156-315.81.20 ClusterXL and VRRP High Availability Practice Question
An administrator wants to ensure that a specific cluster member always takes priority during a failover. Which setting should be adjusted?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse interface weights with cluster priority settings when attempting to force a specific member to become active.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Increase the 'priority' value of the preferred cluster member.
Priority in ClusterXL is determined by the cluster member configuration. By assigning a higher priority value to the preferred node, the administrator ensures that it will attempt to occupy the 'Active' role whenever it is healthy. This is crucial in environments where one gateway may have more physical resources or is connected to a more stable uplink, providing a deterministic failover behavior that aligns with the business requirements.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Increase the 'priority' value of the preferred cluster member.
Why this is correct
In ClusterXL, the member with the higher priority value (lower number is higher priority in some contexts, but usually explicitly defined) is designated as the primary. Adjusting this value ensures that if the primary node is healthy, it will be the one chosen as the active gateway in the cluster.
- ✗
Enable 'failover' on the preferred member's interface.
Why it's wrong here
Interface failover is a mechanism to monitor link health, not to determine the priority of a node. Enabling failover simply tells the cluster that if that specific link goes down, the node should trigger a failover. It does not instruct the cluster on which member should be the preferred leader.
- ✗
Reduce the 'heartbeat' timeout on the secondary member.
Why it's wrong here
Adjusting the heartbeat timeout affects how quickly a node detects a failure, not the hierarchy of the cluster. A shorter timeout might make failover faster but does not force a specific member to become the primary active node when both members are healthy and functional in the network.
- ✗
Assign a lower MAC address to the preferred member.
Why it's wrong here
MAC address assignment is handled by the cluster protocol and is not a user-configurable parameter for determining node priority. Attempting to manipulate MAC addresses manually will likely lead to conflicts and erratic cluster behavior, as the Cluster Control Protocol (CCP) manages virtual MACs dynamically based on current node roles.
About these practice questions
This 156-315.81.20 question is part of Courseiva's 210-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Check Point exam blueprint
This 156-315.81.20 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Check Point certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 156-315.81.20 exam.