Configuring an appliance cluster

Administrator Help | Forcepoint Email Security | Version 8.4.x

An email appliance operates in standalone mode by default, but it can be configured in a cluster of appliances to manage a large volume of email traffic. After you have added an appliance to the appliances list on the Email Appliances page, you can change its mode from the default standalone to either primary or secondary in the Settings > General > Cluster Mode page.

Some platform limitations apply to appliances in a cluster. A V10000 appliance cannot be configured in a cluster with a V5000 appliance. A virtual appliance may be clustered with other virtual appliances, but not with a physical appliance. See Forcepoint Documentation for more information.

Platform versions must match in a cluster.

Appliances in a cluster should also have the same message queue configurations. Messages in a secondary appliance queue may be lost if that queue is not configured on the primary machine before the cluster is created.


	Important If you are deploying email protection in an appliance cluster and want to use DLP policies, be sure to register all the primary and secondary cluster machines with the module before you deploy DLP policies. If you deploy DLP policies on the primary appliance while you are registering a secondary machine with the module, the registration process for the secondary machine may not complete.

Designating a primary appliance in a cluster

A primary appliance maintains and displays the configuration settings for all the appliances in its cluster. Use the following steps to specify a primary appliance in a cluster:

In the Settings > General > Cluster Mode page, select Cluster (Primary) as the appliance mode. A Cluster Properties box opens with the primary appliance IP address displayed in the Cluster communication IP address field. Secondary appliances use this IP address for cluster communications.


	Note Use of the C appliance interface IP address for communication requires that you need to define a route in the appliance CLI. You need to stop and restart email services on the appliance each time you add or delete a route on the appliance.

Click Add to open the Add Secondary Appliance page, where you can designate the secondary appliances in this cluster.

Select the secondary appliances that you want to add to this cluster from the list of standalone appliances on the left (up to 7 appliances).

If you want to add a new appliance that is not already on the list, click Add New Appliance to open the Add Appliance page.

Click the arrow button to add the appliances to the Secondary Appliances list.

Click OK. The appliance is added to the Secondary Appliances list along with its status.

Click OK in the main Cluster Mode page to complete the addition of the appliance to the cluster.

Click the appliance name in the Secondary Appliances list to open an Appliance Properties message box that contains all the details about the appliance.

You can remove a secondary appliance from a cluster by selecting the appliance in the Secondary Appliances list and clicking Remove.