Technical Tip: General Troubleshooting Library for Administrators

[Adam_Shortt_FTNT]

Description	This article describes items that can be resolved without involving TAC.
Scope	FortiGate
Solution	Fortinet's Technical Assistance Center (TAC) is always ready and willing to assist users in need. However, some tasks are considered routine administrative duties and should first be attempted by a qualified administrator before engaging TAC as often these issues can be resolved faster using available documentation. It is important to note the below activities may require TAC support after initial actions are performed by the firewall administrator. Routine administrative duties that an administrator should be able to perform unassisted initially: New deployments, as well as network design requests. Administrators must attempt to set up the feature/environment first beforehand. Note: TAC does not design/implement new network topologies on behalf of clients (i.e. they are a 'break/fix' oriented team that resolves individual issues within existing environments). If more in-depth technical consulting services are required (i.e. having a designated engineer assigned to design/deploy/optimize new network topologies), then consider engaging the services of the Fortinet Professional Services team (see also: FortiCare Professional Services). Firmware upgrades: Upgrade path, release notes (v7.6, v7.4, v7.2), upgrade instructions, HA cluster upgrade instructions. Hardware validation using HQIP commands Conserve mode: prevention, diagnostics. HA checksum troubleshooting HA cluster formation/rebuilding Initial FortiGate configuration Whitelist/bypass policy to exempt select hosts from scanning. Basic connectivity troubleshooting. Basic SSL VPN troubleshooting. Basic IPsec VPN troubleshooting. Basic authentication troubleshooting LDAP, RADIUS, SAML. Basic DHCP troubleshooting. Basic DNS troubleshooting. FortiGuard troubleshooting: Connectivity, DNS rating errors, Web filter issues. Basic routing troubleshooting. Basic throughput troubleshooting. Basic logging troubleshooting. Console access for continual monitoring. Restricting system access to appropriate parties: SSL VPN options, Trusted hosts and local in policies. Programming-related configuration scope (API, Regex, signatures, HTML, scripting, reports). Standby support requests (unless an issue has been previously encountered). Higher levels of support can cover this need. Performance evaluation on CPU or memory after enabling security features, unless it is high CPU: Technical Tip: Debugs for troubleshooting high CPU Issues) or high memory(Troubleshooting Tip: How to do initial troubleshooting of high memory utilization issues (conserve m...troubleshoot. Configuration Migration. Customers must either use the FortiConverter tool or seek professional services. A CLI cheat sheet reference for diagnostics can be used to gather details before engaging TAC. Related article: Technical Tip: Technical Support on customization Technical Tip: Fortinet Support: FortiCare Service Level Agreements and FortiCare Case Priority Technical Tip: How to enhance experience with TAC representative