Related Documentation
- J, SRX Series
- Understanding Chassis Cluster Redundancy Groups.
- SRX Series
- Node Interfaces on Active SRX Series Chassis Clusters
- Example: Configuring an SRX Series Services Gateway for the Branch as a Chassis Cluster
- Additional Information
- Chassis Cluster Feature Guide for Security Devices
Example: Configuring an SRX Series Services Gateway for the High-End as a Chassis Cluster
This example shows how to set up basic active/passive chassis clustering on a high-end SRX Series device.
Requirements
Before you begin:
- You need two SRX5800 Services Gateways with identical hardware configurations, one MX240 edge router, and one EX8208 Ethernet Switch.
- Physically connect the two devices (back-to-back for the fabric and control ports) and ensure that they are the same models.
- Before the cluster is formed, you must configure control
ports for each device, as well as assign a cluster ID and node ID
to each device, and then reboot. When the system boots, both the nodes
come up as a cluster.
Note: Control port configuration is required for SRX5400, SRX5600 and SRX5800 devices. No control port configuration is needed for SRX1400, SRX3400, or SRX3600 devices.
- To ensure secure login, configure the internal IPsec SA.
When the internal IPsec is configured, IPsec-based rlogin and remote
command (rcmd) are enforced, so an attacker cannot gain privileged
access or observe traffic containing administrator commands and outputs.
You do not need to configure the internal IPsec on both the nodes.
When you commit the configuration, both nodes are synchronized. Only
3des-cbc encryption algorithm is supported. You must ensure that the
manual encryption key is ascii text and 24 characters long; otherwise,
the configuration will result in a commit failure.
- Enable the 3des-cbc encryption algorithm:user@host# set security ipsec internal security-association manual encryption algorithm 3des-cbc
- Configure the encryption key:user@host# set security ipsec internal security-association manual encryption key ascii-text "$9$x.CNwgDi.Qz6HqORhy8LjHqm5FREyrK8QFSeKMN-24aUjqF39tu1mftOIhvMjHqf5FApBREy"
- Activate internal IPsec:user@host> request security internal-security-association refresh
- Use the show chassis cluster interfaces CLI
command to verify that internal SA is enabled:
user@host> show chassis cluster interfaces Control link status: Up Control interfaces: Index Interface Status Internal SA <- new column 0 em0 Up enabled 1 em1 Down enabled
- Enable the 3des-cbc encryption algorithm:
- Configure the control port for each device, and commit
the configuration.
Select FPC 1/13, because the central point is always on the lowest SPC/SPU in the cluster (for this example, it is slot 0). For maximum reliability, place the control ports on a separate SPC from the central point (for this example, use the SPC in slot 1). You must enter the operational mode commands on both devices. For example:
- On node 0:user@host# set chassis cluster control-ports fpc 1 port 0user@host# set chassis cluster control-ports fpc 13 port 0user@host# commit
- On node 1:user@host# set chassis cluster control-ports fpc 1 port 0user@host# set chassis cluster control-ports fpc 13 port 0user@host# commit
- On node 0:
- Set the two devices to cluster mode. A reboot is required
to enter into cluster mode after the cluster ID and node ID are set.
You can cause the system to boot automatically by including the reboot parameter in the CLI command line. You must enter the
operational mode commands on both devices. For example:
- On node 0:user@host> set chassis cluster cluster-id 1 node 0 reboot
- On node 1:user@host> set chassis cluster cluster-id 1 node 1 reboot
The cluster ID is the same on both devices, but the node ID must be different because one device is node 0 and the other device is node 1. The range for the cluster ID is 1 through 255. Setting a cluster ID to 0 is equivalent to disabling a cluster. Cluster ID greater than 15 can only be set when the fabric and control link interfaces are connected back-to-back.
- On node 0:
- To ensure secure login, configure the internal IPsec SA.
When the internal IPsec is configured, IPsec-based rlogin and remote
command (rcmd) are enforced, so an attacker cannot gain privileged
access or observe traffic containing administrator commands and outputs.
You do not need to configure the internal IPsec on both the nodes.
When you commit the configuration, both nodes are synchronized. Only
3des-cbc encryption algorithm is supported. You must ensure that the
manual encryption key is ascii text and 24 characters long; otherwise,
the configuration will result in a commit failure.
Now the devices are a pair. From this point forward, configuration of the cluster is synchronized between the node members, and the two separate devices function as one device.
Overview
This example shows how to set up basic active/passive chassis clustering on a high-end SRX Series device. The basic active/passive example is the most common type of chassis cluster. The following high-end SRX Series devices are supported:
- SRX1400
- SRX3400
- SRX3600
- SRX5400
- SRX5600
- SRX5800
The basic active/passive chassis cluster consists of two devices:
- One device actively provides routing, firewall, NAT, VPN, and security services, along with maintaining control of the chassis cluster.
- The other device passively maintains its state for cluster failover capabilities should the active device become inactive.
![]() | Note: This active/passive mode example for the SRX5800 Services Gateway does not describe in detail miscellaneous configurations such as how to configure NAT, security policies, or VPNs. They are essentially the same as they would be for standalone configurations. See NAT Overview, Security Policies Overview, and VPN Overview. However, if you are performing proxy ARP in chassis cluster configurations, you must apply the proxy ARP configurations to the reth interfaces rather than the member interfaces because the RETH interfaces hold the logical configurations. See Configuring Proxy ARP (CLI Procedure). You can also configure separate logical interface configurations using VLANs and trunked interfaces in the SRX5800 Services Gateway. These configurations are similar to the standalone implementations using VLANs and trunked interfaces. |
Figure 1 shows the topology used in this example.
Figure 1: Basic Active/Passive Chassis Clustering on a High-End SRX Series Device Topology Example

Configuration
CLI Quick Configuration
To quickly configure a chassis cluster on an SRX5800 Services Gateway, copy the following commands and paste them into the CLI:
On {primary:node0}
To quickly configure an EX8208 Core Switch, copy the following commands and paste them into the CLI:
On {primary:node0}
To quickly configure an MX240 edge router, copy the following commands and paste them into the CLI:
On {primary:node0}
Step-by-Step Procedure
The following example requires you to navigate various levels in the configuration hierarchy. For instructions on how to do that, see Using the CLI Editor in Configuration Mode.
To configure a chassis cluster on a high-end SRX Series device:
![]() | Note: In cluster mode, the cluster is synchronized between the nodes when you execute a commit command. All commands are applied to both nodes regardless of from which device the command is configured. |
- Configure the fabric (data) ports of the cluster that
are used to pass RTOs in active/passive mode. For this example, use
one of the 1-Gigabit Ethernet ports because running out of bandwidth
using active/passive mode is not an issue. Define two fabric interfaces,
one on each chassis, to connect together. user@host# set interfaces fab0 fabric-options member-interfaces ge-11/3/0
user@host# set interfaces fab1 fabric-options member-interfaces ge-23/3/0 - Because the SRX5800 Services Gateway chassis cluster configuration
is contained within a single common configuration, to assign some
elements of the configuration to a specific member only, you must
use the Junos OS node-specific configuration method called groups.
The set apply-groups ${node} command uses the node variable
to define how the groups are applied to the nodes; each node recognizes
its number and accepts the configuration accordingly. You must also
configure out-of-band management on the fxp0 interface of the SRX5800
Services Gateway using separate IP addresses for the individual control
planes of the cluster.
Note: Configuring the backup router destination address as x.x.x.0/0 is not allowed.
user@host# set groups node0 system host-name SRX5800-1
user@host# set groups node0 interfaces fxp0 unit 0 family inet address 10.3.5.1/24
user@host# set groups node0 system backup-router 10.3.5.254 destination 0.0.0.0/16
user@host# set groups node1 system host-name SRX5800-2
user@host# set groups node1 interfaces fxp0 unit 0 family inet address 10.3.5.2/24
user@host# set groups node1 system backup-router 10.3.5.254 destination 0.0.0.0/16
user@host# set apply-groups “${node}” - Configure redundancy groups for chassis clustering. Each
node has interfaces in a redundancy group where interfaces are active
in active redundancy groups (multiple active interfaces can exist
in one redundancy group). Redundancy group 0 controls the control
plane and redundancy group 1+ controls the data plane and includes
the data plane ports. For this active/passive mode example, only one
chassis cluster member is active at a time so you need to define redundancy
groups 0 and 1 only. Besides redundancy groups, you must also define:
- Redundant Ethernet groups—Configure how many redundant Ethernet interfaces (member links) will be active on the device so that the system can allocate the appropriate resources for it.
- Priority for control plane and data plane—Define
which device has priority (for chassis cluster, high priority is preferred)
for the control plane, and which device is preferred to be active
for the data plane.
Note: In active/passive or active/active mode, the control plane (redundancy group 0) can be active on a chassis different from the data plane (redundancy group 1+ and groups) chassis. However, for this example we recommend having both the control and data plane active on the same chassis member. When traffic passes through the fabric link to go to another member node, latency is introduced (z line mode traffic).
user@host# set chassis cluster reth-count 2
user@host# set chassis cluster redundancy-group 0 node 0 priority 129
user@host# set chassis cluster redundancy-group 0 node 1 priority 128
user@host# set chassis cluster redundancy-group 1 node 0 priority 129
user@host# set chassis cluster redundancy-group 1 node 1 priority 128 - Configure the data interfaces on the platform so that
in the event of a data plane failover, the other chassis cluster member
can take over the connection seamlessly. Seamless transition to a
new active node will occur with data plane failover. In case of control
plane failover, all the daemons are restarted on the new node thus
enabling a graceful restart to avoid losing neighborship with peers
(ospf, bgp). This promotes a seamless transition to the new node without
any packet loss.
You must define the following items:
- Define the membership information of the member interfaces to the reth interface.
- Define which redundancy group the reth interface is a member of. For this active/passive example, it is always 1.
- Define reth interface information such as the IP address of the interface.
user@host# set interfaces xe-6/0/0 gigether-options redundant-parent reth0
user@host# set interfaces xe-6/1/0 gigether-options redundant-parent reth1
user@host# set interfaces xe-18/0/0 gigether-options redundant-parent reth0
user@host# set interfaces xe-18/1/0 gigether-options redundant-parent reth1
user@host# set interfaces reth0 redundant-ether-options redundancy-group 1
user@host# set interfaces reth0 unit 0 family inet address 1.1.1.1/24
user@host# set interfaces reth1 redundant-ether-options redundancy-group 1
user@host# set interfaces reth1 unit 0 family inet address 2.2.2.1/24 - Configure the chassis cluster behavior in case of a failure.
For the SRX5800 Services Gateway, the failover threshold is set at
255. You can alter the weights to determine the impact on the chassis
failover. You must also configure control link recovery. The recovery
automatically causes the secondary node to reboot should the control
link fail, and then come back online. Enter these commands on node
0.user@host# set chassis cluster redundancy-group 1 interface-monitor xe-6/0/0 weight 255
user@host# set chassis cluster redundancy-group 1 interface-monitor xe-6/1/0 weight 255
user@host# set chassis cluster redundancy-group 1 interface-monitor xe-18/0/0 weight 255
user@host# set chassis cluster redundancy-group 1 interface-monitor xe-18/1/0 weight 255
user@host# set chassis cluster control-link-recoveryThis step completes the chassis cluster configuration part of the active/passive mode example for the SRX5800 Services Gateway. The rest of this procedure describes how to configure the zone, virtual router, routing, EX8208 Core Switch, and MX240 Edge Router to complete the deployment scenario.
- Configure and connect the reth interfaces to the appropriate
zones and virtual routers. For this example, leave the reth0 and reth1
interfaces in the default virtual router inet.0, which does not require
any additional configuration.user@host# set security zones security-zone untrust interfaces reth0.0
user@host# set security zones security-zone trust interfaces reth1.0 - For this active/passive mode example, because of the simple
network architecture, use static routes to define how to route to
the other network devices.user@host# set routing-options static route 0.0.0.0/0 next-hop 1.1.1.254
user@host# set routing-options static route 2.0.0.0/8 next-hop 2.2.2.254 - For the EX8208 Ethernet Switch, the following commands
provide only an outline of the applicable configuration as it pertains
to this active/passive mode example for the SRX5800 Services Gateway;
most notably the VLANs, routing, and interface configuration.user@host# set interfaces xe-1/0/0 unit 0 family ethernet-switching port-mode access vlan members SRX5800
user@host# set interfaces xe-2/0/0 unit 0 family ethernet-switching port-mode access vlan members SRX5800
user@host# set interfaces vlan unit 50 family inet address 2.2.2.254/24
user@host# set vlans SRX5800 vlan-id 50
user@host# set vlans SRX5800 l3-interface vlan.50
user@host# set routing-options static route 0.0.0.0/0 next-hop 2.2.2.1/24 - For the MX240 edge router, the following commands provide
only an outline of the applicable configuration as it pertains to
this active/passive mode example for the SRX5800 Services Gateway;
most notably you must use an IRB interface within a virtual switch
instance on the switch.user@host# set interfaces xe-1/0/0 encapsulation ethernet-bridge unit 0 family bridge
user@host# set interfaces xe-2/0/0 encapsulation ethernet-bridge unit 0 family bridge
user@host# set interfaces irb unit 0 family inet address 1.1.1.254/24
user@host# set routing-options static route 2.0.0.0/8 next-hop 1.1.1.1
user@host# set routing-options static route 0.0.0.0/0 next-hop (upstream router)
user@host# set bridge-domains SRX5800 vlan-id X (could be set to “none”)
user@host# set bridge-domains SRX5800 domain-type bridge routing-interface irb.0
user@host# set bridge-domains SRX5800 domain-type bridge interface xe-1/0/0
user@host# set bridge-domains SRX5800 domain-type bridge interface xe-2/0/0
Results
From operational mode, confirm your configuration by entering the show configuration command. If the output does not display the intended configuration, repeat the configuration instructions in this example to correct it.
> show configuration
version x.xx.x; groups { node0 { system { host-name SRX58001; backup-router 10.3.5.254 destination 0.0.0.0/16; } interfaces { fxp0 { unit 0 { family inet { address 10.3.5.1/24; } } } } } node1 { system { host-name SRX58002; backup-router 10.3.5.254 destination 0.0.0.0/16; } interfaces { fxp0 { unit 0 { family inet { address 10.3.5.2/24; } } } } } } apply-groups "${node}"; system { root-authentication { encrypted-password "$1$zTMjraKG$qU8rjxoHzC6Y/WDmYpR9r."; } name-server { 4.2.2.2; } services { ssh { root-login allow; } netconf { ssh; } web-management { http { interface fxp0.0; } } } } chassis { cluster { control-link-recovery; reth-count 2; control-ports { fpc 1 port 0; fpc 13 port 0; } redundancy-group 0 { node 0 priority 129; node 1 priority 128; } redundancy-group 1 { node 0 priority 129; node 1 priority 128; interface-monitor { xe–6/0/0 weight 255; xe–6/1/0 weight 255; xe–18/0/0 weight 255; xe–18/1/0 weight 255; } } } } interfaces { xe–6/0/0 { gigether–options { redundant–parent reth0; } } xe–6/1/0 { gigether–options { redundant–parent reth1; } } xe–18/0/0 { gigether–options { redundant–parent reth0; } } xe–18/1/0 { gigether–options { redundant–parent reth1; } } fab0 { fabric–options { member–interfaces { ge–11/3/0; } } } fab1 { fabric–options { member–interfaces { ge–23/3/0; } } } reth0 { redundant–ether–options { redundancy–group 1; } unit 0 { family inet { address 1.1.1.1/24; } } } reth1 { redundant–ether–options { redundancy–group 1; } unit 0 { family inet { address 2.2.2.1/24; } } } } routing–options { static { route 0.0.0.0/0 { next–hop 1.1.1.254; } route 2.0.0.0/8 { next–hop 2.2.2.254; } } } security { zones { security–zone trust { host–inbound–traffic { system–services { all; } } interfaces { reth0.0; } } security–zone untrust { interfaces { reth1.0; } } } policies { from–zone trust to–zone untrust { policy 1 { match { source–address any; destination–address any; application any; } then { permit; } } } default–policy { deny–all; } } }
If you are done configuring the device, enter commit from configuration mode.
Verification
To confirm that the configuration is working properly, perform these tasks:
- Verifying Chassis Cluster Status
- Verifying Chassis Cluster Interfaces
- Verifying Chassis Cluster Statistics
- Verifying Chassis Cluster Control Plane Statistics
- Verifying Chassis Cluster Data Plane Statistics
- Verifying Chassis Cluster Redundancy Group Status
- Troubleshooting with Logs
Verifying Chassis Cluster Status
Purpose
Verify the chassis cluster status, failover status, and redundancy group information.
Action
From operational mode, enter the show chassis cluster status command.
{primary:node0}
show chassis cluster status
Cluster ID: 1 Node Priority Status Preempt Manual failover Redundancy group: 0 , Failover count: 1 node0 129 primary no no node1 128 secondary no no Redundancy group: 1 , Failover count: 1 node0 129 primary no no node1 128 secondary no no
Verifying Chassis Cluster Interfaces
Purpose
Verify information about chassis cluster interfaces.
Action
From operational mode, enter the show chassis cluster interfaces command.
{primary:node0}
user@host> show chassis cluster interfaces
Control link name: fxp1 Redundant-ethernet Information: Name Status Redundancy-group reth0 Up 1 reth1 Up 1 Interface Monitoring: Interface Weight Status Redundancy-group xe-6/0/0 255 Up 1 xe-6/1/0 255 Up 1 xe-18/0/0 255 Up 1 xe-18/1/0 255 Up 1
Verifying Chassis Cluster Statistics
Purpose
Verify information about chassis cluster services and control link statistics (heartbeats sent and received), fabric link statistics (probes sent and received), and the number of RTOs sent and received for services.
Action
From operational mode, enter the show chassis cluster statistics command.
{primary:node0}
user@host> show chassis cluster statistics
Control link statistics: Control link 0: Heartbeat packets sent: 258689 Heartbeat packets received: 258684 Heartbeat packets errors: 0 Fabric link statistics: Child link 0 Probes sent: 258681 Probes received: 258681 Services Synchronized: Service name RTOs sent RTOs received Translation context 0 0 Incoming NAT 0 0 Resource manager 6 0 Session create 161 0 Session close 148 0 Session change 0 0 Gate create 0 0 Session ageout refresh requests 0 0 Session ageout refresh replies 0 0 IPSec VPN 0 0 Firewall user authentication 0 0 MGCP ALG 0 0 H323 ALG 0 0 SIP ALG 0 0 SCCP ALG 0 0 PPTP ALG 0 0 RPC ALG 0 0 RTSP ALG 0 0 RAS ALG 0 0 MAC address learning 0 0 GPRS GTP 0 0
Verifying Chassis Cluster Control Plane Statistics
Purpose
Verify information about chassis cluster control plane statistics (heartbeats sent and received) and the fabric link statistics (probes sent and received).
Action
From operational mode, enter the show chassis cluster control-plane statistics command.
{primary:node0}
user@host> show chassis cluster control-plane
statistics
Control link statistics: Control link 0: Heartbeat packets sent: 258689 Heartbeat packets received: 258684 Heartbeat packets errors: 0 Fabric link statistics: Child link 0 Probes sent: 258681 Probes received: 258681
Verifying Chassis Cluster Data Plane Statistics
Purpose
Verify information about the number of RTOs sent and received for services.
Action
From operational mode, enter the show chassis cluster data-plane statistics command.
{primary:node0}
user@host> show chassis cluster data-plane statistics
Services Synchronized: Service name RTOs sent RTOs received Translation context 0 0 Incoming NAT 0 0 Resource manager 6 0 Session create 161 0 Session close 148 0 Session change 0 0 Gate create 0 0 Session ageout refresh requests 0 0 Session ageout refresh replies 0 0 IPSec VPN 0 0 Firewall user authentication 0 0 MGCP ALG 0 0 H323 ALG 0 0 SIP ALG 0 0 SCCP ALG 0 0 PPTP ALG 0 0 RPC ALG 0 0 RTSP ALG 0 0 RAS ALG 0 0 MAC address learning 0 0 GPRS GTP 0 0
Verifying Chassis Cluster Redundancy Group Status
Purpose
Verify the state and priority of both nodes in a cluster and information about whether the primary node has been preempted or whether there has been a manual failover.
Action
From operational mode, enter the chassis cluster status redundancy-group command.
{primary:node0}
user@host> show chassis cluster status redundancy-group
1
Cluster ID: 1 Node Priority Status Preempt Manual failover Redundancy-Group: 1, Failover count: 1 node0 100 primary no no node1 50 secondary no no
Troubleshooting with Logs
Purpose
Use these logs to identify any chassis cluster issues. You should run these logs on both nodes.
Action
From operational mode, enter these show log commands.
user@host> show log jsrpd
user@host> show log chassisd
user@host> show log messages
user@host> show log dcd
user@host> show traceoptions
Related Documentation
- J, SRX Series
- Understanding Chassis Cluster Redundancy Groups.
- SRX Series
- Node Interfaces on Active SRX Series Chassis Clusters
- Example: Configuring an SRX Series Services Gateway for the Branch as a Chassis Cluster
- Additional Information
- Chassis Cluster Feature Guide for Security Devices
Published: 2014-07-18
Related Documentation
- J, SRX Series
- Understanding Chassis Cluster Redundancy Groups.
- SRX Series
- Node Interfaces on Active SRX Series Chassis Clusters
- Example: Configuring an SRX Series Services Gateway for the Branch as a Chassis Cluster
- Additional Information
- Chassis Cluster Feature Guide for Security Devices