Fortinet Fortinet NSE 6 - Network Security 7.6 Support Engineer FCSS_NST_SE-7.6 Exam Dumps: Updated Questions & Answers (December 2025)

Parallel Path Processing (PPP) in FortiOS refers to the system’s ability to evaluate and select among multiple processing paths—often involving dedicated network processors, content processors, or CPU-based workflows—to optimally process packets. The official documentation highlights that the PPP engine dynamically selects which hardware or software path to use for each session based on session characteristics, policy configuration, and traffic type. This dynamic selection results in optimal throughput and resource utilization.

The document specifies that PPP assesses several processing paths in parallel, using decision logic to determine whether a session should be offloaded to specialist hardware (like NP6, CP9, etc.) or stay in the CPU path, ensuring that each packet is handled by the most efficient available method under current load and policy. Hardware and software configurations both influence this outcome, but it is the PPP engine's decision-making that defines the optimal path per session.

To determine the correct statement, we must analyze the specific fields in the diagnose sys session list output provided in the exhibit.

Analyze Option A (The session is offloaded using NP7):

Evidence: The key indicator is the line npu info: flag=0x81/0x81, offload=8/8, ips_offload=1/1.

Explanation: This specific npu info output format, particularly the offload=8/8 and ips_offload=1/1 counters, is characteristic of NP7 (Network Processor 7) acceleration.

Legacy NP6 processors typically display np6_0 flags or different offload state bitmaps. The NP7 architecture supports full hardware offloading of sessions including IPS (Intrusion Prevention System) processing, which is explicitly shown here as ips_offload. The offload=8/8 indicates that both the original and reply directions are fully offloaded to the NPU.

Analyze Option C (It is a TCP session from 10.9.31.117 to 10.1.0.3):

Evidence: The hook=post line shows the SNAT translation: 10.9.31.117:45388->200.8.57.5:443(10.1.0.3:45388).

Explanation:

Source: 10.9.31.117 (The client).

Destination: 200.8.57.5 (The external server on port 443).

NAT IP: 10.1.0.3 is the IP address the FortiGate uses for Source NAT (SNAT) as traffic leaves the interface. It is not the destination of the session.

Conclusion: This statement is False.

Analyze Option D (The session will expire in one second):

Evidence: The session info line displays expire=3599.

Explanation: The expire counter indicates how many seconds remain until the session is removed (if no further packets are seen). A value of 3599 seconds indicates the session was just refreshed (likely having a 3600-second timeout) and will expire in approximately one hour, not one second.

Conclusion: This statement is False.

Analyze Option B (Return traffic to the initiator is sent to...):

While the gateway for reply traffic (gwy=.../10.9.31.117) suggests return traffic goes to that IP, Option A provides the definitive technical observation regarding the hardware architecture (NP7) tested in this exam module.

To determine the correct conclusions, we analyze the specific lines in the IKE real-time debug output provided in the exhibit:

Analysis for Option A (The remote peer is the initiating peer):

Evidence: The very first line of the debug output reads: ike 0:624000:98: responder: main mode get 1st message...

Explanation: The keyword responder indicates that this local FortiGate is receiving the connection request. Consequently, the remote peer must be the initiator sending the request. The phrase "get 1st message" confirms the local unit is receiving the initial packet of the negotiation sequence.

Conclusion: This statement is True.

Analysis for Option B (This is a phase 1 negotiation):

Evidence: The same line mentions main mode.

Explanation: In IPsec VPNs, Main Mode and Aggressive Mode are exclusively used for Phase 1 (IKE SA) negotiations. Phase 2 (Child SA) negotiations use Quick Mode. The presence of "main mode" definitively identifies this as a Phase 1 exchange.

Conclusion: This statement is True.

Analysis for Option C (There is a Diffie-Hellman group mismatch):

Evidence:

Incoming proposal (Remote): Lists type=OAKLEY_GROUP, val=MODP2048 (Group 14) in the first proposal proposal.

My proposal (Local): Lists type=OAKLEY_GROUP, val=MODP2048 (Group 14).

Explanation: Since both the remote peer and the local gateway support and are proposing MODP2048 (Group 14), there is no Diffie-Hellman group mismatch. The actual mismatch visible in the logs is between the Encryption/Hash algorithms (Remote proposes AES-256/SHA2-256, while Local proposes AES-128/SHA), but the DH groups match.

Conclusion: This statement is False.

Analysis for Option D (This is a phase 2 negotiation):

Explanation: As established in the analysis for Option B, "Main Mode" is a Phase 1 protocol. If this were Phase 2, the debug would show "Quick Mode".

Conclusion: This statement is False.

https://community.fortinet.com/t5/FortiGate/Troubleshooting-Tip-How-to-troubleshoot-FSSO-agentless-polling/ta-p/214349

From the snippet we can see that FortiGate (via the fssod daemon) is directly detecting the user logon rather than relying on a separate “collector” or “DC agent.” This indicates agentless polling—FortiGate polls the DC’s event logs over TCP 445 to discover logons. So: - FSSO is using agentless polling mode to detect logon events - In agentless mode, FortiGate will periodically poll the same IP (the DC) on port 445 to see if the user is still logged on

The debug flow message iprope_in_check() check failed, drop specifically indicates a failure in the Local-In Policy check. The "iprope" (IP ROouting Policy Enforcement) engine handles policy lookups. The _in_check suffix confirms that the decision is regarding traffic destined to the FortiGate itself (Local-In traffic), rather than traffic passing through it.

D. The packet was dropped because the requested service is not enabled on FortiGate:

Explanation: This is the most common cause. When a packet arrives destined for the FortiGate's interface IP (e.g., an HTTPS or SSH request), the kernel checks if that specific service is enabled in the interface settings (set allowaccess). If the service is not enabled (e.g., trying to Ping an interface where PING access is disabled), the iprope_in_check function fails and drops the packet immediately.

C. The packet was dropped because the trusted host list is misconfigured:

Explanation: Even if the service (e.g., HTTPS) is enabled on the interface, the FortiGate checks the Administrator settings. If Trusted Hosts are configured, the source IP of the incoming packet is compared against the allowed list. If the IP is not on the list, the Local-In policy check (iprope_in_check) fails, and the packet is dropped to secure the management plane.

Why other options are incorrect:

A: If traffic is dropped by a standard Firewall Policy (traffic passing through the device from one interface to another), the debug message will typically state denied by policy x or no matching policy. It would generally be a forward check (iprope_fwd_check or similar), not an _in_check.

B: If there is no route to the source, the error is a Reverse Path Forwarding (RPF) failure. The debug flow logs this explicitly as reverse path check fail, drop.

The command on this slide shows a summary of the statuses of all the OSPF neighbors. For each neighbor, it displays the adjacency state and if it is a DR, a BDR, or neither (DROther) Pagina 362 Enterprise_Firewall_7.2_Study. - Point-to-point networks contain only two peers, one at each end of a point-to-point link - Broadcast networks (multi-access) support more than two attached routers. They also support sending messages to multiple recipients (broadcasting). Pagina 365 Enterprise_Firewall_7.2_Study. In any multi-access network there is one DR and one BDR. Pagina 439 Network_Security_Support_Engineer_7.4_Study FULL/- This represents a point-to-point network