Use Case: Configure Active/Active HA with Floating IP Address Bound to Active-Primary Firewall (2024)

Use Case: Configure Active/Active HA with Floating IP AddressBound to Active-Primary Firewall

Updated on

Apr 19, 2024

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Updated on

Apr 19, 2024

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Use Case: Configure Active/Active HA with Floating IP AddressBound to Active-Primary Firewall

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Previous Use Case: Configure Active/Active HA with ARP Load-Sharing

Next Use Case: Configure Active/Active HA with Source DIPP NAT Using Floating IP Addresses

In mission-critical data centers, you maywant both Layer 3 HA firewalls to participate in path monitoringso that they can detect path failures upstream from both firewalls.Additionally, you prefer to control if and when the floating IPaddress returns to the recovered firewall after it comes back up,rather than the floating IP address returning to the device ID towhich it is bound. (That default behavior is described in FloatingIP Address and Virtual MAC Address.)

In this use case,you control when the floating IP address and therefore the active-primaryrole move back to a recovered HA peer. The active/active HA firewallsshare a single floating IP address that you bind to whichever firewallis in the active-primary state. With only one floating IP address,network traffic flows predominantly to a single firewall, so thisactive/active deployment functions like an active/passive deployment.

Inthis use case, Cisco Nexus 7010 switches with virtual PortChannels(vPCs) operating in Layer 3 connect to the firewalls. You must configurethe Layer 3 switches (router peers) north and south of the firewallswith a route preference to the floating IP address. That is, youmust design your network so the route tables of the router peershave the best path to the floating IP address. This example usesstatic routes with the proper metrics so that the route to the floatingIP address uses a lower metric (the route to the floating IP addressis preferred) and receives the traffic. An alternative to using staticroutes would be to design the network to redistribute the floatingIP address into the OSPF routing protocol (if you are using OSPF).

Thefollowing topology illustrates the floating IP address bound tothe active-primary firewall, which is initially Peer A, the firewallon the left.

Use Case: Configure Active/Active HA with Floating IP Address Bound to Active-Primary Firewall (1)

Upon afailover, when the active-primary firewall (Peer A) goes down andthe active-secondary firewall (Peer B) takes over as the active-primarypeer, the floating IP address moves to Peer B (shown in the followingfigure). Peer B remains the active-primary firewall and trafficcontinues to go to Peer B, even when PeerA recovers and becomesthe active-secondary firewall. You decide if and when to make PeerA the active-primary firewall again.

Use Case: Configure Active/Active HA with Floating IP Address Bound to Active-Primary Firewall (2)

Bindingthe floating IP address to the active-primary firewall providesyou with more control over how the firewalls determine floatingIP address ownership as they move between various HAFirewall States. The following advantages result:

Youcan have an active/active HA configuration for path monitoring outof both firewalls, but have the firewalls function like an active/passiveHA configuration because traffic directed to the floating IP addressalways goes to the active-primary firewall.

Alternatively, for

Session Owner Selection

youcan select

First Packet

and then for

Session Setup

,select

Primary Device

FirstPacket

For

Session Setup

, select

PrimaryDevice

—The active-primary firewall sets up all sessions.This is the recommended setting if you want your active/active configurationto behave like an active/passive configuration because it keepsall activity on the active-primary firewall.

You must also engineer your network to eliminatethe possibility of asymmetric traffic going to the HA pair. If youdon’t do so and traffic goes to the active-secondary firewall, setting

SessionOwner Selection

and

Session Setup

PrimaryDevice

causes the traffic to traverse HA3 to get tothe active-primary firewall for session ownership and session setup.

Click

Configure an HA virtual address.

Select

Device

High Availability

Active/Active Config

Virtual Address

and click

Add

Enter or select an

Interface

Select the

IPv4

IPv6

taband

Add

IPv4 Address

IPv6Address

For

Type

, select

Floating

,which configures the virtual IP address to be a floating IP address.

Click

Bind the floating IP address to the active-primary firewall.

Select

Floating IP bound to theActive-Primary device

Select

Failover address if link state isdown

to cause the firewall to use the failover addresswhen the link state on the interface is down.

Click

Enablejumbo frames on firewalls other than PA-7000 Series firewalls.

Commit

the configuration.

Configure the peer firewall in the same way, except selectinga different DeviceID.

For example, if you selected Device ID forthe first firewall, select Device ID

forthe peer firewall.

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Previous Use Case: Configure Active/Active HA with ARP Load-Sharing

Next Use Case: Configure Active/Active HA with Source DIPP NAT Using Floating IP Addresses

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Use Case: Configure Active/Active HA with Floating IP Address Bound to Active-Primary Firewall (2024)

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