HA virtual clusters and VDOM links
FortiGate HA is implemented by configuring two or more FortiGate units to operate as an HA cluster. To the network, the HA cluster appears to function as a single FortiGate unit, processing network traffic and providing normal security services such as firewall, VPN, IPS, virus scanning, web filtering, and spam filtering.
Virtual clustering extends HA features to provide failover protection and load balancing for a FortiGate unit operating with virtual domains. A virtual cluster consists of a cluster of two FortiGate units operating with virtual domains. Traffic on different virtual domains can be load balanced between the cluster units.
With virtual clusters (vclusters) configured, inter-VDOM links must be entirely within one vcluster. You cannot create links between vclusters, and you cannot move a VDOM that is linked into another virtual cluster. If your FortiGate units are operating in HA mode, with multiple vclusters when you create the vdom-link, the CLI command config system vdom-link includes an option to set which vcluster the link will be in.
What is virtual clustering?
Virtual clustering is an extension of the FGCP for FortiGate units operating with multiple VDOMS enabled. Virtual clustering operates in active-passive mode to provide failover protection between two instances of a VDOM operating on two different cluster units. You can also operate virtual clustering in active-active mode to use HA load balancing to load balance sessions between cluster units. Alternatively, by distributing VDOM processing between the two cluster units you can also configure virtual clustering to provide load balancing by distributing sessions for different VDOMs to each cluster unit.
Virtual clustering and failover protection
Virtual clustering operates on a cluster of two (and only two) FortiGate units with VDOMs enabled. Each VDOM creates a cluster between instances of the VDOMs on the two FortiGate units in the virtual cluster. All traffic to and from the VDOM stays within the VDOM and is processed by the VDOM. One cluster unit is the primary unit for each VDOM and one cluster unit is the subordinate unit for each VDOM. The primary unit processes all traffic for the VDOM. The subordinate unit does not process traffic for the VDOM. If a cluster unit fails, all traffic fails over to the cluster unit that is still operating.
Virtual clustering and heartbeat interfaces
The HA heartbeat provides the same HA services in a virtual clustering configuration as in a standard HA configuration. One set of HA heartbeat interfaces provides HA heartbeat services for all of the VDOMs in the cluster. You do not have to add a heartbeat interface for each VDOM.
Virtual clustering and HA override
For a virtual cluster configuration, override is enabled by default for both virtual clusters when you:
- Enable VDOM portioning from the web-based manager by moving virtual domains to virtual cluster 2
- Enter set vcluster2 enable from the CLI config system ha command to enable virtual cluster 2.
Usually you would enable virtual cluster 2 and expect one cluster unit to be the primary unit for virtual cluster 1 and the other cluster unit to be the primary unit for virtual cluster 2. For this distribution to occur override must be enabled for both virtual clusters. Otherwise you will need to restart the cluster to force it to renegotiate.
Virtual clustering and load balancing or VDOM partitioning
There are two ways to configure load balancing for virtual clustering. The first is to set the HA mode to active- active. The second is to configure VDOM partitioning. For virtual clustering, setting the HA Mode to active-active has the same result as active-active HA for a cluster without virtual domains. The primary unit receives all sessions and load balances them among the cluster units according to the load balancing schedule. All cluster units process traffic for all virtual domains.
Note: If override is enabled the cluster may renegotiate too often. You can choose to disable override at any time. If you decide to disable override, for best results, you should disable it for both cluster units.
In a VDOM partitioning virtual clustering configuration, the HA mode is set to active-passive. Even though virtual clustering operates in active-passive mode you can configure a form of load balancing by using VDOM partitioning to distribute traffic between both cluster units. To configure VDOM partitioning you set one cluster unit as the primary unit for some virtual domains and you set the other cluster unit as the primary unit for other virtual domains. All traffic for a virtual domain is processed by the primary unit for that virtual domain. You can control the distribution of traffic between the cluster units by adjusting which cluster unit is the primary unit for each virtual domain.
For example, you could have 4 VDOMs, two of which have a high traffic volume and two of which have a low traffic volume. You can configure each cluster unit to be the primary unit for one of the high volume VDOMs and one of the low volume VDOMs. As a result each cluster unit will be processing traffic for a high volume VDOM and a low volume VDOM, resulting in an even distribution of traffic between the cluster units. You can adjust the distribution at any time. For example, if a low volume VDOM becomes a high volume VDOM you can move it from one cluster unit to another until the best balance is achieved. From the web-based manager you configure VDOM partitioning by setting the HA mode to active-passive and distributing virtual domains between Virtual Cluster 1 and Virtual Cluster 2. You can also configure different device priorities, port monitoring, and remote link failover, for Virtual Cluster 1 and Virtual Cluster 2.
From the CLI you configure VDOM partitioning by setting the HA mode to a-p. Then you configure device priority, port monitoring, and remote link failover and specify the VDOMs to include in virtual cluster 1. You do the same for virtual cluster 2 by entering the config secondary-vcluster command.
Failover protection does not change. If one cluster unit fails, all sessions are processed by the remaining cluster unit. No traffic interruption occurs for the virtual domains for which the still functioning cluster unit was the primary unit. Traffic may be interrupted temporarily for virtual domains for which the failed unit was the primary unit while processing fails over to the still functioning cluster unit. If the failed cluster unit restarts and rejoins the virtual cluster, VDOM partitioning load balancing is restored.