Multiple FortiSwitches managed via hardware/software switch

1 Reply

Multiple FortiSwitches managed via hardware/software switch

This example provides a recommended configuration of FortiLink where multiple FortiSwitches are managed by an A-P mode HA cluster of FortiGates as switch controller via hardware or software switch interface. An example of common usage is when you need multiple distribution FortiSwitches but lack supporting aggregate on the FortiGate pairs.

Prerequisites:

  • The FortiGate model supports hardware or software switch interface. l FortiSwitch units have been upgraded to latest released software version.
  • Layer-3 path/route in the management VDOM is available to Internet so that the FortiSwitch units can synchronize NTP.

Change the FortiSwitch management mode to FortiLink:

Enter the following CLI commands on the FortiSwitch:

config system global set switch-mgmt-mode fortilink

end

This operation will cleanup all of the configuration and reboot the system!

Do you want to continue? (y/n)y

Backing up local mode config before entering FortiLink mode….

If the FortiSwitch ports used for the FortiLink connection have auto-discovery-fortilink enabled, executing authorization on FortiGate will trigger the transformation to FortiLink mode automatically.

config switch interface

edit “port1” set auto-discovery-fortilink enable

…… next

end

Set up an A-P mode HA cluster:

See HA active-passive cluster setup on page 212.

Create hardware or software switch interface and designate it as FortiLink interface on the FortiGate:

Create a hardware switch using the CLI:

config system virtual-switch edit “hardswitch1” set physical-switch “sw0” config port edit “port11” next edit “port12” next

end

next

end

Create a software switch using the CLI:

config system switch-interface edit “softswitch1” set vdom “vdom1” set member “port11” “port12”

next

end

Using the GUI:

  1. Go to WiFi & Switch Controller> FortiLink Interface.
  2. In Interface members, select an existing hardware/software switch interface (if there is one) or select one or more physical ports to create a hardware/software switch interface.
  3. Configure other fields as necessary.
  4. Click OK.

Discover and authorize the FortiSwitch:

Using the CLI:

config switch-controller managed-switch edit “FSWSerialNum” set fsw-wan1-admin enable

…… next

end

Check the CLI output for Connection: Connected to show that FortiLink is up:

execute switch-controller get-conn-status FSWSerialNum

Get managed-switch S248EPTF18001384 connection status:

Admin Status: Authorized

Connection: Connected

Image Version: S248EP-v6.2.0-build143,190107 (Interim)

Remote Address: 2.2.2.2

Join Time: Fri Jan 11 15:22:32 2019

interface status duplex     speed fortilink stacking      poe status

port1       up     full 1000Mbps       no       no Delivering Power

port2     down      N/A     0           no       no         Searching

…… Using the GUI:

  1. Go to WiFi & Switch Controller> Managed FortiSwitch.
  2. Click Authorize and wait for a few minutes for the connection to be established.

When FortiLink between the FortiGate and FortiSwitch is established, the Link-up ports change to green and the POE port that is supplying power changes to blue. The dotted line between the FortiGate and FortiSwitch changes to a solid line. The Connection status shows that FortiLink is up.

Extend the security perimeter to the edge of FortiSwitch:

  1. Configure the VLAN arrangement.
    1. On the FortiGate, go to WiFi & Switch Controller> FortiSwitch VLANs.
    2. Configure the VLAN interfaces that are applied on FortiSwitch.

On FortiGate, these switch VLAN interfaces are treated as layer-3 interfaces and are available to be applied by firewall policy and other security controls in FortiOS. This means that security boundary is extended to FortiSwitch.

  1. Configure FortiSwitch ports.
    1. On the FortiGate, go to WiFi & Switch Controller> FortiSwitch Ports.
    2. Select one or more FortiSwitch ports and assign them to the switch VLAN.
    3. You can also select POE/DHCP Snooping, STP, and other parameters for the FortiSwitch ports to show their real-time status such as link status, data statistics, etc.
  2. Configure access authentication.
    1. On the FortiGate, go to WiFi & Switch Controller> FortiSwitch Security Policies.
    2. Configure the 1X security policies.
    3. Select Port-based or MAC-based mode and select Usergroups from the existing VDOM.
    4. Configure other fields as necessary.
    5. Go to WiFi & Switch Controller> FortiSwitch Ports.
    6. Select one or more FortiSwitch ports, click + in the Security Policy column, then make a selection from the pane.

Troubleshooting

Bind FortiLink on hardware switch interface

Fortinet recommends binding FortiLink on the hardware switch interface. Since the hardware switch interface can leverage hardware chips to forward traffic, it does not consume CPU capacity, unlike a software switch.

Authorized FortiSwitch always offline

If an authorized FortiSwitch is always offline, go to the FortiGate CLI and use the command below to see all the checkpoints. Inspect each checkpoint to find the cause of the problem. execute switch-controller diagnose-connection S248EPTF18001384

Fortilink interface … OK hardswitch1 enabled

DHCP server … OK hardswitch1 enabled

NTP server … OK hardswitch1 enabled NTP server sync … OK synchronized: yes, ntpsync: enabled, server-mode: enabled

ipv4 server(ntp1.fortiguard.com) 208.91.113.70 — reachable(0x80) S:2 T:128 no data

ipv4 server(ntp2.fortiguard.com) 208.91.113.71 — reachable(0x80) S:2 T:128 no data

ipv4 server(ntp2.fortiguard.com) 208.91.112.51 — reachable(0xff) S:2 T:66 selected server-version=4, stratum=2 reference time is dfe3aec5.744404e6 — UTC Sat Jan 12 00:09:41 2019 clock offset is -0.320411 sec, root delay is 0.054535 sec root dispersion is 0.533081 sec, peer dispersion is 11495 msec

ipv4 server(ntp1.fortiguard.com) 208.91.112.50 — reachable(0xff) S:2 T:66 server-version=4, stratum=2 reference time is dfe3aec5.744404e6 — UTC Sat Jan 12 00:09:41 2019 clock offset is -0.448087 sec, root delay is 0.054535 sec root dispersion is 0.533081 sec, peer dispersion is 12542 msec

HA mode … disabled

Fortilink

Status … SWITCH_AUTHORIZED_READY

Last keepalive … 1 seconds ago

CAPWAP

Remote Address: 2.2.2.2

Status … CONNECTED

Last keepalive … 26 seconds ago

PING 2.2.2.2 (2.2.2.2): 56 data bytes

64 bytes from 2.2.2.2: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=1.1 ms

64 bytes from 2.2.2.2: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=13.9 ms

64 bytes from 2.2.2.2: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=12.7 ms

64 bytes from 2.2.2.2: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=2.9 ms

64 bytes from 2.2.2.2: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=1.2 ms

— 2.2.2.2 ping statistics —

5 packets transmitted, 5 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max = 1.1/6.3/13.9 ms

HA sync fails

If HA sync fails, use the command below to diagnose and locate the cause.

# diagnose system ha checksum cluster

================== FG5H0E39179XXX9 ==================

is_manage_master()=1, is_root_master()=1 debugzone

global: 2b e9 81 38 c2 9d 4f db b7 0e 1f 49 42 c6 1e fb vdom5: 3d dc e7 70 69 22 c3 12 a7 ac 68 06 21 21 ef 8f vdom3: 89 59 1f 45 7a 75 ae fc 71 bc 42 f4 5e c2 47 c8 vdom2: b2 a5 f3 e7 85 02 62 e5 2a 23 23 64 04 66 76 cc vdom1: 1f b5 11 61 31 c4 0c 72 2e 97 8d d8 45 7e d6 0c root: af a6 48 c5 c2 9a 8b 81 a5 53 fb 27 e9 ae 01 6a all: 89 1f 63 77 48 8a 30 ee 57 06 ca eb 71 e6 8e ad

checksum

global: 2b e9 81 38 c2 9d 4f db b7 0e 1f 49 42 c6 1e fb vdom5: 3d dc e7 70 69 22 c3 12 a7 ac 68 06 21 21 ef 8f vdom3: 89 59 1f 45 7a 75 ae fc 71 bc 42 f4 5e c2 47 c8 vdom2: b2 a5 f3 e7 85 02 62 e5 2a 23 23 64 04 66 76 cc vdom1: 1f b5 11 61 31 c4 0c 72 2e 97 8d d8 45 7e d6 0c root: af a6 48 c5 c2 9a 8b 81 a5 53 fb 27 e9 ae 01 6a all: 89 1f 63 77 48 8a 30 ee 57 06 ca eb 71 e6 8e ad

================== FG5H0E391790XXX4 ==================

is_manage_master()=0, is_root_master()=0 debugzone

global: 2b e9 81 38 c2 9d 4f db b7 0e 1f 49 42 c6 1e fb vdom5: 3d dc e7 70 69 22 c3 12 a7 ac 68 06 21 21 ef 8f vdom3: 89 59 1f 45 7a 75 ae fc 71 bc 42 f4 5e c2 47 c8 vdom2: b2 a5 f3 e7 85 02 62 e5 2a 23 23 64 04 66 76 cc vdom1: 1f b5 11 61 31 c4 0c 72 2e 97 8d d8 45 7e d6 0c root: af a6 48 c5 c2 9a 8b 81 a5 53 fb 27 e9 ae 01 6a all: 89 1f 63 77 48 8a 30 ee 57 06 ca eb 71 e6 8e ad

checksum

global: 2b e9 81 38 c2 9d 4f db b7 0e 1f 49 42 c6 1e fb vdom5: 3d dc e7 70 69 22 c3 12 a7 ac 68 06 21 21 ef 8f vdom3: 89 59 1f 45 7a 75 ae fc 71 bc 42 f4 5e c2 47 c8 vdom2: b2 a5 f3 e7 85 02 62 e5 2a 23 23 64 04 66 76 cc vdom1: 1f b5 11 61 31 c4 0c 72 2e 97 8d d8 45 7e d6 0c root: af a6 48 c5 c2 9a 8b 81 a5 53 fb 27 e9 ae 01 6a all: 89 1f 63 77 48 8a 30 ee 57 06 ca eb 71 e6 8e ad

This entry was posted in Administration Guides, FortiGate, FortiOS 6.2, FortiSwitch on by .

About Mike

Michael Pruett, CISSP has a wide range of cyber-security and network engineering expertise. The plethora of vendors that resell hardware but have zero engineering knowledge resulting in the wrong hardware or configuration being deployed is a major pet peeve of Michael's. This site was started in an effort to spread information while providing the option of quality consulting services at a much lower price than Fortinet Professional Services. Owns PacketLlama.Com (Fortinet Hardware Sales) and Office Of The CISO, LLC (Cybersecurity consulting firm).

One thought on “Multiple FortiSwitches managed via hardware/software switch”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.