How to troubleshoot
If you are new to troubleshooting network appliances in general, this section outlines some basic skills.
Establishing a system baseline
Before you can define an abnormal operation, you need to know what normal operation is. When there is a problem, a baseline for normal operation helps you to define what is wrong or changed.
Baseline information can include:
- Logging (see Enabling log types, packet payload retention, & resource shortage alerts)
- Monitoring performance statistics such as memory usage (see System Resources widget and SNMP traps & queries)
- Regular backups of the FortiWeb appliance's configuration (see Backup & restore)
If you accidently change something, the backup can help you restore normal operation quickly and easily. Backups also can aid in troubleshooting: you can use a tool such as diff to find the parts of the configuration that have changed.
See also
Determining the source of the problem
To know which solutions to try, you first need to locate the source of the problem. Occasionally, a problem has more than one possible source. To find a working solution, you will need to determine the exact source of the problem.
- Did FortiWeb’s hardware and software both start properly? If not, see Bootup issues.
- Are you having Login issues? For details, see Login issues.
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What has recently changed?
Do not assume that nothing has changed in the network. Use Diff and Backup & restore to see if something changed in the configuration, and Logging to see if an unusual condition occurred. If the configuration did change, see what the effect is when you roll back the change.
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Does your configuration involve HTTPS?
If yes, make sure your certificate is loaded and valid.
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Are any web servers down?
- Is a policy disabled?
- Does the problem originate on the camera, FortiWeb, or your computer? There are two sides to every connection. For details, see Connectivity issues.
- Does the problem affect only specific clients or servers? Are they all of the same type?
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Is the problem intermittent or random? Or can you reproduce it reliably, regardless of which camera or computer you use to connect to FortiWeb?
If the problem is intermittent, you can use the System Resources widget to see whether the problem corresponds to FortiWeb processor or RAM exhaustion. For details, see Resource issues.
You can also view the event log. If there is no event log, someone may have disabled that feature. For details, see Enabling log types, packet payload retention, & resource shortage alerts.
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Is your system under attack?
View the Attack Log widget.
See also
Planning & access privileges
Create a checklist so that you know what you have tried, and what is left to check.
If you need to contact Fortinet Technical Support, it helps to provide a list of what data you gathered and what solutions you tried. This prevents duplicated efforts, and minimizes the time required to resolve your ticket.
If you need access to other networking equipment such as switches, routers, and servers to help you test, contact your network administrator. Fortinet Technical Support will not have access to this other equipment. However, they may need to ask you to adjust a setting on the other equipment.
If you are not using the admin account on FortiWeb, verify that your account has the permissions you need to run all diagnostics.