Two Fortiswitch Modules Per Chassis - Fortinet FortiGate FortiGate-5000 Backplane Communications Manual

FortiGate-5050 base backplane communication

Two FortiSwitch modules per chassis

FortiGate-5000 Series Version 3.0 MR5 Backplane Communications Guide
01-30005-0423-20070829
Default heartbeat interfaces vary by the model of the FortiGate modules, and are
not always base backplane interfaces. For example, FortiGate-5005FA2 modules
use fabric1 and fabric2, the fabric backplane rather than the base backplane, as
the default heartbeat interfaces. If this is the case, to send heartbeat
communications through the base backplane, you must enable and adjust the
priority of the base backplane interfaces.
Installing two FortiSwitch-5003 modules provides two base backplane HA
heartbeat and synchronization channels, and two configuration options:
• Configure heartbeat interface failover to maintain communications through the
base backplane. For example, if you have FortiGate-5001SX clusters, you
could configure clusters to use port10 as the primary heartbeat interface, and
port9 as a backup if port10 fails or is disconnected, such as could occur if a
FortiSwitch module fails or is removed.
• Separate multiple sensitive or high volume communications, such as HA
communications for multiple clusters. For example, if you have two busy
FortiGate-5001SX clusters, you might configure one cluster to use port9 for
HA heartbeat traffic and the other to use port10.
Required steps vary by which way you want to use the two channels.
Note: More than one cluster can use the same base backplane channel for HA
communication. To separate HA communications of multiple clusters using the same
channel, configure a different HA Group Name and Password for each cluster.
Figure 10: HA cluster with two available base backplane heartbeat interfaces
(through FortiSwitch-5003 modules in slot 1 and slot 2)
5
PWR ACC
base 4
PWR ACC
backplane
channel 2
3
PWR ACC
2
1
5000SM
SMC
10/100
link/Act
2 10/100
link/Act
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CONSOLE
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CONSOLE
USB
CONSOLE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
5050SAP 5000SM
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SERIAL SERIAL link/Act
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link/Act
HA configurations
STA IPM
STA IPM
base
STA IPM
backplane
channel 1
POWER
SMC
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