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Hardware Acceleration

FortiGate 4400F and 4401F fast path architecture

FortiGate 4400F and 4401F fast path architecture

The FortiGate 4400F and 4401F each include six NP7 processors (NP#0, NP#1, NP#2, NP#3, NP#4, and NP#5). All front panel data interfaces (1 to 28) 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 4400F and 4401F models feature the following front panel interfaces:

  • Two 1GigE RJ45 Copper (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.
  • Twelve 40/100 GigE QSFP28 (17 to 28). Each of these interfaces can be split into four 1/10/25 GigE SFP28 interfaces.

The FortiGate 4400F and 4401F each include six 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 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.

You can use the following command to display the FortiGate 4400F and 4401F NP7 configuration. The command output shows that all six 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#0-5          0         37         xe12         
port2    25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         38         xe13         
port3    25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         39         xe14         
port4    25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         40         xe15         
port5    25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         41         xe16         
port6    25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         42         xe17         
port7    25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         43         xe18         
port8    25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         44         xe19         
port9    25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         45         xe20         
port10   25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         46         xe21         
port11   25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         47         xe22         
port12   25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         48         xe23         
port13   25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         49         xe24         
port14   25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         50         xe25         
port15   25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         51         xe26         
port16   25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         52         xe27         
port17   100000          100000           NP#0-5          0         57         ce7          
port18   100000          100000           NP#0-5          0         53         ce6          
port19   100000          100000           NP#0-5          0         67         ce9          
port20   100000          100000           NP#0-5          0         61         ce8          
port21   100000          100000           NP#0-5          0         75         ce11         
port22   100000          100000           NP#0-5          0         71         ce10         
port23   100000          100000           NP#0-5          0         83         ce13         
port24   100000          100000           NP#0-5          0         79         ce12         
port25   100000          100000           NP#0-5          0         91         ce15         
port26   100000          100000           NP#0-5          0         87         ce14         
port27   100000          100000           NP#0-5          0         99         ce17         
port28   100000          100000           NP#0-5          0         95         ce16         
-------- --------------- ---------------  --------------- --------- ---------- ------------ 
 
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         21         ce4          
np2_1  0         25         ce5          
np3_0  0         115        ce21         
np3_1  0         111        ce20         
np4_0  0         107        ce19         
np4_1  0         103        ce18         
np5_0  0         123        ce23         
np5_1  0         119        ce22         
------ --------- ---------- ------------ 
* 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 six NP7 processors have a bandwidth capacity of 200Gigabit x 6 = 1200 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-4400F and 4401F can be licensed for hyperscale firewall support, see the Hyperscale Firewall Guide.

Interface groups and changing data interface speeds

FortiGate-4400F and 4401F 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 port28 interfaces

You can use the following command to split each FortiGate 4400F or 4401F 17 to 28 (port17 to port28) 40/100 GigE QSFP28 interface into four 10/25 GigE SFP28 interfaces. For example, to split interfaces 19 and 26 (port19 and port26), enter the following command:

config system global

set split-port port19 port26

end

The FortiGate 4400F or 4401F reboots and when it starts up:

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

  • The port26 interface has been replaced by four SFP28 interfaces named port26/1 to port26/4.

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-4400F and 4401F 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-4400F or 4401F <index> can be 0 to 24. Use the ? to see the effect of each <index> value.

Here are some examples of <index> values for the FortiGate-4400F and 4401F:

  • 0, assign the front panel data interface to NP#0-5, the default. Sessions from the front panel data interface are distributed among all six 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.
  • 8, 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.
  • 17, assign the front panel data interface to NP#2-link0. Sessions from the front panel data interface are sent to np2_link0, which is one of the interfaces connected to NP#2.

For example, use the following syntax to assign the FortiGate-4400F interfaces 25 and 26 to NP7#4 and interfaces 27 and 28 to NP7#5:

config system npu

config port-npu-map

edit port25

set npu-group-index 5

next

edit port26

set npu-group-index 5

next

edit port27

set npu-group-index 6

next

edit port28

set npu-group-index 6

end

end

You can use the diagnose npu np7 port-list command to see the current NPU port map configuration. While the FortiGate-4400F or 4401F 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 port25 to port28 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 
-------- --------------- ---------------  --------------- --------- ---------- ------------ 
.
.
.
port25   100000          100000           NP#4            0         91         ce15         
port26   100000          100000           NP#4            0         87         ce14         
port27   100000          100000           NP#5            0         99         ce17         
port28   100000          100000           NP#5            0         95         ce16         
-------- --------------- ---------------  --------------- --------- ---------- ------------ 

FortiGate 4400F and 4401F fast path architecture

The FortiGate 4400F and 4401F each include six NP7 processors (NP#0, NP#1, NP#2, NP#3, NP#4, and NP#5). All front panel data interfaces (1 to 28) 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 4400F and 4401F models feature the following front panel interfaces:

  • Two 1GigE RJ45 Copper (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.
  • Twelve 40/100 GigE QSFP28 (17 to 28). Each of these interfaces can be split into four 1/10/25 GigE SFP28 interfaces.

The FortiGate 4400F and 4401F each include six 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 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.

You can use the following command to display the FortiGate 4400F and 4401F NP7 configuration. The command output shows that all six 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#0-5          0         37         xe12         
port2    25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         38         xe13         
port3    25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         39         xe14         
port4    25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         40         xe15         
port5    25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         41         xe16         
port6    25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         42         xe17         
port7    25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         43         xe18         
port8    25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         44         xe19         
port9    25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         45         xe20         
port10   25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         46         xe21         
port11   25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         47         xe22         
port12   25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         48         xe23         
port13   25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         49         xe24         
port14   25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         50         xe25         
port15   25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         51         xe26         
port16   25000           10000            NP#0-5          0         52         xe27         
port17   100000          100000           NP#0-5          0         57         ce7          
port18   100000          100000           NP#0-5          0         53         ce6          
port19   100000          100000           NP#0-5          0         67         ce9          
port20   100000          100000           NP#0-5          0         61         ce8          
port21   100000          100000           NP#0-5          0         75         ce11         
port22   100000          100000           NP#0-5          0         71         ce10         
port23   100000          100000           NP#0-5          0         83         ce13         
port24   100000          100000           NP#0-5          0         79         ce12         
port25   100000          100000           NP#0-5          0         91         ce15         
port26   100000          100000           NP#0-5          0         87         ce14         
port27   100000          100000           NP#0-5          0         99         ce17         
port28   100000          100000           NP#0-5          0         95         ce16         
-------- --------------- ---------------  --------------- --------- ---------- ------------ 
 
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         21         ce4          
np2_1  0         25         ce5          
np3_0  0         115        ce21         
np3_1  0         111        ce20         
np4_0  0         107        ce19         
np4_1  0         103        ce18         
np5_0  0         123        ce23         
np5_1  0         119        ce22         
------ --------- ---------- ------------ 
* 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 six NP7 processors have a bandwidth capacity of 200Gigabit x 6 = 1200 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-4400F and 4401F can be licensed for hyperscale firewall support, see the Hyperscale Firewall Guide.

Interface groups and changing data interface speeds

FortiGate-4400F and 4401F 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 port28 interfaces

You can use the following command to split each FortiGate 4400F or 4401F 17 to 28 (port17 to port28) 40/100 GigE QSFP28 interface into four 10/25 GigE SFP28 interfaces. For example, to split interfaces 19 and 26 (port19 and port26), enter the following command:

config system global

set split-port port19 port26

end

The FortiGate 4400F or 4401F reboots and when it starts up:

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

  • The port26 interface has been replaced by four SFP28 interfaces named port26/1 to port26/4.

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-4400F and 4401F 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-4400F or 4401F <index> can be 0 to 24. Use the ? to see the effect of each <index> value.

Here are some examples of <index> values for the FortiGate-4400F and 4401F:

  • 0, assign the front panel data interface to NP#0-5, the default. Sessions from the front panel data interface are distributed among all six 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.
  • 8, 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.
  • 17, assign the front panel data interface to NP#2-link0. Sessions from the front panel data interface are sent to np2_link0, which is one of the interfaces connected to NP#2.

For example, use the following syntax to assign the FortiGate-4400F interfaces 25 and 26 to NP7#4 and interfaces 27 and 28 to NP7#5:

config system npu

config port-npu-map

edit port25

set npu-group-index 5

next

edit port26

set npu-group-index 5

next

edit port27

set npu-group-index 6

next

edit port28

set npu-group-index 6

end

end

You can use the diagnose npu np7 port-list command to see the current NPU port map configuration. While the FortiGate-4400F or 4401F 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 port25 to port28 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 
-------- --------------- ---------------  --------------- --------- ---------- ------------ 
.
.
.
port25   100000          100000           NP#4            0         91         ce15         
port26   100000          100000           NP#4            0         87         ce14         
port27   100000          100000           NP#5            0         99         ce17         
port28   100000          100000           NP#5            0         95         ce16         
-------- --------------- ---------------  --------------- --------- ---------- ------------