Enable SSL VPN.

FortiClient disables Windows DNS cache when it establishes an SSL VPN tunnel. The DNS cache is restored after FortiClient disconnects from the SSL VPN tunnel. If you observe that Fortinet Single Sign On clients do not function correctly when an SSL VPN tunnel is up, use Prefer SSL VPN DNS to control the DNS cache.

When disabled, EMS does not add the custom DNS server from SSL VPN to the physical interface. When enabled, EMS prepends the custom DNS server from SSL VPN to the physical interface.

FortiClient does not complete the requested VPN connection when an invalid SSL VPN server certificate is used.

FortiClient displays a warning to the user when an invalid SSL VPN certificate is used.

Enter a VPN name. Use only standard alphanumeric characters. Do not use symbols or accented characters.

Select SSL VPN.

Enter the remote gateway IP address/hostname. You can configure multiple remote gateways by clicking the + button. If one gateway is not available, the tunnel connects to the next configured gateway.

Enter the access port. The default port is 443.

Require a certificate.

Configure a certificate location for FortiClient (Android) to automatically go to when doing the following:

• When selecting a certificate
• When the user clicks Connect to connect to this tunnel

See Certificate path configuration for automated certificate selection.

Prompt for the username when accessing VPN.

Enable application-based split tunnel. FortiClient (Windows) supports source application-based split tunnel, where you can specify which application traffic to exclude from or include in the VPN tunnel. You can exclude high bandwidth-consuming applications for improved performance. For example, you can exclude applications like the following from the VPN tunnel:

• Microsoft Office 365
• Microsoft Teams
• Skype
• GoToMeeting
• Zoom
• WebEx
• YouTube

Once the VPN tunnel is up, FortiClient binds the specified excluded applications to the physical interface.

Select Include or Exclude to configure whether to include or exclude certain application traffic from the VPN tunnel.

You can only exclude local applications from the VPN tunnel. Click Add. In the Add Application(s) field, specify which application traffic to exclude from the VPN tunnel and redirect to the endpoint physical interface. You can specify an application using its process name, full path, or the directory where it is installed. When entering the directory, you must end the value with \. You can enter file and directory paths using environment variables, such as %LOCALAPPDATA%, %programfiles%, and %appdata%. Do not use spaces in the tail or head, or add double quotes to full paths with spaces. You can add multiple entries by separating them with a semicolon.

For example, to exclude Microsoft Teams and Firefox from the VPN tunnel, you can enter any of the following combinations:

• Application Name: teams.exe;firefox.exe
• Full Path: C:\Users\<username>appData\Local\Microsoft\Teams\current\Teams.exe;C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
• Directory: C:\Users\<username>appData\Local\Microsoft\Teams\current\;C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\

To find a running application's full path, on the Details tab in Task Manager, add the Image path name column.

Select the application checkbox, then click Remove to remove it from the list.

You can exclude or include cloud applications. Click Add. In the list, select the desired applications, then click Add.

Select the application checkbox, then click Remove to remove it from the list.

You can exclude or include domains. After you exclude a domain, any associated traffic does not go through the VPN tunnel when accessed through a popular browser such as Chrome, Edge, or Firefox. Click Add. In the Add Domain(s) field, enter the desired domains, using ; to configure multiple entries.

For example, if you configure the VPN tunnel to exclude youtube.com, youtube.com and *.youtube.com are excluded from the tunnel.

Select the application checkbox, then click Remove to remove it from the list.

Enable single user mode.

Save your username.

Allow non-administrator users to use local machine certificates.

Enable and enter a disclaimer message that appears when the user attempts VPN connection. The user must accept the message to allow connection.

Enable SAML SSO login for this VPN tunnel. See SAML SSO with FortiGate as IdP.

FortiClient provides an option to the end user to save their VPN login password with or without SAML configured. When using SAML, this feature relies on persistent sessions being configured in the identity provider (IdP), discussed as follows:

• Azure
• Okta

If the IdP does not support persistent sessions, FortiClient cannot save the SAML password. The end user must provide the password to the IdP for each VPN connection attempt.

The FortiClient save password feature is commonly used along with autoconnect and always-up features as well.

Enable FortiClient to remember the IP address with which it contacts the FortiGate and reuse it throughout the connection phase. This feature helps support load balancing SSL VPN gateways with one FQDN. This feature is only available for FortiClient (Windows). See Load balancing SSL VPN gateways with one FQDN.

Display the SAML authentication prompt in an external browser instead of in the FortiClient GUI. See Using a browser as an external user-agent for SAML authentication in an SSL VPN connection.

Configure FortiClient to automatically connect to a specified VPN tunnel immediately after it installs and receives its configuration from EMS, authenticating the connection using Microsoft Entra ID (formerly known as Azure Active Directory) credentials. See Autoconnect on logging in as an Entra ID user.

How FortiClient determines the order in which to try connection to the SSL VPN servers when more than one is defined. FortiClient calculates the order before each SSL VPN connection attempt.

When Server is selected, FortiClient tries the order explicitly defined in the server settings.

When Ping Speed is selected, FortiClient determines the order by the ping response speed.

When TCP Round Trip Time is selected, FortiClient determines the order by the TCP round trip time.

Select Allow or Prohibit, then select the desired Zero Trust tag from the Select a Tag dropdown list. Tags only display in the list if they are already configured. See Zero Trust Tags.

You can use this feature to prohibit endpoints from connecting to the VPN tunnel when they do not meet certain criteria. For example, if you want to prohibit endpoints without up-to-date antivirus signatures from connecting to the VPN tunnel, you would do the following:

1. Configure a Zero Trust tagging rule that tags all endpoints without up-to-date AV signatures. See Adding a Zero Trust tagging rule set.
2. For the VPN tunnel settings, select Prohibit, then select the configured tag from the Select a Tag dropdown list.

Endpoints without up-to-date AV signatures are prohibited from connecting to the VPN tunnel.

Enable and configure a custom message to display to the user when EMS prohibits the endpoint from connecting to the VPN tunnel due to its applied Zero Trust tag.

For the example configuration described in the Host Tag field description, you could configure a custom message to direct the user to update their AV signature, so that they can connect to the VPN tunnel afterward.

Show option to have the VPN tunnel remember the password. You must also enable this option on the FortiGate.

Show option to have the VPN tunnel always up. You must also enable this option on the FortiGate.

Automatically connect the VPN tunnel. You must also enable this option on the FortiGate. Automatic connection to the VPN tunnel may fail if the endpoint boots up with a user profile set to automatic logon.

Enable the on connect script. Enter your script.