I took the Palo Alto Networks Certified Security Engineer (PCNSE) exam recently and it was a tough exam though thankfully I passed. Primarily, it was a difficult exam for me because I only had hands on experience using PAN-OS from setting up a GNS3 lab and not production experience, so topics such as Panorama which features prominently in the exam I knew just from the Study Guide and videos.

I relied on four resources that I have linked below in addition to running PAN-OS VM in my home lab. The list signify in ascending order how relevant the materials were to passing the exam.

As with other certifications I had studied and sat for, I normally start the search for information on sub Reddit groups then move to Discord channels if they are available. It took approximately 5 months to prepare for this because of work and other certs I was also preparing for but I believe this is achievable within a month or less of study and prior experience.

  1. INE’s Palo Alto Networks Firewall Training, I started with this because of the INE Business subscription I have from the office. This helped in setting up the lab and I replicated almost the same network Piotr created in his training. Overall, it was an okay training.

  2. Palo Alto Networks Live Community channel on YouTube, the wealth of information on Palo Alto Networks NGFW features on this channel is incredible.

  3. The PCNSE Study Guide, Well, you won’t pass without understanding or knowing the study guide, it is that important, the other materials only helped in making the exam domains clear.

  4. Palo Alto Networks Beacon, this is simply the best resource for Palo Alto Networks, it has the most to date, simplified and interactive information on Palo Alto Networks and also it is completely free.

Gideon_PCNSE