Technical Tip: FortiGate Bypass interfaces

Description

This article describes that some FortiGate models include bypass interfaces that provide fail-open support.

Scope

FortiGate models with bypass ports.

Solution

See the v6.x of the Hardware Acceleration for information about FortiGate models that support bypass interfaces.

For example:
FortiGate 800D fast path architecture
FortiGate 2500E fast path architecture

Some models that come with a bypass interface will have the syntax bypass in the model name, for example: FortiGate 80F Bypass

This feature enables fail-open when there is a hardware failure.

For example, in FortiGate 80F Bypass, WAN1 and Port1 have bypass features. When the unit encounters a hardware failure, the connection on those 2 ports becomes fail-open and continues to provide network connectivity. 

Related articles:

Technical Note: FortiOS How to maintain layer 2 connectivity in bypass mode

Technical Tip: Configure 'poweroff-bypass' and 'bypass-watchdog' on FortiGate-80/81F Bypass