In a Management HA setup, which Smartcenter should John connect to for making changes?

In a Management High Availability (HA) setup, the secondary SmartCenter is the appropriate choice for making changes, especially during maintenance or when the active SmartCenter is unavailable.

When managing Security Management Servers in an HA configuration, the primary or active SmartCenter typically handles all management tasks and is responsible for the management of the firewalls and other gateways. However, connecting to the secondary SmartCenter allows administrators to perform necessary changes without disrupting the primary operations.

This practice is critical for maintaining high availability and ensuring that management capabilities are not hampered during failover situations. The virtual IP of the SmartCenter HA can be used for connecting seamlessly to either SmartCenter without needing to specify which one is active. Therefore, while the virtual IP might provide convenience, connecting directly to the secondary SmartCenter ensures that tasks can be executed smoothly without dependence on the state of the primary SmartCenter.