Technical Tip: How to Enable/Disable HA Override without a failover

HA override configuration:

config system ha

    set override enable/disable    [disabled by default]

end

To connect to the secondary's CLI from the primary (press "?" to find the ID):

exe ha manage <id> <username>

Steps to enable HA Override.

Case 1: If the Primary unit in HA Cluster has higher priority:

1. Enable HA override on the primary.

config system ha

    set override enable

end

2. Enable HA override on the secondary.

1. Connect to the secondary from the primary's CLI.

exe ha manage <id> <username>

2. Enable HA override.

config system ha

    set override enable

end

Case 2: If Secondary unit in HA Cluster has higher priority.

1. Increase priority on Primary so that it is higher than the secondary's priority or lower secondary’s priority so that it is lower than the primary's. To increase the primary's priority:

config system ha

    set priority 255

end

2. Enable HA override on the primary.

config system ha

    set override enable

end

3. Enable HA override on the secondary.

1. Connect to the secondary from the primary's CLI.

exe ha manage <id> <username>

2. Enable HA override.

config system ha

    set override enable

end

Steps to disable HA Override:

As override is enabled, the primary will have the highest priority already.

1. Disable override on the secondary.

config system ha

    set override disable

end

2. Disable override on the Primary.

1. Connect to the secondary from the primary's CLI.

exe ha manage <id> <username>

2. Enable HA override.

config system ha

    set override disable

end

Note:

• HA override configuration does not SYNC across the devices, so it has to be configured individually on all the HA cluster members. By default, override is set to be disable.
• The FortiGate units in HA clusters must have the same override status; enabled or disabled.

Related article:

Technical Tip: FortiGate HA Primary unit selection process when override is disabled vs enabled