Disable/Remove HA

[Ash2k]

We currently have a HA pair configured in a data centre and will soon be moving to a new site. For a seemless migration, we were wondering if there are any issues with or considerations we'd need to make if we were to disable HA and remove the HA config, reset and move the passive device to the new site to get it up and running, then move the device from the old DC to the new site and join it as the passive device?

In my head, it seems straight-forward, but want to make sure I havent missed anything.

Thanks in advance.

[BenjAudy.MTL]

Hi,

You want to run the 2 firewalls independently? I'm not sure you are allowed to do that from a licensing point of view. You probably have subscriptions for a HA pair, not 2 independent firewalls. You should check with Palo Alto Networks if you can do that for a short period of time.

Regards,

Benjamin

[Ash2k]

Hi Benjamin,

thanks for your reply. I will check with our support provider to see if there is a way round the license issue.

Ash

[vkalal]

> Yes, you can suspend the passive device first

> Move that passive device to the other site

> Keep the Preemptive option checked for the primary device

I don't see any issues with this deployment, only one concern when the passive unit is in transit the data center will be left with a stand alone device.

[vkalal]

> Licenses are rolled out per box only so I am assuming you should already have the licenses on the passive unit

[Lucky · Accepted solution]

Hi,

you can always do following:

- disable preemtion,

- failover to passive,

- move active to the new site, configure for the new site,

- move passive to the new site, push configuration from active, test, enable preemption if it was used.

Not sure about licensing, honestly 🙂

Best regards,

Luciano

[santonic]

I'm sure PA will be ok with (short) period of time when devices aren't in cluster. Or just don't tell them 🙂

But yeah, all licenses are on both devices. 

[Ash2k]

I have been advised that doing this would not cause any licensing issues. It would only cause a license issue if you moved both appliances to separate locations and then ran them as standalone appliances from there on in.

Thanks to all for your assistance.

[qdimclark]

@Ash2k 

How did this end up working for you? We're about to do the same thing, so I'm wondering if there were any surprises.

Thanks.

[Ash2k]

This worked out great and was fairly straight-forward.

[MP18]

Hi,

Need to confirm you did below things

suspend the passive device 

Moved to new DC and power it on and it came back as passive automatically?

Regards

[Ash2k]

Hi,

from what I can remember:

1. Disabled the HA Preemptive Election setting on both devices

2. Suspend HA on Primary firewall to failover to Passive device

3. Move Primary to new site and reconfigure as necessary

4. Move Secondary to new site

5. Sync changes from Primary to Secondary

6. Re-enable the Preemtive option

[qdimclark]

Thanks for replying!

We're still in the planning stages, so it'll be some time before we try.

But reading these responses, as well as talking with support and our local sales engineer I'm pretty confident we'll have few issues.

[DavidMaas1]

I am trying to do the same thing, darn network team did not advise that the circuits for our SDWAN are independent and thus need firewalls in standalone mode. I disabled the secondary, removed the HA configuration rebooted, and also removed the HA cables that were connected. 

Did the same for the other firewall, bu they are still show in a active/passive mode with no HA