You can now configure High Availability (HA) active/active pairs through the Strata Cloud Manager user interface, expanding beyond the previously available active/passive configuration. This feature addresses the prior limitation where Strata Cloud Manager supported only active/passive HA, requiring you to use alternative methods to configure active/active deployments.

When you configure active/active HA, both firewalls in the pair actively process traffic simultaneously, providing increased throughput and better resource utilization compared to active/passive configurations where the secondary device remains idle. You can distribute network traffic across both devices using various load balancing methods, including session-based distribution and IP hash algorithms. The active/active configuration requires you to configure HA3 interfaces for session synchronization between the paired devices, ensuring traffic continuity during failover events.

You will find this feature particularly useful when you need to maximize network performance and cannot afford to have hardware resources sitting idle. Active/active HA allows you to effectively double your processing capacity while maintaining redundancy. The configuration includes virtual address management where you can define floating IP addresses that can move between devices or configure ARP load sharing to distribute traffic. You can also configure device priorities and election settings to control which device handles specific traffic types or takes precedence during certain network conditions.