Fortinet NSE4_FGT_AD-7.6 Fortinet NSE 4 - FortiOS 7.6 Administrator Exam Practice Test

With a dialup IPsec VPN on FortiGate, when add-route is enabled, FortiGate will only install the corresponding route when it has enough negotiated information from the tunnel. In FortiOS 7.6, that means the route is tied to the Phase 2 (Quick Mode) selectors and is created dynamically when the IPsec SA is actually up.

B. The administrator must ensure phase 2 is successfully established

This is required. FortiGate does not install the add-route route just because Phase 1 exists or because the configuration is present. The route is added when the tunnel is effectively usable, which requires Phase 2 (IPsec SA) to be up. If Phase 2 is not established, there is no active SA and FortiGate will not inject the related route into the routing table.

So, if the static route is not showing, one correct explanation is that Phase 2 is not up.

C. The administrator must define the remote network correctly in the phase 2 selectors

This is also required. For dialup tunnels, FortiGate derives what route to add from the remote subnet(s) defined in the Phase 2 selector (proxy ID). If the remote network in Phase 2 is missing, incorrect, or too broad/too narrow in a way that prevents negotiation, the tunnel either won’t come up (so no route), or the route that would be installed won’t match what the administrator expects.

So, another correct explanation is that the Phase 2 remote network is not correctly defined, preventing the correct route from being created.

Why the other options are incorrect

A. Policy route instead of a static route

Add-route does not require policy routes. It is specifically a feature that injects a route (route-table entry) associated with the IPsec tunnel/SA and the Phase 2 selector networks.

D. Enable a dynamic routing protocol

Dynamic routing protocols (OSPF/BGP/RIP) are not required for add-route. Add-route is independent of dynamic routing and works by installing routes locally based on the negotiated selectors.

Comprehensive and Detailed 150 to 200 words of Explanation From Exact Extract of FortiOS 7.6 documents:

According to FortiOS 7.6 High Availability documentation, the FortiGate Cluster Protocol (FGCP) provides robust mechanisms for both link monitoring and stateful data synchronization. Link failover is a primary trigger for cluster renegotiation; if a monitored interface goes down—including when an administrator manually sets the interface to administratively down—the primary unit's priority is effectively reduced, triggering a failover to a secondary unit to ensure path continuity.5 This is a standard method for testing HA failover behavior.

Furthermore, to achieve a seamless stateful failover where active sessions are not dropped, the FortiGate performs incremental synchronization of critical runtime data.6 This specifically includes Forwarding Information Base (FIB) entries, which represent the compiled routing table, and IPsec Security Associations (SAs).7 By synchronizing IPsec SAs, the secondary unit 8can resume encrypted tunnels immediately after a failover without requiring a f9ull IKE re-negotiation.10 Statement A is incorrect because in-band and out-of-band management can coexist using reserved management interfaces and management-ip settings.11 Statement C is incorrect because while heartbeat interfaces use link-local IPs in the 169.254.0.x range, the specific IP .2 is not universally required for all heartbeats and depends on the number of cluster members and serial numbers.

From the exhibits:

A VIP named VIP-WEB-SERVER is configured on WAN (port2) with:

External IP: 100.65.0.200

Mapped (internal) IP: 10.0.11.50

Port forwarding enabled (TCP)

External service port: 443

Map to IPv4 port: 4443

The inbound firewall policy Web_Server_Access is:

From WAN (port2) to LAN (port4)

Destination: VIP-WEB-SERVER

Service: HTTPS

NAT: Disabled (meaning no source NAT is applied)

What happens to the packet

A host 100.65.1.111 sends TCP SYN dst-port 443 to 100.65.0.200.

When FortiGate matches the VIP and forwards traffic to the internal server, FortiGate performs destination NAT (DNAT) based on the VIP:

Source IP is unchanged because policy NAT is disabled:

Source remains 100.65.1.111

Destination IP is translated by the VIP:

Destination becomes 10.0.11.50

Destination port is translated by the VIP port-forward:

Destination port becomes 4443

Therefore, at the time FortiGate forwards the packet to the destination (internal server), it will be:

Source address: 100.65.1.111

Destination address: 10.0.11.50

Destination port: 4443

According to the FortiOS 7.6 Study Guide and technical documentation regarding High Availability (HA), the FortiGate Clustering Protocol (FGCP) uses a specific set of rules to elect the primary unit in a cluster. By default, the election order follows: Connected Monitored Ports > HA Uptime > Priority > Serial Number.

However, when the HA override setting is enabled, the election logic is modified to prioritize the administrator-defined priority value over the uptime of the cluster members. In this specific configuration, the election process follows this sequence:

Connected monitored ports: The unit with the most functioning monitored interfaces is preferred.

Priority: The unit with the highest manually configured priority value (e.g., 255) is selected next.

HA uptime: If monitored ports and priority are equal, the unit that has been up in the HA cluster the longest is chosen.

FortiGate serial number: As a final tie-breaker, the unit with the higher serial number is elected.1

Statement A is correct because it reflects the shift where Priority is evaluated immediately after monitored ports, overriding the standard uptime advantage. Statements B and D are incorrect because the FGCP uses HA uptime, not system uptime, for its calculations.

Based on the exhibit and the FortiOS 7.6 SSL/SSH Inspection documentation, the correct answer is C.

Understanding the Exhibit Configuration

In the SSL/SSH Inspection Profile, the following settings are shown:

Inspection method: Full SSL Inspection

Server certificate SNI check: Strict

This setting directly controls how FortiGate validates the Server Name Indication (SNI) provided by the client during the TLS handshake.

FortiOS 7.6 Behavior of “Server certificate SNI check”

FortiOS supports three modes for Server certificate SNI check:

Disable

No validation between SNI and server certificate.

Enable

FortiGate checks SNI against the certificate.

If mismatch occurs, FortiGate may still allow the session with reduced validation.

Strict

FortiGate enforces a strict match.

The SNI must match either the CN (Common Name) or one of the SAN (Subject Alternative Name) entries in the server certificate.

If the SNI does not match either CN or SAN, the TLS session is immediately terminated.

The exhibit clearly shows Strict selected.

Why Option C is Correct

With Strict enabled, FortiGate rejects the TLS connection when:

The SNI does not match the CN, and

The SNI does not match any SAN entry

This results in the connection being closed, not allowed with warnings or fallback behavior.

Therefore:

C. FortiGate will close the connection if the SNI does not match the CN or SAN fields is exactly the documented behavior.

Why the Other Options Are Incorrect

A: FortiGate does not fall back to using the CN for URL filtering when Strict is enabled.

B: There is no “accept with warning” behavior in Strict mode.

D: Incorrect logical condition. FortiGate does not require mismatch with both CN and SAN simultaneously; a mismatch with either valid field set is sufficient to close the connection.

NetAPI: Polls temporary sessions created on the DC when a user logs on or logs off and calls the NetSessionEnum function on Windows. It’s faster than the WinSec and WMI methods; however, it can miss some logon events if a DC is under heavy system load. This is because sessions can be quickly created and purged form RAM, before the agent has a chance to poll and notify FG.

In FortiOS 7.6 Application Control, security logs are generated primarily for actions such as Block or Monitor, not for Allow actions.

What is happening in the exhibit

An Application Override is configured for ABC.Com

Type: Application

Action: Allow

The application control profile is applied to a firewall policy

Logging is enabled on the firewall policy

Traffic to ABC.Com is successfully allowed

However, no security logs appear for ABC.Com.

Why no logs are generated

In FortiOS 7.6:

Application Control logs are written to Security Logs when:

An application is Blocked

An application is Monitored

When an application action is set to Allow:

The traffic is permitted silently

No application control security log is generated

Even if policy logging is enabled

This is expected and documented behavior.

To generate logs for allowed applications, the action must be set to Monitor, not Allow.

Why the other options are incorrect

A. ABC.Com is hitting the category Excessive-BandwidthIncorrect. ABC.Com has a higher-priority explicit override (priority 1), so it is not evaluated against the Excessive-Bandwidth filter.

B. The ABC.Com Type is set as Application instead of FilterIncorrect. Application-type overrides are valid and commonly used; this does not suppress logging.

C. The ABC.Com must be configured as a web filter profileIncorrect. This traffic is being evaluated by Application Control, not Web Filter.

Based on the FortiOS 7.6 Infrastructure and IPsec VPN documentation, Dead Peer Detection (DPD) can be configured in three primary modes: On Demand, On Idle, and Disabled.

On Demand (Default Mode): This mode is specifically designed to minimize unnecessary traffic. In this mode, FortiGate sends DPD probes only when there is no inbound traffic but the FortiGate is attempting to send outbound traffic. Because network communication is typically bidirectional, the absence of inbound traffic while outbound traffic is being sent is a primary indicator of a potentially dead tunnel. This matches the specific requirement described in the question.

On Idle: In this mode, DPD probes are sent if no traffic (neither inbound nor outbound) has been observed in the tunnel for a specific period. It verifies the tunnel status even when the connection is completely idle.

Enabled: In older versions or specific CLI contexts, "Enabled" may refer to periodic DPD, but in the current FortiOS 7.x/7.6 GUI and CLI terminology for Phase 1 settings, the active modes are defined as on-demand or on-idle.

Disabled: In this mode, the FortiGate does not send DPD probes but will still respond to DPD probes sent by the remote peer.

The requirement that the administrator wants probes sent only when there is no inbound traffic (usually implying the FortiGate is sending but not receiving) is the fundamental definition of the On Demand mechanism in the Fortinet curriculum.

In FortiOS 7.6, SD-WAN steering decisions are recorded in traffic logs only when traffic matches an explicit SD-WAN rule (SD-WAN service rule). When no configured SD-WAN rule matches a session, FortiGate uses the implicit (default) SD-WAN rule/behavior to select a member (often resulting in load-balancing or default selection based on the configured SD-WAN algorithm).

In the exhibit, traffic is permitted by firewall policy ID 1, and the Destination Interface alternates between port1 and port2, but SD-WAN Rule Name remains empty. This is consistent with the sessions being forwarded by the implicit SD-WAN rule, which does not populate a named rule in the log columns.

Why the other options are not correct:

A: SD-WAN rule name logging is not a “delayed display” behavior requiring refresh; it is populated per-session when an explicit rule matches.

B: Application Control is not required for SD-WAN rule name to appear. Rule name logging depends on SD-WAN rule match, not on whether Application Control is enabled.

C: Feature visibility affects GUI display options, but the exhibit already shows the SD-WAN columns enabled; the issue is that no explicit SD-WAN rule is being hit.

In FortiOS 7.6, web filter profiles are inspection-mode dependent. Certain advanced web filtering features—such as daily category usage quota—are only supported when the firewall policy is operating in proxy-based inspection mode.

Why the profile is not visible

The profile restrictmedia-profile includes a daily category usage quota.

Daily quotas are a proxy-based web filtering feature.

If the firewall policy is configured with:

Inspection mode: Flow-based

Then FortiGate will not display proxy-only web filter profiles in the Web Filter drop-down list.

FortiGate automatically filters the available profiles based on feature compatibility with the policy’s inspection mode.

This behavior is explicitly documented in the FortiOS 7.6 Web Filtering and Inspection Mode Compatibility sections.

Why the other options are incorrect

A. Already referenced in another firewall policyWeb filter profiles can be reused across multiple policies. This does not hide them.

B. Firewall policy is in no-inspection mode instead of deep-inspectionSSL inspection depth affects HTTPS visibility, not whether a web filter profile appears in the drop-down list.

C. Naming convention restrictionFortiOS does not restrict profile selection based on naming conventions.

In FortiOS 7.6, GUI session inactivity timeout behavior for administrators is controlled by admin profiles, not by general access permissions or profile ordering.

How GUI idle timeout works in FortiOS 7.6

FortiGate has a global admin timeout (admintimeout), but

Admin profiles can override this value using the Override idle timeout setting.

When Override idle timeout is enabled in an admin profile, the timeout value defined inside that profile takes precedence over the global setting.

The exhibit shows that the NOC team logs in using the NOC_Access admin profile. Therefore, to prevent their GUI sessions from disconnecting too quickly during inactivity, the timeout must be adjusted within that specific admin profile.

Why option B is correct

B. Increase the value of the Override Idle Timeout parameter in the NOC_Access admin profile.

This directly controls how long GUI sessions remain active when users assigned to NOC_Access are idle.

It affects only the NOC team, which matches the requirement precisely.

This is the recommended and documented approach in FortiOS 7.6.

Why the other options are incorrect

A. Increase admintimeout under config system accprofileIncorrect. admintimeout is a global admin setting, not configured under accprofile, and it would affect all administrators, not just NOC users.

C. Move NOC_Access to the top of the listIncorrect. Admin profile order has no impact on session timeout behavior.

D. Assign super_admin roleIncorrect and insecure. Super_admin does not control idle timeout and would unnecessarily grant full privileges.

In FortiSASE site-based (remote internet access) deployments, FortiExtender is used to onboard branch or remote sites without a local FortiGate.

According to FortiSASE and FortiExtender architecture documentation:

FortiExtender integrates with FortiSASE using a secure VXLAN-over-IPsec tunnel

This tunnel:

Extends the site network to FortiSASE

Transparently forwards traffic for inspection

Preserves network segmentation and routing context

This design is similar to cloud-based LAN extension and is not proxy-based

Why the other options are incorrect

B: FortiClient is used for agent-based user access, not FortiExtender

C: Secure Web Gateway (SWG) is a service, not a transport mechanism

D: PAC files and explicit proxies are used in agentless / proxy-based access, not site-based FortiExtender deployments

According to the FortiOS 7.6 Study Guide and Parallel Path Processing documentation, flow-based antivirus inspection is designed to provide security with minimal impact on performance.

First, a defining characteristic of modern flow-based AV (specifically in its "hybrid" mode) is that FortiGate buffers the whole file but transmits to the client at the same time (Statement A). This behavior allows the client to start receiving data immediately to prevent session timeouts, while the FortiGate reassembles the file in memory to perform a signature check before the final packet is released.

Second, starting with recent FortiOS versions including 7.6, flow-based inspection uses a hybrid of the scanning modes (Statement B). Previously, flow mode offered "Quick" or "Full" scans; now, it combines these techniques to offer a balance between the speed of stream-based scanning and the thoroughness of archive inspection.

Third, the primary motivation for selecting this mode is that flow-based inspection optimizes performance compared to proxy-based inspection (Statement D). It processes traffic in a single pass using the IPS engine, avoiding the overhead associated with the WAD (proxy) process. Statement C is incorrect because if a virus is detected, the last packet is withheld and the connection is reset to prevent the file from being completed. Statement E is less accurate as the IPS engine loads the AV engine to perform the task rather than acting as a "standalone" entity in the context of file scanning.

According to the FortiOS 7.6 Administrator Guide and the specific behavior of the SD-WAN GUI, here is the technical breakdown:

SD-WAN Zone Hierarchy and UI Elements: In the FortiGate GUI, SD-WAN zones that contain member interfaces are displayed with a plus (+) icon next to the checkbox. This icon allows administrators to expand the zone and view the specific physical or logical interfaces assigned to it.

Analysis of the "Underlay" Zone: In the provided exhibit, the virtual-wan-link and overlay zones both feature the plus (+) expansion icon, indicating they have active members. The Underlay zone, however, lacks this icon and displays a red status icon. This is the visual indicator in FortiOS that the zone is currently empty and contains no member interfaces.

Mandatory Zone Membership: In FortiOS 7.x, every SD-WAN member interface must be assigned to a zone. It is not possible for an interface to be an "SD-WAN member" (as shown in the legend with port2 and port3) without being assigned to a zone. Since port2 and port3 are listed in the legend, they are indeed assigned to one of the other expanded zones (likely virtual-wan-link or overlay), making Option D incorrect.

Default Zone Behavior: While FortiOS 7.6 often creates default zones like virtual-wan-link, underlay, and overlay during certain configuration wizards or by default in newer versions, they are distinct entities. There is no single "default" zone that acts as a global catch-all in the way Option C suggests.

Immutability of System Zones: While certain system-defined zones have restrictions, the primary focus of this specific exhibit is the current membership state, which clearly shows the Underlay zone is empty.

In FortiOS 7.6, if an administrator wants to block traffic only after an IPS signature is triggered a specific number of times within a defined time window, this must be done using IPS filters with rate-based settings.

Why option D is correct

IPS filters allow administrators to match signatures based on attributes such as:

Severity

Protocol

CVE

Signature ID

IPS filters support rate-based actions using:

rate-mode periodical

rate-count

rate-duration

With rate-mode periodical, FortiGate:

Counts how many times a signature is triggered

Within a defined time period

And applies the configured action (for example, block) once the threshold is exceeded

This directly matches the requirement:

“block traffic that triggers the signature set number of times during a specific time period.”

Why the other options are incorrect

A. IPS group signatures, set rate-mode 60Group signatures do not provide the required per-period rate-based blocking logic.

B. IPS packet logging optionLogging does not enforce blocking behavior.

C. IPS signatures, rate-mode periodical optionRate-based controls are applied via IPS filters, not directly on individual signature definitions.