Tunnel and Interface Naming Conflict in FortiGate VPN Wizard

[ik9]

Hi everyone,

I’ve encountered a confusing situation when creating IPSec tunnels on FortiGate (version 7.4.8). If I create a loopback interface and then try to create a tunnel interface with the same name (e.g., “TUN-1”), I get a duplicate object or conflict error, which makes sense.

But, if I use the tunnel creation wizard and select “Create” in the interface selector, it sometimes allows me to create a loopback interface and a tunnel-interface with the same name in a single step. I think this might be a validation issue or a bug. According to Fortinet docs and best practices, each interface must have a unique name.

• Is this a known issue with the wizard?

• Could future firmware updates break these configurations with duplicate names?

[HarryTran]

Hi @ik9 

Thanks for your info.

"it sometimes allows me to create a loopback interface and a tunnel-interface with the same name in a single step"

Could you share a bit more about when it happens?
Like:

• Which FortiGate model and FortiOS version you’re using.

• And if you’re working inside a VDOM.

Normally, interface names should be unique, so if both loopback and tunnel share the same name. Would love to see more info, so I can try to reproduce it!

[ik9]

Hi @HarryTran

Thanks for your response.
Sorry for the confusion, but it looks like I can’t reproduce the issue anymore. Now, when I try to create an interface with a duplicate name (tunnel/loopback), I get a -553 error as expected.

One last question: I still have a tunnel interface and a loopback interface both with the same name, created previously. Would you recommend renaming the tunnel to avoid problems in future updates or config changes? Or is it safe to leave them as is, given the new validation?