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Palo_Alto_Networks

PCNSE · Question #292

An administrator has been asked to configure active/active HA for a pair of Palo Alto Networks NGFWs. The firewall use Layer 3 interfaces to send traffic to a single gateway IP for the pair. Which…

The correct answer is A. The two firewalls will share a single floating IP and will use gratuitous ARP to share the floating. In an active/active HA deployment where downstream devices (routers, hosts) use a single gateway IP for the firewall pair, Palo Alto Networks uses a floating IP address that can be owned by either firewall at a given time. When a failover occurs, the firewall taking ownership…

Submitted by alyssa_d· Apr 18, 2026Deploy and Configure

Question

An administrator has been asked to configure active/active HA for a pair of Palo Alto Networks NGFWs. The firewall use Layer 3 interfaces to send traffic to a single gateway IP for the pair. Which configuration will enable this HA scenario?

Options

  • AThe two firewalls will share a single floating IP and will use gratuitous ARP to share the floating
  • BEach firewall will have a separate floating IP, and priority will determine which firewall has the
  • CThe firewalls do not use floating IPs in active/active HA.
  • DThe firewalls will share the same interface IP address, and device 1 will use the floating IP if

How the community answered

(56 responses)
  • A
    95% (53)
  • B
    4% (2)
  • D
    2% (1)

Explanation

In an active/active HA deployment where downstream devices (routers, hosts) use a single gateway IP for the firewall pair, Palo Alto Networks uses a floating IP address that can be owned by either firewall at a given time. When a failover occurs, the firewall taking ownership of the floating IP sends a gratuitous ARP (GARP) to update the ARP tables of neighboring devices, ensuring traffic is directed to the now-active device without requiring any downstream reconfiguration. In active/active HA, both firewalls process traffic simultaneously, but the floating IP moves between them as needed to maintain consistent gateway reachability.

Topics

#High Availability (HA)#Active/Active HA#Floating IP#Gratuitous ARP

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