FortiGate 2500E fast path architecture
The FortiGate 2500E features the following front panel interfaces:
- Two 10/100/1000BASE-T Copper (MGMT1 and MGMT2, not connected to the NP6 processors)
- Thirty-two 10/100/1000BASE-T interfaces (1 to 32)
- Four 10GigE SFP+ interfaces (33 to 36)
- Four 10GigE SFP+ interfaces (37 to 40)
- Two 10GigE SFP+ interfaces (41 and 42)
- Two 10 Gig LC fiber bypass interfaces (43 and 44)
The FortiGate 2500E includes four NP6 processors in an NP Direct configuration. The NP6 processors connected to the 10GigE ports are also in a low latency NP Direct configuration.
The NP6s are connected to network interfaces as follows:
- NP6_0 is connected to four 10GigE SFP+ interfaces (port37 to port40) in a low latency configuration.
- NP6_1 is connected to thirty-two 10/100/1000BASE-T interfaces (port1 to port32).
- NP6_2 is connected to two 10GigE SFP+ interfaces (port41 and port42) and two 10 Gig LC fiber bypass interfaces (port43 and port44) in a low latency configuration.
- NP6_3 is connected to four 10GigE SFP+ interfaces (port33 to port36) in a low latency configuration.
As a result of the NP Direct configuration, traffic will only be offloaded if it enters and exits the FortiGate-2500E on interfaces connected to the same NP6 processor.
The following diagram also shows the XAUI and QSGMII port connections between the NP6 processors and the front panel interfaces and the aggregate switch for the thirty-two 10/100/1000BASE-T interfaces.
All data traffic passes from the data interfaces to the NP6 processors. Data traffic processed by the CPU takes a dedicated data path through the ISF and an NP6 processor to the CPU.
The MGMT interfaces are not connected to the NP6 processors. Management traffic passes to the CPU over a dedicated management path that is separate from the data paths. 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)). This separation of management traffic from data traffic keeps management traffic from interfering with the stability and performance of data traffic processing.
You can use the following get command to display the FortiGate 2500E NP6 configuration. You can also use the diagnose npu np6 port-list command to display this information.
get hardware npu np6 port-list
Chip XAUI Ports Max Cross-chip
Speed offloading
------ ---- ------- ----- ----------
np6_1 0 port1 1G No
0 port5 1G No
0 port9 1G No
0 port13 1G No
0 port17 1G No
0 port21 1G No
0 port25 1G No
0 port29 1G No
1 port2 1G No
1 port6 1G No
1 port10 1G No
1 port14 1G No
1 port18 1G No
1 port22 1G No
1 port26 1G No
1 port30 1G No
2 port3 1G No
2 port7 1G No
2 port11 1G No
2 port15 1G No
2 port19 1G No
2 port23 1G No
2 port27 1G No
2 port31 1G No
3 port4 1G No
3 port8 1G No
3 port12 1G No
3 port16 1G No
3 port20 1G No
3 port24 1G No
3 port28 1G No
3 port32 1G No
------ ---- ------- ----- ----------
np6_0 0 port37 10G No
1 port38 10G No
2 port39 10G No
3 port40 10G No
------ ---- ------- ----- ----------
np6_2 0 port43 10G No
1 port44 10G No
2 port41 10G No
3 port42 10G No
------ ---- ------- ----- ----------
np6_3 0 port33 10G No
1 port34 10G No
2 port35 10G No
3 port36 10G No
------ ---- ------- ----- ----------
The FortiGate- 2500E supports creating LAGs that include interfaces connected to different NP6 processors. Because the FortiGate-2500E does not have an internal switch fabric, when you set up a LAG consisting of interfaces connected to different NP6 processors, interfaces connected to each NP6 processor are added to different interface groups in the LAG. One interface group becomes the active group and processes all traffic. The interfaces in the other group or groups become passive. No traffic is processed by interfaces in the passive group or groups unless all of the interfaces in the active group fail or become disconnected.
Since only one NP6 processor can process traffic accepted by the LAG, creating a LAG with multuple NP6 processors does not improve performance in the same way as a in FortiGate with an internal switch fabric. However, other benefits of LAGs, such as redundancy, are supported.
For details, see Increasing NP6 offloading capacity using link aggregation groups (LAGs).
Bypass interfaces (port43 and port44)
The FortiGate 2500E includes an internal optical bypass module between interfaces 43 and 44 that provides fail open support. On these two interfaces, LC connectors connect directly to internal short-range (SR) lasers. No transceivers are required. When the FortiGate- 2500E experiences a hardware failure or loses power, or when bypass mode is enabled, these interfaces operate in bypass mode. In bypass mode, interfaces 43 and 44 are optically shunted and all traffic can pass between them, bypassing the FortiOS firewall and the NP6_2 processor.
Interfaces 43 and 44 use an internal short-range (SR) laser, so interfaces 43 and 44 only support SR multi-mode fiber. You cannot use LR or single-mode fiber connections with these interfaces.
When the interfaces switch to bypass mode the FortiGate 2500E acts like an optical patch cable so if packets going through these interfaces use VLANs or other network extensions, the attached upstream or downstream network equipment must be configured for these features.
The FortiGate 2500E will continue to operate in bypass mode until the failed FortiGate 2500E is replaced, power is restored, or bypass mode is disabled. If power is restored or bypass mode is disabled, the FortiGate 2500E resumes operating as a FortiGate device without interrupting traffic flow. Replacing a failed FortiGate 800D disrupts traffic as a technician physically replaces the failed FortiGate 800D with a new one.
During normal operation, the bypass status (B/P) LED glows green. When bypass mode is enabled, this LED glows amber.
Manually enabling bypass-mode
You can manually enable bypass mode if the FortiGate 2500E is operating in transparent mode. You can also manually enable bypass mode for a VDOM if interfaces 43 and 44 are both connected to the same VDOM operating in transparent mode.
Use the following command to enable bypass mode:
execute bypass-mode enable
This command changes the configuration, so bypass mode will still be enabled if the FortiGate-2500E restarts.
You can use the following command to disable bypass mode:
execute bypass-mode disable
Configuring bypass settings
You can use the following command to configure how bypass operates.
config system bypass
set bypass-watchdog {disable | enable}
set poweroff-bypass {disable | enable}
end
bypass-watchdog enable to turn on bypass mode. When bypass mode is turned on, if the bypass watchdog detects a software or hardware failure, bypass mode will be activated.
poweroff-bypass if enabled, traffic will be able to pass between the port43 and port44 interfaces if the FortiGate 2500E is powered off.