NSE7 Troubleshooting and Diagnostics Practice Question
You are troubleshooting a BGP session between FortiGate and an ISP router. The FortiGate shows BGP state 'Active' and the debug output shows 'No route to peer'. The ISP router's loopback IP is 203.0.113.1, and the next-hop interface is port1 (10.0.0.1/30). The FortiGate has a static route to 203.0.113.1 via port1. What is the MOST likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently assume a configured static route guarantees reachability, but FortiGate (and most routers) require the outgoing interface to be up for the route to be active in the routing table.
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 static route's outgoing interface (port1) is administratively down
The 'Active' BGP state combined with 'No route to peer' indicates that the FortiGate cannot reach the BGP neighbor IP (203.0.113.1) via the routing table. Even though a static route exists, if the outgoing interface (port1) is administratively down, the route is not installed in the FIB, making the peer unreachable. This directly matches option C.
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 BGP neighbor IP is not reachable due to an ACL on the ISP router
Why it's wrong here
An ACL would cause 'connect failed' or 'open failed', not 'No route to peer' which is local.
- ✗
The BGP update-source is set to a different interface
Why it's wrong here
Update-source defines the source IP for the session; if unreachable, it might cause issues but would show different debug messages.
- ✓
The static route's outgoing interface (port1) is administratively down
Why this is correct
If port1 is down, the static route is removed from the routing table, causing 'No route to peer'.
- ✗
The BGP configuration has 'next-hop-self' disabled
Why it's wrong here
Next-hop-self affects route advertisement, not session establishment.
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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.