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How do I set up two FortiGate units to operate as an HA cluster?

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Note: All FortiGate units have HA capabililties except the FortiGate-50A and 50AM.

Use the following steps to configure an active-active HA cluster oftwo identical FortiGate units operatingin NAT/Route mode. These steps assume that you have just received two new FortiGate units that youare going to configure as a cluster. In other words the FortiGate units are set to the default configurationand have the same FortiOSv2.80 firmware version.

Configure both FortiGate units for HA operation.

1. Turn on a FortiGate unit and connect to the web-based manager as described in your FortiGateQuickStart Guide.

2. Go to System> Status and change the host name. (Each FortiGate unit in the cluster shouldhave a different host name.)

3. Configure HA settings. Go to System> HA and Select High Availability. Configure the following HA settings (keep default settings for others):

Mode: Active-Active

Group ID: (any number between 1 and 63)Password: (enter and confirm a password of up to 15 characters)Schedule: Round-Robin

4. Select Apply.5. Turn off the FortiGate unit.6. Turn on the other FortiGate unit and repeat these steps. Give the second FortiGate unit a different

host name. Make sure both FortiGate unit HA configurations are identical, including the sameGroup ID and Password.

Connect the cluster to your network.

See the following diagram (a FortiGate-500 unit is shown.)

Turn on the FortiGate units, they will negotiate to form a cluster.

Add basic configuration settings

You can now configure the cluster in the same manner as a standalone FortiGate unit. This

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includes changing configuration settings and upgrading firmware. For example:

1. Connect to the cluster web-based manager. Use the procedure in your QuickStart Guide forconnecting to the FortiGate unit web-based manager.

2. Change the administrator password.

Go to System> Admin> Administrators.

For admin, select Change password. Enter and confirm a new password. Select OK.

3. Configure network interfaces.

Go to System> Network> Interface. For internal, select Edit. Change the IP/Netmask to 192.168.20.93/24. Select OK. For external, select Edit. Change the IP/Netmask to 64.29.46.67/24. Select OK.

4. Set the default route.

Go to Router> Static. Change the default route as required. Select OK.

Last Modified Date: 01-14-2010 Document ID: 10957

Page 2 of 2How do I set up two FortiGate units to operate as an HA cluster?

4/17/2012http://kb.fortinet.com/kb/viewContent.do?externalId=10957&sliceId=1