Palo Alto Networks, Inc.

Rimu Bhardwaj

Harshavardhan Parandekar

Vikram Guleria

Nazanin Magharei

Tapraj Singh

A pseudo-active/active firewall configuration handles firewall switchover events with minimized session disconnection. A passive firewall is set to an active state, and an active firewall is switched to a pseudo-active state wherein it continues to process ingress and egress traffic according to traffic handling protocols for its active state. During updating of a corresponding Network Address Translation (NAT) table to route traffic to the now-active firewall, the pseudo-active firewall enters a forwarding state wherein it forwards ingress network sessions to the now-active firewall and processes the ingress network sessions according to its active state. The now-active firewall receives the ingress network sessions and records session states prior to discarding them. After updating the NAT table, when traffic is routed to the now-active firewall, the recorded session states are used to maintain active sessions.

Firewall switchover with minimized session disconnection

A pseudo-active/active firewall configuration handles firewall switchover events without traffic disruption. A passive firewall is set to an active state, and an active firewall is switched to a pseudo-active state wherein it continues to process ingress and egress traffic according to traffic handling protocols for its active state. An Internet protocol address binding linking the now pseudo-active firewall to an Internet gateway that forwards traffic to the firewalls is updated in a network address translation (NAT) table to route traffic to the newly active firewall. Once a pseudo-active timer expires and the binding is successfully updated to route traffic to the newly active firewall, the pseudo-active firewall is set to a passive state.

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Rimu Bhardwaj