FortiGate 3200F and 3201F fast path architecture
The FortiGate 3200F and 3201F each include two NP7 processors (NP#0 and NP#1). Front panel data interfaces 1 to 4 are ultra low latency (ULL) interfaces the connect directly to NP#0. All other front panel data interfaces (5 to 18) connect to both of the NP7 processors over the integrated switch fabric.
The FortiGate 3200F and 3201F models feature the following front panel interfaces:
- Two 10/100/1000BASE-T Copper (MGMT1 and MGMT2, not connected to the NP7 processors).
- Eighteen 1/10/25/50 GigE SFP56 (HA1, HA2, 5 to 14) the HA interfaces are not connected to the NP7 processors.
- Four 10/25 GigE SFP+/SFP28 (1 to 4) ultra low latency (ULL), all ULL interfaces operate at the same speed. ULL interfaces bypass the integrated switch fabric (ISF).
- Four 400/200/100/40 GigE QSFP-DD (15 to 18). Each of these interfaces can be split into eight 50GigE interfaces, four 100GigE interfaces, or two 200 GigE interfaces.
The FortiGate 3200F and 3201F each include two NP7 processors. Front panel data interfaces 5 to 18 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 of these 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.
Front panel data interfaces 1 to 4 are connected directly to NP#0 (using the NP7 interface named NP#0-link1) instead of the ISF. Since the ISF introduces latency, interfaces 1 to 4 are ultra low latency interfaces (ULL), and NP7 traffic entering and exiting the FortiGate through these interfaces experiences lower latency than if it were passing through interfaces that are connected to the ISF. To achieve low latency, traffic must enter and exit the FortiGate through the 1 to 4 interfaces. If traffic enters or exits through other data interfaces, it is subject to the latency resulting from passing through the ISF.
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 Improving GUI and CLI responsiveness (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 3200F and 3201F NP7 configuration. The command output shows that ULL interfaces port1 to port4 are connected to NP#0. The command output also shows that the port5 to port18 interfaces are connected to both NP7s.
diagnose npu np7 port-list Front Panel Port: Name Max_speed(Mbps) Dflt_speed(Mbps) NP_group group_from_vdom Switch_id SW_port_id -------- --------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- --------- ---------- port1 25000 25000 NP#0 0 n/a n/a port2 25000 25000 NP#0 0 n/a n/a port3 25000 25000 NP#0 0 n/a n/a port4 25000 25000 NP#0 0 n/a n/a port5 50000 50000 NP#0-1 0 0 73 port6 50000 50000 NP#0-1 0 0 72 port7 50000 50000 NP#0-1 0 0 77 port8 50000 50000 NP#0-1 0 0 76 port9 50000 50000 NP#0-1 0 0 79 port10 50000 50000 NP#0-1 0 0 78 port11 50000 50000 NP#0-1 0 0 81 port12 50000 50000 NP#0-1 0 0 80 port13 50000 50000 NP#0-1 0 0 83 port14 50000 50000 NP#0-1 0 0 82 port15 400000 400000 NP#0-1 0 0 8 port16 400000 400000 NP#0-1 0 0 16 port17 400000 400000 NP#0-1 0 0 24 port18 400000 400000 NP#0-1 0 0 32 -------- --------------- --------------- --------------- --------- ---------- NP Port: Name Switch_id SW_port_id ------ --------- ---------- np0_0 0 68 np1_0 0 64 np1_1 0 56 ------ --------- ---------- * Max_speed: Maximum speed, Dflt_speed: Default speed * SW_port_id: Switch port ID
The command output also shows the maximum and default speeds of each interface and the NPU port mapping of each interface.
The integrated switch fabric distributes sessions from the data interfaces to the NP7 processors. The NP7 processors have a bandwidth capacity of 200Gigabit x 2 = 400 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-3200F and 3201F can be licensed for hyperscale firewall support, see the Hyperscale Firewall Guide.
Splitting the port15 to port18 interfaces
You can use the following command to split each FortiGate 3200F and 3201F 15 to 18 (port15 to port18) GigE QSFP-DD interface.
config system global
config split-port-mode
edit port21
set split-mode {disable | 8x50G | 4x100G | 2x200G}
end
disable restore a split interface to the default (not split) configuration.
8x50G split the interface into eight 50GigE interfaces.
4x100G split the interface into four 100GigE interfaces.
2x200G split the interface into two 200 GigE interfaces.
After splitting one or more interfaces, the FortiGate 3200F and 3201F reboots and when it starts up the split interfaces are available.
For example, use the following command to split the port16 interface into eight 50GigE interfaces:
config system global
config split-port-mode
edit port16
set split-mode 8x50G
end
The FortiGate 3200F and 3201F reboots and when it starts up the port24 interface has been replaced by eight 50 GigE interfaces named port16/1 to port16/8.
By default, the speed of each split interface is set to 50000full (50GigE). 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.
Changing the speed of the 1 to 4 ULL interfaces
By default, the FortiGate-3200F and 3201F front panel ULL data interfaces 1 to 4 operate as 25G SFP28 interfaces. You can use the following command to configure them to operate as 10G SFP+ interfaces:
config system npu
set ull-port-mode 10G
end
Entering this command restarts the FortiGate, so the speed of the ULL interfaces should be changed during a maintenance window. This command changes the speeds of all of the ULL interfaces. All of the ULL interfaces operate at the same speed.
You can use the following command to change the ULL interfaces back to the default setting as 25G SFP28 interfaces:
config system npu
set ull-port-mode 25G
end
Entering this command also restarts the FortiGate.
When the speed of the ULL interfaces is set to 10G, the output of the diagnose npu np7 port-list command changes to the following:
diagnose npu np7 port-list Front Panel Port: Name Max_speed(Mbps) Dflt_speed(Mbps) NP_group group_from_vdom Switch_id SW_port_id -------- --------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- --------- ---------- port1 25000 10000 NP#0 0 n/a n/a port2 25000 10000 NP#0 0 n/a n/a port3 25000 10000 NP#0 0 n/a n/a port4 25000 10000 NP#0 0 n/a n/a port5 50000 50000 NP#0-1 0 0 73 port6 50000 50000 NP#0-1 0 0 72 port7 50000 50000 NP#0-1 0 0 77 port8 50000 50000 NP#0-1 0 0 76 port9 50000 50000 NP#0-1 0 0 79 port10 50000 50000 NP#0-1 0 0 78 port11 50000 50000 NP#0-1 0 0 81 port12 50000 50000 NP#0-1 0 0 80 port13 50000 50000 NP#0-1 0 0 83 port14 50000 50000 NP#0-1 0 0 82 port15 400000 400000 NP#0-1 0 0 8 port16 400000 400000 NP#0-1 0 0 16 port17 400000 400000 NP#0-1 0 0 24 port18 400000 400000 NP#0-1 0 0 32 -------- --------------- --------------- --------------- --------- ---------- NP Port: Name Switch_id SW_port_id ------ --------- ---------- np0_0 0 68 np1_0 0 64 np1_1 0 56 ------ --------- ---------- * Max_speed: Maximum speed, Dflt_speed: Default speed * SW_port_id: Switch port ID
Configuring NPU port mapping
The default FortiGate-3200F and 3201F 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-Gigabitinterfaces. 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 front 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-3200F or 3201F <index> can be:
|
You cannot configure FortiGate-3200F or 3201F port mapping to use the NP#0-link1 interface because this interface is used for ULL connections to front panel interfaces 1 to 4. |
-
0: NP#0-1, distribute sessions from the front panel data interface among all three NP7 LAGs. -
1: NP#0, send sessions from the front panel data interface to the LAG connected to NP#0. -
2: NP#1, send sessions from the front panel data interface to the LAG connected to NP#1. -
3: NP#0-link0, send sessions from the front panel data interface tonp0_0, which is one of the interfaces connected to NP#0. -
4: NP#1-link0, send sessions from the front panel data interface tonp1_0, which is one of the interfaces connected to NP#1. -
5: NP#1-link1, send sessions from the front panel data interface tonp1_1, which is one of the interfaces connected to NP#1.
For example, use the following syntax to assign the FortiGate-3200F port10 and port11 interfaces to NP#0 and port12 and port13 interfaces to NP#1:
config system npu
config port-npu-map
edit port10
set npu-group-index 1
next
edit port11
set npu-group-index 1
next
edit port12
set npu-group-index 2
next
edit port13
set npu-group-index 2
end
end
You can use the diagnose npu np7 port-list command to see the current NPU port map configuration. While the FortiGate-3200F or 3201F 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 port10 to port13 shows the new mapping:
diagnose npu np7 port-list Front Panel Port: Name Max_speed(Mbps) Dflt_speed(Mbps) NP_group group_from_vdom Switch_id SW_port_id -------- --------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- --------- ---------- . . . port10 50000 50000 NP#0 0 0 78 port11 50000 50000 NP#0 0 0 81 port12 50000 50000 NP#1 0 0 80 port13 50000 50000 NP#1 0 0 83 . . .