FortiGate Next Generation Firewall utilizes purpose-built security processors and threat intelligence security services from FortiGuard labs to deliver top-rated protection and high performance, including encrypted traffic.
The article describes BFD as a fast, low-overhead protocol that quickly detects link or path failures between adjacent devices and enables faster routing convergence in FortiOS v7.x and later.
Scope
FortiGate.
Solution
Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) is a lightweight and fast protocol used to detect link or path failures between two directly connected network devices. In FortiOS v7.x and later, BFD enables sub-second failure detection, independent of routing protocol timers.
BFD continuously exchanges small control packets between adjacent forwarding devices to verify connectivity at the forwarding plane level. This allows FortiGate to quickly detect failures related to interfaces, physical links, or forwarding engines and immediately notify routing protocols such as OSPF and BGP.
By using BFD, FortiOS significantly reduces convergence time, ensuring faster failover, improved network stability, and minimal traffic disruption in high-availability and dynamic routing environments.
Key benefits :
Sub-second failure detection.
Routing protocol–independent operation.
Faster convergence for OSPF and BGP.
Improved resiliency in HA and dynamic routing setups.
