Active/Active Failover Configuration

Now look at how to configure active/active failover on a pair of ASAs using the ASDM.

With active/standby failover, one ASA is active, and the other ASA is redundant, waiting to take over the role of the active ASA if a failure occurs. With active/active failover, the ASA firewalls must be configured in multiple-context mode so that both devices can pass traffic while at the same time serving as a backup for the other peer ASA.

Active/active configuration leverages the virtual context feature on the ASA. Each ASA is partitioned into two contexts: CTX1 and CTX2. Under normal conditions, there is one active context and one standby context per ASA. The active context on one ASA has a standby context on the second ASA and vice versa.