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zromano
Staff & Editor
Staff & Editor
July 28, 2025

Troubleshooting tip: SD-WAN rules with route-tag stop working after resetting SD-WAN settings

  • July 28, 2025
  • 0 replies
  • 1293 views
Description This article describes why SD-WAN rules with route-tags might not match after SD-WAN reset.
Scope FortiGate in 7.2.
Solution
If the following command is run to reset application control cache and route-tags for any reason, the SD-WAN rules with route-tags will stop working.
 
diagnose sys sdwan reset
 
Here, as an example, there are three SD-WAN members (port1, port8, port9).
The FortiGate is configured to use port1 for traffic matching route-tag 10 (in the following example only 8.8.8.8), and port9 or port 8 for all other traffic. 
 
FGT-7-2 # show system sdwan
config system sdwan
    set status enable
    config zone
        edit "virtual-wan-link"
        next
    end
    config members
        edit 1
            set interface "port8"
            set gateway 10.5.255.254
        next
        edit 2
            set interface "port9"
            set gateway 10.5.191.254
        next
        edit 3
            set interface "port1"
            set gateway 10.134.19.165
            set priority 100
        next
    end
[...]
    config service
        edit 1
            set name "Tag-10"
            set route-tag 10
            set priority-members 3
        next
        edit 2
            set name "all-to-internet"
            set dst "all"
            set priority-members 2 1
        next
    end
end
 
Checking the SD-WAN service, only 8.8.8.8 matches rule 1, as it is the only address matching the route-tag 10.
 
FGT-7-2 # diagnose sys sdwan service
Service(1): Address Mode(IPV4) flags=0x200 use-shortcut-sla
 Tie break: cfg
  Gen(1), TOS(0x0/0x0), Protocol(0: 1->65535), Mode(manual)
  Members(1):
    1: Seq_num(3 port1), alive, selected
  Route tag address(1):
        8.8.8.8-8.8.8.8
 
Service(2): Address Mode(IPV4) flags=0x200 use-shortcut-sla
 Tie break: cfg
  Gen(1), TOS(0x0/0x0), Protocol(0: 1->65535), Mode(manual)
  Members(2):
    1: Seq_num(2 port9), alive, selected
    2: Seq_num(1 port8), alive, selected
  Dst address(1):
        0.0.0.0-255.255.255.255
 
After resetting the SD-WAN, SD-WAN rule 1 is not matching any traffic:
 
FGT-7-2 # diagnose sys sdwan reset
All SD-WAN application ctrl internet service cache and route-tag address cache will be clean out.
Do you want to continue? (y/n)y
 
FGT-7-2 # diagnose sys sdwan service
Service(1): Address Mode(IPV4) flags=0x200 use-shortcut-sla
 Tie break: cfg
  Gen(1), TOS(0x0/0x0), Protocol(0: 1->65535), Mode(manual)
  Service disabled caused by no destination.
  Members(1):
    1: Seq_num(3 port1), alive, selected
 
Service(2): Address Mode(IPV4) flags=0x200 use-shortcut-sla
 Tie break: cfg
  Gen(1), TOS(0x0/0x0), Protocol(0: 1->65535), Mode(manual)
  Members(2):
    1: Seq_num(2 port9), alive, selected
    2: Seq_num(1 port8), alive, selected
  Dst address(1):
        0.0.0.0-255.255.255.255
 
Solution:
 
This is normal behavior, as route-tags are learned by BGP, not from the sdwan daemon, and resetting SD-WAN will lose this information.
If this occurs, to solve the issue, the BGP service must be restarted as well.
 
In this example, after restarting BGP, SD-WAN rules with route-tags are going to match again the correct addresses.
 
FGT-7-2 # execute router clear bgp all
FGT-7-2 # diagnose sys sdwan service
 
Service(1): Address Mode(IPV4) flags=0x200 use-shortcut-sla
 Tie break: cfg
  Gen(2), TOS(0x0/0x0), Protocol(0: 1->65535), Mode(manual)
  Members(1):
    1: Seq_num(3 port1), alive, selected
  Route tag address(1):
        8.8.8.8-8.8.8.8
 
Service(2): Address Mode(IPV4) flags=0x200 use-shortcut-sla
 Tie break: cfg
  Gen(1), TOS(0x0/0x0), Protocol(0: 1->65535), Mode(manual)
  Members(2):
    1: Seq_num(2 port9), alive, selected
    2: Seq_num(1 port8), alive, selected
  Dst address(1):
        0.0.0.0-255.255.255.255
 
Note: Restarting BGP is traffic affecting, as the BGP connection will be teared down and will need to be re-established. 
 
Note: This is only valid for 7.2 or below. From 7.4, the route-tag handling has been redesigned (Add route tag address objects) and an SD-WAN reset will not lose route-tag information.
 
Related articles:
Using BGP tags with SD-WAN rules (for 7.2 or earlier)
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