An administrator wants to build device profiling rules based on network traffic, but the network...

In FortiNAC-F, theNetwork Sessionsview provides a real-time and historical log of traffic flows, including source/destination IP addresses, ports, and protocols. This data is essential for buildingDevice Profiling Rulesthat rely on "Traffic Patterns" or "Network Footprints" to identify devices (e.g., an IP camera communicating with its specific NVR). If the network session view is empty, the system is not receiving the necessary flow or session data from the network infrastructure.

According to theFortiNAC-F Administration Guide, there are two primary methods to populate this view:

NetFlow/sFlow/IPFIX (C):FortiNAC-F can act as a flow collector. By enablingNetFlowsettings on the FortiNAC-F service interface (port2/eth1) and configuring your switches or routers to export flow data to the FortiNAC IP, the system can parse these packets and record sessions.

Firewall Session Polling (B):For environments with FortiGate firewalls, FortiNAC-F can proactively poll the FortiGate via theREST APIto retrieve its current session table. This is particularly useful as it provides session visibility without requiring the overhead of configuring NetFlow on every access layer switch.

Settings likeLayer 3 Polling(D) only provide ARP table mappings (IP to MAC correlation) and do not provide the detailed flow information required for the session view.

"TheNetwork Sessionsview displays information regarding active and inactive network traffic sessions... To populate this view, FortiNAC must receive data through one of the following methods: •NetFlow/sFlow Support: Configure network devices to send flow data to the FortiNAC service interface. •Firewall Session Polling: Enable session polling on modeled FortiGate devices to retrieve session information via API. These records are then used by the Device Profiler to match rules based on traffic patterns." —FortiNAC-F Administration Guide: Network Sessions and Flow Data Collection.