SonicWALL 4500, NSA 5000, 3500 manual Synchronizing Settings

Synchronizing Settings

Once you have configured the HA setting on the Primary SonicWALL security appliance, click the Synchronize Settings button. You should see a HA Peer Firewall has been updated message at the bottom of the management interface page. Also note that the management interface displays Logged Into: Primary SonicWALL Status: (green ball) Active in the upper- right-hand corner.

By default, the Include Certificate/Keys setting is enabled. This specifies that Certificates, CRLs and associated settings (such as CRL auto-import URLs and OCSP settings) are synchronized between the Primary and Backup units. When Local Certificates are copied to the Backup unit, the associated Private Keys are also copied. Because the connection between the Primary and Backup units is typically protected, this is generally not a security concern.

Tip: A compromise between the convenience of synchronizing Certificates and the added security of not synchronizing Certificates is to temporarily enable the Include Certificate/Keys setting and manually synchronize the settings, and then disable Include Certificate/Keys.

To verify that Primary and Backup SonicWALL security appliances are functioning correctly, wait a few minutes, then trigger a test failover by logging into the primary unit and doing a restart. The Backup SonicWALL security appliance should quickly take over.

From your management workstation, test connectivity through the Backup SonicWALL by accessing a site on the public Internet – note that the Backup SonicWALL, when active, assumes the complete identity of the Primary, including its IP addresses and Ethernet MAC addresses.

Log into the Backup SonicWALL’s unique LAN IP address. The management interface should now display Logged Into: Backup SonicWALL Status: (green ball) Active in the upper- right-hand corner.

Now, power the Primary SonicWALL back on, wait a few minutes, then log back into the management interface. If stateful synchronization is enabled (automatically disabling preempt mode), the management GUI should still display

Logged Into: Backup SonicWALL Status: (green ball) Active in the upper-right-hand corner.

If you are using the Monitor Interfaces feature, experiment with disconnecting each monitored link to ensure correct configuration.

SonicWALL NSA 5000/4500/3500 Getting Started Guide Page 31