Stormshield SN series - High Availability; Step 1: Creating or Joining a High Availability Cluster

HIGH AVAILABILITY
This module will allow you to create first of all, a cluster or a group of firewalls. Once this is done,
another firewall can be added to join the cluster that you have just initialized.
Stormshield Network’s high availability operates in “Active/passive” mode: Consider a cluster
containing 2 firewalls. If the firewall considered “active” fails, or if a cable has been disconnected,
the second firewall considered “passive” will seamlessly take over. As such, the “passive” firewall
becomes “active”.
A video from Stormshield Network’s WebTV on YouTube will guide you step by step in the
configuration of a group of Stormshield Network firewalls (cluster). Click on this link to access the
video: Configuring a Stormshield Network firewall cluster.
The configuration of high availability takes place in 4 steps:
l Step 1: Creating a cluster/joining an existing cluster
l Step 2: Configuring network interfaces: the main link and the secondary link (optional)
l Step 3: Defining the cluster’s pre-shared key
l Step 4: Summary of the steps and application of configured settings
Once you are done with these 4 steps, a new screen will appear suggesting new configurations
within the high availability module.
NOTE
A communication link between members of a cluster has to be set up from a protected
interface. The configuration can be changed in the Interfaces module.
Step 1: Creating or joining a high availability cluster
Create a cluster If this option is selected, the firewall will be prepared to receive other firewalls and will
add itself to the cluster.
Join a cluster If this option is selected, the appliance will attempt to connect to the firewall with the
IP address defined during the creation of the cluster. As such, this second firewall will
retrieve information from the first and synchronize with it.
The cluster therefore comprises two firewalls: when the first firewall fails, the second
will take over transparently.
NOTE
At the end of the wizard, the appliance will be rebooted. Once the reboot is
complete, the appliance will be part of the cluster, and therefore no longer
exists as an entity, but as a member of the cluster.
WARNING
If you choose to “join” a cluster, it implies that you have already created one
beforehand, and have selected the option “Create a cluster” and have
performed the necessary configuration to set it up on the first firewall.
Page 147/448 sns-en-user_configuration_manual-v3 - Copyright © Stormshield 2016
SNS - USER CONFIGURATION MANUAL V.3
HIGH AVAILABILITY