SonicWALL NSA 5000 User Manual

Page of 74
SonicWALL NSA 5000/4500/3500 Getting Started Guide  
Page 31
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.