PCNSA Device Management and Services Practice Question
A company deploys a pair of firewalls in Active/Passive HA. To ensure that active sessions are preserved during failover, which interface must be configured for state synchronization?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse HA2 (used for packet forwarding in Active/Active) with the state sync interface, or assume HA1 handles all synchronization, but Palo Alto Networks specifically separates control (HA1), data (HA2), and state sync (HA3) functions.
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
✓
HA3
In an Active/Passive HA pair, state synchronization (session table, ARP table, etc.) is transmitted over the dedicated HA3 interface. This ensures that when a failover occurs, the passive firewall has an exact copy of all active sessions and can continue forwarding traffic without interruption. Without HA3 configured, sessions are not preserved and must be re-established after failover.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
HA3
Why this is correct
HA3 is used for session state synchronization.
- ✗
HA1
Why it's wrong here
HA1 is for heartbeat, not state sync.
- ✗
HA2
Why it's wrong here
HA2 is for configuration sync, not state.
- ✗
HA4
Why it's wrong here
HA4 is not a standard HA interface.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PCNSA practice question is part of Courseiva's free Palo Alto Networks 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 PCNSA exam.