Book Image

Getting Started with FortiGate

Book Image

Getting Started with FortiGate

Overview of this book

FortiGate from Fortinet is a highly successful family of appliances enabled to manage routing and security on different layers, supporting dynamic protocols, IPSEC and VPN with SSL, application and user control, web contents and mail scanning, endpoint checks, and more, all in a single platform. The heart of the appliance is the FortiOS (FortiOS 5 is the latest release) which is able to unify a friendly web interface with a powerful command line to deliver high performance. FortiGate is able to give users the results they usually achieve at a fraction of the cost of what they would have to invest with other vendors.This practical, hands-on guide addresses all the tasks required to configure and manage a FortiGate unit in a logical order. The book starts with topics related to VLAN and routing (static and advanced) and then discusses in full the UTM features integrated in the appliance. The text explains SSL VPN and IPSEC VPN with all the required steps you need to deploy the aforementioned solutions. High availability and troubleshooting techniques are also explained in the last two chapters of the book.This concise, example-oriented book explores all the concepts you need to administer a FortiGate unit. You will begin by covering the basic tools required to administer a FortiGate unit, including NAT, routing, and VLANs. You will then be guided through the concepts of firewalling, UTM inside the appliance, tunnelling using SSL, and IPSEC and dial-up configurations. Next, you will get acquainted with important topics like high availability and Vdoms. Finally, you will end the book with an overview of troubleshooting tools and techniques.
Table of Contents (13 chapters)

Unboxing the FortiGate and license options


Usually the package we receive contains at least the device, a quick start guide, a power cord, a CD-ROM containing software, and an RJ-45 to DB-9 serial cable.

Note

The software included in the box is usually older than the one we are able to download from the Internet. After the registration procedure described in this section, we can download the updated release of all the required firmware and software.

Depending on the kind of license we have purchased, the device will have some or all of the available features:

  • FortiCare: It is the less costly option and includes hardware support and software upgrades. This license enables the use of the FortiGate as a networking device with the capability to configure intranets (also using VPNs).

  • Bundle: This license adds updates for the UTM features like antivirus, web filtering, IPS, and anti-spam.

  • A third option: Buying one or more single UTM features instead of the full bundle is available for medium and high end devices.

Features can be enabled or disabled based on our needs. We can also buy some features as an additional option to our license later on and activate them as soon as the new options are available. This is done using the Features option in the Config widget. The related pane is shown in the following screenshot: