FortiGate
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.
wmichael
Staff
Staff
Article Id 387757
Description

This article discusses the cause of an issue when an interface is unable to be removed from a zone.

Scope FortiGate.
Solution

Under some circumstances, an interface cannot be removed from a zone.

 

Note: This article refers to interface zones and not SD-WAN zones.

 

In this example, there are three zones. Attempting to remove port2 from the Outside zone fails.

 

01-zones.jpg

 

Removing port2 in the GUI:

 

02-port2-removed.jpg

 

No errors are displayed in the GUI, however, port2 remains in the zone.

 

03-port2-not removed.jpg

 

When trying to remove port2 from the zone on the CLI, the following error is observed:

 

Outside is used in policy. port2 can not be removed.

[set_member_to_context_data:4451] node_unset_object(port2) error

 

04-CLI-error.jpg

 

The cause of this issue is that there is a firewall policy using a VIP with port2 as the external interface.

 

VIP using port2 as the external interface:

 

05-VIP.jpg

 

Firewall Policy using the VIP as a destination:

 

06-VIP-in-policy.jpg

 

By removing the VIP from the policy, port2 can successfully be removed from the zone.

 

07-port2-removed-CLI.jpg

 

The GUI no longer displays port2 as part of the zone:

 

08-port2-removed-GUI.jpg

 

For more information about configuring zones, see: Zone.

 

Related articles:

Technical Tip: Virtual IP (VIP) port forwarding configuration

Technical Tip: Pros and Cons of using 'any' for Virtual IP Interface versus a specific interface