Chapter 9 High Availability for FortiOS 5.0 : Configuring and connecting HA clusters : Example: HA and redundant interfaces : HA MAC addresses and redundant interfaces
  
HA MAC addresses and redundant interfaces
For a standalone FortiGate unit a redundant interface has the MAC address of the first physical interface added to the redundant interface configuration. A redundant interface consisting of port1 and port2 would have the MAC address of port1.
In an HA cluster, HA changes the MAC addresses of the cluster interfaces to virtual MAC addresses. A redundant interface in a cluster acquires the virtual MAC address that would have been acquired by the first physical interface added to the redundant interface configuration.