NSE7 Enterprise Firewall and VDOMs Practice Question
An administrator configures inter-VDOM routing between VDOMs A and B. Both VDOMs are on the same FortiGate. The admin creates a policy allowing traffic from VDOM A to VDOM B. Traffic from VDOM A to VDOM B fails. What is the most likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently assume a single policy in the source VDOM is sufficient, overlooking that FortiGate's stateful inspection requires explicit policies in both VDOMs for bidirectional traffic flow.
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
✓
There is no firewall policy in VDOM B to allow the return traffic
In a FortiGate inter-VDOM routing setup, traffic initiated from VDOM A to VDOM B requires a firewall policy in VDOM B to permit the return traffic. Without this policy, the FortiGate's stateful inspection engine drops the return packets because no session exists in VDOM B's session table. This is a common misconfiguration where administrators only create a policy in the source VDOM.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
VDOM A and VDOM B must be in the same administrative VDOM
Why it's wrong here
Administrative VDOMs are separate; inter-VDOM routing works between regular VDOMs.
- ✗
The VDOMs are in transparent mode
Why it's wrong here
Transparent mode does not affect inter-VDOM routing; the cause is still a missing policy.
- ✓
There is no firewall policy in VDOM B to allow the return traffic
Why this is correct
Inter-VDOM traffic requires policies in both VDOMs. The policy in VDOM A allows traffic to VDOM B, but a policy in VDOM B must permit the return traffic.
- ✗
The inter-VDOM link is not configured
Why it's wrong here
Inter-VDOM routing uses a logical link (e.g., .vdom link), but the failure is more likely a missing policy in the destination VDOM.
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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.