PCNSE Practice Question: Securing Users and Applications with Authentication
Exhibit
Refer to the exhibit.
admin@PA-220> show user group name Engineering
group-id: 123
domain: corp.local
group name: Engineering
type: local (membership determined by s AM L)
user list:
jdoe
asmith
total users: 2
admin@PA-220> show user group name Engineering detail
Group: Engineering
User: jdoe (source: LDAP)
User: asmith (source: LDAP)
admin@PA-220> show user group name Engineering config
group {
name "Engineering";
id 123;
type local;
user {
jdoe;
asmith;
}
}
admin@PA-220> show user group name Engineering statistics
Total members: 2
LDAP members: 2
Local members: 0
Cloud Identity Engine members: 0Refer to the exhibit. A firewall administrator created a local user group named 'Engineering' and added two users. However, when applying a security policy that uses this group as the source user, only one user (asmith) is matched correctly. What is the most likely cause of this issue?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently assume adding LDAP usernames to a local group will work because the usernames are known, but they overlook that the group type must match the authentication source for the firewall to correctly resolve group membership.
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
✓
The group type is set to 'local' but the users are sourced from LDAP; change the group type to 'ldap'.
When a local user group is created on the firewall, the group type must match the source of its members. If the group type is set to 'local', the firewall expects the users to be defined locally on the firewall itself. However, if the users are actually sourced from an external LDAP directory, the group type must be changed to 'ldap' so that the firewall queries the LDAP server for group membership. The mismatch causes the firewall to fail to resolve the LDAP users as members of the local group, resulting in only locally defined users (like asmith) being matched correctly.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The group should be configured as 'local' and the users should be added manually via CLI.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: The users are already added manually, but the group type is still 'local'. This does not resolve the issue.
- ✗
The user-id agent timeout is too short; increase the timeout value.
Why it's wrong here
Not relevant: User-id timeout does not affect group membership resolution.
- ✓
The group type is set to 'local' but the users are sourced from LDAP; change the group type to 'ldap'.
Why this is correct
Correct: The group type should match the source of the users. Local groups expect locally defined users; LDAP-sourced users require the group type to be 'ldap'.
- ✗
The group must be imported from LDAP as a dynamic group.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: The group is already local; importing as dynamic would require changing the configuration but the issue is the group type.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PCNSE 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 PCNSE exam.