ✗
Add the IP to a block list in the management profile
Why it's wrong here
Only restricts management access, not data traffic.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PCNSA practice question is part of Courseiva's free Palo Alto Networks certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the PCNSA exam.