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Hardware Acceleration

FortiGate 4200F and 4201F fast path architecture

FortiGate 4200F and 4201F fast path architecture

The FortiGate 4200F and 4201F each include four NP7 processors (NP#0, NP#1, NP#2, and NP#3). All front panel data interfaces (1 to 24) and the AUX1 and AUX2 interfaces connect to the NP7 processors over the integrated switch fabric. So all supported traffic passing between any two data interfaces can be offloaded.

The FortiGate 4200F and 4201F models feature the following front panel interfaces:

  • Two 10/100/1000BASE-T Copper (MGMT1 and MGMT2, not connected to the NP7 processors).
  • Two 10/25 GigE SFP28 (HA1 and HA2, not connected to the NP7 processors).
  • Two 10/25 GigE SFP28 (AUX1 and AUX2) for sending logs to a remote log server (hyperscale firewall hardware logging), interface group: HA1, HA2, AUX1, and AUX2.
  • Sixteen 10/25 GigE SFP28 (1 to 16), interface groups: 1 - 4, 5 - 8, 9 - 12, 13 - 16.
  • Eight 40/100 GigE QSFP28 (17 to 24). Each of these interfaces can be split into four 1/10/25 GigE SFP28 interfaces.

The FortiGate 4200F and 4201F each include four NP7 processors. All front panel data interfaces and the NP7 processors connect to the integrated switch fabric (ISF). All data traffic passes from the data interfaces through the ISF to the NP7 processors. All supported traffic passing between any two data interfaces can be offloaded by the NP7 processors. Data traffic processed by the CPU takes a dedicated data path through the ISF and an NP7 processor to the CPU.

The MGMT interfaces are not connected to the NP7 processors. Management traffic passes to the CPU over a dedicated management path that is separate from the data path. You can also dedicate separate CPU resources for management traffic to further isolate management processing from data processing (see Dedicated management CPU).

The HA interfaces are also not connected to the NP7 processors. To help provide better HA stability and resiliency, HA traffic uses a dedicated physical control path that provides HA control traffic separation from data traffic processing.

The separation of management and HA traffic from data traffic keeps management and HA traffic from affecting the stability and performance of data traffic processing.

You can use the following command to display the FortiGate 4200F and 4201F NP7 configuration. The command output shows a that all four NP7s are connected to all interfaces.

diagnose npu np7 port-list
Front Panel Port:
Name   Max_speed(Mbps) Dflt_speed(Mbps) NP_group        Switch_id SW_port_id SW_port_name 
------ --------------- ---------------  --------------- --------- ---------- ------------ 
port1  25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         37         xe10         
port2  25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         38         xe11         
port3  25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         39         xe12         
port4  25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         40         xe13         
port5  25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         41         xe14         
port6  25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         42         xe15         
port7  25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         43         xe16         
port8  25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         44         xe17         
port9  25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         45         xe18         
port10 25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         46         xe19         
port11 25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         47         xe20         
port12 25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         48         xe21         
port13 25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         49         xe22         
port14 25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         50         xe23         
port15 25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         51         xe24         
port16 25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         52         xe25         
port17 100000          100000           NP#0-3          0         57         ce5          
port18 100000          100000           NP#0-3          0         53         ce4          
port19 100000          100000           NP#0-3          0         67         ce7          
port20 100000          100000           NP#0-3          0         61         ce6          
port21 100000          100000           NP#0-3          0         75         ce9          
port22 100000          100000           NP#0-3          0         71         ce8          
port23 100000          100000           NP#0-3          0         83         ce11         
port24 100000          100000           NP#0-3          0         79         ce10         
------ --------------- ---------------  --------------- --------- ---------- ------------ 
 
NP Port:
Name   Switch_id SW_port_id SW_port_name 
------ --------- ---------- ------------ 
np0_0  0         5          ce0          
np0_1  0         9          ce1          
np1_0  0         13         ce2          
np1_1  0         17         ce3          
np2_0  0         115        ce13         
np2_1  0         111        ce12         
np3_0  0         123        ce15         
np3_1  0         119        ce14         
------ --------- ---------- ------------ 
* Max_speed: Maximum speed, Dflt_speed: Default speed
* SW_port_id: Switch port ID, SW_port_name: Switch port name

The command output also shows the maximum and default speeds of each interface.

The integrated switch fabric distributes sessions from the data interfaces to the NP7 processors. The four NP7 processors have a bandwidth capacity of 200Gigabit x 4 = 800 Gigabit. If all interfaces were operating at their maximum bandwidth, the NP7 processors would not be able to offload all the traffic. You can use NPU port mapping to control how sessions are distributed to NP7 processors.

You can add LAGs to improve performance. For details, see Increasing NP7 offloading capacity using link aggregation groups (LAGs).

The FortiGate-4200F and 4201F can be licensed for hyperscale firewall support, see the Hyperscale Firewall Guide.

Interface groups and changing data interface speeds

FortiGate-4200F and 4201F front panel data interfaces are divided into the following groups:

  • ha1, ha2, aux1, and aux2
  • port1 - port4
  • port5 - port8
  • port9 - port12
  • port13 - port16

All of the interfaces in a group operate at the same speed. Changing the speed of an interface changes the speeds of all of the interfaces in the same group. For example, if you want to install 25GigE transceivers in port1 to port8 to convert all of these data interfaces to connect to 25Gbps networks, you can enter the following from the CLI:

config system interface

edit port1

set speed 25000full

next

edit port5

set speed 25000full

end

Every time you change a data interface speed, when you enter the end command, the CLI confirms the range of interfaces affected by the change. For example, if you change the speed of port5, the following message appears:

config system interface

edit port5

set speed 25000full

end

port5-port8 speed will be changed to 25000full due to hardware limit.

Do you want to continue? (y/n)

Splitting the port17 to port24 interfaces

You can use the following command to split each FortiGate 4200F or 4201F 17 to 24 (port17 to port24) 40/100 GigE QSFP28 interface into four 1/10/25 GigE SFP28 interfaces. For example, to split interfaces 19 and 23 (port19 and port23), enter the following command:

config system global

set split-port port19 port23

end

The FortiGate 4200F or 4201F reboots and when it starts up:

  • The port19 interface has been replaced by four SFP28 interfaces named port19/1 to port19/4.

  • The port23 interface has been replaced by four SFP28 interfaces named port23/1 to port23/4.

By default, the speed of each split interface is set to 10000full (10GigE). These interfaces can operate as 25GigE, 10GigE, or 1GigE interfaces depending on the transceivers and breakout cables. You can use the config system interface command to change the speeds of the split interfaces.

If you set the speed of one of the split interfaces to 25000full (25GigE), all of the interfaces are changed to operate at this speed (no restart required). If the split interfaces are set to 25000full and you change the speed of one of them to 10000full (10GigE) they are all changed to 10000full (no restart required). When the interfaces are operating at 10000full, you can change the speeds of individual interfaces to operate at 1000full (1GigE).

Configuring NPU port mapping

The default FortiGate-4200F and 4201F port mapping configuration results in sessions passing from front panel data interfaces to the integrated switch fabric. The integrated switch fabric distributes these sessions among the NP7 processors. Each NP7 processor is connected to the switch fabric with a LAG that consists of two 100-Gigabit CAUI-4 interfaces. The integrated switch fabric distributes sessions to the LAGs and each LAG distributes sessions between the two interfaces connected to the NP7 processor.

You can use NPU port mapping to override how data network interface sessions are distributed to each NP7 processor. For example, you can sent up NPU port mapping to send all traffic from a from panel data interface to a specific NP7 processor LAG or even to just one of the interfaces in that LAG.

Use the following command to configure NPU port mapping:

config system npu

config port-npu-map

edit <interface-name>

set npu-group-index <index>

end

<interface-name> the name of a front panel data interface.

<index> select different values of <index> to change how sessions from the selected front panel data interface are handled by the integrated switch fabric. The list of available <index> options depends on the NP7 configuration of your FortGate. For the FortiGate-4200F or 4201F <index> can be 0 to 16. Use the ? to see the effect of each <index> value.

Here are some examples of <index> values for the FortiGate-4200F and 4201F:

  • 0, assign the front panel data interface to NP#0-3, the default. Sessions from the front panel data interface are distributed among all four NP7 LAGs.
  • 1, assign the front panel data interface to the LAG connected to NP#0. Sessions from the front panel data interface are sent to the LAG connected to NP#0.
  • 7, assign the front panel data interface to NP#2-3. Sessions from the front panel data interface are distributed between the LAGs connected to NP#2 and NP#3.
  • 10, assign the front panel data interface to NP#0_0. Sessions from the front panel data interface are sent to np0_0, which is one of the interfaces connected to NP#0.

For example, use the following syntax to assign the FortiGate-4200F port21 and port22 interfaces to NP#2 and port23 and port24 interfaces to NP#3:

config system npu

config port-npu-map

edit port21

set npu-group-index 3

next

edit port22

set npu-group-index 3

next

edit port23

set npu-group-index 4

next

edit port24

set npu-group-index 4

end

end

You can use the diagnose npu np7 port-list command to see the current NPU port map configuration. While the FortiGate-4200F or 4201F is processing traffic, you can use the diagnose npu np7 cgmac-stats <npu-id> command to show how traffic is distributed to the NP7 links.

For example, after making the changes described in the example, the NP_group column of the diagnose npu np7 port-list command output for port21 to port 24 shows the new mapping:

diagnose npu np7 port-list
Front Panel Port:
Name   Max_speed(Mbps) Dflt_speed(Mbps) NP_group        Switch_id SW_port_id SW_port_name 
------ --------------- ---------------  --------------- --------- ---------- ------------  
.          
.          
.          
port21 100000          100000           NP#2            0         75         ce9          
port22 100000          100000           NP#2            0         71         ce8          
port23 100000          100000           NP#3            0         83         ce11         
port24 100000          100000           NP#3            0         79         ce10         
------ --------------- ---------------  --------------- --------- ---------- ------------ 

FortiGate 4200F and 4201F fast path architecture

The FortiGate 4200F and 4201F each include four NP7 processors (NP#0, NP#1, NP#2, and NP#3). All front panel data interfaces (1 to 24) and the AUX1 and AUX2 interfaces connect to the NP7 processors over the integrated switch fabric. So all supported traffic passing between any two data interfaces can be offloaded.

The FortiGate 4200F and 4201F models feature the following front panel interfaces:

  • Two 10/100/1000BASE-T Copper (MGMT1 and MGMT2, not connected to the NP7 processors).
  • Two 10/25 GigE SFP28 (HA1 and HA2, not connected to the NP7 processors).
  • Two 10/25 GigE SFP28 (AUX1 and AUX2) for sending logs to a remote log server (hyperscale firewall hardware logging), interface group: HA1, HA2, AUX1, and AUX2.
  • Sixteen 10/25 GigE SFP28 (1 to 16), interface groups: 1 - 4, 5 - 8, 9 - 12, 13 - 16.
  • Eight 40/100 GigE QSFP28 (17 to 24). Each of these interfaces can be split into four 1/10/25 GigE SFP28 interfaces.

The FortiGate 4200F and 4201F each include four NP7 processors. All front panel data interfaces and the NP7 processors connect to the integrated switch fabric (ISF). All data traffic passes from the data interfaces through the ISF to the NP7 processors. All supported traffic passing between any two data interfaces can be offloaded by the NP7 processors. Data traffic processed by the CPU takes a dedicated data path through the ISF and an NP7 processor to the CPU.

The MGMT interfaces are not connected to the NP7 processors. Management traffic passes to the CPU over a dedicated management path that is separate from the data path. You can also dedicate separate CPU resources for management traffic to further isolate management processing from data processing (see Dedicated management CPU).

The HA interfaces are also not connected to the NP7 processors. To help provide better HA stability and resiliency, HA traffic uses a dedicated physical control path that provides HA control traffic separation from data traffic processing.

The separation of management and HA traffic from data traffic keeps management and HA traffic from affecting the stability and performance of data traffic processing.

You can use the following command to display the FortiGate 4200F and 4201F NP7 configuration. The command output shows a that all four NP7s are connected to all interfaces.

diagnose npu np7 port-list
Front Panel Port:
Name   Max_speed(Mbps) Dflt_speed(Mbps) NP_group        Switch_id SW_port_id SW_port_name 
------ --------------- ---------------  --------------- --------- ---------- ------------ 
port1  25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         37         xe10         
port2  25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         38         xe11         
port3  25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         39         xe12         
port4  25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         40         xe13         
port5  25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         41         xe14         
port6  25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         42         xe15         
port7  25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         43         xe16         
port8  25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         44         xe17         
port9  25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         45         xe18         
port10 25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         46         xe19         
port11 25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         47         xe20         
port12 25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         48         xe21         
port13 25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         49         xe22         
port14 25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         50         xe23         
port15 25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         51         xe24         
port16 25000           10000            NP#0-3          0         52         xe25         
port17 100000          100000           NP#0-3          0         57         ce5          
port18 100000          100000           NP#0-3          0         53         ce4          
port19 100000          100000           NP#0-3          0         67         ce7          
port20 100000          100000           NP#0-3          0         61         ce6          
port21 100000          100000           NP#0-3          0         75         ce9          
port22 100000          100000           NP#0-3          0         71         ce8          
port23 100000          100000           NP#0-3          0         83         ce11         
port24 100000          100000           NP#0-3          0         79         ce10         
------ --------------- ---------------  --------------- --------- ---------- ------------ 
 
NP Port:
Name   Switch_id SW_port_id SW_port_name 
------ --------- ---------- ------------ 
np0_0  0         5          ce0          
np0_1  0         9          ce1          
np1_0  0         13         ce2          
np1_1  0         17         ce3          
np2_0  0         115        ce13         
np2_1  0         111        ce12         
np3_0  0         123        ce15         
np3_1  0         119        ce14         
------ --------- ---------- ------------ 
* Max_speed: Maximum speed, Dflt_speed: Default speed
* SW_port_id: Switch port ID, SW_port_name: Switch port name

The command output also shows the maximum and default speeds of each interface.

The integrated switch fabric distributes sessions from the data interfaces to the NP7 processors. The four NP7 processors have a bandwidth capacity of 200Gigabit x 4 = 800 Gigabit. If all interfaces were operating at their maximum bandwidth, the NP7 processors would not be able to offload all the traffic. You can use NPU port mapping to control how sessions are distributed to NP7 processors.

You can add LAGs to improve performance. For details, see Increasing NP7 offloading capacity using link aggregation groups (LAGs).

The FortiGate-4200F and 4201F can be licensed for hyperscale firewall support, see the Hyperscale Firewall Guide.

Interface groups and changing data interface speeds

FortiGate-4200F and 4201F front panel data interfaces are divided into the following groups:

  • ha1, ha2, aux1, and aux2
  • port1 - port4
  • port5 - port8
  • port9 - port12
  • port13 - port16

All of the interfaces in a group operate at the same speed. Changing the speed of an interface changes the speeds of all of the interfaces in the same group. For example, if you want to install 25GigE transceivers in port1 to port8 to convert all of these data interfaces to connect to 25Gbps networks, you can enter the following from the CLI:

config system interface

edit port1

set speed 25000full

next

edit port5

set speed 25000full

end

Every time you change a data interface speed, when you enter the end command, the CLI confirms the range of interfaces affected by the change. For example, if you change the speed of port5, the following message appears:

config system interface

edit port5

set speed 25000full

end

port5-port8 speed will be changed to 25000full due to hardware limit.

Do you want to continue? (y/n)

Splitting the port17 to port24 interfaces

You can use the following command to split each FortiGate 4200F or 4201F 17 to 24 (port17 to port24) 40/100 GigE QSFP28 interface into four 1/10/25 GigE SFP28 interfaces. For example, to split interfaces 19 and 23 (port19 and port23), enter the following command:

config system global

set split-port port19 port23

end

The FortiGate 4200F or 4201F reboots and when it starts up:

  • The port19 interface has been replaced by four SFP28 interfaces named port19/1 to port19/4.

  • The port23 interface has been replaced by four SFP28 interfaces named port23/1 to port23/4.

By default, the speed of each split interface is set to 10000full (10GigE). These interfaces can operate as 25GigE, 10GigE, or 1GigE interfaces depending on the transceivers and breakout cables. You can use the config system interface command to change the speeds of the split interfaces.

If you set the speed of one of the split interfaces to 25000full (25GigE), all of the interfaces are changed to operate at this speed (no restart required). If the split interfaces are set to 25000full and you change the speed of one of them to 10000full (10GigE) they are all changed to 10000full (no restart required). When the interfaces are operating at 10000full, you can change the speeds of individual interfaces to operate at 1000full (1GigE).

Configuring NPU port mapping

The default FortiGate-4200F and 4201F port mapping configuration results in sessions passing from front panel data interfaces to the integrated switch fabric. The integrated switch fabric distributes these sessions among the NP7 processors. Each NP7 processor is connected to the switch fabric with a LAG that consists of two 100-Gigabit CAUI-4 interfaces. The integrated switch fabric distributes sessions to the LAGs and each LAG distributes sessions between the two interfaces connected to the NP7 processor.

You can use NPU port mapping to override how data network interface sessions are distributed to each NP7 processor. For example, you can sent up NPU port mapping to send all traffic from a from panel data interface to a specific NP7 processor LAG or even to just one of the interfaces in that LAG.

Use the following command to configure NPU port mapping:

config system npu

config port-npu-map

edit <interface-name>

set npu-group-index <index>

end

<interface-name> the name of a front panel data interface.

<index> select different values of <index> to change how sessions from the selected front panel data interface are handled by the integrated switch fabric. The list of available <index> options depends on the NP7 configuration of your FortGate. For the FortiGate-4200F or 4201F <index> can be 0 to 16. Use the ? to see the effect of each <index> value.

Here are some examples of <index> values for the FortiGate-4200F and 4201F:

  • 0, assign the front panel data interface to NP#0-3, the default. Sessions from the front panel data interface are distributed among all four NP7 LAGs.
  • 1, assign the front panel data interface to the LAG connected to NP#0. Sessions from the front panel data interface are sent to the LAG connected to NP#0.
  • 7, assign the front panel data interface to NP#2-3. Sessions from the front panel data interface are distributed between the LAGs connected to NP#2 and NP#3.
  • 10, assign the front panel data interface to NP#0_0. Sessions from the front panel data interface are sent to np0_0, which is one of the interfaces connected to NP#0.

For example, use the following syntax to assign the FortiGate-4200F port21 and port22 interfaces to NP#2 and port23 and port24 interfaces to NP#3:

config system npu

config port-npu-map

edit port21

set npu-group-index 3

next

edit port22

set npu-group-index 3

next

edit port23

set npu-group-index 4

next

edit port24

set npu-group-index 4

end

end

You can use the diagnose npu np7 port-list command to see the current NPU port map configuration. While the FortiGate-4200F or 4201F is processing traffic, you can use the diagnose npu np7 cgmac-stats <npu-id> command to show how traffic is distributed to the NP7 links.

For example, after making the changes described in the example, the NP_group column of the diagnose npu np7 port-list command output for port21 to port 24 shows the new mapping:

diagnose npu np7 port-list
Front Panel Port:
Name   Max_speed(Mbps) Dflt_speed(Mbps) NP_group        Switch_id SW_port_id SW_port_name 
------ --------------- ---------------  --------------- --------- ---------- ------------  
.          
.          
.          
port21 100000          100000           NP#2            0         75         ce9          
port22 100000          100000           NP#2            0         71         ce8          
port23 100000          100000           NP#3            0         83         ce11         
port24 100000          100000           NP#3            0         79         ce10         
------ --------------- ---------------  --------------- --------- ---------- ------------