Let's Get our Fortinet NSE4 Certification
A free 7-week training program to help Canadian veterans and their spouses earn the Fortinet NSE 4 — FortiOS Administrator certification. Self-paced online lessons, hands-on labs, weekly Sunday Discord drop-ins, and your exam voucher — all at no cost. Veterans Helping Veterans.
Dates
Nov 1 – Dec 13, 2026
Format
Self-paced + Sunday Discord drop-ins
Cost
Free — exam voucher included
Open to
Canadian veterans & spouses
What's Included
Everything you need to go from zero to NSE4-certified — provided free by Tech Vets Canada.
Full online training course
16 lessons covering the complete FortiOS Administrator curriculum, self-paced and online.
Hands-on labs
Practical, real-world configuration exercises on FortiGate to lock in every concept.
Certification exam voucher
A Fortinet NSE4 exam voucher provided upon completion — write the exam at no cost to you.
Weekly Sunday drop-ins
Live Q&A on Discord every Sunday, 8:00–9:30 PM ET, hosted by lead mentor Roger Payne.
How It Works
This isn't instructor-led — it's self-paced training broken into consumable chunks, with real support so you're never on your own.
Learn at your pace
Work through 16 lessons and hands-on labs on your own schedule during the week. We've chunked the NSE4 curriculum to fit the 6-week timeline.
Drop in on Sundays
Every Sunday from 8:00–9:30 PM ET, join the Discord drop-in for live Q&A, guidance, and troubleshooting with lead mentor Roger Payne.
Write the exam
On December 13, use your free exam voucher to write the Fortinet NSE 4 — FortiOS Administrator certification exam.
7-Week Schedule
16 lessons mapped across 6 learning weeks, with a Sunday Discord drop-in every week. December 13 is exam day.
Week 1 · Nov 1–7
Sun Nov 1 · 8:00–9:30 PM ET
L1. System and Network Settings
Initial FortiGate configuration, interfaces, zones, DNS, factory defaults
L2. Logging and Monitoring
View and search logs on FortiGate and FortiAnalyzer, monitor system health
L3. Firewall Policies and NAT
IPv4 firewall policies, port forwarding, source NAT, destination NAT
Sunday drop-in focus: Kickoff & lab environment setup. Navigating the training platform, Discord onboarding, and what to expect from the NSE4 exam.
Week 2 · Nov 8–14
Sun Nov 8 · 8:00–9:30 PM ET
L4. Routing
Static routing, route tables, route redundancy, load balancing
L5. Firewall Authentication
Local, remote LDAP, and RADIUS authentication; monitoring firewall users
L6. Fortinet Single Sign-On (FSSO)
FSSO integration with Microsoft Active Directory, identity-based policies
Sunday drop-in focus: Routing fundamentals & authentication. Reading a FortiGate route table and configuring remote auth servers.
Week 3 · Nov 15–21
Sun Nov 15 · 8:00–9:30 PM ET
L7. Certificate Operations
Encryption functions, certificates, SSL inspection
L8. Antivirus
Antivirus profiles, scanning options, blocking malware
L9. Web Filtering
URL filtering, web filter profiles, blocking inappropriate content
Sunday drop-in focus: Security profiles — certificates, antivirus, and web filtering. Neutralizing common threats with built-in FortiGate features.
Week 4 · Nov 22–28
Sun Nov 22 · 8:00–9:30 PM ET
L10. Intrusion Prevention & Application Control
IPS sensors, signatures, app control for standard & non-standard protocols
L11. IPsec VPN
IPsec wizard, manual configuration, site-to-site and remote access VPN
L12. SD-WAN Configuration & Monitoring
SD-WAN setup, traffic distribution, performance monitoring, failover rules
Sunday drop-in focus: Advanced security & connectivity — IPS, VPN, and SD-WAN. Three of the most heavily tested topics on the NSE4 exam.
Week 5 · Nov 29–Dec 5
Sun Nov 29 · 8:00–9:30 PM ET
L13. High Availability
HA clusters, primary/secondary roles, FGCP operation modes, session sync
L14. Diagnostics and Troubleshooting
Diagnostic commands, common problems, packet sniffing, debug flow
Sunday drop-in focus: Reliability & troubleshooting. HA architecture and diagnostic commands — essential for the exam and real-world administration.
Week 6 · Dec 6–12
Sun Dec 6 · 8:00–9:30 PM ET
L15. FortiGate in the Cloud
FortiGate VM deployment, FortiGate CNF, cloud-native integration
L16. FortiSASE
FortiSASE architecture, use cases, secure access service edge fundamentals
Sunday drop-in focus: Cloud & SASE topics, plus a comprehensive exam review. Come prepared with questions across all 16 lessons.
Exam Day
Sunday, December 13, 2026
Use your free exam voucher to write the Fortinet NSE 4 — FortiOS Administrator certification. The culmination of six weeks of training and labs.
What You'll Learn
After completing this course, you will be able to:
Who Can Join
- Canadian Veterans — active, reserve, and retired
- Primary spouses or partners of veterans
- No prior Fortinet experience required
- No cost to participate
System Requirements
- A high-speed Internet connection
- An up-to-date web browser
- A PDF viewer
- Speakers or headphones
- HTML 5 support, or an up-to-date Java Runtime Environment (JRE) with the Java plugin enabled
- A wired Ethernet connection is recommended (not Wi-Fi) for stable lab access
- Firewalls (including Windows Firewall or FortiClient) must allow connections to the online labs
Ready to Earn Your NSE4?
Spaces are limited and the exam voucher is included free. Email us to reserve your spot — we'll send your course access, Discord invite, and voucher details.
Register Now — [email protected]Tech Vets Canada — Empowering Veterans, securing Canada's cyber future.