Technical Tip: How to force high-availability (HA) failover on FortiADC

[kmak]

Description	This article describes the steps to force high-availability (HA) failover on FortiADC.
Scope	FortiADC.
Solution	Prerequisites: FortiADC version 7.6.0 and above. FortiADC setup in HA Active-Passive or Active-Active cluster. In the previous FortiADC firmware versions, the HA cluster does not support forced failover. Adjusting the HA settings such as the Device Priority and Override options will not trigger the HA failover without a reboot of the device. FortiADC v7.6.0 offers several new features and enhancements. One of the new features is the ability to use a CLI command to force HA nodes into standby mode and trigger failover. In the example, the FortiADC setup in Active-Passive HA cluster with two FortiADC-VM. Run the command below in the Primary device to force the local device node into standby status. The command will prompt the user for a confirmation. Press the 'y' key to continue. (P) kvm68 (global) # execute ha force failover-standby set This operation will force this device to failover to standby! Do you want to continue? (y/n)y HA failover-standby is set. (P) kvm68 (global) # (S) kvm68 (global) # Screenshot: *After executing the command, the FortiADC node with 'ha force failover-standby set' will immediately switch the role to Secondary '(S)', while the FortiADC node with 'ha force failover-standby unset' will have its role switched to Primary '(P)'. Run the command below to check if the ha force failover-standby has the status set or unset. (P) kvm68 (global) # execute ha force failover-standby status HA failover-standby is set. Screenshot: If both FortiADC devices executed the same command: When both FortiADC nodes have the option 'ha force failover-standby set' and the HA override setting set to 'enable', the device with higher Priority (lower Device Priority number) will become the Primary node. If both FortiADC nodes have the option 'ha force failover-standby set' and the HA override setting set to 'disable', the device with higher Uptime will become the Primary node.                                                                  The default value of 'ha force failover-standby' is unset. Rebooting the FortiADC nodes will reset the 'ha force failover-standby' status to unset.                                                                                          Related documents: execute ha force failover-standby - FortiADC CLI reference Deploying an Active-Passive cluster - FortiADC administration guide