Solved: How do I fix unable to restore configuration with error “failed to restore system configuration”?

Problem Description

This article explains how to solve an issue where restoration of configuration fails.

Scope

FortiGate, FortiOS 6.2.x.

Solution

This issue commonly occurs with small-scale FortiGate models such as the 30, 40, and 50 Series due to their limited capacity.

When restoring the configuration from the GUI, the following warning may appear:

To work around this issue, first check the following:

Step 1: Storage capacity. Run the following command in the FortiGate CLI (example output is provided below):

# fnsysctl df -h
Filesystem Size Used Available Use% Mounted on
rootfs 504.3M 69.0M 435.2M 14% /
tmpfs 504.3M 69.0M 435.2M 14% /
none 656.2M 71.3M 584.8M 11% /tmp
none 656.2M 536.0K 655.7M 0% /dev/shm
none 656.2M 19.6M 636.5M 3% /dev/cmdb
/dev/mtd6 18.0M 17.7M 244.0K 99% /data <-- running out of capacity
/dev/mtd7 30.0M 28.5M 1.4M 95% /data2

Step 2: IPS global settings:

# show ips global
config ips global
set database regular -->set to regular
end

Step 3: Antivirus settings:

# show antivirus settings
config antivirus settings
set default-db normal -->set to normal
end

Step 4: Disable autoupdate:

#config sys autoupdate schedule
set status disable
end

Step 5: Delete the geo-ip database. The FortiGate will reboot after the operation is confirmed.

# diagnose geoip delete-geoip-db

After rebooting, the FortiGate will have more space available.

# fnsysctl df -h
Filesystem Size Used Available Use% Mounted on
--truncated--
/dev/mtd6 18.0M 17.7M 244.0K 84% /data <-- more space has been made available
/dev/mtd7 30.0M 28.5M 1.4M 84% /data2

Step 6: Try restoring the configuration again. If the issue persists, contact Fortinet TAC.