Created on
10-18-2004
12:00 AM
Edited on
08-18-2025
06:05 AM
By
v_ceban
Description
This article describes how by default, the time between HA heartbeat packets is 200 milliseconds.
Scope
FortiGate.
Solution
In FortiOS, it is possible to change this time using the following CLI command:
config system ha
set hb-interval <integer>
set hb-interval-in-milliseconds {100 | 10}
set hb-lost-threshold <integer>
end
A heartbeat interval of 2 means the time between heartbeat packets is 200 ms (hb-interval x hb-interval-in-milliseconds (default is 100)).
Changing the heartbeat interval to 5 changes the time between heartbeat packets to 500 ms.
HA, heartbeat packets consume more bandwidth if the heartbeat interval is short.
However, if the heartbeat interval is very long, the cluster is not as sensitive to topology and other network changes.
The following debug commands can be used to capture HA communication :
diagnose debug application hatalk -1
diagnose debug console timestamp enable
diagnose debug enable
To disable debug:
diagnose debug disable
diagnose debug reset
The heartbeat can also be captured on the interface:
diagnose sniffer packet any "ether proto 0x8890" 4 0 l
Related article:
Troubleshooting Tip: How to troubleshoot HA 'Heartbeat packet lost' issues in a FortiGate HA Cluster
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