NSE4 System and Network Administration Practice Question
An administrator wants to back up the FortiGate configuration to a TFTP server at 10.10.10.10. Which CLI command should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates may forget the 'execute' keyword, which is mandatory for all operational commands in FortiOS, and mistakenly choose a command that looks correct but lacks it, such as 'backup config tftp'.
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
✓
execute backup config tftp 10.10.10.10
The correct command to back up a FortiGate configuration to a TFTP server is 'execute backup config tftp <server-ip>'. This is because 'execute' is the FortiOS CLI keyword for initiating operational commands, and 'backup config tftp' specifies the action and protocol. The syntax is case-sensitive and must include the 'execute' prefix to be recognized by the FortiGate CLI.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
execute backup config tftp 10.10.10.10
Why this is correct
The correct FortiOS command begins with the 'execute' keyword, which is required for privileged system-level operations. 'execute backup config' triggers a configuration export, and the protocol 'tftp' followed by the server IP (10.10.10.10) instructs the FortiGate to send the config file via TFTP to that host. This is the exact syntax documented by Fortinet for backing up the configuration to a TFTP server, and it will generate a file typically named after the device hostname and date.
- ✗
backup config tftp 10.10.10.10
Why it's wrong here
This command is missing the mandatory 'execute' keyword. In FortiOS, commands like 'backup' are only valid when prefixed with 'execute' to enter the privileged execution context; without it, the CLI does not recognize 'backup' as a valid command and will return a syntax error. Simply typing 'backup config tftp...' is neither an alias nor an alternative—it is an invalid invocation that will fail immediately, so it cannot perform any backup operation.
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copy config tftp 10.10.10.10
Why it's wrong here
'copy' is not a valid FortiOS command for transferring configuration files; it is a familiar command from Cisco IOS, which creates a false analogy. FortiOS uses 'execute backup' to upload the configuration to an external server, and there is no 'copy' command in its CLI to initiate a TFTP transfer. Even if the rest of the syntax were corrected, the absence of a 'copy' verb in FortiOS makes this entire command unrecognized and non-functional.
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execute save config tftp 10.10.10.10
Why it's wrong here
This command misuses the verb 'save' instead of the correct 'backup'. While 'execute' is properly present, 'save' is not a valid subcommand under 'execute' for the purpose of exporting the configuration to a TFTP server; FortiOS defines 'execute backup config' for that operation. Additionally, 'save' in FortiOS relates to committing or retaining settings in memory or flash, not to sending configuration files over the network, so the command is syntactically incorrect and will not be accepted by the CLI.
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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.