What is a Session Helper?
A session helper is a feature included on your FortiGate device to help the system direct and inspect traffic for protocols that may not work well with NAT or firewall security features. While they're usually fine to be left as-is, sometimes (particularly with the SIP ALG helper), they can cause more problems than they solve.
Note: Disabling a session helper may have unintended effects. You should always back up your config first before making such changes.
How to Disable a Session Helper
On a FortiGate, "disabling" a session helper is equivalent to deleting it. To do so, start by open the CLI by connecting via serial console or using the virtual CLI in the web GUI.
1. On the CLI, run the following commands to list all session helpers on your device:
config system session-helpershow
2. Find the ID of the session helper you want to delete. In this example, we'll delete "9" for FTP (this may be a different ID on your system). Then run the command below to delete it:
delete <session-helper id>
3. If you run the "show" command again, you'll now see the session-helper has been removed
Conclusion
That's it! Disabling a session-helper is quite easy on a FortiGate. For all of your IT and Fortinet needs, contact Cosmistack!
