High-Availability Drills: Renting HA Firewall Pairs for BC/DR Tests

Test your firewall fail-over like a pro—rent HA pairs without long-term lock-in.

Ever tried rehearsing your disaster recovery plan only to realize your firewalls aren’t as resilient as you thought? Renting identical next-gen firewall (NGFW) pairs for high-availability (HA) drills is a game changer. It’s like a dress rehearsal for chaos—so you don’t get a standing ovation from downtime instead.

1. HA Topologies

Choosing the right HA topology—active/active or active/passive—is critical. Renting identical units lets you mirror production without disrupting live traffic. I recall a 2012 test where rented HA pairs revealed a fail-over delay we had never seen in simulations.

2. Test Objectives & Scripts

Your drill must mimic real fail-over scenarios: link failures, device crashes, config sync issues. Scripts should cover everything from session persistence to policy enforcement under stress. Why gamble with unknown variables when you can control the stage?

3. SLA & Support During Drill

Rentals come with vendor SLAs. Instant support eliminates guesswork. When one drill went sideways due to a firmware patch, the rental vendor’s 24/7 support saved us hours of troubleshooting.

4. Metrics & Lessons Learned

Track fail-over time, throughput drops, and error rates. These metrics guide improvements and document compliance. Think of it like a fire drill—just with zero smoke and a lot more insight.

5. De-Rig & Data Sanitisation

Post-test, removing devices cleanly and wiping all config/data is non-negotiable. A careless cleanup can leave you exposed. Renting avoids stranded hardware while enforcing strict sanitisation protocols.

Renting HA firewall pairs for BC/DR tests isn’t just a neat trick—it’s a prudent strategy where you prove resilience in production-like conditions without the burden of stranded assets. Ready to see your fail-over plan in action?