Setting up two new FortiGates as an FGCP cluster

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To view cluster status

Use the following steps to view the cluster dashboard and cluster members list to confirm that the cluster units are operating as a cluster.

Once the cluster is operating, because configuration changes are synchronized to all cluster units, configuring the cluster is the same as configuring an individual FortiGate unit. You could have performed the following configuration steps separately on each FortiGate unit before you connected them to form a cluster.

1. Start Internet Explorer and browse to the address https://192.168.1.99 (remember to include the “s” in https://).

The FortiGate Login is displayed.

2. Type admin in the Name field and select Login.

The FortiGate dashboard is displayed.

The System Information dashboard widget shows the Cluster Name (example1.com) and the host names and serial numbers of the Cluster Members. The Unit Operation widget shows multiple cluster units.

3. Go to System > HA to view the cluster members list.

The list shows both cluster units, their host names, their roles in the cluster, and their device priorities. You can use this list to confirm that the cluster is operating normally. For example, if the list shows only one cluster unit then the other unit has left the cluster for some reason.

 

To troubleshoot the cluster configuration

If the cluster members list and the dashboard do not display information for both cluster units, the FortiGate units are not functioning as a cluster. See Setting up two new FortiGates as an FGCP cluster on page 1361 to troubleshoot the cluster.

 

To add basic configuration settings to the cluster

Use the following steps to configure the cluster to connect to its network. The following are example configuration steps only and do not represent all of the steps required to configure the cluster for a given network.

1. Log into the cluster web-based manager.

2. Go to System > Admin > Administrators.

3. Edit admin and select Change Password.

4. Enter and confirm a new password.

5. Select OK.

6. Go to System > Network > Interfaces.

7. Edit the port2 interface and change IP/Netmask to 10.11.101.100/24.

8. Select OK.

 

After changing the IP address of the port1 interface you may have to change the IP address of your management computer and then reconnect to the port1 interface using the 172.20.120.141 IP address.

9. Edit the port1 interface and change IP/Netmask to 172.20.120.141/24.

10. Select OK.

11. Go to Router > Static > Static Routes.

12. Change the default route.

Destination IP/Mask                 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0

Gateway                                     172.20.120.2

Device                                         port1

Distance                                     10

13. Select OK.

 

Configuring a NAT/Route mode active-passive cluster of two FortiGate units – CLI

Use the following procedures to configure two FortiGate units for NAT/Route HA operation using the FortiGate CLI. These procedures assume you are starting with two FortiGate units with factory default settings.

 

To configure the first FortiGate unit (host name FGT_ha_1)

1. Power on the FortiGate unit.

2. Connect a null modem cable to the communications port of the management computer and to the FortiGate Console port.

3. Start HyperTerminal (or any terminal emulation program), enter a name for the connection, and select OK.

4. Configure HyperTerminal to connect directly to the communications port on the computer to which you have connected the null modem cable and select OK.

5. Select the following port settings and select OK.

Bits per second                         9600

Data bits                                     8

Parity                                          None

Stop bits                                     1

Flow control                              None

6. Press Enter to connect to the FortiGate CLI.

The FortiGate unit CLI login prompt appears.

If the prompt does not appear, press Enter. If it still does not appear, power off your FortiGate unit and power it back on. If you are connected, at this stage you will see startup messages that will confirm you are connected. The login prompt will appear after the startup has completed.

7. Type admin and press Enter twice.

8. Register and apply licenses to the FortiGate unit. This includes FortiCloud activation, FortiClient licensing, and

FortiToken licensing, and entering a license key if you purchased more than 10 Virtual Domains (VDOMS).

9. You can also install any third-party certificates on the primary FortiGate before forming the cluster. Once the cluster is formed third-party certificates are synchronized to the backup FortiGate.

10. Change the host name for this FortiGate unit.

config system global

set hostname FGT_ha_1 end

11. Configure HA settings.

config system ha set mode a-p

set group-name example1.com set password HA_pass_1

end

The FortiGate unit negotiates to establish an HA cluster. You may temporarily lose network connectivity with the FortiGate unit as the HA cluster negotiates and the FGCP changes the MAC

address of the FortiGate unit interfaces. The MAC addresses of the FortiGate interfaces change to the following virtual MAC addresses:

  • port1 interface virtual MAC: 00-09-0f-09-00-00 l  port2 interface virtual MAC: 00-09-0f-09-00-01 l  port3 interface virtual MAC: 00-09-0f-09-00-02 l  port4 interface virtual MAC: 00-09-0f-09-00-03

To reconnect sooner, you can update the ARP table of your management PC by deleting the ARP table entry for the FortiGate unit (or just deleting all arp table entries). You may be able to delete the arp table of your management PC from a command prompt using a command similar to arp -d.

To confirm these MAC address changes, you can use the get hardware nic (or diagnose hardware deviceinfo nic) CLI command to view the virtual MAC address of any FortiGate unit interface. For example, use the following command to view the port1 interface virtual MAC address (MAC) and the port1 permanent MAC address (Permanent_HWaddr):

get hardware nic port1

 

Current_HAaddr   00:09:0f:09:00:00

Permanent_HWaddr 02:09:0f:78:18:c9

10. Display the HA configuration (optional).

get system ha group-id : 0

group-name : example1.com mode : a-p

password : *

hbdev : “port3” 50 “port4” 50 session-sync-dev   :

route-ttl : 10 route-wait : 0 route-hold : 10

sync-config : enable encryption : disable authentication : disable hb-interval : 2

hb-lost-threshold : 20 helo-holddown : 20

arps : 5

arps-interval : 8

session-pickup : disable

update-all-session-timer: disable session-sync-daemon-number: 1

link-failed-signal : disable uninterruptible-upgrade: enable ha-mgmt-status : disable

ha-eth-type : 8890 hc-eth-type : 8891 l2ep-eth-type : 8893

ha-uptime-diff-margin: 300

vcluster2 : disable vcluster-id : 1 override : disable priority : 128

slave-switch-standby: disable minimum-worker-threshold: 1 monitor :

pingserver-monitor-interface: pingserver-failover-threshold: 0 pingserver-slave-force-reset: enable pingserver-flip-timeout: 60

vdom : “root”

11. Power off the FortiGate unit.

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About Mike

Michael Pruett, CISSP has a wide range of cyber-security and network engineering expertise. The plethora of vendors that resell hardware but have zero engineering knowledge resulting in the wrong hardware or configuration being deployed is a major pet peeve of Michael's. This site was started in an effort to spread information while providing the option of quality consulting services at a much lower price than Fortinet Professional Services. Owns PacketLlama.Com (Fortinet Hardware Sales) and Office Of The CISO, LLC (Cybersecurity consulting firm).

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