It is wonderful if one knows everything about the Fortinet Dashboard; however, to use those tools for the creation of an integrated SASE system is entirely another story. With the design of secure access and connectivity, it is necessary to find the balance between user expectations and operational capabilities, which leads us to a critical question. Do we need design reasoning or just technical expertise?
Let's consider that. The fact that you configure your feature in the right way does not guarantee you the success of the overall solution. There is always a complex interaction between the features. For instance, you may have created a technically flawless tunnel for remote users to work securely, but when it becomes a bottleneck for branch offices, then the solution doesn't comply with the business requirement. In practice, there are always compromises related to security, performance, and complexity in any SASE architecture design.
It is exactly this kind of approach that you require while answering the Fortinet NSE7_SSE_AR-26 exam questions. In the process of practising these scenarios, your task is not to look for some known element and select it; rather, you need to analyse everything carefully, determine all the hidden constraints, and predict results. It’s all about building solid technical reasoning rather than just memorising configs.
So, do you really have to choose between product knowledge and architecture skills? Not at all. They actually rely on each other. It is impossible to come up with an intelligent design decision without understanding the limitations of the product; however, the limitations will not mean anything without the ability to use those capabilities to meet certain business objectives. In any case, both are essential.
In the end, product knowledge and architecture judgment are complementary skills. I’m curious about your experiences: when designing complex SASE setups, do you find feature selection or component integration more challenging? If you're prepping for the Fortinet NSE 7 - SASE 26 Architect exam and looking for solid scenario-based practice to sharpen that reasoning, checking out resources like Pass4Future can really help you bridge the gap between theory and real-world design.