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PCNSE · Question #744

An administrator configures two VPN tunnels to provide for failover and uninterrupted VPN service. What should an administrator configure to enable automatic failover to the backup tunnel?

The correct answer is C. Tunnel Monitor. To ensure automatic failover for an IPsec VPN service, an administrator must configure a Tunnel Monitor, which actively probes the tunnel's liveness and switches to a backup if a failure is detected.

Submitted by devops_kid· Apr 18, 2026Deploy and Configure

Question

An administrator configures two VPN tunnels to provide for failover and uninterrupted VPN service. What should an administrator configure to enable automatic failover to the backup tunnel?

Options

  • AReplay Protection
  • BZone Protection
  • CTunnel Monitor
  • DPassive Mode

How the community answered

(15 responses)
  • A
    7% (1)
  • C
    93% (14)

Why each option

To ensure automatic failover for an IPsec VPN service, an administrator must configure a Tunnel Monitor, which actively probes the tunnel's liveness and switches to a backup if a failure is detected.

AReplay Protection

Replay Protection is an IPsec security feature that prevents an attacker from intercepting and retransmitting authenticated packets, not for failover.

BZone Protection

Zone Protection profiles protect against flood attacks and other packet-based threats to zones, unrelated to VPN tunnel failover.

CTunnel MonitorCorrect

Tunnel Monitor (or Dead Peer Detection in IPsec) is configured to actively check the operational status of a VPN tunnel by sending keepalive probes. If the primary tunnel fails to respond to these probes, the firewall can automatically re-route traffic to a pre-configured backup tunnel, ensuring continuous VPN connectivity and failover.

DPassive Mode

Passive Mode relates to high availability configurations where one device is idle, not a specific mechanism for VPN tunnel failover between two distinct tunnels.

Concept tested: VPN tunnel monitor for failover

Source: https://docs.paloaltonetworks.com/pan-os/10-2/pan-os-admin/vpns/set-up-a-site-to-site-vpn-with-static-routes/configure-a-redundant-vpn-tunnel

Topics

#VPN failover#Tunnel monitor#IPsec VPN#High availability

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