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Esteemed Contributor III
January 2, 2006
Question

DMZ port not working?

hey. I set up a dhcp server for the dmz interface, but when I plug a computer directly into the DMZ port on the back of my Fortigate 60 (I have 4, tried this on 2 to the same avail leading me to believe Im doing something wrong) the computer just reports that a network cable is unplugged. on the main status page, the dmz interface is listed as being up. am I missing something???

    11 replies

    Esteemed Contributor III
    January 2, 2006
    Hi, if you have another FG60, try another router. We have found 2 with faulty DMZ. Also recently we had to reformat the unit and reload the firmware and restore config files. Then it started working again. All was OK with unit EXCEPT DMZ in all three cases
    Esteemed Contributor III
    January 3, 2006
    bah. thats not good news to hear. Ill have to call up fortinet and whine. I really need that dmz port.
    Esteemed Contributor III
    January 3, 2006
    Go back to your dealer and they should provide a loan unit whilst it is getting looked at. The first thing to do is FORMAT the unit and reload the firmware. This may fix it. (a corrupt firmware) - AND this can happen without an upgrade
    edsouza_FTNT
    Staff
    Staff
    January 3, 2006
    My silly question for the day: Are you using a crossover cable instead of a regular cable?
    Esteemed Contributor III
    March 4, 2006
    Apparently you are supposed to use crossover cable for the DMZ port -- that' s the only way it works. Too bad that this bit of information is no where to be found in the documentation ... is this such a basic thing that you need to use crossover cable for the DMZ?
    edsouza_FTNT
    Staff
    Staff
    March 7, 2006
    Actually my question was where you using a cross over cable instead of a regular cable? It is very odd that you need to use a cross over cable to connect directly to a computer. Did you check if you have faulty cables? Maybe the cross over cable works because the other cable was faulty.
    Esteemed Contributor III
    March 7, 2006
    Yes, the crossover cable thing is pretty basic. All older switches/hubs I know of either have a crossoverport or you need to use a crossover cable to connect two switches. The same goes for two network devices. Its the same as connecting two computers, either you use a switch or a crossover cable. Since the fortigates normally are connected to switches, they have the same port layout as computers. Newer switches often have automatic crossover as a feature, they detect if another switch is connected. Thats IMHO why the need for crossover cables gets forgotten in the last few years. If you connect a switch to the dmz port you dont need a crossover cable.
    Esteemed Contributor III
    March 7, 2006
    Stefan, I knew about using the crossover cable to connect two network devices but in this case I was referring to the FTG-60:DMZ-->HOST connection that requires crossover cable. edsouza, It is very odd -- I tried the same cable that didn' t work in the DMZ port and it worked fine in the INTERNAL/WAN ports. I even had to return one unit back to FN ... when I received the replacement it also had a " faulty" DMZ port at which point I decided to try the crossover cable and found out that it worked.
    Esteemed Contributor III
    March 8, 2006
    Strange... it seems then that some units are equipped with a crossover port for the dmz and some with a straight port. Alright, this would pose a problem... For connecting a single host to the dmz I would expect the need of a crossover cable. Thats because normally I would connect a network to the dmz port, so I expect to be able to connect a switch with a straight cable to the dmz port. Since the newer switches are mostly equipped with autocrossover I naturally don' t even encounter this issue. @MVE: do you use switches at the INTERNAL port? If yes, you naturally won' t need a crossover cable. If no, perhaps the PC comes with autocrossover at the NIC?
    Esteemed Contributor III
    March 8, 2006
    Stefan, What you are saying makes a lot of sense. I guess I am the only one that tried to connect a single HOST directly to the DMZ port ... if originally, I were to connect a switch/hub to the DMZ and then fan out from there I would not have found this issue to begin with ... FTG-60' s INTERNAL ports (4) are actually sitting on an built-in switch that' s why it works fine with a straight connection to a HOST. DMZ on the other hand is different and requires crossover cable when making a direct connection to a HOST.
    Esteemed Contributor III
    March 13, 2006
    That makes sense. I didn' t consider the builtin switch.
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