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Catalyst 6500 Series Switch and Cisco 7600 Series Router Firewall Services Module Configuration Guide
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Chapter 15 Using Failover
Configuring Failover
primary(config)# failover polltime interface
seconds
If the interface does not receive five consecutive hello messages, the FWSM begins the testing process
for interface failure. See the “Failover Monitoring” section on page 15-13 for more information.
The seconds is an integer between 3 and 15. The default is 15 seconds, which means an interface receives
no reply for 75 seconds (5 times the polling interval) before the interface is tested for failure.
Step 10 To enable failover, enter the following command:
primary(config)# failover
Step 11 (Multiple context mode only) To save the system configuration to Flash memory, enter the following
command:
primary(config)# copy running-config startup-config
Step 12 (Multiple context mode only) To change to a context to configure the standby IP addresses (if you have
not already done so) and to configure the interface monitoring, enter the following command:
primary(config)# changeto context
name
Step 13 If you have not done so already, set the standby IP address for each interface (routed mode) or for the
management IP address (transparent mode) by entering the command appropriate for your firewall mode.
• For routed mode, enter the following command for each interface:
primary/contexta(config)# ip address
interface_name ip_address mask
standby
ip_address
• For transparent mode, enter the following command:
primary/contexta(config)# ip address
ip_address mask
standby
ip_address
The standby IP address is used on the FWSM that is currently the standby module.
To add the standby address, reenter the ip address command for each interface (or management IP
address) and add the standby ip_address option.
This IP address must be in the same subnet as the active IP address. You do not identify the subnet mask.
To check the current IP address settings, enter the show ip address command.
Step 14 To enable monitoring on an interface, enter the following command:
primary/contexta(config)# monitor-interface
interface_name
The maximum number of interfaces to monitor on the FWSM (divided between all contexts) is 250.
Step 15 To save the configuration for the context (in multiple context mode) or for the single mode FWSM, enter
the following command:
primary/contexta(config)# copy running-config startup-config
Step 16 (Multiple context mode only) Repeat Step 12 through Step 15 for each context.
See the “Failover Configuration Example” section on page 15-27 for a typical failover configuration.