Technical Tip: Cleaning Up Network Interface in FortiManager

[madhan]

Description	This article describes how to safely remove a network interface in FortiManager. It provides a detailed guide on how to delete an interface from rules and policies, normalized interfaces, and the device database.
Scope	FortiManager.
Solution	As FortiManager expected behavior, the object created needs to be referenced to a rule or a policy to get it installed into FortiGate. In addition to that behavior, any referenced object simply cannot be deleted as it is being used and will cause trouble when installing due to configuration errors. Below are the steps to remove the interface from the FortiManager: Locate the interface in the Policy & Objects -> Normalized Interface. 'Right-click' the interface and select Where Used: A pane will pop up displaying where the interface object is being referred to in the database. Select the entry and select 'Edit' to configure and remove the interface directly, or select 'View' to view the policy in Policy & Objects -> Policy Packages to completely remove the unused policy. After cleaning up the reference, double-check the 'Where Used' pane and ensure that it shows 'No record found': The normalized interface or the mapping to the device can be deleted once there is no reference being made. Note: The interface cannot be deleted in the device database if there is a mapping to the dynamic interface. To delete the interface, the device-level configuration needs to be done in Device Manager -> Device & Groups -> Selected Device -> Network -> Interface. And then proceeds to select the interface and select 'Delete'. Note: Deleting in Normalized Interface ONLY will not delete the interface in the device because Normalized Interface is the FortiManager database and not the device database.