NSE7 proto_state=01 Practice Question
An administrator runs 'diagnose sys session filter dport 443' and sees the following output: proto=6 proto_state=01 duration=3600 expire=3599 What does this indicate?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse proto_state values: 01 means ESTABLISHED, while 02 is SYN_SENT and 04 is SYN_RECV. Many mistakenly think 01 indicates SYN_SENT because it's the lowest number, but in FortiOS, 01 is the ESTABLISHED state.
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 session was established 1 hour ago and will expire in about 1 hour
proto=6 indicates TCP. Fortinet's TCP state encoding: proto_state=01 means ESTABLISHED, not SYN_SENT. This session has been established for 3600 seconds (1 hour) and will expire in 3599 seconds (about 1 hour). Therefore, it is an established TCP session, not half-open.
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 session is a TCP session that has been idle for 1 hour
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. The session is TCP (proto=6), and duration is total time since session creation, not idle time.
- ✗
The session is a UDP flow
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. proto=6 indicates TCP, not UDP.
- ✓
The session was established 1 hour ago and will expire in about 1 hour
Why this is correct
Incorrect. proto_state=01 indicates SYN_SENT, not established. The session is still in the handshake phase.
- ✗
The session is in a half-open state
Why it's wrong here
Correct. proto_state=01 corresponds to SYN_SENT, which is a half-open state in the TCP handshake.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This NSE7 question is part of Courseiva's 940-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.