PCNSA Device Management and Services Practice Question
During troubleshooting, an administrator needs to review firewall system events such as user logins, configuration changes, and commit failures. Which log type should be examined?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse system logs with traffic logs, assuming all firewall events are recorded in traffic logs, but system logs are specifically for management-plane events like user logins and commits.
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
✓
System logs
System logs in Palo Alto Networks firewalls capture administrative and system-level events, including user logins, configuration changes, and commit failures. These logs are generated by the management plane and are essential for auditing and troubleshooting device management activities.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Threat logs
Why it's wrong here
Threat logs record traffic matching security profiles such as antivirus, anti-spyware, and vulnerability protection, so they capture exploit or malware signatures rather than administrative events. They are the right choice when tracing a detected threat to its source session, not for logins or commit failures.
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Traffic logs
Why it's wrong here
Traffic logs record session start and end entries with source, destination, application, and action, so they describe allowed or denied flows rather than administrative activity. They are the correct source for troubleshooting connectivity or policy enforcement, not for user logins and commit failures.
- ✓
System logs
Why this is correct
System logs record administrative and daemon activity, including administrator logins, configuration commits, and commit failures. Traffic, threat, and URL filtering logs capture sessions and detections instead, so they cannot show the management-plane events the administrator needs.
- ✗
URL filtering logs
Why it's wrong here
URL filtering logs record web requests matched against URL categories and profiles, so they show browsing destinations, not administrative activity. They would be the correct source when investigating which sites a user visited or why a category block fired, not for logins or commit failures.
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About these practice questions
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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.