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> Chapter 13 - High Availability > An introduction to the FGCP > Identifying the cluster and cluster units

Identifying the cluster and cluster units

You can use the cluster group name, group id, and password to identify a cluster and distinguish one cluster from another. If you have more than one cluster on the same network, each cluster must have a different group name, group id, and password.

Group name

Use the group name to identify the cluster. The maximum length of the group name is 32 characters. The group name must be the same for all cluster units before the cluster units can form a cluster. After a cluster is operating, you can change the group name. The group name change is synchronized to all cluster units. The group name appears on the FortiGate dashboard of a functioning cluster as the Cluster Name.

To add or change the group name from the web-based manager go to Config > System > HA and change the Group Name.

Enter the following CLI command to change the group name to Cluster_name:

config system ha

set group-name Cluster_name

end

Password

Use the password to identify the cluster. You should always change the password when configuring a cluster. The password must be the same for all FortiGate units before they can form a cluster. When the cluster is operating you can change the password, if required. Two clusters on the same network cannot have the same password.

To change the password from the web-based manager go to Config > System > HA and change the Password.

Enter the following CLI command to change the password to ha_pwd:

config system ha

set password ha_pwd

end

Group ID

Similar to the group name, the group ID is also identifies the cluster. In most cases you do not have to change the group ID. However, you should change the group ID if you have more than one cluster on the same network. All members of the HA cluster must have the same group ID. The group ID is a number from 0 to 255.

Changing the group ID changes the cluster virtual MAC address. If two clusters on the same network have the same group ID you may encounter MAC address conflicts.

Enter the following CLI command to change the group ID to 10:

config system ha

set group-id 10

end