Web UI to virtual IP keeps switching between primary and backup

[litebit]

Hi,

My setup in short:
- Primary OPNsense and backup OPNsense each in a VM on ESX, same hardware specification for the VM
- 4 regular interfaces (LAN, WAN, DMZ, GUEST)
- 1 trunk interface 
- 1 "sync" interface for any HA and sync purposes
- 3 CARP interfaces with a virtual IP: LAN, GUEST, DMZ (each time and IP ending with .1)
Configuration seems to sync fine. When I check the status of the virtual IP's on the primary, I see that they all 3 are "Master"

The addressing is as follows:
.1 = the virtual IP
.2 = the primary firewall
.3 = the secondary firewall

To go to the web UI, I'm using the .1 virtual ip address of the LAN.
Although the primary is always master, the .1 seems to switch randomly and often between primary and backup (even though the primary is always master)

Is this expected behavior?
If not, how can this be fixed?

I appreciate the feedback

L.

[litebit]

No one out there with a similar problem while using HA?
It also seems to cause some issues with DNS (when the secondary is the active one)

[Monviech (Cedrik)]

If the CARP VIP randomly swaps back and forth I would look at the advskew value. Master should have 0 and Backup 100 or higher in the virtual IPs.

[litebit]

Hi,

Thanks for the tip.
I checked the advskew values on master and backup, they were already set to 0 (on the master) and 100 (on the backup).
I now changed the ones on the backup to 254.
In case it matters : the advbase values are "1" on both hosts.

I'll give feedback in a few days whether this change helps or not