Current CARP demotion level -240 on Master and Backup

[bsdhob]

Hi,

on both Master and Backup the current CARP demotion level is currently -240. I'm also getting the warning:

CARP has detected a problem and this unit has been demoted to BACKUP status.
Check link status on all interfaces with configured CARP VIPs.

What could be the reason for this problem?

[Patrick M. Hausen]

Communication between master and backup is broken on at least one pair of interfaces.

[bsdhob]

How can I test the CARP IPs /connection? By pinging them from the Master and Backup?

I verfied that all interfaces are up on both firewalls and all CARP IPs are pingable.

The log shows the message:

carp: demoted by -240 to -240 (pfsync bulk done)

Sync Ips are working fine.

Is it recommended to use the Multicast IP or the Configuration IP for the Sync IP?

[Crocogator]

I’ve run into that -240 demotion issue before, and it usually points to a problem with the interface links for the CARP VIPs. It’s a good idea to check if all the interfaces are up and stable. I found that looking through the logs can help identify any interface flaps or errors that might be causing the issue. When I had similar problems, restarting the CARP services on both units did the trick for me.