NSE7 Advanced VPN and Zero Trust Practice Question
An administrator is troubleshooting an IPsec VPN tunnel that uses PKI certificates for authentication. The tunnel fails to establish. The administrator checks the certificates and finds that the local certificate is valid and the CA certificate is trusted. Which two additional checks should the administrator perform? (Choose TWO)
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
✓
Verify that the certificate's CN matches the peer's IP address
Common certificate issues include: the certificate's Common Name (CN) does not match the peer's IP address, or the certificate has expired. Also, the certificate must have the 'IPsec tunnel' extended key usage (EKU) and the subject alternate name (SAN) must include the peer's IP.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Verify that the certificate is installed in the local certificate store on the FortiGate
Why it's wrong here
It is already installed and valid as per the stem.
- ✗
Ensure that the certificate is using RSA 2048-bit keys
Why it's wrong here
Key size is not typically a cause of failure; other key sizes can work.
- ✗
Confirm that the certificate's private key is exportable
Why it's wrong here
Private key exportability is not required for VPN authentication.
- ✓
Verify that the certificate's CN matches the peer's IP address
Why this is correct
The CN (or SAN) must match the peer identifier used in IKE.
- ✓
Check the certificate revocation list (CRL) to ensure the certificate is not revoked
Why this is correct
If the CA has CRL checking enabled, a revoked certificate will cause failure.
Quick reference
VPN Protocol Comparison
| Protocol | Port | Encryption | Authentication | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IKEv2 / IPsec | UDP 500 / 4500 | AES-256 | Certificates / PSK | Site-to-site & remote access |
| SSL / TLS VPN | TCP 443 | TLS 1.3 | Certificates / MFA | Clientless remote access |
| L2TP / IPsec | UDP 1701 | AES (IPsec) | PSK / Certificates | Legacy remote access |
| WireGuard | UDP 51820 | ChaCha20 | Public keys | Modern high-performance VPN |
| PPTP | TCP 1723 | MPPE (weak) | MS-CHAPv2 | Legacy — avoid in production |
PPTP is considered insecure. IKEv2/IPsec and SSL VPN are the current recommended options.
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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.