Fortinet NSE7_SSE_AD-25 - Fortinet NSE 7 - FortiSASE 25 Enterprise Administrator

To enable remote users to access internal applications located behind an existing FortiGate SD-WAN hub, the customer must license the FortiSASE Secure Private Access (SPA) add-on.

Secure Private Access (SPA) Use Case: This specific add-on is designed to extend the Fortinet Security Fabric into the SASE cloud, allowing for a hub-and-spoke architecture where the FortiSASE PoPs act as spokes and the customer's on-premises FortiGate acts as the hub.

Licensing Requirements: The SPA add-on is a per-hub (per service connection) license. It provides the necessary entitlements to establish IPsec tunnels and BGP peering between the SASE infrastructure and the corporate FortiGate.

Feature Enablement: Once the SPA license is applied, the Configuration > Private Access menu becomes available in the FortiSASE portal. This allows administrators to define "Service Connections" to their private data centers or cloud VPCs.

Analysis of Other Options:

Option A: The Global add-on is typically related to expanding the geographic reach or performance of the SASE PoPs, not specifically for private resource routing.

Option B: The Branch On-Ramp refers to connecting physical office locations (Thin Edge) to SASE, rather than the specific licensing for private application access for remote users.

Option D: Dedicated Public IP Address is used for source IP anchoring (SIA) to ensure remote users egress with a consistent IP for third-party SaaS IP-whitelisting.

The FortiSASE On/off-net detection feature is a two-part configuration designed to optimize bandwidth and user experience by determining when a device is in a trusted environment.

Rule Set Definition: The first part involves defining what constitutes an "on-net" or "on-fabric" status. In this scenario, the customer successfully configured a rule set named CERT-PUBLIC-IP using the Connects with a known public IP detection type. This tells FortiSASE that if the endpoint’s public WAN IP matches the corporate gateway, it is considered to be on the corporate network.

Profile Exemption Logic: Defining the rule set is not enough to stop the VPN connection. Within the Endpoint Profile (under the Connection tab > On/off-net Settings), there is a specific toggle labeled Exempt endpoint from FortiSASE auto-connect when endpoint is on-net (or in some versions, Bypass FortiSASE when endpoint is on-net).

Exhibit Analysis: Looking at the provided exhibit (image_57097d.jpg), the "Exempt endpoint from FortiSASE auto-connect..." toggle is clearly disabled (switched to the left).

Root Cause: Because this toggle is disabled, FortiClient identifies that it is "on-net" based on the IP rule, but it has no instruction to skip the VPN connection. Consequently, the "Automatically" initiate tunnel setting remains the dominant instruction, causing the VPN to connect regardless of the network location.

To resolve the issue, the administrator must enable the Exempt endpoint from FortiSASE auto-connect when endpoint is on-net option in the SASECert01 profile.

FortiSASE brings the following advantages to businesses with multiple branch offices:

Centralized Management for Simplified Administration:

FortiSASE provides a centralized management platform that allows administrators to manage security policies, configurations, and monitoring from a single interface.

This simplifies the administration and reduces the complexity of managing multiple branch offices.

Eliminates the Need for On-Premises Firewalls:

FortiSASE enables secure access to the internet and cloud applications without requiring dedicated on-premises firewalls at each branch office.

This reduces hardware costs and simplifies network architecture, as security functions are handled by the cloud-based FortiSASE solution.

FortiSASE Secure Private Access (SPA) offers two distinct architectural methods for connecting remote users to private applications: SD-WAN-based SPA and ZTNA-based SPA. Each utilizes a different traffic flow to balance security and performance requirements.

SD-WAN Private Access (Hub-and-Spoke): In this model, the FortiSASE Security Points of Presence (PoPs) act as spokes in a traditional hub-and-spoke VPN topology. When a remote user attempts to access a private network, the traffic is first steered to the closest FortiSASE PoP. The PoP then routes that traffic over a persistent IPsec tunnel to the corporate FortiGate hub (or SPA hub). This ensures that all traffic, regardless of protocol (TCP/UDP), can be inspected by the SASE security stack before entering the private network.

Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA): Unlike the SD-WAN approach, ZTNA is designed for a "shortest path" connection. While FortiSASE manages the endpoint's posture and issues certificates, the actual application traffic (the data plane) bypasses the FortiSASE PoP. Instead, the FortiClient agent on the endpoint establishes a direct HTTPS or TCP-forwarding connection to the ZTNA Access Proxy configured on the corporate FortiGate. This significantly reduces latency and is ideal for high-performance TCP-based applications.

According to the FortiSASE 25 Secure Internet Access Architecture Guide, "In FortiSASE, ZTNA refers to traffic that is destined directly to private resources using the FortiGate ZTNA access proxy traffic flow," whereas for SD-WAN SPA, the PoPs "rely on IPsec overlays... to secure and route traffic between PoPs and the networks behind an organization’s SD-WAN hubs."