This article explains the meaning of the following error message:
L2ALM: trying master connection.
The following message appears regularly in an SRX device running Layer 3 mode, with or without chassis cluster configured:
lab@srx650b> show log messages | match L2 Jan 4 21:32:01 srx650b srx650b L2ALM: trying master connection, status 61, attempt 1380000 Jan 4 22:56:28 srx650b srx650b L2ALM: trying master connection, status 61, attempt 1385000 Jan 5 00:20:54 srx650b srx650b L2ALM: trying master connection, status 61, attempt 1390000 Jan 5 01:45:21 srx650b srx650b L2ALM: trying master connection, status 61, attempt 1395000 Jan 5 03:09:49 srx650b srx650b L2ALM: trying master connection, status 61, attempt 1400000 Jan 5 04:34:16 srx650b srx650b L2ALM: trying master connection, status 61, attempt 1405000 Jan 5 05:58:42 srx650b srx650b L2ALM: trying master connection, status 61, attempt 1410000 Jan 5 07:23:08 srx650b srx650b L2ALM: trying master connection, status 61, attempt 1415000 Jan 5 08:47:35 srx650b srx650b L2ALM: trying master connection, status 61, attempt 1420000 Jan 5 10:12:01 srx650b srx650b L2ALM: trying master connection, status 61, attempt 1425000 Jan 5 11:36:28 srx650b srx650b L2ALM: trying master connection, status 61, attempt 1430000 Jan 5 13:00:55 srx650b srx650b L2ALM: trying master connection, status 61, attempt 1435000 Jan 5 14:25:21 srx650b srx650b L2ALM: trying master connection, status 61, attempt 1440000 Jan 5 15:49:48 srx650b srx650b L2ALM: trying master connection, status 61, attempt 1445000 Jan 5 17:14:15 srx650b srx650b L2ALM: trying master connection, status 61, attempt 1450000 Jan 5 18:38:42 srx650b srx650b L2ALM: trying master connection, status 61, attempt 1455000 Jan 5 20:03:08 srx650b srx650b L2ALM: trying master connection, status 61, attempt 1460000 Jan 5 21:27:34 srx650b srx650b L2ALM: trying master connection, status 61, attempt 1465000 Jan 5 22:52:00 srx650b srx650b L2ALM: trying master connection, status 61, attempt 1470000 Jan 6 00:16:27 srx650b srx650b L2ALM: trying master connection, status 61, attempt 1475000 Jan 6 01:40:53 srx650b srx650b L2ALM: trying master connection, status 61, attempt 1480000
The L2ALM (Layer 2 Address Learning Manager) thread in the Packet Forwarding Engine (PFE) attempts to make a connection to the Layer 2 Address Learning Daemon (L2ALD) on the Routing Engine. The L2ALM thread in the PFE is not used until Layer 2 (Transparent) mode is configured; then the L2ALD on the Routing Engine refuses the connection from the L2ALM.
If the SRX device is configured with Layer 3 mode, this message is harmless; however, it could be an issue if this happens in an SRX configured with Layer 2 (Transparent) mode. Please work with your support provider for further investigation if this message appears in Layer 2 mode.