NSE7 Troubleshooting and Diagnostics Practice Question
An administrator notices that a FortiGate's CPU is consistently high, and the performance dashboard shows the 'ipsengine' process consuming most CPU. The administrator suspects a specific traffic pattern is overwhelming the IPS engine. Which CLI command should be used to identify the top sessions by bandwidth that may be triggering the IPS engine?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse process monitoring commands (like diagnose sys top) with session monitoring commands that sort by bandwidth.
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
✓
diagnose sys session top
High CPU on the IPS engine often results from a few heavy sessions. The diagnose sys session top command lists the top sessions by bandwidth, allowing the administrator to quickly identify the offending traffic. This is more direct than dumping all sessions or looking at interface statistics.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
diagnose sys session list
Why it's wrong here
diagnose sys session list dumps all current sessions with details such as source, destination, and protocol, but it does not sort or summarize by bandwidth. While it can be filtered, it is not the most efficient way to find top bandwidth consumers and does not directly link to IPS engine load.
- ✓
diagnose sys session top
Why this is correct
diagnose sys session top shows the top sessions sorted by bandwidth usage. This command is ideal for identifying which sessions are consuming the most traffic, which can help determine if a particular flow is causing high IPS engine CPU. It provides a concise list of top sessions with source, destination, and bandwidth.
- ✗
diagnose netlink top
Why it's wrong here
diagnose netlink top is used to display top network interfaces or VLANs by traffic, not top sessions. It provides aggregate throughput per interface, which might hint at heavy traffic, but it cannot pinpoint which specific sessions are overwhelming the IPS engine.
- ✗
diagnose sys top
Why it's wrong here
diagnose sys top displays a list of processes and their CPU/memory usage, not individual sessions or bandwidth. It would show that ipsengine is consuming CPU but would not identify which traffic sessions are causing the load. To see top sessions by bandwidth, a different command is needed.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Fortinet exam blueprint
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