NSE7 Advanced Networking and SD-WAN Practice Question
A FortiGate with SD-WAN configured has a Performance SLA monitoring Google DNS (8.8.8.8). The SLA is configured with latency threshold 100 ms and jitter threshold 20 ms. The link is currently meeting both thresholds. The administrator wants to ensure that if the SLA fails, traffic moves to another link. Which SD-WAN rule strategy should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse 'Failover (SLA)' with 'Best quality', thinking that any SLA degradation should trigger a switch, but Best quality would switch even if thresholds are still met, while Failover (SLA) only switches upon threshold violation.
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
✓
Failover (SLA)
The Failover (SLA) strategy is correct because it ensures that traffic is moved to another link only when the Performance SLA fails, while the primary link is used as long as it meets the configured latency (100 ms) and jitter (20 ms) thresholds. This strategy provides deterministic failover behavior, matching the administrator's requirement to switch traffic only upon SLA failure.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Best quality
Why it's wrong here
Best quality selects the link with the lowest measured latency, not the first link meeting the SLA thresholds; a link passing both thresholds can still lose to a faster one, so failover on SLA breach is not guaranteed. It suits latency-optimised steering, not threshold-based failover.
- ✗
Manual selection
Why it's wrong here
Manual selection pins traffic to an administrator-specified member with no automatic reaction to SLA failure, so traffic stays on the degraded link. It suits fixed path preference or troubleshooting, not dynamic failover when latency or jitter thresholds are exceeded.
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Maximize bandwidth (SLA)
Why it's wrong here
Maximize bandwidth (SLA) picks the link with the highest available bandwidth among those meeting the SLA, so a failing link is excluded but selection depends on bandwidth, not on moving traffic when the current link breaches. It suits throughput-driven steering.
- ✓
Failover (SLA)
Why this is correct
The Failover (SLA) strategy actively monitors the Performance SLA and withdraws the primary link from the rule once latency or jitter breaches its thresholds, redirecting new sessions to the secondary member. This directly satisfies the requirement to move traffic when the SLA fails.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This NSE7 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 NSE7 exam.