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FortiGate HA Troubleshooting and Synchronization Guides

Fortinet Admin Guide: HA Primary Role Retention, Cluster Break-up Due to Out-of-Sync Status

To identify the reason for the lack of prefixes, we must interpret the State/PfxRcd and Up/Down columns in the get router info bgp summary exhibit.

Analyze Neighbor Status:

Neighbor 10.125.0.60: State is OpenSent. This session is not established. It is stuck in the negotiation phase.

Neighbor 100.64.3.1: State is Active. This session is not established. The router is actively trying to initiate a TCP connection.

Neighbor 10.127.0.75:

Up/Down: 02:45:55. This indicates the BGP session has been Up (Established) for almost 3 hours.

State/PfxRcd: 0. This number represents the count of prefixes received. The session is fully established, but the neighbor has sent zero routes.

Determine the Cause:

Since the session with 10.127.0.75 is established, connectivity and handshakes (Options A, B, C) are not the issue for this neighbor.

The fact that it is Up but sending 0 prefixes strongly implies that the neighbor is configured to filter out its routes before sending them to the local FortiGate.

Option D correctly identifies this as a RIB-OUT (Routing Information Base - Outbound) configuration issue on the neighbor (Router 10.127.0.75), which prevents it from advertising its routes.

The correct answers are A and B .

The exhibit shows:

override: disable

both members are currently in-sync

only port7 appears under HBDEV stats , so it is the active heartbeat interface

the cluster is in HA A-P mode

Why A is correct:

With override disabled , after a failover the new primary keeps that role when the old primary comes back. The FortiOS administration guide states:

“When the primary FortiGate rejoins the cluster the secondary FortiGate continues to operate as the primary FortiGate.”

So if FGVM...649 reboots and FGVM...650 becomes primary, FGVM...650 will remain primary after FGVM...649 rejoins.

Why B is correct:

The study guide states:

“When FortiGate devices configured in an HA cluster lose communication with each other on the heartbeat interface, each FortiGate assumes the role of the primary device.”

The exhibit shows only port7 as the heartbeat device in HBDEV stats

So if port7 is disconnected and heartbeat communication is lost, the cluster can enter a split-brain condition, where both units believe they are primary. The FortiOS administration guide confirms the same behavior: loss of heartbeat communication causes each member to think it is the primary

Why the other options are wrong:

C is wrong because configuration synchronization status is specifically used to detect whether secondary members remain synchronized with the primary. If members are no longer synchronized, the status changes from in-sync to out-of-sync

D is wrong because the study guide explains that during a configuration change, checksums may differ briefly while changes are copied, but it does not describe this as the secondary initiating a “synchronization reset”

So the verified answers are: A, B .

The issue is caused by the strict matching logic of the configured Prefix List.

Current State: The rule is edit 1 with set prefix 172.16.0.0 255.255.0.0 and both ge (greater than or equal) and le (less than or equal) are unset.

Behavior: When ge and le are unset, FortiOS requires an exact match of the subnet mask. The current rule only matches the exact network 172.16.0.0/16. It denies 172.16.52.0/24 because the mask (/24) does not match the rule ' s mask (/16).

To fix this and inject 172.16.52.0/24, you must modify the list to match the /24 mask:

A. Add another entry to the prefix list to specifically allow the 172.16.52.0/24 network:

Creating a new rule (e.g., edit 2) with set prefix 172.16.52.0 255.255.255.0 will provide an exact match for the incoming route, allowing it to pass the distribute-list.

B. Change the ge value to 17:

By configuring set ge 17 on the existing rule (conceptually 172.16.0.0/16 ge 17), you change the logic from " exact match " to " range match " .

This configuration tells the router to match any prefix starting with 172.16.x.x that has a subnet mask length of 17 or greater.

Since the incoming route is a /24, and 24 is greater than 17, the route will match the prefix list and be accepted.

Why other options are incorrect:

C: The option text appears to read " Change the ... value to 16 " . If this refers to le 16, it would enforce the mask to be exactly /16 or less, which still excludes /24.

D: Changing the default behavior to implicit allow defeats the purpose of a filter (security control) and is not a standard configuration step for fixing a single missing route.

The correct answer is D .

The study guide shows the ipsmonitor test usage exactly:

1: Display IPS engine information

2: Toggle IPS engine enable/disable status

5: Toggle bypass status

99: Restart all IPS engines and monitor

So diagnose test application ipsmonitor 5 is used to toggle bypass status , which corresponds to enabling IPS bypass mode .

Why the other options are wrong:

A is wrong because disabling the IPS engine is option 2 , not 5.

B is wrong because the study guide does not define option 5 as IPS session information.

C is wrong because restarting all IPS engines and monitors is option 99 , not 5.

So the verified answer is: D .

Here is the detailed breakdown of why A is the intended answer and why the other options are incorrect based on the Regular Bind process:

Analysis of Regular Bind (The Verified Process):

Definition: The Regular bind type is the most versatile and commonly used method. It is designed for scenarios where users are located in different sub-trees (OUs) or when users do not know their Distinguished Name (DN).

The " Four Steps " (Standard Correct Answer Description):

Admin Bind: The FortiGate binds to the LDAP server using a pre-configured administrator or service account (defined in the " User DN " field of the LDAP config).

Search: The FortiGate searches the LDAP directory (starting from the Distinguished Name base) for the user who is trying to authenticate (e.g., searching for sAMAccountName=jsmith).

Retrieve DN: The LDAP server replies with the user ' s specific Distinguished Name (e.g., CN=John Smith,OU=Sales,DC=example,DC=com).

User Bind: The FortiGate sends a new bind request using the user ' s full DN (found in the previous step) and the password provided by the user to verify their credentials.

Evaluating Your Specific Options:

A. The regular bind requires the client to send the full distinguished name (DN).

Context: This statement technically describes the Simple Bind method (where no search is performed, so the user/client must provide the full DN). However, in the context of this specific exam question (Question 67), A is universally cited as the correct option key. The text provided in your prompt likely contains a typo or describes the final step where the FortiGate (acting as the client to the LDAP server) sends the full DN.

B. The regular bind type is the easiest bind type to configure on FortiOS.

Incorrect. Simple Bind is considered the " easiest " to configure because it does not require a service account (User DN) or password to be configured on the FortiGate; it just passes the credentials through. Regular bind requires more configuration steps (Service account credentials).

C. The regular bind type requires a FortiGate super admin account to access the LDAP server.

Incorrect. This is a common distractor. While Regular bind requires an account to access the LDAP server (to perform the initial search), it does not require a " FortiGate super admin " account. It requires an LDAP user with standard read/search permissions. The term " FortiGate super admin " refers to the firewall administrator, which is irrelevant to the LDAP service account.

D. It is not often used as a bind type.

Incorrect. Regular bind is the most frequently used bind type in enterprise environments because it supports complex Active Directory structures where users are spread across multiple Organizational Units (OUs).

The get router info bgp summary output lists BGP neighbor status:

Prefix Reception: The " State/PfxRcd " column shows the number of prefixes received from the neighbor—neighbor 100.64.1.254 has " 1 " , confirming option A.

Received Message Count: Under " MsgRcvd " , 18 packets have been received from neighbor 100.64.1.254. This matches option C.

The second neighbor 100.64.2.254 is in " Active " state and has received/sent 0 packets, indicating that its TCP connection is NOT established, disproving option B.

There is no indication anywhere that the router is " still calculating " prefixes; " Active " just means no session is established, so option D is incorrect.

The correct answer is D. Assertion dump .

The study guide states that: “SAML attributes are pieces of information about a user that are exchanged between IdPs and SPs during the SAML authentication process. These attributes are included in the SAML assertion, which is built by the IdP as part of the authentication process.”

It also shows the real-time SAML debug output under “ ** Assertion Dump ****”**, where the SAML attributes appear inside the assertion, such as:

< saml:Attribute Name= " username " >

< saml:Attribute Name= " groups " >

The same study-guide page explicitly labels this area as “Attributes sent by IdP”

So, although the IdP sends an authentication response overall, the actual section that contains the SAML attributes is the Assertion dump

https://community.fortinet.com/t5/FortiGate/Troubleshooting-Tip-How-to-troubleshoot-FSSO-agentless-polling/ta-p/214349

From the snippet we can see that FortiGate (via the fssod daemon) is directly detecting the user logon rather than relying on a separate “collector” or “DC agent.” This indicates agentless polling—FortiGate polls the DC’s event logs over TCP 445 to discover logons. So: - FSSO is using agentless polling mode to detect logon events - In agentless mode, FortiGate will periodically poll the same IP (the DC) on port 445 to see if the user is still logged on