When should I separate the High Availability (HA) control and data links?

For multi-blade SonicWall firewall models, SonicOS does not allow selecting the same interface for both control and data links and requires a 10G interface for the data link. On high-end single blade implementations (I.E. SuperMassive 9200 and above) it is also recommended to separate HA control and data links. By providing dedicated interfaces the HA control traffic (heartbeats, config sync) will be un-affected with the high volume of state-sync data that is required when a failover is initiated.

NOTE: The High Availability (HA) license is required.

To confirm licenses navigate to MANAGE | Licenses and confirm that Stateful High Availability is activated.

To set up the control and data links for High Availability (HA) the feature must first be enabled.

To enable HA:

1. Login to the firewall and navigate to MANAGE | High Availability | Base Setup and click on the General tab. Select the desired Mode and features. In our example we have configured HA using the typical Active/Standby mode and have enabled Stateful Synchronization and Virtual MAC. Your settings may be different.
   
2. Next, click on HA Devices and confirm the unit serial numbers:
   
3. Once configured click Accept at the bottom of the page.