PCNSE Practice Question: Managing Troubleshooting and High Availability
An administrator notices that the HA pair shows a state mismatch: one firewall reports active, the other reports passive, but traffic is not flowing through the active firewall. What is the most likely cause?
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
✓
The HA1 link is down and preemptive mode is enabled
When the HA1 link is down and preemptive mode is enabled, each firewall may operate independently, leading to a state mismatch where one reports active and the other passive. Traffic does not flow through the active firewall because it lacks the HA1 communication to validate the peer's state. Option A is incorrect because incomplete session synchronization does not cause a state mismatch; it only affects session redundancy. Option B is incorrect because the HA2 link is for session synchronization, not for state determination; a failure would not cause a state mismatch. Option C is incorrect because priority determines which firewall becomes active/passive but does not cause a mismatch; if the passive had higher priority, it would be active.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Session synchronization is incomplete
Why it's wrong here
Incomplete session sync does not cause state mismatch.
- ✗
The HA2 link is down
Why it's wrong here
HA2 link failure affects session sync, not state.
- ✗
The passive firewall has a higher priority
Why it's wrong here
Higher priority means it would become active, not cause mismatch.
- ✓
The HA1 link is down and preemptive mode is enabled
Why this is correct
With HA1 down and preemptive, both may attempt to become active, leading to mismatch.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PCNSE 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 PCNSE exam.