What is one way that Mx security appliances achieve automatic failover and high availability?

Question

Options

• AAlways on (availability groups)
• BRedundant gateways (using HSRP)
• CWarm spare (using VRRP)
• DSurvivable Remote Site Technology (SRST)

• B
  9% (3)
• C
  88% (28)
• D
  3% (1)

Explanation

Cisco Meraki MX appliances achieve high availability through Warm Spare mode, which leverages VRRP (Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol) - an open-standard protocol that allows a primary and standby MX to share a virtual IP address, enabling automatic, transparent failover if the primary device goes offline.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• A (Always on / availability groups) - This term refers to SQL Server database clustering, not network security appliance HA.
• B (Redundant gateways / HSRP) - HSRP (Hot Standby Router Protocol) is a Cisco-proprietary protocol used on routers and Layer 3 switches; Meraki MX specifically uses VRRP, not HSRP.
• D (SRST) - Survivable Remote Site Technology is a Cisco voice feature that keeps IP phones operational when the WAN link to Unified Communications Manager is lost; it has nothing to do with security appliance failover.

Memory tip: Associate MX → Warm Spare → VRRP by remembering that VRRP is the open standard HA protocol (the "V" = "Virtually always available"), and Meraki chose it for its Warm Spare feature - not the Cisco-proprietary HSRP.

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