Enabling SD-WAN monitoring history

FortiManager provides an option to collect and store SD-WAN Monitor data. Go to SD-WAN > Monitor > Table View to view the following drill-down data:

• Click each FortiGate device to view graphs of its details.
• Click each application to view graphs of its details.

By default, SD-WAN Monitoring History is disabled. When this feature is disabled, data for only the last 10 minutes is displayed. You can refresh to view the data directly from FortiGate devices. No historical data is stored in FortiManager when this feature is disabled.

You can enable the SD-WAN Monitoring history using the following command line:

config system admin setting

set sdwan-monitor-history enable

When this feature is enabled, you can view the SD-WAN Monitoring history in the following ways:

• SD-WAN Monitoring data can be viewed for the past 5 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours, 12 hours, 1 day, 1 week, N hours, N days, N weeks, or custom.
• By default, SD-WAN Monitoring history is stored in FortiManager for 180 days. You can configure this setting in the CLI. See Configuring monitoring history storage.

Configuring monitoring history storage

You can configure SD-WAN monitoring history using the following commands in the CLI.

• rtm-max-monitor-by-days: Maximum RTM monitor (sd-wan, traffic shaping, etc) history by days (1-180).
• rtm-temp-file-limit: Set the RTM monitor temp file limit by hours. A lower value will reduce disk usage, but may cause data loss (1 -120).

These commands are only available when SD-WAN monitoring history is enabled.

For example:

config system admin setting

set sdwan-monitor-history enable

set rtm-max-monitor-by-days <1-180>

set rtm-temp-file-limit <1-120>

When to enable SD-WAN history

SD-WAN monitoring history should be enabled when you need to view historical SD-WAN data from FortiGate devices beyond the default 10 minutes that is kept when the feature is disabled.

Because SD-WAN monitoring history can consume a large amount of disk storage when FortiManager receives data from many FortiGate devices, it should only be enabled when there is adequate disk resources available to support the feature. In FortiManager 7.2.2 and later, you can configure the monitoring history storage settings in the FortiManager CLI to reduce disk usage. See Configuring monitoring history storage. In earlier versions of FortiManager it is recommended that you monitor your disk usage while the SD-WAN history feature is enabled.

Furthermore, it's important to take into account the tunnel limitation of the central management unit. In order to ensure smooth performance of the system and stable connections for all the devices being managed, we highly recommend disabling data-intensive monitoring features like SD-WAN historical monitoring. By applying an add-on license to the central management unit, you can expand its support for devices beyond the default management tunnel limit. It's worth noting, though, that even with this enhancement, simultaneous management of all live tunnels may not be completely seamless. While the SD-WAN historical monitoring feature is designed to effectively handle live tunnels, it can put a strain on system resources.

If FortiManager is unable to process the data as it arrives due to the number of FortiGate devices, data that is held and unprocessed for more than two days will be dropped, and you may see gaps in the SD-WAN history.

In 6.4.8, 7.0.1 and earlier releases, FortiManager's SD-WAN API calls to FortiGate can consume a lot of memory when there are many FortiGate devices, causing FortiManager to enter conserve mode. If you encounter this issue in these versions it is recommended to disable SD-WAN History or to upgrade to a later version of FortiManager.