In theSD-WAN 7.6 Core Administratorcurriculum, the "Prefer Passive" probe mode is a hybrid monitoring strategy designed to minimize the overhead of synthetic traffic (probes) while maintaining link health visibility. According to theFortiOS 7.6 Administration Guideand theSD-WAN Study Guide, the behavior and impacts are as follows:

TCP Traffic Requirement (Option E):Passive monitoring relies on the FortiGate’s ability to inspect actual user traffic to calculate health metrics such as Latency, Jitter, and Packet Loss. Specifically, it usesTCP traffic(by analyzing TCP sequence numbers and timestamps to calculate Round Trip Time - RTT). If user traffic is flowing through the member interface, the FortiGate uses those real-world sessions for SLA calculations instead of sending its own probes.

Inability to Detect Dead Members (Option C):A significant limitation of passive monitoring is that it cannot distinguish between a "dead" link and an "idle" link. If there is no traffic, the passive monitor has no data to analyze. Consequently, while in passive mode, the SD-WAN enginecannot detect a dead member. To mitigate this, "Prefer Passive" includes a fail-safe: if no traffic is detected for a specific period (typically3 minutes), the FortiGate will automatically switch toActive mode(sending ICMP/TCP pings) to verify if the link is actually alive.

Why other options are incorrect:

Option A:Passive monitoring generallydisables hardware offloading (ASIC)for the monitored traffic. This is because the CPU must inspect every packet header to calculate performance metrics; if the traffic were offloaded to the Network Processor (NP), the CPU would not see the packets, rendering passive monitoring impossible.

Option B:While active probes often use ICMP,passive monitoringis specifically designed forTCP trafficbecause the TCP protocol's ACK structure allows for accurate RTT and loss calculation without synthetic packets.

Option D:The "3-minute" timer is actually the trigger to switchfrom passive to activewhen traffic is absent, not the fallback timer to return to passive. The fallback to passive happens as soon as valid TCP traffic is detected again.

According to theFortiSASE 7.6 Administration Guideand theFCP - FortiSASE 24/25 Administratorstudy materials, FortiSASE supports three primary external (remote) authentication sources to verify the identity of remote users (SIA and SPA users). These sources allow organizations to leverage their existing identity infrastructure for seamless onboarding and policy enforcement:

Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) (Option A):This is the most common and recommended method for modern SASE deployments. FortiSASE acts as aSAML Service Provider (SP)and integrates withIdentity Providers (IdP)such as Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD), Okta, or FortiAuthenticator. This enables Single Sign-On (SSO) and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) (Option C):FortiSASE can connect to on-premises or cloud-based LDAP servers (such as Windows Active Directory). This allows the administrator to map existing AD groups to FortiSASE user groups for granular security policy application.

Remote Authentication Dial-in User Service (RADIUS) (Option E):RADIUS is supported for organizations that use centralized authentication servers or traditional MFA solutions (like RSA SecurID). FortiSASE can query a RADIUS server to validate user credentials before granting access to the SASE tunnel.

Why other options are incorrect:

OpenID Connect (OIDC) (Option B):While OIDC is a modern authentication protocol similar to SAML, FortiSASE's primary integration for external Identity Providers is currently standardized onSAML 2.0.

TACACS+ (Option D):Terminal Access Controller Access-Control System Plus is primarily used foradministrative access(AAA) to network devices (like logging into a FortiGate CLI or FortiManager). It is not used for end-user VPN or SASE authentication in the Fortinet ecosystem.

According to theFortiSASE 7.6 Administration Guideand theFCP - FortiSASE 24/25training materials, FortiSASE leverages a cloud-native FortiAnalyzer instance to provide specialized reports. These reports are designed to give administrators visibility into remote user behavior, endpoint health, and cloud application usage.

The three valid and standard report types available directly within the FortiSASE portal are:

Web Usage Summary Report (Option A):This report provides a high-level overview of web activity across the SASE deployment. It categorizes traffic by website categories (e.g., Social Media, Streaming, Malicious Sites), top users by bandwidth, and blocked requests, helping IT teams understand how internet resources are being consumed by remote workers.

Vulnerability Assessment Report (Option C):Since FortiSASE integrates with FortiClient and an embedded EMS, it can aggregate vulnerability scan data from managed endpoints. This report lists software vulnerabilities found on user devices (OS-level and application-level), providing a "Security Rating" or posture assessment that is critical for Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) enforcement.

Shadow IT Report (Option D):Leveraging the built-inCASB (Cloud Access Security Broker)capabilities, this report identifies "unsanctioned" or "risky" SaaS applications being used by employees. It helps organizations discover hidden security risks by cataloging cloud applications that have not been explicitly approved by the IT department.

Why other options are incorrect:

Endpoint Compliance Deviation Report (Option B):While FortiSASE performs compliance checks via ZTNA tags, this specific name is not a standard "Report Type" template in the portal; compliance is typically monitored via theEndpoint ManagementorZTNA Dashboards.

Cyber Threat Assessment (Option E):TheCyber Threat Assessment Program (CTAP)is a specific Fortinet sales and auditing tool used to generate a one-time report on a network's security posture (often used for FortiGate evaluations). It is not a native, recurring report type within the day-to-day FortiSASE administration interface.

According to theSD-WAN 7.6 Core Administratorstudy guide and theFortiOS 7.6 Administration Guide, for the FortiGate SD-WAN engine to successfully steer traffic using SD-WAN rules, three fundamental configuration components must be in place. This is because the SD-WAN rule lookup occurs only after certain initial conditions are met in the packet flow:

Interfaces (Option C):You must first define the physical or logical interfaces (such as ISP links, LTE, or VPN tunnels) asSD-WAN members. These members are then typically grouped intoSD-WAN Zones. Without designated member interfaces, there is no "pool" of links for the SD-WAN rules to select from.

Routing (Option D):For a packet to even be considered by the SD-WAN engine, there must be a matching route in theForwarding Information Base (FIB). Usually, this is a static route where the destination is the network you want to reach, and the gateway interface is set to theSD-WAN virtual interface(or a specific SD-WAN zone). If there is no route pointing to SD-WAN, the FortiGate will use other routing table entries (like a standard static route) and bypass the SD-WAN rule-based steering logic entirely.

Firewall Policies (Option A):In FortiOS, no traffic is allowed to pass through the device unless aFirewall Policypermits it. To steer traffic, you must have a policy where theIncoming Interfaceis the internal network and theOutgoing Interfaceis the SD-WAN zone (or the virtual-wan-link). The SD-WAN rule selection happens during the "Dirty" session state, which requires a policy match to proceed with the session creation.

Why other options are incorrect:

Security Profiles (Option B):While mandatory forApplication-levelsteering (to identify L7 signatures), basic SD-WAN steering based on IP addresses, ports, or ISDB objects does not require security profiles to be active.

Traffic Shaping (Option E):This is an optimization feature used to manage bandwidth once steering is already determined; it is not a prerequisite for the steering engine itself to function.

According to theFortiSASE 7.6 Feature Administration Guide, steering bypass destinations (also known as split tunneling) allow administrators to optimize bandwidth by redirecting specific trusted traffic away from the SASE tunnel to the endpoint's local physical interface.

Destination Types (Option C): When creating a bypass destination, administrators can select from four distinct types:Infrastructure(pre-defined apps like Zoom/O365),FQDN(specific domains),Local Application(identifying processes on the laptop), orSubnet(specific IP ranges).

Apply Condition (Option B): The "Apply" condition is a flexible setting that allows the administrator to choose when the bypass is active. It can be applied to endpoints that areOn-net(inside the office),Off-net(remote), orBoth. This ensures that if a user is in the office, they don't use the SASE tunnel for local resources, but if they are home, they might still bypass high-bandwidth sites like YouTube to preserve tunnel capacity.

Why other options are incorrect:

Option A: Subnet is one of four types and is not the only type supporting these conditions.

Option D: The system explicitly supports "Both" to ensure consistency across network transitions.