What must be consistent across all devices in an HA cluster?

In a High Availability (HA) cluster, having a consistent group name, ID, and password across all devices is essential for proper synchronization and management of the devices within the cluster. This consistency ensures that all devices recognize each other as part of the same cluster, allowing for seamless failover and redundancy. If the group name, ID, or password varies, devices may not communicate correctly, leading to potential issues such as inconsistent state information or the inability to failover properly.

While network interface settings, firmware versions, and license types are also important for the overall performance and compliance of devices in an HA cluster, they do not have the same critical role in cluster recognition and coordination as the group name, ID, and password. For instance, differing firmware versions across devices can still allow clustering to occur, although it may introduce complications or instabilities, and varying license types generally affect feature availability rather than the basic operational function of the HA configuration.