Fortinet, Inc.
Stand-by controller assisted failover

Abstract:

Methods and systems for standby controller aided failover are provided. According to one embodiment, an active control channel and an active data channel are established by an active controller with a managed device via a management protocol. A standby control channel and a standby data channel are established by a standby controller with the managed device via the management protocol. A keep-alive message is periodically sent by the standby controller to the active controller. When a response to the keep-alive message is not received by the standby controller within a predefined time, failover from the active controller to the standby controller is initiated by: (i) taking over for the active controller; and (ii) notifying the managed device to direct subsequent management protocol messages to the standby controller via the standby control channel.