NSE4 High Availability and Diagnostics Practice Question
A FortiGate administrator wants to send logs to both a local disk and a remote FortiCloud account. Which two conditions must be met for this to work? (Choose two.)
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The FortiGate must have a valid FortiCloud subscription
The FortiGate must have local storage (disk) to store logs locally. It also must have connectivity to FortiCloud servers, and logging to FortiCloud must be enabled. The local disk logging is a separate configuration.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The FortiGate must be configured to log to both destinations simultaneously
Why it's wrong here
This option describes the configuration action itself rather than a prerequisite. To send logs to both destinations, an administrator must indeed enable logging to local disk and FortiCloud in the settings, but that configuration cannot succeed unless the underlying hardware and licensing conditions are already satisfied. Thus, it is the desired end-state, not a condition that makes dual logging possible.
- ✓
The FortiGate must have a valid FortiCloud subscription
Why this is correct
A valid FortiCloud subscription is mandatory because FortiCloud logging is a licensed cloud service. The FortiGate must authenticate to FortiCloud's servers using the registered account's credentials and entitlement; without an active subscription, log upload attempts will be rejected even if local disk storage is available. This subscription is a hard prerequisite that cannot be bypassed by configuration alone.
- ✗
The FortiGate must be in NAT mode
Why it's wrong here
FortiGate operation mode—NAT/route or transparent—dictates how packets are forwarded and how interfaces are deployed, but it has no bearing on log generation or log destination selection. Both NAT and transparent mode support writing logs to local disk and forwarding them to FortiCloud. Therefore, requiring NAT mode is an unfounded condition that is irrelevant to the dual-logging setup.
- ✓
The FortiGate must have a hard disk or SSD installed
Why this is correct
Local log storage physically requires a hard disk or SSD inside the FortiGate; many low-end models lack internal storage and can only ship logs to remote collectors. Even with a FortiCloud subscription, the 'local disk' destination will not function if no storage device is present, because the FortiGate has nowhere to write the log files. This hardware availability is a distinct prerequisite from the cloud subscription.
- ✗
The FortiGate must have a policy to allow outbound traffic to FortiCloud
Why it's wrong here
Although outbound connectivity to FortiCloud is necessary for log upload, a specific firewall policy for that traffic is not always needed because the FortiGate's own management and logging traffic is typically handled as local-out sessions that bypass normal policy inspection unless explicitly restricted. Even if a policy were required, it would be a generic connectivity requirement for any remote logging, not a special condition for dual logging to local disk and FortiCloud. The decisive conditions are the subscription and the physical storage, not a standalone outbound policy.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This NSE4 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Fortinet certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the NSE4 exam.