Fortinet black logo

Administration Guide

How FortiClient locates FortiGate or EMS

How FortiClient locates FortiGate or EMS

FortiClient uses the following methods in the following order to locate FortiGate or EMS for Telemetry connection:

  • Manually entering the gateway IP address, which means the endpoint user enters the gateway IP address of FortiGate or EMS into FortiClient. See Connecting FortiClient Telemetry manually.
  • Telemetry gateway IP list

    FortiClient Telemetry searches for IP addresses in its subnet in the gateway IP list. It connects to the FortiGate in the list that is also in the same subnet as the host system.

    If FortiClient cannot find any FortiGates in its subnet, it attempts to connect to the first reachable FortiGate in the list, starting from the top. The order of the list is maintained as configured in the gateway IP list.

  • Default gateway IP address

    The default gateway IP address is specified on the FortiClient endpoint and is used to automatically connect to FortiGate. This method does not support connection to EMS.

    FortiClient obtains the default gateway IP address from the OS on the endpoint. The default gateway IP address of the endpoint should be the IP address for the FortiGate interface with Telemetry enabled.

  • VPN
  • Remembered gateway IP list

    You can configure FortiClient to remember gateway IP addresses when you connect Telemetry to FortiGate or EMS. Later FortiClient can use the remembered IP addresses to automatically connect Telemetry to FortiGate or EMS.

FortiClient uses the same process to connect Telemetry to FortiGate or EMS after the FortiClient endpoint reboots, rejoins the network, or encounters a network change.

How FortiClient locates FortiGate or EMS

FortiClient uses the following methods in the following order to locate FortiGate or EMS for Telemetry connection:

  • Manually entering the gateway IP address, which means the endpoint user enters the gateway IP address of FortiGate or EMS into FortiClient. See Connecting FortiClient Telemetry manually.
  • Telemetry gateway IP list

    FortiClient Telemetry searches for IP addresses in its subnet in the gateway IP list. It connects to the FortiGate in the list that is also in the same subnet as the host system.

    If FortiClient cannot find any FortiGates in its subnet, it attempts to connect to the first reachable FortiGate in the list, starting from the top. The order of the list is maintained as configured in the gateway IP list.

  • Default gateway IP address

    The default gateway IP address is specified on the FortiClient endpoint and is used to automatically connect to FortiGate. This method does not support connection to EMS.

    FortiClient obtains the default gateway IP address from the OS on the endpoint. The default gateway IP address of the endpoint should be the IP address for the FortiGate interface with Telemetry enabled.

  • VPN
  • Remembered gateway IP list

    You can configure FortiClient to remember gateway IP addresses when you connect Telemetry to FortiGate or EMS. Later FortiClient can use the remembered IP addresses to automatically connect Telemetry to FortiGate or EMS.

FortiClient uses the same process to connect Telemetry to FortiGate or EMS after the FortiClient endpoint reboots, rejoins the network, or encounters a network change.