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) connect to the NP7 processors over the integrated switch fabric. 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 1 GigE (MGMT1 and MGMT2, not connected to the NP7 processors).
- Four 10/25 GigE SFP28 (HA1, HA2 , AUX1, and AUX2 not connected to the NP7 processors) 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 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 AUX interfaces are also not connected to the NP7 processors. Fortinet recommends using these interfaces for HA session synchronization.
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.
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You can use the |
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 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-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 toNP#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 toNP#0. Sessions from the front panel data interface are sent to the LAG connected to NP#0.7, assign the front panel data interface toNP#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 toNP#0_0. Sessions from the front panel data interface are sent tonp0_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 ------ --------------- --------------- --------------- --------- ---------- ------------