Pass the Fortinet NSE 7 Network Security Architect NSE7_FSN_AR-7.6 Questions and answers with Dumpstech

The output of the diagnose sys session list command provides the critical evidence needed to determine the behavior during a failover:

Session Synchronization (synced):

The most important indicator in the exhibit is the synced flag located in the state= line (state=may_dirty synced none app_ntf).

In FortiOS HA (High Availability), the synced flag confirms that this specific session has been successfully synchronized from the primary device to the secondary (backup) device.

Session synchronization (Session Pickup) ensures that if the primary unit fails, the secondary unit already has the session in its table and can resume traffic processing immediately.

TCP State (proto_state=01):

The output shows proto=6 (TCP) and proto_state=01.

In the FortiGate session table, proto_state=01 for TCP indicates that the session is in the ESTABLISHED state (post-three-way handshake).

This invalidates Option B, which claims the TCP session is not fully established.

Failover Outcome:

Because the session is ESTABLISHED and SYNCED, the secondary device will seamlessly take over the session upon primary failure.

The traffic continues to flow through the new primary without requiring the user/client to restart the connection. This is the primary function of HA Session Pickup.

Why other options are incorrect:

A: While the output shows app_ntf (Application Control notification) and may_dirty, the presence of the synced flag overrides this concern regarding failover. If the session type were not supported for failover (e.g., certain proxy sessions in older versions), it would not be marked as synced. Since it is synced, it persists.

B: As noted, proto_state=01 means established, not " not fully established " .

D: While the kernel updates routing tables, the purpose of syncing the session is to preserve the state so it does not need to be re-evaluated as a new packet would, preventing traffic drops.

The 7.6 study guide explains the route selection order:

“Route Selection Process

Most specific route

Lowest distance

Lowest metric (dynamic routes)

Lowest priority (static routes)

ECMP (static, BGP, and OSPF routes)”**

It then states:

“If there are multiple routes with the same netmask, distance, metric, and priority, FortiGate shares the traffic among all of them. This is called equal-cost multi-path (ECMP).”

The FortiOS administration guide confirms the ECMP prerequisite:

“Routes must have the same destination and costs. In the case of static routes costs include distance and priority.”

In the exhibit, the kernel/FIB output shows the two default routes as:

gwy=100.64.1.254 dev=3 (port1) prio=0

gwy=100.64.2.254 dev=6 (port2) prio=10

So although both are default routes, their priorities are different . Since FortiGate uses the FIB/kernel for forwarding traffic, ECMP will not happen until the static-route priorities are the same. The study guide also notes that the FIB is the table used to perform standard routing

Therefore, to make the two default routes eligible for ECMP, the administrator must make the priorities equal. Since port2 is already 10, the needed change is to set the port1 default route priority to 10.

Why the other options are wrong:

A is wrong because snat-route-change affects how existing SNAT sessions react to routing changes, not whether static routes qualify for ECMP

B is wrong because changing port2 to priority 1 still would not match port1 at 0, so the routes still would not have equal cost for ECMP

C is wrong because preserve-session-route affects existing-session route persistence after routing changes, not ECMP qualification

The get router info ospf database brief output on FGT-2 clearly indicates that Area 0.0.0.5 is configured as a [Stub] area.

In OSPF, a Stub Area is specifically designed to reduce the size of the Link State Database (LSDB) on internal routers. The primary behavior of a Stub area is that it does not accept Type 5 (AS External) LSAs .

FGT-3 is the ASBR (Autonomous System Border Router) and is importing static routes, which are generated as Type 5 LSAs in the OSPF domain.

FGT-1 acts as the ABR (Area Border Router). Because Area 0.0.0.5 is a Stub area, FGT-1 blocks these Type 5 LSAs from entering Area 0.0.0.5.

Consequently, FGT-2 will not receive the specific external routes advertised by FGT-3. Instead, the ABR (FGT-1) injects a default route (0.0.0.0/0) into the Stub area to allow connectivity to the external world, which is visible in the database output.

While the question text mentions FGT-3 not receiving routes, the definitive configuration shown in the exhibit is the Stub area setting, which directly corresponds to the blocking of Type 5 LSA propagation (Option A).

The SD-WAN 7.6 Enterprise Administrator Study Guide identifies the recommended BGP-on-loopback IPsec settings. For branches, it specifies:

“Static tunnel type (remote end IP address is known).”

“net-device enable.”

Enabling net-device on the spoke creates a kernel interface for the tunnel. This assists with tunnel monitoring and management and is required to support ADVPN shortcut tunnels. Dynamic BGP establishes on-demand BGP peerings between spokes after an ADVPN shortcut is created; therefore, the spoke must support those dynamic shortcut interfaces. This makes option C correct.

The spoke should also configure localid. The FortiOS 7.6 Administrator Study Guide explains: “Local ID: if the peer accepts a specific peer ID, type that same peer ID in this field.” The local ID supplies the spoke’s IKE identity to the dial-up hub, allowing the hub to identify and authenticate the connecting spoke correctly. Therefore, option D is correct.

Option A reverses the recommended roles. The hub must use a dynamic tunnel type because it operates as the dial-up server and does not require every spoke’s changing public gateway address in advance.

Option B is also incorrect. The guide states: “There is no need to configure any tunnel IP address, so the IKE Mode Config is not used.” BGP on loopback uses the loopback address and exchange-interface-ip instead of IKE mode configuration.

Parallel Path Processing (PPP) in FortiOS refers to the system’s ability to evaluate and select among multiple processing paths—often involving dedicated network processors, content processors, or CPU-based workflows—to optimally process packets. The official documentation highlights that the PPP engine dynamically selects which hardware or software path to use for each session based on session characteristics, policy configuration, and traffic type. This dynamic selection results in optimal throughput and resource utilization.

The document specifies that PPP assesses several processing paths in parallel, using decision logic to determine whether a session should be offloaded to specialist hardware (like NP6, CP9, etc.) or stay in the CPU path, ensuring that each packet is handled by the most efficient available method under current load and policy. Hardware and software configurations both influence this outcome, but it is the PPP engine ' s decision-making that defines the optimal path per session.

The correct answer is B .

The study guide states that for TCP , the protocol state is a two-digit number . The first digit is the server-side state and is 0 when the session is not subject to inspection . The second digit is the client-side state . It also shows that value 1 = ESTABLISHED

So, for a normal TCP session with no inspection, proto_state=01 means:

first digit 0 = no inspection

second digit 1 = ESTABLISHED

That makes B correct.

Why the other options are wrong:

A is wrong because for UDP , the study guide says 00 = one-way traffic and 01 = two-way traffic

C is wrong because 10 does not represent the normal established TCP session described in the study guide. The established example shown is based on state value 1 , and the guide explicitly highlights proto_state=11 when both server-side and client-side TCP handshakes are completed

D is wrong because for ICMP , the study guide says “the protocol state is always 00”

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The SD-WAN 7.6 Enterprise Administrator Study Guide explicitly states: “Firewall policies for SD-WAN traffic must reference SD-WAN zones and not individual members.”

In the exhibit, HUB1-VPN1 is an individual member of the HUB1 SD-WAN zone. However, policy 3 incorrectly uses HUB1-VPN1 as its outgoing interface. FortiManager cannot compile and commit that policy because an SD-WAN member cannot be referenced directly by an SD-WAN firewall policy. The administrator must change the policy’s To interface from HUB1-VPN1 to its parent zone, HUB1.

Option C is incorrect because the guide specifically explains that an IPsec interface does not require normalization when it is used as an SD-WAN member: “SD-WAN members don’t use normalized interfaces.” The normalized LAN interface shown in the policy is appropriate because it maps the local interface for each managed FortiGate, but the overlay side must reference the HUB1 zone.

Option D remains invalid because it still references individual SD-WAN members. Option A does not correct the invalid outgoing-interface reference; policy 3 already uses the policy package installation targets.

The correct answers are A, D, and E . This is a feasible path RPF check scenario. In FortiGate’s default RPF behavior, FortiGate checks whether the routing table contains a valid return route to the source IP address through the same interface on which the packet arrived . The study guide’s RPF feasible path example states that FortiGate “checks the routing table for a route that matches the source address and incoming interface of the first original packet.” It then gives the exact result: User A passes because “there is a default route through wan1,” so packets received on wan1 pass the RPF check regardless of source address. User B fails because FortiGate does not have a route to 95.56.234.24 through wan2 . User C fails because FortiGate does not have a route to 10.0.4.63 through port1 . Therefore, option B is wrong because FortiGate is not allowing asymmetric return routing here. Option C is wrong because the default route points out wan1 , not port1 , so it cannot validate User C’s packet arriving on port1.