Running Engines as Master Engines
There are some hardware requirements and configuration limitations when you use an Engine as a Master Engine.
Running the Engine as a Master Engine does not require a third-party virtualization platform. When you run Engine as a Master Engine, the Engine hardware provides the virtual environment and resources for the hosted Virtual Engine.
Note: You must always install the Engine software on a hardware device to run the Engine as a Master Engine.
You can run Master Engine on the following types of hardware platforms:
- Purpose-built Engine appliances with 64-bit architecture
- Third-party hardware with 64-bit architecture that meets the hardware requirements
For information about system requirements, see the Release Notes.
The following limitations apply when you use an Engine as a Master Engine:
- Each Master Engine must run on a separate 64-bit physical device.
When Engine is running on a virtualization platform or a cloud virtualization platform, Master Engine and Virtual Engine are not supported.
- All Virtual Engines hosted by a Master Engine or Master Engine cluster must have the same role and the same Failure Mode (fail-open or fail-close).
- Master Engines can allocate VLANs or interfaces to Virtual Engines. If the Failure Mode of the Virtual IPS engines or Virtual Layer 2 Firewalls is Normal (fail-close) and you want to allocate VLANs to several engines, you must use the Master Engine cluster in standby mode.