There are no noticeable differences between administering the Smoothwall used as a primary system and administering as a failover. There should be little or no need to administer the failover unit on a day to day basis. However, from time to time, you need to install updates.
Accessing the Failover Unit
With failover implemented, the Smoothwall system is always accessed via the same address, whether services and protection are being supplied by the primary or the failover unit. All communications with the user interface on the failover unit are via HTTPS and on port 440 instead of port 441: https:<primary_IP_address>:440
For example, to open the primary system's Update page the address would usually look as follows: https://192.168.72.142:441/cgi-bin/admin/updates.cgi
To view the settings on the failover unit, the address would be: https://192.168.72.142:440/cgi-bin/admin/updates.cgi