How to Activate and License a Standalone High Availability Cluster

In a high availability cluster, each member must have its own licenses. The firewalls must be joined in a high availability cluster before activating the licenses, and both the client running Barracuda Firewall Admin and the firewalls must be able to connect to the Barracuda licensing servers. Always activate the licenses for the secondary firewall before activating the licenses for the primary firewall.

Before You Begin

Create a high availability cluster. For more information, see How to Set Up a High Availability Cluster. 

Step 1. Activate the Secondary Firewall

Depending on which type of deployment you are using, complete one of the following activation procedures:

• Hardware Firewall – How to Activate and License a Stand-alone Hardware CloudGen Firewall Appliance

• Virtual or Cloud Firewall – How to Activate and License a Stand-Alone Virtual or Public Cloud Firewall or Control Center if you are using Barracuda CloudGen Firewall Vx firewalls.

  When activating virtual or cloud boxes, make sure that Product Type and Hardware Model in the HA Box Properties configuration match your license.

After Barracuda Firewall Admin activates the unit, it recognizes its HA partner status and waits for the licenses to be activated and downloaded to the primary unit. After the licenses have been successfully retrieved, a notification window appears, and the Activation State switches to Current.

Step 2. Activate and License the Primary Firewall

Depending on which type of deployment you are using, complete one of the following activation procedures:

• Hardware Firewall – How to Activate and License a Stand-alone Hardware CloudGen Firewall Appliance
• Virtual or Cloud Firewall – How to Activate and License a Stand-Alone Virtual or Public Cloud Firewall or Control Center if you are using Barracuda CloudGen Firewall Vx units.

Following activation, licenses for the primary and secondary units are downloaded to the primary unit. The secondary unit automatically receives its license via HA Sync.

Step 3. Verify the License Status

Both firewalls in the HA cluster are now licensed. Verify that all of your purchased licenses are listed on the Status > Licenses pag e and that the status is Normal box operation.

Troubleshooting

Activating the primary prior to the secondary firewall prevents the secondaries licenses to be retrieved by the primary firewall. Reboot the primary firewall and perform a complete HA update to download and install the licenses correctly. 

For more information, see Monitoring, Managing, and Rebuilding HA Clusters.