This guide covers the technical network flows that route generative AI traffic to F5 SurePath AI: SASE Forward-to-Proxy and Proxy PAC URL, with and without upstream TLS interception. Configuration is generalized here; vendor-specific setup is linked for reference.

Both methods steer only GenAI domains to SurePath AI for governance. SASE deployments chain traffic with a Forward-to-Proxy action from the SASE vendor to the SurePath AI Proxy. Proxy PAC URL deployments configure endpoints to use a PAC file that sends matching traffic directly to the SurePath AI TLS proxy.

Choose SASE Forward-to-Proxy when the organization already routes web traffic through a SASE platform and needs centralized policy, posture controls, and consolidated logging across the security stack.

Choose Proxy PAC URL for a rapid deployment without SASE, when the primary target is browsers or ChromeOS, or to pilot or roll out to specific user groups using MDM or browser admin controls.

SurePath AI supports two primary types of integrations: SASE and Proxy PAC URL. SASE is the preferred method. For customers without a SASE solution, or without a compatible one, SurePath AI uses MDMs to push a customer-specific proxy PAC URL to endpoints. Both methods forward only specific AI domains to SurePath AI for analysis and send non-AI traffic through normal or direct routes.

Endpoints retrieve the PAC file and direct only GenAI traffic to the SurePath AI TLS proxy while sending other traffic normally. Requests to public GenAI services are tunneled to SurePath AI Edge and inspected under the SurePath AI Root CA trusted by the endpoint.

A customer-managed firewall performs TLS inspection for outbound HTTP/S traffic, and the endpoint trusts the firewall's CA. The PAC still directs GenAI traffic to the SurePath AI HTTP/S proxy. The SurePath AI Root CA must be installed on the firewall so that SurePath AI inspection of tunneled GenAI sessions succeeds end-to-end.

The SASE platform performs TLS intercept and then forwards GenAI traffic to the SurePath AI Proxy using a Forward-to-Proxy action based on the Public Services list. The SurePath AI Root CA must be installed on the SASE platform to allow downstream SurePath AI inspection.

The SASE forwards GenAI traffic to the SurePath AI Proxy without performing TLS intercept upstream. Endpoints must trust the SurePath AI Root CA to avoid browser warnings when SurePath AI performs TLS inspection.

Updates to GenAI destinations are handled automatically through the Public Services Catalog and PAC file. SASE deployments may require periodic category list refreshes, per vendor guidance. For pilot deployments, use targeted user or device groups and monitor logs in both the SASE platform and SurePath AI.

For SurePath AI to associate AI traffic with specific users, it must either prompt the user for credentials before allowing access to an AI service, or receive an identifier that associates the traffic with a user without prompting for authentication.

Most SASE vendors' Forward-to-Proxy policies support adding the X-Authenticated-User (XAU) header to requests forwarded to third-party proxy services like SurePath AI. SurePath AI trusts the XAU header and authenticates the request automatically, without prompting the user, when three conditions are met: the header is sent to SurePath AI, the tenant has the required SASE connector configured, and the request originates from a known IP address of that SASE vendor.

Cloudflare sends the XAU header from a Secure Web Gateway HTTP policy rather than a Forward-to-Proxy policy, using an identity variable that resolves to the signed-in user's email address. See Cloudflare - Secure Web Gateway for the configuration steps.

SurePath AI's proxy PAC URLs provide a primary TLS-based proxy address and an HTTP fallback proxy address for systems or applications that don't support TLS proxies. The TLS-based proxy also uses user-specific hostnames so SurePath AI can identify which tenant traffic belongs to it. The Proxy connector has three authentication settings:

This assumes the SurePath AI TLS proxy is in use. When the TLS proxy isn't supported, authentication always falls back to User authentication. Connector authentication works through the TLS proxy because a TLS connection carries a Server Name Indication (SNI) field, which contains the DNS name of the host the client is trying to reach. SurePath AI uses this field to associate traffic with a specific tenant when it's available. HTTP proxy traffic has no SNI, so SurePath AI can't identify the org and must prompt users for authentication for all AI services.