A Dialup IPsec VPN is designed for peers with dynamic IP addresses. The hub (HQ) firewall is configured to accept connections from any IP, and the branch is identified by a unique pre-shared key or certificate. This allows the branch to initiate the connection reliably without the hub needing a static peer IP configured.

The principle of least privilege is fundamental to security. By specifying explicit source addresses (e.g., a specific network or geographic region), you limit the potential origins of traffic to only those that are necessary. This directly reduces the attack surface, preventing unauthorized hosts from even attempting to connect to the protected service.

For an explicit web proxy policy to function, client workstations must be explicitly configured (manually or via PAC file) to send their HTTP/HTTPS traffic to the FortiGate’s proxy listener IP and port. Unlike transparent proxy, traffic does not automatically flow to the proxy; the client must be directed to it. The other options are possible, but a missing client configuration is the most common and fundamental issue.

To inspect and filter web browsing traffic, a Web Filter profile is required for URL/domain filtering. An AntiVirus profile is needed to scan for malware in HTTP/HTTPS traffic. Crucially, because most web traffic is now encrypted (HTTPS), SSL/SSH Inspection (deep inspection) must be enabled to decrypt the traffic, allowing the UTM engines to examine the actual content within the encrypted sessions.

VDOMs (Virtual Domains) provide complete logical separation of routing tables, interfaces, and firewall policies. If two networks are in separate VDOMs and no inter-VDOM link is configured between them, there is no routing path for traffic to flow from one to the other. This is the most fundamental and secure method of isolation, as it operates at the routing layer before any firewall policy is even evaluated.

SD-WAN rules are evaluated from top to bottom, and the first matching rule is applied. If a general ‘all traffic’ rule (matching the VoIP source/destination) is placed above the specific VoIP rule, the traffic will match the general rule first and use its designated strategy (likely load-balanced), ignoring the more specific VoIP rule below it. Reordering rules to place more specific matches higher in the list is a critical configuration step.

For certificate-based authentication, the FortiGate maps the incoming user certificate to a local user account by matching the certificate’s Subject Common Name (CN) to the ‘Common Name’ field in the user configuration. A mismatch, even a single character or spelling difference, will cause authentication to fail. This is the most direct and common point of failure in such a setup.

The Report Definitions feature is designed specifically for creating customized, scheduled, or on-demand reports. You can select the log type (IPS), define the date range (past week), choose the columns to display (target IP, attack name, action, etc.), and set sorting/filtering criteria. This provides a structured and formatted output tailored to the specific audit requirement, which is more efficient than manually sifting through raw logs.

FSSO (Fortinet Single Sign-On) works by identifying users based on their active logon sessions on monitored Windows domain controllers. For a user to be a member of the dynamic ‘IT-Admins’ FSSO group for policy matching, two things must be true: 1) The FSSO infrastructure (agent/collector) must be properly configured and polling the DCs, and 2) The specific user must have an active Windows session that has been detected. Without this, the FSSO group will be empty and the policy will not match any traffic.

A Dialup IPsec VPN is designed for peers with dynamic IP addresses. The hub (HQ) firewall is configured to accept connections from any IP, and the branch is identified by a unique pre-shared key or certificate. This allows the branch to initiate the connection reliably without the hub needing a static peer IP configured.0