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SonicWALL NSA E6500 Getting Started Guide Page 33
• Connect the HA ports on the Primary SonicWALL and
Backup SonicWALL appliances with a CAT6-rated
crossover cable (red crossover cable). The Primary and
Backup SonicWALL security appliances must have a
dedicated connection using the HA interface. SonicWALL
recommends cross-connecting the two together using a
CAT 6 crossover Ethernet cable, but a connection using a
dedicated 100Mbps hub/switch is also valid.
• Power up the Primary SonicWALL security appliance, and
then power up the Backup SonicWALL security appliance.
• Do not make any configuration changes to the Primary’s
HA interface; the High Availability configuration in an
upcoming step takes care of this issue. When done,
disconnect the workstation.
Configuring High Availability
The first task in setting up HA after initial setup is configuring the
High Availability > Settings page on the Primary SonicWALL
security appliance. Once you configure HA on the Primary
SonicWALL security appliance, it communicates the settings to
the Backup SonicWALL security appliance.
To configure HA on the Primary SonicWALL, perform the
following steps:
1. Navigate to the High Availability > Settings page.
2. Select the Enable High Availability checkbox.
3. Under SonicWALL Address Settings, type in the serial
number for the Backup SonicWALL appliance.
You can find the serial number on the back of the SonicWALL
security appliance, or in the System > Status screen of the
backup unit. The serial number for the Primary SonicWALL is
automatically populated.
4. Click Apply to retain these settings.
Configuring Advanced HA Settings
1. Navigate to the High Availability > Advanced page.
2. To configure Stateful HA, select Enable Stateful
Synchronization. A dialog box is displayed with
recommended settings for the Heartbeat Interval and
Probe Interval fields. The settings it shows are minimum
recommended values. Lower values may cause
unnecessary failovers, especially when the SonicWALL is
under a heavy load. You can use higher values if your
SonicWALL handles a lot of network traffic. Click OK.
3. To backup the firmware and settings when you upgrade the
firmware version, select Generate/Overwrite Backup
Firmware and Settings When Upgrading Firmware.
4. Select the Enable Virtual MAC checkbox. Virtual MAC
allows the Primary and Backup appliances to share a
single MAC address. This greatly simplifies the process of
updating network ARP tables and caches when a failover
occurs. Only the WAN switch that the two appliances are
connected to needs to be notified. All outside devices will
continue to route to the single shared MAC address.
5. Optionally adjust the Heartbeat Interval to control how
often the two units communicate. The default is 5000
milliseconds; the minimum recommended value is 1000
milliseconds. Less than this may cause unnecessary
NSA_E6500_GSG.book Page 33 Wednesday, June 17, 2009 7:16 PM