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NSE4 · domain

Authentication and VPN

This domain covers FortiGate authentication and VPN configuration and troubleshooting, roughly 20% of the NSE4 exam. Expect scenario questions on IPsec Phase 1/Phase 2, dial-up VPNs, SSL VPN, user groups, captive portal, and FortiClient. You must interpret diagnose commands and debug output to isolate failures.

148 questions41 easy67 medium40 hard

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What this domain covers

What to know about Authentication and VPN

Be able to configure and troubleshoot IPsec and SSL VPN authentication on FortiGate. The single most important skill is using diagnose vpn ike config, diagnose vpn tunnel list, and IKE debug to determine why a tunnel or user traffic fails.

Interpreting 'diagnose vpn ike config' output, including peer-id: any meaning

Captive portal purpose for authenticating users before granting network access

Troubleshooting dial-up IPsec VPNs where Phase 1 and Phase 2 are up

Reading 'diagnose debug application ike -1' and 'diagnose vpn tunnel list' output

Watch out for

Common Authentication and VPN exam traps

  • ▸Assuming Phase 1 and Phase 2 'up' means traffic passes; routing, firewall policy, or selectors may still block it.
  • ▸Misreading 'peer-id: any' as an error; it means the FortiGate accepts any peer identifier during IKE negotiation.
  • ▸Confusing captive portal authentication with SSL VPN portal; captive portal controls web access, not tunnel establishment.

Question index

All Authentication and VPN questions (148)

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1

A FortiGate with multiple VDOMs is configured for FSSO with Active Directory polling. Users in VDOM1 are authenticated correctly, but users in VDOM2 are not. What should be checked FIRST?

Medium
2

An administrator is troubleshooting an IPsec VPN that fails to establish Phase 2. The Phase 1 is up. The administrator runs 'diagnose vpn ike log' and sees the message 'no matching phase2 proposal found'. What is the MOST likely cause?

Hard
3

A FortiGate is configured in an HA active-passive cluster. When the active unit fails, the passive unit takes over, but IPsec VPN tunnels fail to re-establish. The configuration is synchronized. What is the most likely cause?

Hard
4

You run the following command on a FortiGate: diagnose vpn ike gateway list. The output shows a gateway with state=DOWN. What is the most likely cause?

Medium
5

A company has a FortiGate at headquarters running FortiOS 7.2 and a remote office with a FortiGate 60F running FortiOS 7.0. They have an IPsec VPN tunnel between them for site-to-site connectivity. Recently, the remote office upgraded their FortiGate from 6.4 to 7.0. After the upgrade, the VPN tunnel is down. The Phase 1 status shows 'negotiating' but never completes. The administrator has verified that the pre-shared key, IKE version (IKEv2), and authentication method are the same on both sides. The Phase 1 proposal on the headquarters is: encryption: AES256, SHA256, DH group 14, lifetime 86400. The remote office uses: encryption: AES256, SHA1, DH group 14, lifetime 86400. What is the most likely cause of the failure?

Hard
6

A company uses Active Directory for user authentication. They want users to automatically authenticate to the FortiGate without entering credentials when accessing the internet. Which authentication method should the administrator configure?

Medium
7

A FortiGate administrator is configuring FSSO with Active Directory polling. Users in the 'Sales' group are not being authenticated correctly, while users in the 'IT' group are working fine. The administrator verifies that the FSSO agent is connected and polling the domain controllers. Which action should the administrator take to troubleshoot the issue?

Hard
8

Which authentication server type can be used with FortiGate to authenticate remote VPN users with two-factor authentication using FortiTokens?

Easy
9

You have a hub-and-spoke IPsec VPN with 10 spokes. The central FortiGate (hub) has 10 phase2 selectors, one for each spoke. You need to add a new spoke. What is the MOST efficient way to configure the hub?

Medium
10

A company with multiple remote sites uses IPsec VPNs. One site reports intermittent connectivity. The administrator checks the logs and sees 'IPsec phase 2 negotiation failed' messages. Which configuration change is most likely to resolve the issue?

Hard
11

During an SSL VPN tunnel mode connection, the client reports that they cannot access any internal resources, but the VPN connection is established. The FortiGate debug shows 'no matching policy'. The administrator has configured a policy allowing the SSL VPN interface to internal. What else must be configured?

Hard
12

An admin needs to authenticate remote users connecting via SSL VPN. The users are in an Active Directory domain. Which authentication method should be configured on the FortiGate to allow users to log in with their domain credentials?

Easy
13

Which authentication method allows FortiGate to authenticate users against an Active Directory domain without storing domain credentials locally?

Easy
14

A FortiGate is configured with FSSO using a DC agent. Users authenticate to the domain, but the firewall policy using FSSO groups is not matching traffic. The admin runs 'diagnose debug authd fsso list' and sees user entries. However, the traffic is being denied by the default deny policy. What is the most likely issue?

Hard
15

A company wants to use captive portal authentication on a guest Wi-Fi network. The FortiGate is connected to the switchport of the access point. Which firewall configuration is required to redirect unauthenticated users to the captive portal?

Medium
16

A network administrator configured an IPsec VPN between two FortiGates. Phase 1 is up, but Phase 2 fails to establish. The diagnose output shows 'no matching proposal'. What is the MOST likely cause?

Medium
17

An administrator is troubleshooting an IPsec VPN between two FortiGates. Phase 1 is up but Phase 2 is down. The admin runs 'diagnose vpn ike log' and sees 'no matching proposal'. To resolve this issue, which TWO settings should be checked on both ends?

Medium
18

An administrator configures a captive portal on the FortiGate to authenticate guest users via a local user database. Users can connect to the SSID, but after entering credentials on the captive portal, they are not redirected to the internet. What is the most likely missing configuration?

Medium
19

A network administrator configures an IPsec VPN between two FortiGate devices. Phase 1 completes successfully, but Phase 2 fails to establish. The administrator runs 'diagnose vpn ike log' and sees the error 'proposal mismatch'. What is the MOST likely cause?

Medium
20

You run 'diagnose debug application sslvpn -1' and see the following output: sslvpn: SSL VPN tunnel mode connection from 10.0.0.5:12345 to 192.168.1.100:443 sslvpn: User 'john' authenticated successfully sslvpn: Error: no matching policy for the request. What does this indicate?

Medium
21

A FortiGate administrator is configuring ZTNA to secure access to an internal application. The administrator creates a ZTNA access proxy and a ZTNA rule. However, users connecting from the internet receive a 403 Forbidden error. The administrator verifies that the users are authenticated and the application is reachable. What is the MOST likely cause?

Hard
22

An organization wants to implement ZTNA (Zero Trust Network Access) on their FortiGate. Which TWO components are essential for ZTNA? (Select two.)

Easy
23

A FortiGate admin configures a remote user for SSL VPN tunnel mode. The user can connect but cannot access resources on the internal network. The admin checks the SSL VPN settings: tunnel mode enabled, split tunneling disabled. What is the issue?

Medium
24

An administrator is configuring ZTNA on a FortiGate. The goal is to allow access to an internal web server only if the client device has a specific security posture (e.g., antivirus running). Which ZTNA component is responsible for verifying the client's security posture?

Hard
25

A FortiGate administrator has configured a hub-and-spoke IPsec VPN. The hub FortiGate has two Phase 2 selectors with spokes, but traffic between spokes is not routed via the hub. What must be configured on the hub to allow spoke-to-spoke communication?

Hard
26

A network administrator wants to authenticate VPN users against an existing LDAP server. Which authentication method should be configured on the FortiGate?

Easy
27

A FortiGate administrator needs to authenticate VPN users against an LDAP server. What is the primary purpose of the 'CN=,OU=,DC=' distinguished name (DN) configured in the LDAP server settings?

Easy
28

An administrator is configuring a site-to-site IPsec VPN between two FortiGates. After applying the configuration, the VPN status shows 'down'. Phase 1 parameters are identical on both sides. What is the most likely cause of the failure?

Medium
29

A remote user reports that they can connect to the FortiGate SSL VPN portal but cannot access internal resources. The administrator checks the SSL VPN settings and sees that the tunnel mode is enabled with split tunneling. What is the most likely cause?

Easy
30

A network administrator is configuring a site-to-site IPsec VPN between two FortiGates. Phase 1 and Phase 2 are both up, but traffic is not passing through the tunnel. The administrator runs 'diagnose debug flow' and sees that packets are being dropped with the message 'iprope_in_check() check failed, drop'. Which configuration change is most likely to resolve this issue?

Hard
31

Which authentication method allows a FortiGate to transparently authenticate users based on their Active Directory login events without prompting for credentials?

Easy
32

A FortiGate administrator is troubleshooting an IPsec VPN that is dropping traffic intermittently. The administrator runs 'diagnose vpn ike log' and sees many 'DPD' messages. Which THREE conditions could cause frequent DPD (Dead Peer Detection) retransmissions? (Choose three.)

Hard
33

An administrator runs 'diagnose debug application ike -1' and sees the following output: ike 0:come to x.x.x.x:500, IKEv1, cookie 123456789abcdef0 ike 0:incoming IKE packet: src y.y.y.y:500, dst x.x.x.x:500, len 456 ike 0:send IKE packet: src x.x.x.x:500, dst y.y.y.y:500, len 456 ike 0:phase 1 negotiation failed due to time out. What is the likely cause?

Hard
34

A FortiGate in a hub-and-spoke VPN topology is configured with a single IPsec tunnel to each spoke. The hub has a route-based VPN with a tunnel interface for each spoke. After a reboot, traffic between spoke A and spoke B fails, although each spoke can reach the hub. What is the likely cause?

Hard
35

An organization uses LDAP authentication for firewall policies. Users complain that they are frequently prompted for credentials. Which TWO settings can reduce the frequency of authentication prompts?

Medium
36

An administrator wants to allow remote users to access internal resources using a web browser without installing any client software. Which VPN type should be configured on the FortiGate?

Easy
37

A FortiGate administrator is troubleshooting an IPsec VPN that fails to establish. The Phase 1 status shows 'init' and then resets. The administrator runs 'diagnose debug application ike -1' and sees the message 'no acceptable proposal'. Which TWO parameters are MOST likely mismatched?

Hard
38

A FortiGate admin configures a captive portal for guest users on a wireless network. Users can connect to the SSID but cannot access the internet. The admin verifies the firewall policy permits traffic from the captive portal interface to the internet. What is missing?

Medium
39

An administrator configures a dial-up IPsec VPN using IKEv2 with certificates. Remote users can connect, but traffic is not routed through the tunnel. The Phase 1 status shows 'up', but Phase 2 shows 'down'. What is the most likely issue?

Hard
40

A FortiGate admin wants to implement ZTNA to secure access to an internal application. Which TWO components are required for a basic ZTNA configuration?

Medium
41

A FortiGate is configured as an SSL VPN server with tunnel mode. Remote users authenticate successfully, but after connecting they cannot reach any internal subnet. The administrator verifies that the SSL VPN firewall policy allows the tunnel interface and that the internal routes exist. Which SSL VPN configuration setting must be checked next to ensure that the correct routes are pushed to the clients?

Medium
42

An administrator configures an LDAP user group for firewall authentication. Users are able to authenticate, but the FortiGate does not retrieve group membership information. What is likely misconfigured?

Medium
43

A FortiGate is configured as a hub in a hub-and-spoke IPsec VPN. The spokes are remote branches. The hub has a Phase 2 selector set to 0.0.0.0/0 for both local and remote subnets. What is the advantage of this configuration?

Medium
44

What is the purpose of a 'realm' in FortiGate SSL VPN configuration?

Easy
45

What is the primary purpose of configuring split tunneling on an SSL VPN?

Easy
46

What is the purpose of a ZTNA (Zero Trust Network Access) tag on a FortiGate?

Easy
47

Which mode of SSL VPN provides full network-layer access to the remote network, allowing any application to function as if the client is directly connected?

Easy
48

You are configuring a route-based IPsec VPN with BGP over the tunnel. After Phase 2 is up, the BGP session does not establish. You run 'diagnose debug ipsec' and see no errors. What should you check next?

Medium
49

An administrator runs 'diagnose debug application fnbamd -1' on a FortiGate to troubleshoot authentication issues. The output shows that the FortiGate successfully contacts the LDAP server but the user authentication fails. What does this indicate?

Medium
50

The output of 'diagnose debug application ike -1' shows 'no proposal chosen' for a Phase1 negotiation. Which action should the administrator take to resolve this?

Medium
51

What is the primary difference between route-based and policy-based IPsec VPNs on a FortiGate?

Easy
52

A FortiGate administrator is designing an SSL VPN solution for 500 remote users. The users need full network access. Which two design considerations are most important?

Hard
53

An organization is implementing two-factor authentication for SSL VPN access using FortiToken. Which THREE components are necessary for this setup?

Hard
54

An administrator is configuring a dialup IPsec VPN for remote users. Which two settings must be configured on the FortiGate to allow clients to connect?

Easy
55

A FortiGate admin is configuring a hub-and-spoke IPsec VPN. The hub has multiple phase 2 configurations for each spoke. The spokes can communicate with the hub but not with each other. The admin wants to allow spoke-to-spoke traffic through the hub. Which configuration change is required on the hub?

Medium
56

What is the primary purpose of the captive portal feature on a FortiGate?

Easy
57

An administrator needs to authenticate users on a FortiGate using RADIUS. Which TWO of the following are required to configure RADIUS authentication?

Easy
58

A FortiGate in a hub-and-spoke VPN topology has multiple spoke sites connecting via IPsec. The hub administrator wants to enable direct spoke-to-spoke communication without routing traffic through the hub. What technology should be used?

Hard
59

An administrator wants to configure SSL VPN web mode to allow remote users to access a specific internal web application without installing any client software. Which authentication method is required?

Easy
60

A FortiGate administrator is configuring a route-based IPsec VPN between two FortiGate devices. After setting up the tunnel and firewall policies, traffic does not flow. The administrator runs 'diagnose vpn tunnel list' and sees the tunnel is up. 'get router info routing-table all' shows routes on both sides. However, pings from the local network to the remote network fail. What is the MOST likely cause?

Hard
61

A FortiGate administrator wants to authenticate VPN users against an existing Active Directory server. The administrator creates a user group referencing a remote LDAP server and configures the firewall policy to authenticate using that group. However, users report authentication failures. What is the FIRST step to troubleshoot?

Easy
62

A client connects to a FortiGate SSL VPN in web mode. The user can access internal web applications but cannot ping or RDP to servers. The administrator wants to allow these services. What must be changed?

Medium
63

Which IPsec VPN mode is typically used for site-to-site VPNs and is more secure because it negotiates Phase 1 in six messages?

Easy
64

Which TWO are best practices for configuring IPsec VPN on FortiGate to ensure high availability and security?

Hard
65

A FortiGate administrator is configuring a new SSL VPN portal for employees. The requirement is that employees must authenticate using their Active Directory credentials, and after authentication, they should only be able to access a specific internal web server via a bookmarked link. Which SSL VPN configuration should the administrator use to meet these requirements?

Easy
66

A company uses Fortinet Single Sign-On (FSSO) to authenticate users for firewall policies. The FSSO collector agent is installed on a Windows server and configured with Active Directory polling. What does the collector agent do?

Easy
67

An administrator runs 'diagnose vpn ssl stat' and sees 'tun-num: 5, clients: 0'. Users are unable to connect to the SSL VPN. The SSL VPN settings are correct and the certificate is valid. What could be the cause?

Hard
68

An administrator wants to implement ZTNA (Zero Trust Network Access) on a FortiGate to secure access to an internal application. Which TWO components are essential for a ZTNA configuration?

Medium
69

Which of the following best describes the purpose of a captive portal on a FortiGate?

Easy
70

You receive an alert that a user's FortiToken synchronization is off. You need to resynchronize the token. Which CLI command achieves this?

Hard
71

When configuring a route-based IPsec VPN, which of the following must be created to allow traffic to flow through the tunnel?

Easy
72

An administrator is troubleshooting an SSL VPN connection issue. Users can authenticate but receive 'No available tunnel' error. What is the most likely cause?

Easy
73

An administrator receives a report that some users cannot authenticate via captive portal on a FortiGate. The captive portal is configured for firewall authentication. The administrator checks the authentication logs and sees 'Authentication failed: invalid credentials'. However, the users confirm they are entering the correct username and password. What is the MOST likely cause?

Medium
74

An administrator is configuring a FortiGate for ZTNA (Zero Trust Network Access). Which TWO components are essential for ZTNA to function? (Choose two.)

Medium
75

A FortiGate administrator is troubleshooting an IPsec VPN between two FortiGates. The tunnel is established, but traffic is not passing. The administrator runs 'diagnose vpn ike log' and sees the following output: IKE: phase 2 negotiation completed IKE: IPsec SA up What THREE possible causes should the administrator investigate?

Hard
76

An administrator is configuring an IPsec VPN between two FortiGates using IKEv1. The tunnel must use main mode and support multiple subnets behind each gate. Which Phase2 settings are required to allow multiple subnets? (Choose two.)

Medium
77

A network administrator is troubleshooting an IPsec VPN tunnel between two FortiGates. Phase 1 is up, but Phase 2 fails to establish. The debug command 'diagnose vpn ike log' shows: 'no suitable proposal found'. What is the most likely cause?

Medium
78

An administrator runs 'diagnose vpn ike config' and sees the output includes 'P2 proposals: aes128-sha256, aes256-sha1'. What does this indicate?

Medium
79

In Fortinet ZTNA, what is the primary purpose of the ZTNA access proxy component?

Easy
80

An administrator configures a dial-up IPsec VPN with IKEv1 main mode. Remote clients can connect successfully, but the administrator notices that the Phase 1 negotiation takes a long time. Which change would most improve the negotiation speed without compromising security?

Hard
81

A network admin configures an IPsec VPN between two FortiGates using IKEv2. Phase 1 completes successfully, but Phase 2 fails to establish. The admin runs 'diagnose vpn ike log' and sees the error 'proposal mismatch'. What is the most likely cause?

Medium
82

What is the primary advantage of using IKEv2 over IKEv1 for IPsec VPN?

Medium
83

A company sets up a hub-and-spoke IPsec VPN where all spokes must communicate through the hub. The hub uses policy-based IPsec. Which THREE configurations are required on the hub to allow spoke-to-spoke traffic? (Select three.)

Hard
84

A FortiGate administrator is troubleshooting an SSL VPN issue where remote users cannot access internal resources after successful authentication. Which TWO steps should the admin take to resolve the issue? (Select two.)

Medium
85

An administrator is troubleshooting an IPsec VPN that uses aggressive mode. The VPN establishes successfully, but the administrator is concerned about security. Which statement is true regarding aggressive mode?

Medium
86

An administrator configures a route-based IPsec VPN between two FortiGates. The Phase 1 and Phase 2 are up. The administrator adds a static route on each FortiGate pointing to the remote subnet via the virtual tunnel interface (e.g., 'to_remote'). Traffic between the subnets fails. What is the MOST likely missing configuration?

Medium
87

A FortiGate is configured with FSSO (Fortinet Single Sign-On) to authenticate users from Active Directory. Users are logging in to their domain-joined computers, but the FortiGate does not see the user sessions. The polling connector is configured correctly. What is the MOST likely reason?

Medium
88

An administrator is troubleshooting an SSL VPN connection. Users can connect but cannot access internal resources. Which TWO commands would help diagnose the issue?

Medium
89

A FortiGate administrator is configuring a dial-up IPsec VPN for remote users. The users will connect from various locations with dynamic public IP addresses. The administrator wants to ensure that the VPN is secure and that only authorized users can connect. Which two Phase 1 configuration settings are required to support this scenario? (Choose two.)

Medium
90

A FortiGate administrator is configuring ZTNA for a web application. Which TWO components are required for a ZTNA configuration to function?

Hard
91

An admin needs to configure an SSL VPN for remote users that only provides access to specific internal applications, not full network access. What feature should be configured?

Medium
92

You run 'diagnose debug application ike -1' and see the following output: 'Initiator: no acceptable proposal'. What is the MOST likely cause of this error?

Hard
93

A FortiGate is configured with FSSO for firewall authentication. Users report they are prompted for credentials every time they access the internet, even though they are logged into the domain. What is the most likely cause?

Medium
94

An administrator wants to use Active Directory credentials to authenticate firewall administrators. Which authentication server type should be configured on the FortiGate?

Easy
95

You run the command 'diagnose vpn ike log filter name vpn1' and then 'diagnose vpn ike log filter type phase1'. The log shows: 'IKEv1 exchange:f4470f07:00000000: responder: main mode: received IKE_SA_INIT (aggressive mode not allowed)'. What is the problem?

Hard
96

A FortiGate administrator is configuring FSSO to authenticate users transparently. The FSSO collector agent is installed on a Windows server in the domain. Which TWO requirements must be met for FSSO to work correctly?

Medium
97

A FortiGate is configured with IPsec VPN using IKEv2 and a policy-based tunnel. The remote subnet is 10.0.2.0/24, and the local subnet is 192.168.1.0/24. The tunnel is up, but traffic from 192.168.1.0/24 to 10.0.2.0/24 fails. The administrator checks the firewall policy and sees a policy allowing traffic from the local interface (port1) to the remote interface (virtual ipsec interface) with the action set to IPSEC. What is the most likely missing configuration?

Hard
98

A site-to-site IPsec VPN is configured with IKEv2. The tunnel establishes but traffic does not pass. Which two troubleshooting steps should the administrator perform first?

Medium
99

A FortiGate administrator runs 'diagnose vpn tunnel list' and sees the following output for an IPsec tunnel: 'status: up', 'incoming: 0 packets', 'outgoing: 100 packets'. Phase 1 and Phase 2 both show state 'up'. What is the MOST likely cause of zero incoming packets?

Hard
100

A FortiGate administrator wants to authenticate VPN users against an existing LDAP server. The administrator creates an LDAP user group on the FortiGate. What additional configuration is REQUIRED to use this group for IPsec VPN authentication?

Easy
101

Which of the following is a characteristic of route-based IPsec VPN compared to policy-based IPsec VPN?

Easy
102

An organization wants to use FortiToken for two-factor authentication on SSL VPN logins. Which authentication method must be enabled on the FortiGate to support this?

Easy
103

Drag and drop the steps to upgrade FortiGate firmware via the web interface into the correct order.

Medium
104

An administrator wants to restrict SSL VPN access to only users who have a valid client certificate issued by the company's internal CA. Which setting should be configured?

Easy
105

A FortiGate administrator wants to configure a captive portal to authenticate users before granting network access. Which authentication method is used by the captive portal?

Easy
106

Which of the following FortiGate features allows users to authenticate using a one-time password generated by a mobile app?

Easy
107

A FortiGate administrator is configuring RADIUS authentication for firewall users. Which THREE steps are required to complete the configuration? (Select THREE.)

Medium
108

A network admin configures a site-to-site IPsec VPN between two FortiGates using IKEv1 main mode. The tunnel establishes successfully, but no traffic passes. What is the MOST likely cause?

Medium
109

Which IPsec VPN mode uses IP addresses and ports to define interesting traffic, and requires a separate security policy for each tunnel?

Easy
110

Which of the following is a benefit of using IKEv2 over IKEv1 for IPsec VPN?

Easy
111

An administrator runs 'diagnose vpn ike gateway list' on a FortiGate and sees the following output for a dial-up IPsec VPN: gateway name: 'dialup' version: IKEv1 mode: aggressive local IP: 203.0.113.1 remote IP: 0.0.0.0 state: up peers: 0 What does 'peers: 0' indicate?

Hard
112

After upgrading FortiOS, an IPsec VPN tunnel fails to come up. The diagnose output shows 'negotiation failed: no acceptable proposal'. The remote peer is a third-party device. Which step should you take first?

Hard
113

An administrator has configured LDAP authentication on a FortiGate. When testing the LDAP connectivity, the test succeeds. However, users cannot authenticate through the captive portal. What is a possible cause?

Medium
114

You run the following CLI command on a FortiGate: 'diagnose vpn ike config list'. The output includes: 'src 10.0.1.0/24:0 dst 192.168.1.0/24:0'. What does this indicate?

Hard
115

An administrator is configuring a FortiGate to use LDAP for firewall authentication. Users are prompted for their credentials when accessing the internet. After successful authentication, users can access the internet. However, the administrator notices that users are prompted again after 30 minutes of inactivity. Which setting should the administrator adjust to extend the authentication timeout?

Easy
116

A FortiGate admin wants to authenticate VPN users against an existing Microsoft Active Directory. Which authentication method should be configured on the FortiGate?

Easy
117

A FortiGate administrator is configuring an SSL VPN web mode portal. The administrator wants users to access only a specific internal web application (https://internal-app.company.local) and nothing else. Which SSL VPN setting should be configured to achieve this?

Medium
118

An administrator is troubleshooting an IPsec VPN that is not passing traffic. The Phase 1 and Phase 2 are both up. Which TWO CLI commands can be used to verify the VPN tunnel status and traffic flow? (Choose two.)

Medium
119

What is the primary function of Fortinet Single Sign-On (FSSO) in a FortiGate deployment?

Easy
120

A remote user connects via SSL VPN web mode but cannot access internal resources. The SSL VPN portal is configured with the default settings. What is the most likely reason?

Medium
121

A FortiGate is configured with FSSO and Active Directory polling. Users report that they are frequently prompted for authentication even though they are logged into the domain. Which THREE possible causes should the administrator investigate?

Hard
122

An administrator configures a dial-up IPsec VPN with IKEv2 to allow remote users to connect. The Phase 1 is set to use certificate-based authentication (PKI). Users can establish Phase 1, but Phase 2 fails with 'no proposal chosen'. The administrator checks the Phase 2 proposal: AES256-SHA256, and the remote network is 10.0.0.0/8 (the corporate LAN). What is the MOST likely cause?

Hard
123

A FortiGate administrator is configuring a hub-and-spoke IPsec VPN. The hub has multiple Phase 2 selectors for each spoke. What is the recommended way to simplify configuration on the hub when adding new spokes?

Medium
124

You are troubleshooting an SSL VPN connection. The user can reach the SSL VPN portal but cannot ping or access any internal resources. The portal shows the user as authenticated. Which configuration is MOST likely missing?

Hard
125

An administrator wants to use Fortinet Single Sign-On (FSSO) with Active Directory to transparently authenticate users. Which component is responsible for polling Active Directory for user logon events?

Medium
126

An administrator wants to authenticate VPN users against an external LDAP server. Which authentication method should be configured in the user group for the SSL VPN portal?

Easy
127

A FortiGate administrator configures an SSL VPN web mode portal. Users can access internal web applications but cannot access internal file shares via SMB. What is the most likely reason?

Medium
128

A FortiGate admin has configured FSSO (Fortinet Single Sign-On) using Active Directory polling. Users authenticate to the domain but when accessing the internet through the FortiGate, they are still prompted for credentials. What is the MOST likely cause?

Medium
129

A FortiGate administrator wants to configure a dial-up IPsec VPN where remote users connect using VPN clients with pre-shared key authentication. The company has recently experienced a data breach where the PSK was compromised. What is the best method to improve security without changing all clients immediately?

Medium
130

A FortiGate admin is troubleshooting an IPsec VPN tunnel that fails to establish. The remote site uses aggressive mode. The local FortiGate is configured for main mode. The admin sees 'no proposal chosen' in the IKE debug. What is the MOST likely cause?

Medium
131

An administrator wants to use ZTNA (Zero Trust Network Access) to secure access to an internal application. Which component is required on the client device to enforce ZTNA policies?

Medium
132

A FortiGate administrator has configured a route-based IPsec VPN. After Phase 2 is up, traffic is not passing. The administrator verifies that the firewall policy allows traffic and the routes are correct. What should the administrator check next?

Medium
133

A FortiGate administrator configures a captive portal on a VDOM to authenticate users connecting to a guest SSID. The authentication method is set to LDAP. Users can reach the captive portal login page, but after entering valid credentials, they receive an authentication failure. The LDAP server is reachable from the FortiGate. What is the MOST likely cause?

Medium
134

An administrator needs to configure two-factor authentication for SSL VPN users using FortiToken. Which configuration is required on the FortiGate?

Medium
135

An administrator needs to implement two-factor authentication for SSL VPN access using FortiToken. Which configuration steps are required?

Hard
136

During an IPsec VPN troubleshooting, you run 'diagnose vpn ike config' and see the output includes 'peer-id: any'. What does this mean?

Medium
137

A FortiGate administrator is configuring a hub-and-spoke IPsec VPN with three spokes. Each spoke has a dial-up connection to the hub. The hub uses a dynamic DNS name. Which THREE settings are necessary on each spoke to establish the VPN?

Medium
138

A FortiGate administrator is troubleshooting a dial-up IPsec VPN where remote users can connect but traffic does not pass. The Phase 1 and Phase 2 status show 'up'. The administrator runs 'diagnose vpn tunnel list' and sees the tunnel is up. However, 'diagnose sys session list' shows no sessions for the remote user's IP. What is the MOST likely cause?

Hard
139

A company wants to provide remote access to internal resources for employees using laptops that may connect from untrusted networks. The security team requires that all traffic between the remote users and the corporate network be encrypted, and that users must authenticate using a username/password plus a one-time passcode from a hardware token. Which FortiGate VPN solution best meets these requirements?

Medium
140

In a hub-and-spoke IPsec VPN topology with FortiGate, the spoke sites cannot communicate directly with each other. What configuration change allows direct spoke-to-spoke communication?

Medium
141

An administrator is troubleshooting an IPsec VPN that fails to establish. The 'diagnose vpn ike log' shows 'initial contact received'. What does this message indicate?

Hard
142

A FortiGate administrator is troubleshooting an SSL VPN connection issue. Users can connect but cannot access internal resources. The administrator checks the SSL VPN policy and confirms it allows access to the internal subnet. What should the administrator check next?

Medium
143

An administrator needs to configure ZTNA (Zero Trust Network Access) on a FortiGate to provide secure remote access to an internal application. Which components are required for a basic ZTNA configuration? (Choose three.)

Easy
144

You are troubleshooting an IPsec VPN between two FortiGates. The Phase 1 is up, but Phase 2 is not coming up. You check the Phase 2 configuration on both sides. What is a common cause of this issue?

Medium
145

What is the primary advantage of using route-based IPsec VPN over policy-based IPsec VPN?

Easy
146

An admin wants users to authenticate once via AD and have their network access controlled without repeated logins. Which feature should be used?

Medium
147

A FortiGate is configured with an IPsec VPN to a remote site using IKEv1. The VPN tunnel goes down intermittently. The admin runs 'diagnose vpn ike gateway list' and sees 'state=UP' but no Phase2 selectors. What is the most likely cause?

Medium
148

An admin is configuring a dial-up IPsec VPN for remote users. The users will connect from various public IP addresses. Which Phase 1 configuration is required for the FortiGate to accept connections from unknown remote gateways?

Medium

Frequently asked questions

What does the Authentication and VPN domain cover on the NSE4 exam?
Be able to configure and troubleshoot IPsec and SSL VPN authentication on FortiGate. The single most important skill is using diagnose vpn ike config, diagnose vpn tunnel list, and IKE debug to determine why a tunnel or user traffic fails.
How many questions are in this domain?
This page lists all 148 Authentication and VPN questions in the NSE4 question bank. The actual exam draws from this domain proportionally to its weighting in the official exam blueprint.
What is the best way to practise this domain?
Start with a short focused session (10 questions) to identify gaps, then work through explanations. Repeat with a longer session once the weak areas feel solid.
Can I practise only Authentication and VPN questions?
Yes — the session launcher on this page filters questions to this domain only. Choose any session length for inline explanations and scoring.
fortinet-nse4 FORTINET-NSE4 nse4 auth vpn Practice Questions