Technical Tip: Update Online/Offline Host state based on Agent communication.
| Description | This article describes how to use the Persistent Agent communication to determine the Host state (Online/Offline). |
| Scope | FortiNAC, FortiNAC-F. |
| Solution | FortiNAC determines the Online/Offline status of a host based on L2 polling (Reading the MAC address table). The Host status is important in the FortiNAC decision to take control or not. If a Host cannot be learned from polling, FortiNAC will report it as Offline, and no control actions(VLAN change attempt) will be performed on it.
The Persistent Agent has a feature to change Host Status Online/Offline based on its communication with FortiNAC. This feature can be applied to a specific group of hosts where FortiNAC has no visibility through L2 polling. Enable it through a drop-down button where a group is selected in System -> Settings -> Persistent Agent -> Properties -> Connect Hosts in Group when Agent Connects.
 Figure 1. Example enabling "Connect Hosts in Group when Agent Connects" for any host in "Registered Hosts" group.
In some environments, it is not possible to collect host data from polling. This could be the case for Virtual hosts whose MAC address might not be found in the Topology devices in Network Inventory. The feature will make it possible to apply control to host groups where there is limited visibility.
Related documents: Technical Tip: Track rogue/host profiling data through Endpoint Fingerprints |