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Back to NSE7_EFW-7.2 Exam

This 5-week study plan focuses on mastering the key knowledge areas of the NSE7_EFW-7.2 exam. The plan uses the Pomodoro Technique for focused study sessions and incorporates Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve principles for effective revision. Each week has a clear goal, and each day includes specific tasks aligned with these goals.

Week 1: System Configuration

Goal: Understand and practice System Initialization, High Availability (HA), and Performance Optimization.

Day 1: Device Initialization

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):

    1. Learn: Interface Configuration:
      • Assigning IP addresses, subnet masks, and enabling management access (HTTPS, SSH).
      • VLAN setup and its role in traffic segmentation.
    2. Learn: System Services:
      • DNS configuration for name resolution.
      • NTP (Network Time Protocol) setup to synchronize time.

  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 3. Practice: Use CLI commands:

    • show system interface, execute ping, execute traceroute to understand interface details and troubleshoot connectivity.
    1. Practice: Set up a lab to configure basic interface settings and test connectivity.

Day 2: High Availability (HA) Basics

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):

    1. Learn: HA modes:
      • Active-Passive and Active-Active configurations and their use cases.
    2. Learn: Heartbeat detection and session synchronization:
      • How FortiGate ensures uninterrupted service during failover.

  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 3. Practice: Configure an HA cluster:

    • Set up heartbeat interfaces, configure priority, and test failover scenarios.
    1. Practice: Use diagnose sys ha status to observe HA health and session states.

Day 3: Performance Optimization

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):
    1. Learn: Hardware Acceleration:
      • Network Processors (NP) and Content Processors (CP) for traffic optimization.
    2. Learn: Diagnostic tools:
      • Monitor CPU and memory usage with diagnose sys top.
      • Trace traffic with diag debug flow.
  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 3. Practice: Simulate traffic in the lab and monitor how hardware acceleration impacts performance.
    1. Practice: Troubleshoot traffic flow using diag debug flow.

Day 4: Review and Quiz

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):
    1. Review: Go through your notes on Initialization, HA, and Performance Optimization.
    2. Flashcards: Use flashcards to recall key commands and configurations.
  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 3. Quiz: Take a practice quiz covering topics from Days 1-3.
    1. Lab Practice: Reconfigure the HA setup and test failovers again.

Day 5: Reinforcement and Practice

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):
    1. Revisit: Reconfigure interface settings in a fresh lab environment.
    2. Revisit: Practice setting up multiple VLANs and managing traffic segmentation.
  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 3. Experiment: Test advanced HA configurations (e.g., active-active scenarios).
    1. Experiment: Optimize traffic flow using diagnostic tools.

Day 6: Mini Mock Exam

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):
    1. Test Yourself: Take a short mock exam focusing on Week 1 topics.
  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 2. Review Mistakes: Go over any incorrect answers to reinforce weak areas.

Day 7: Rest and Recap

  • Take the day to rest and lightly recap important commands and concepts.
  • Prepare mentally for Week 2.

Week 2: Central Management

Goal: Learn FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer for centralized management, and understand global policy configurations.

Day 1: FortiManager Basics

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):
    1. Learn: Device Management:
      • How to add devices to FortiManager and sync configurations.
      • Group devices for shared policies.
    2. Learn: Policy Packages:
      • Create, edit, and deploy policy packages to multiple devices.
  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 3. Practice: Add a FortiGate device to FortiManager and sync its configuration.
    1. Practice: Deploy a basic policy package to the device.

Day 2: Advanced Policy Management

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):
    1. Learn: Use scripts in FortiManager:
      • Apply bulk changes across devices.
    2. Learn: Configuration snapshots and rollbacks:
      • Track changes and restore stable configurations.
  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 3. Practice: Write a script to change NTP settings across multiple devices.
    1. Practice: Test the rollback feature in FortiManager.

Day 3: FortiAnalyzer Basics

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):
    1. Learn: Log Collection:
      • Types of logs (traffic, event, user activity).
    2. Learn: Dashboards:
      • Visualize trends and summaries in FortiAnalyzer.
  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 3. Practice: Analyze logs for blocked traffic and policy violations.
    1. Practice: Generate a report summarizing security events for the past week.

Day 4: Global Policy Management

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):
    1. Learn: Centralized security rules:
      • Create global policies and deploy them across multiple domains/devices.
    2. Learn: Integration with FortiAnalyzer:
      • Enhance log visibility for global policy deployment.
  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 3. Practice: Create a global policy and apply it to multiple devices.
    1. Practice: Use FortiAnalyzer to monitor global policy compliance.

Day 5: Reinforcement and Practice

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):
    1. Revisit: Practice adding multiple devices to FortiManager and grouping them effectively.
    2. Revisit: Redeploy policy packages with slight modifications.
  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 3. Experiment: Test large-scale logging scenarios in FortiAnalyzer.
    1. Experiment: Create reports for specific logs like IPS or DNS events.

Day 6: Mini Mock Exam

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):
    1. Test Yourself: Take a short mock exam focusing on Central Management.
  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 2. Review Mistakes: Identify and improve weak areas.

Day 7: Rest and Recap

  • Rest and lightly revise topics covered in Week 2.
  • Skim through key notes and prepare for Security Profiles in Week 3.

Week 3: Security Profiles

Goal: Master Web Filtering, IPS, Application Control, Antivirus, and DNS Filtering.

Day 1: Web Filtering

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):
    1. Learn: FortiGuard URL categorization:
      • How websites are grouped into predefined categories.
      • Blocking risky categories (e.g., Malicious Websites, Gambling).
    2. Learn: HTTPS traffic scanning:
      • SSL/SSH inspection for monitoring encrypted traffic.
  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 3. Practice: Block website categories and enable SSL inspection in a Web Filter profile.
    1. Practice: Configure a custom URL filter to block specific websites and test its behavior.

Day 2: Intrusion Prevention System (IPS)

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):
    1. Learn: Predefined IPS signatures:
      • Identify and block known vulnerabilities using FortiGuard’s database.
    2. Learn: Custom IPS signatures:
      • How to write rules tailored to your network.
  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 3. Practice: Apply a default IPS profile in a security policy and monitor blocked threats.
    1. Practice: Write a simple custom IPS signature and test it in the lab.

Day 3: Application Control

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):
    1. Learn: Application identification:
      • How FortiGate detects and categorizes applications (e.g., Facebook, Skype).
    2. Learn: Bandwidth prioritization:
      • Using Quality of Service (QoS) to ensure critical applications (e.g., VoIP) get priority bandwidth.
  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 3. Practice: Block non-business applications (e.g., Social Media) during work hours using an Application Control profile.
    1. Practice: Apply QoS to prioritize video conferencing traffic over streaming apps.

Day 4: Antivirus and DNS Filtering

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):
    1. Learn: Real-time antivirus scanning:
      • Detecting and blocking malicious files before they enter the network.
    2. Learn: DNS filtering:
      • Blocking access to malicious domains to prevent botnet or phishing attacks.
  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 3. Practice: Enable real-time antivirus in a security policy and test with sample files.
    1. Practice: Configure DNS filtering to block specific categories of domains (e.g., Botnets).

Day 5: Integration and Practice

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):
    1. Integrate: Combine Web Filtering, IPS, and Application Control into a single security policy.
    2. Test: Create traffic scenarios to see how each profile blocks or allows traffic.
  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 3. Experiment: Tune your security profiles for optimal performance in a lab environment.
    1. Document: Write down troubleshooting steps for common issues like SSL inspection failure or IPS rule misfires.

Day 6: Mini Mock Exam

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):
    1. Test Yourself: Take a practice exam focusing on Security Profiles.
  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 2. Review Mistakes: Identify weak areas and revisit key concepts.

Day 7: Rest and Recap

  • Rest and lightly revise Security Profiles.
  • Skim through your notes and flashcards for key terms and configurations.
  • Prepare for advanced topics in Routing and VPN.

Week 4: Advanced Routing

Goal: Master Static and Dynamic Routing, including OSPF, BGP, and SD-WAN.

Day 1: Static Routing

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):
    1. Learn: Default routes and destination-specific routes:
      • How to manually define routes for internet and internal networks.
    2. Learn: Equal Cost Multi-Path (ECMP):
      • Load balancing traffic across multiple paths.
  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 3. Practice: Configure default and specific static routes in a lab.
    1. Experiment: Test ECMP by creating multiple routes to the same destination.

Day 2: OSPF Basics

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):
    1. Learn: OSPF areas and neighbors:
      • How routers communicate and exchange routes.
    2. Learn: Adjusting OSPF costs to influence routing paths.
  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 3. Practice: Configure an OSPF network with a backbone area.
    1. Experiment: Adjust OSPF costs and observe changes in route selection.

Day 3: BGP Basics

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):
    1. Learn: BGP neighbors:
      • Establishing peer relationships between autonomous systems (AS).
    2. Learn: Route filtering:
      • Control which routes are advertised and accepted.
  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 3. Practice: Configure a simple BGP setup between two ASes.
    1. Experiment: Apply route filters to limit route propagation.

Day 4: SD-WAN

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):
    1. Learn: SD-WAN concepts:
      • Traffic distribution based on link performance (latency, jitter, etc.).
    2. Learn: Health checks for link monitoring:
      • How FortiGate detects and avoids link failures.
  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 3. Practice: Configure SD-WAN rules to prioritize critical applications.
    1. Experiment: Simulate link failure and observe SD-WAN behavior.

Day 5: Reinforcement and Integration

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):
    1. Integrate: Combine OSPF, BGP, and SD-WAN in a single lab.
    2. Test: Create complex traffic scenarios to observe route selection and failover.
  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 3. Document: Note common routing issues and their solutions.
    1. Review: Revisit any unclear concepts or configurations.

Day 6: Mini Mock Exam

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):
    1. Test Yourself: Take a practice exam focusing on Routing topics.
  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 2. Review Mistakes: Identify weak areas and revisit key concepts.

Day 7: Rest and Recap

  • Rest and review routing configurations and related concepts.
  • Prepare for the final week on VPN.

Week 5: VPN Configuration

Goal: Master IPsec VPN, SSL VPN, and Auto-Discovery VPN (ADVPN) for secure communication.

Day 1: IPsec VPN Basics

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):

    1. Learn: IPsec VPN concepts:
      • The purpose of Phase 1 (IKE negotiation) and Phase 2 (IPsec tunnel establishment).
    2. Learn: Encryption protocols:
      • AES256 and SHA256 for secure communication.

  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 3. Practice: Configure Phase 1 on a FortiGate device:

    • Set the remote gateway, PSK, and encryption protocols.
    1. Practice: Configure Phase 2:
      • Define source and destination subnets and test connectivity.

Day 2: Advanced IPsec VPN

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):
    1. Learn: IKEv2:
      • Faster key exchange and NAT traversal.
    2. Learn: Troubleshooting tools:
      • Use commands like diagnose vpn tunnel list and diagnose debug application ike.
  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 3. Practice: Convert an existing VPN to use IKEv2.
    1. Practice: Simulate a misconfiguration (e.g., wrong PSK) and troubleshoot the issue.

Day 3: SSL VPN Basics

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):
    1. Learn: SSL VPN modes:
      • Web Mode (browser-based access to specific applications).
      • Tunnel Mode (full network access).
    2. Learn: User Authentication:
      • Using LDAP, RADIUS, and local user databases for secure access.
  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 3. Practice: Configure SSL VPN Web Mode for access to a single server.
    1. Practice: Configure Tunnel Mode for full network access and test user connectivity.

Day 4: Advanced SSL VPN

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):
    1. Learn: Customizing SSL VPN portals:
      • Configure different user experiences based on user groups.
    2. Learn: Split tunneling:
      • Allow internet traffic to bypass the VPN for optimized performance.
  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 3. Practice: Create a custom portal for administrative users with more access.
    1. Practice: Enable split tunneling and verify traffic flow.

Day 5: Auto-Discovery VPN (ADVPN)

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):

    1. Learn: ADVPN concepts:
      • Dynamic tunnel creation between branches to reduce latency.
    2. Learn: Hub-and-Spoke configuration:
      • How the hub manages initial traffic flows.

  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 3. Practice: Set up an ADVPN hub:

    • Configure dynamic peers and route advertisement.
    1. Practice: Connect two branches dynamically through the hub and test traffic flow.

Day 6: Reinforcement and Integration

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):
    1. Integrate: Combine IPsec and SSL VPNs in a single lab:
      • Allow remote users and site-to-site connectivity simultaneously.
    2. Test: Simulate different user access levels and connectivity scenarios.
  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 3. Experiment: Test ADVPN under simulated link failures to ensure stability.
    1. Document: Write troubleshooting steps for common VPN issues (e.g., handshake failures, connectivity problems).

Day 7: Final Mock Exam and Review

  • Morning (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours):
    1. Test Yourself: Take a full-length mock exam covering all topics from Weeks 1-5.
    2. Review: Mark areas that need improvement.
  • Afternoon (4 Pomodoros, 2 hours): 3. Reinforce: Go over weak areas from the exam, revisiting notes and practicing configurations.
    1. Reflect: Summarize key lessons and prepare mentally for the real exam.

Key Techniques Throughout the Week

  1. Pomodoro Technique: Maintain focus with 25-minute study intervals and short breaks.
  2. Spaced Repetition: Review VPN concepts on Days 2, 4, and 6 to solidify memory.
  3. Hands-On Practice: Dedicate at least 50% of your study time to configuring VPNs in a lab environment.

Final Notes

By the end of Week 5, you should have:

  • A clear understanding of System Configuration, Central Management, Security Profiles, Routing, and VPNs.
  • Practical experience in configuring and troubleshooting FortiGate features.
  • Confidence in taking the NSE7_EFW-7.2 exam.