The answer is that the session continues until it ends naturally. This is because FortiGate firewall schedules only govern the creation of new sessions, not the forwarding of already-established ones; once a session is tracked in the session table, the firewall continues to forward its traffic even after the schedule expires, preventing abrupt disruption of active connections. On the Fortinet NSE 4 Network Security Professional exam, this concept tests your understanding of stateful inspection versus policy enforcement—a common trap is assuming the firewall kills all traffic when the schedule ends, but the correct behavior is that only new session attempts are blocked. A useful memory tip: think of the schedule as a bouncer at a door who stops new people from entering after closing time but does not kick out guests already inside the party.
NSE4 Firewall Policies and NAT Practice Question
This NSE4 practice question tests your understanding of firewall policies and nat. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
An administrator configures a firewall policy with a schedule that allows traffic only during business hours (Monday to Friday, 09:00-18:00). At 17:55 on a Friday, a user establishes an SSH session that is still active at 18:05. What happens to the session when the schedule ends?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The session continues until it ends naturally
FortiGate firewall policies control the establishment of new sessions based on the schedule. Once a session is established, it is tracked in the session table and continues to be forwarded even if the schedule ends, until the session naturally terminates or times out. This behavior ensures that ongoing traffic is not abruptly disrupted when a schedule expires.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
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 session is immediately terminated at 18:00
Why it's wrong here
By default, existing sessions are not terminated when the schedule ends.
✓
The session continues until it ends naturally
Why this is correct
FortiGate does not interrupt established sessions when a schedule ends; the session remains active until it closes.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
The session is allowed but new sessions are blocked
Why it's wrong here
That is correct for new sessions, but the session itself continues.
✗
The session is terminated after a 60-second grace period
Why it's wrong here
There is no default grace period; sessions continue.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates assume schedules enforce a hard cutoff on all traffic, but FortiGate only applies schedules to new session initiation, not to already established sessions.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
FortiGate uses a session-based stateful firewall architecture. When a schedule expires, the firewall policy is no longer valid for new session creation, but existing sessions remain in the session table and are forwarded as long as they are active. The session's idle timeout (e.g., 3600 seconds for SSH by default) determines when it will be removed if no traffic is seen, not the schedule end time. This design prevents service disruption for long-lived connections like SSH or database replicas.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A small business has 20 workstations on the 192.168.1.0/24 network and one public IP from its ISP. The router uses PAT (NAT overload) so all 20 devices share one public address using different source ports. NAT questions test whether you understand the four address terms and which direction each translation applies.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Firewall Policies and NAT — This question tests Firewall Policies and NAT — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: The session continues until it ends naturally — FortiGate firewall policies control the establishment of new sessions based on the schedule. Once a session is established, it is tracked in the session table and continues to be forwarded even if the schedule ends, until the session naturally terminates or times out. This behavior ensures that ongoing traffic is not abruptly disrupted when a schedule expires.
What should I do if I get this NSE4 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. An administrator needs to ensure that a firewall policy applies only during business hours (Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM). What object should be configured and applied to the policy?
medium
A.Service group
B.Address group
✓ C.Schedule object
D.Traffic shaper
Why C: A schedule object in FortiGate defines time-based conditions (e.g., recurring weekly windows like Monday–Friday 09:00–18:00) that can be applied directly to a firewall policy. When a schedule is attached, the policy is enforced only during the specified time range, making it the correct object for restricting policy activation to business hours.
Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
Question Discussion
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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.
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