NSE7 Troubleshooting and Diagnostics Practice Question
An administrator runs 'diagnose debug application ipsmonitor -1' and sees repeated messages: 'IPS engine restarting'. What is the MOST likely cause of this behavior?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse 'IPS engine restarting' with general system overload or policy misconfiguration, but the specific debug output points directly to a process crash, which is almost always caused by memory exhaustion in the IPS engine heap.
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
✓
The IPS engine is running out of memory
The 'IPS engine restarting' message in the output of 'diagnose debug application ipsmonitor -1' indicates that the IPS engine process is crashing and being automatically restarted by the FortiGate's watchdog. The most common cause of IPS engine crashes is memory exhaustion, as the engine requires a dedicated memory heap to process signatures and sessions; when this heap is depleted, the engine terminates to prevent system instability.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The FortiGate is overloaded with too many concurrent sessions
Why it's wrong here
High session count might cause performance issues but not specifically IPS engine restarts.
- ✓
The IPS engine is running out of memory
Why this is correct
Memory exhaustion causes the IPS engine to restart to free resources.
- ✗
The firewall policy is configured for flow-based inspection
Why it's wrong here
Flow-based inspection uses the IPS engine, but that alone doesn't cause restarts.
- ✗
The IPS signatures are outdated and need updating
Why it's wrong here
Outdated signatures would not cause engine restarts.
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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.