Technical Tip: Fortiextender interface will not show up on FortiGate GUI

Description

This article describes the reason why the FortiExtender interface will not be visible on the FortiGate GUI for models that do not support VDOMs

Related link: 
FortiExtender release notes and admin guide: https://docs.fortinet.com/product/fortiextender/4.1

Scope

FortiGate-30D, FortiGate-30D-POE, FortiWifi-30D, FortiWifi-30D-POE.

Solution

For a FortiExtender to show up on the FortiGate GUI under Interfaces, the FortiExtender interface has to be mapped to the root VDOM of the FortiGate.
For FortiGate, which supports VDOM, here is how the config looks:

config system interface
    edit "extender"
        set vdom "root" ==> this is missing.
        set mode dhcp
        set type fext-wan
   next  

For FortiGate, which does not support VDOM 'set vdom root', will be missing, hence FortiExtender interface will not be visible under FortiGate GUI -> Interfaces.

    edit "extender"
        set mode dhcp
        set allowaccess ping https
        set type fext-wan
    next

Note:
Although the FortiExtender interface will not show up on the GUI, the FortiExtender will be up and operational on the FortiGate.

Related article:

Technical Tip: FortiExtender interface shows disabled on FortiGate GUI