Fortinet FortiNAC Reviews

My main use case for Fortinet FortiNAC is that we have multiple products from Fortinet, including FortiManager and FortiGate, as part of the Fortinet Security Fabric. We use Fortinet FortiNAC as our admin network to provide network admission control. For example, we have profiling for our devices and control for end users connecting to our network. We also use posture assessment for these users before connecting. Additionally, we allow endpoints to be controlled by MAC, and we can manage switches. There are many things we accomplish with Fortinet FortiNAC.

A specific example of how I use Fortinet FortiNAC in my admin network is that we protect and control our wired and wireless networks. We control the wired network by enforcing control on switches before allowing users to connect. On wireless, we control the wireless LAN controller and allow guest users to connect to our network while running posture assessment before granting access. This is a day-to-day use case we have. We also have profiling so we can identify our operating systems and devices on our network, such as printers and types of operating systems including Windows, the number of Windows machines, the number of Mac machines connecting to our network, and the number of printers and their brands. All of this profiling is accomplished using Fortinet FortiNAC.

The best features Fortinet FortiNAC offers include great integration with other Fortinet products. We have most of the cybersecurity products from Fortinet, including FortiMail, FortiGate, and FortiManager, among many Fortinet products. The best feature is the integration with these products. Fortinet FortiNAC can also integrate with any switching vendor using SSH to manage switches. This integration capability is very beneficial.

The integration with other Fortinet products and managing switches from different vendors has helped my workflow by providing automation that makes it easy to run actions. We execute and trigger actions through Fortinet FortiNAC on FortiGate. We set up trigger actions on FortiGate to be run through Fortinet FortiNAC directly. Whenever an action happens, it is triggered on Fortinet FortiNAC, allowing us to disable and isolate a user if that machine is infected. The automation and response functionality is powerful, and the integration is very good.

Fortinet FortiNAC has positively impacted my organization by allowing us to control our network and save time. We manage multiple switches that allow many users, including guest users and corporate users. We have saved time and secured our resources while accomplishing a lot with Fortinet FortiNAC.

Fortinet FortiNAC can be improved as the GUI is very poor compared to other competitors such as Cisco ISE. I have worked with Cisco ISE, and I can say that the GUI on Cisco ISE is straightforward and feature-rich. You can navigate wherever you want on the GUI, and it is easy to find things. In contrast, the GUI on Fortinet FortiNAC is poor and needs improvement. I think it will see enhancements in future versions.

I have been using Fortinet FortiNAC for about six months.

Fortinet FortiNAC is stable.

The scalability of Fortinet FortiNAC is very good.

Fortinet FortiNAC's customer support is very good, as is typical from Fortinet.

Before Fortinet FortiNAC, I used Cisco ISE and switched to Fortinet FortiNAC because of the licensing model and cost.

Fortinet FortiNAC is deployed in my organization on-premises.

I have seen a return on investment with Fortinet FortiNAC. We have saved resources and time, and we have also secured our network, confirming we have a return on investment.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Fortinet FortiNAC is that, as is typical from Fortinet, all their products have a very good licensing model and competitive pricing. I believe this deserves a rating of 10 because it is very good in these areas.

I did not evaluate other options before choosing Fortinet FortiNAC.

My advice for others looking into using Fortinet FortiNAC is to focus on documentation and be mindful of the GUI, as it often lags and requires a very experienced person to work with this product. I would rate this review a 10 overall.

We use Fortinet FortiNAC to protect our network access control, our network access, our physical network access, and the wireless network.

It serves as our first line of defense and validates that our systems are updated and are in compliance with the business rules we define. This is the main use case for this solution.

The best feature of Fortinet FortiNAC is the capability that validates that only authorized devices are allowed to access our network.

This feature is very important because it serves as our first line of defense, protecting access to the LAN and wireless LAN.

Overall, Fortinet has an area for improvement in their support.

All other features are satisfactory for our needs.

We have been using the solution for six years.

The deployment was complex because when we activated Fortinet FortiNAC, it was during the first quarter that the feature became available.

Fortinet FortiNAC was originally a company that Fortinet acquired and rebranded.

We implemented it as soon as Fortinet published the availability of the solution, making us one of the first users in the Caribbean region.

We utilize multiple Fortinet products including FortiAnalyzer, FortiManager, FortiNAC, FortiGate, FortiSwitch, FortiAP, FortiMonitor, FortiVPN, and FortiClient.

We also have a FortiGate virtual appliance to enhance the SD-WAN features, and we are currently working with Microsoft Azure.

We have implemented multiple policies including authorized devices, operation system version requirements, device patch level requirements, and company certificate validation. These four constitute our biggest defined policies.

Regarding automated response, we have configured the feature for denying network access to unauthorized devices. However, we have not configured the automatic response feature for threat detection.

The implementation is consistent across all areas.

On a scale of 1-10, I rate this solution a 9.

We deployed FortiNAC mainly to manage our Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy. This was the major reason as there are a lot of BYODs on the network, and the initial main purpose was to manage that. It has worked quite well in this area.

FortiNAC is very good in terms of device discovery and integration. I appreciate the feature where it can connect with different vendor equipment, regardless of the network devices from other vendors. That's something I appreciate about it, particularly in terms of adaptability. Despite the complexity of its interface, its discovery capabilities are commendable.

The user interface is quite complicated. It requires significant mastery to use effectively. It's not user-friendly. There's a sense of repetitive configuration and some elements are not easily explainable. Improvement in the interface design would make FortiNAC a better solution.

I have been using FortiNAC for about four years now.

I have not faced any stability issues with FortiNAC. It has been stable, and I would rate its stability as a nine out of ten.

FortiNAC is scalable, allowing flexibility with nodes. However, the pricing model makes it challenging as the cost is substantial due to the per-node licensing model. Despite that, if a node is offline, its license can be used by another device, providing some scalability.

The customer support is quite responsive, although sometimes delayed by time zone differences. They provide sessions to help with various questions. Overall support can be rated as an eight out of ten.

Positive

I have not evaluated other solutions for network access control before using FortiNAC.

The initial setup can be challenging, particularly for those not familiar with the devices in this industry. On a scale from one to ten, the ease of setup could be rated as an eight.

We went through a local vendor for the solution, so I am not aware of the direct Fortinet implementation details.

I would rate FortiNAC as an eight out of ten. 

I recommend it for its flexibility and ability to integrate with other technologies and vendor solutions.

Neutral

FortiNAC especially goes to ISP customers. They prefer to use these solutions as integration. Their back-end infrastructure is quite okay. 

Whereas, with Cisco ISE, if you are talking about that, it’s for enterprise customers with data centers, branch offices, and different kinds of setups like primary and secondary offices.

FortiNAC has been valuable for its simple utilization and management. The integration with the authenticator plus the NAC solution offers a robust infrastructure.

The integrated authenticator with the NAC solution is a robust infrastructure. Additionally, the GUI-based interface and complex features, which are simplified compared to Cisco's solution, are most valuable. FortiNAC's end-to-end solution and AAA features are highly viable.

Fortinet needs to look for integration with all the OEMs. Cisco ISE is integrated with multiple OEMs, whereas FortiNAC is still lacking in that aspect. Integration with multiple OEMs is required to improve the solution.

I have used the solution for almost four to five years.

On the platform, it doesn't give much issue. However, post-sales support still needs improvement. Considering both pre-sales and post-sales support, I would rate the stability around seven out of ten.

I would still rate scalability somewhere around six to seven out of ten. Integration with other OEMs impacts the scalability directly.

Global reach needs to be improved. Fortinet is lacking penetration towards European countries and the Middle East. They are very good in the US region, and, to some extent, in the Asia-Pacific region. Support needs to be focused more on the EMEA region.

Neutral

I would rate the initial setup process around seven out of ten. It is considered quite okay. Installation is straightforward and takes one to two hours, however, configuration depends on the specific requirements and can take more time.

I would definitely rate the pricing at nine out of ten. Fortinet is one of the solutions that comes with many features and the pricing is very competitive. It is considered good value for money.

It is a good product. Based on the requirement, it may not be meant for enterprise customers with diversified or heterogeneous infrastructure. However, if an organization has one or two sets of OEM solutions meeting their requirement, Fortinet can still be explored as a solution.

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten.

FortiNAC has enhanced our network visibility because FortiNAC monitors MAC addresses and other network devices, like Cisco, Catalyst, or HPE switches. It covers all network and MAC IDs. It gives us visibility into which vendors are being used on each device associated with a MAC address. This enables us to make group-based security policies for various devices. 

I like FortiNAC's integration with other Fortinet devices. They work together well, but the solution also works with other network devices. FortiNAC has improved our security posture because we made some use-case scenarios for unauthorized devices. When unauthorized device IDs enter our network, and the associated team sees a new device, they can block the attackers.

Fortinet's local support could be improved. 

I have used FortiNAC for nearly three years.

I rate FortiNAC 8 out of 10 for stability.

I rate FortiNAC eight out of 10 for scalability. It covers around 500 users. 

I rate Fortinet support 9 out of 10.

Positive

We had no other NAC solution before FortiNAC but used some other Fortinet solutions and firewall boxes. We prefer to work mostly with Fortinet because we are looking for complete solutions. For example, if one device is Check Point and the other device is running in parallel, it's difficult to make large numbers of them work together perfectly. Having one vendor is good for us because all the other components work together harmoniously. 

We had no problems integrating FortiNAC. We didn't have another NAC solution, so the integration was easy. In the first stage, we monitored the system, prepared the policies, and applied the policies to the network step by step. The installation took about two weeks. One person is enough to administer the solution, but we have a partner who performs annual maintenance. 

I'm unsure about the license cost. We bought a license for three or five years. 

I rate Fortinet FortiNAC 9 out of 10. 

The most valuable feature of the solution is the security posture it offers.

The tool's dashboard can have some more features and visibility options. I don't think any other thing requires more changes. Technology is evolving all the time. Right now, it is a complete tool. I don't think so. The tool can improve its dashboard and the management process.

The tool does need more upgraded features like automation.

I have been using Fortinet FortiNAC for a year.

Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten. The concept of the security fabric is increasing, and it is an artificial intelligence program. I am very much satisfied with the product.

We have been using the endpoint protection of Fortinet named as FortiClient Fabric Agent for Endpoint Security. Using the scalability of Fortinet products using FortiNAC and endpoint protection, we are planning to move to the EDR tool in future. Currently, we will be initiating the PoC for the EDR tool in future. Fortinet is very much investing in the security fabric and also in the scalability and visibility of the product.

There is no plan to expand the number of users in the future, but it might be possible for the growth of the organization. While performing the sizing, we have consulted our high management that in the next five years, the projection of the number of users will be increasing. We have already given the margin for 50 users, but it is a very minimum number right now. I hope the number of users increases as the operations increase. Currently, there are around 200 users of the tool.

Initially, the tool's toll-free number was not working. As soon as I opened the ticket and moved forward to align the engineers, the product took an hour to appoint an engineer, but I was not able to establish contact with the person. It took a day to onboard the engineer. I wrote so many emails to escalate the issue. The tool's engineer from Sweden or some European region took up and remotely configured and helped us with the tool. I rate the technical support an eight out of ten for the expertise. If you talk about the quality, establishment, and alignment of the engineers, I rate the support a five out of ten, as it took a lot of time. The engineer was well experienced, and he had knowledge of the product and expertise.

Neutral

I work with Fortinet FortiSASE.

When it comes to the product's initial setup phase, if we compare this with another solution, like Cisco ISE, it's very easy. We have had some challenges as Fortinet FortiNAC was a very new product for us when we tried to deploy it. Fortinet's support team was available to help us a lot, so it was very smooth.

I was leading the project, and I was in charge of deploying FortiNAC; I did all of it by myself. The tool was deployed by one senior and three junior engineers in my company.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises version.

Third-party services or support services were required to help with deployment.

With the tool, I have seen some reductions in operational expenses. Our work was related to human resources, where it was needed to provide security and look after the management and the device access, like which device is going to which VLAN and which policies are going to be interrupted. The cost has been reduced.

I am not familiar with the tool's commercial aspect, so I cannot say anything about its pricing. The procurement department has compared the solution with Cisco ISE, and they have said that there is a huge difference between the prices of Cisco ISE and Fortinet FortiNAC. Fortinet FortiNAC is more affordable than Cisco ISE.

Fortinet FortiNAC's price is less than half of the price compared to Cisco ISE's price. If one is bad and ten is good, I rate the product price as a seven out of ten.

I chose to work with Fortinet FortiNAC as we had the firewall of Fortinet FortiGate, and we were using FortiGate's endpoint protection. Fortinet's team and account manager briefed our company about the product and provided us with a PoC phase of the product. I am highly impressed by Fortinet's threat intelligence program.

The tool streamlines network security management in our organization as it provides zero-trust access along with the servers, and it is the agent which we install on the end devices for creating the security posture.

The tool's most effective in preventing unauthorized access is in the area of zero trust. Real-time device monitoring works pretty well, and its dashboard is very comprehensive, as it provides many details about each endpoint that is connected to the network. We are just trying to gain access. We tried multiple programs. We did some testing for connecting the BYOD devices and the guest devices, and we tried to create a malicious machine tool to gain access to the network, so it provided visibility, blocked, and stopped the activity of the malicious machine, which was trying to gain access. The policies that we created for the bring your own devices worked pretty well. The guest network was totally separate from the network. The policies were working very well, and we tried all possible testing processes. We were trying our best to fail the tool, but we failed.

We thought that the integration would be difficult with other vendors, but it did not integrate with every device because we use multi-vendor devices, like Cisco, Broadcom, Ubiquiti Wireless, and H3C, which are all pretty wireless. At our core switch, we have Cisco, and at the distribution layer and access layer, we are using H3C. We are using Ubiquiti wireless infrastructure. We are planning to move to Fortinet's wireless tool. At the access layer, we are looking forward to using Fortinet, but in the meantime, we are using multiple vendors.

Speaking about how FortiNAC utilizes AI to enhance its network access controls, I would say that the tool claims that it uses AI for network access, but I don't think that it uses such a feature because we have tested the type of policies that might be using AI. Fortinet claims that it uses AI and machine learning on its devices. I haven't personally checked it out.

I recommend the tool to others. I had already recommended Fortinet FortiNAC to a few of my colleagues who were using Cisco ISE. I had asked them to try the PoC process of FortiNAC and then move to it, as it is a much more affordable and better product to deploy.

I rate the tool an eight out of ten.

My use case involves a next-generation firewall and SIEM. My primary focus is on the next-generation firewall, VPNs, and URL filtering for my local employees. Additionally, I use other Fortinet tools like FortiAuthenticator, FortiNAC, and several other Fortinet products.

The support is excellent when I encounter a problem or need to implement a new product. The support team is always helpful and responsive.

You can update and upgrade the solution every three years with support by making a three-year contract. However, you cannot modify the solution's hardware. Fortinet continuously improves its support and technology. Regarding vulnerabilities, one of the concerns is with the SSL VPN. Instead, I use another VPN that doesn't have the commonly exploited vulnerabilities.

I have been using Fortinet FortiNAC for five years.

Fortinet is very user-friendly and helps maintain network security. It is both easy to use and affordable, especially considering the level of network security and reliability it provides.

I use other tools like XDR with SolarWinds, not directly with Fortinet. However, I am aware that Fortinet offers its products for SDR.

The initial setup is straightforward and took three months to complete. Security technicians do this job.

It is best for protection as it is more secure than others. ROI is very good.

The pricing is lower. It costs around 49$.

I recommend the solution.

Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

We work with the RADIUS platform. It is mainly for Fortinet Security Fabric.

We can couple the tool with Active Directory, Fortinet Single Sign-On, or FortiGate. If we have a big enterprise with 1000 users and want to manage a fabric of switches and access and underlay BGP and IS-IS, we can do it with FortiNAC.

The platform must enable troubleshooting. We can connect with CLI, but the interface is missing things. We need visibility and troubleshooting features to solve problems as quickly as possible. We can integrate the product with Active Directory to bundle and manage users. However, the product does not have much space to record logs for troubleshooting and analyzing. We need FortiAnalyzer to troubleshoot and analyze the logs.

The tool is very scalable.

We can consult the support team. There is a database to find and resolve problems. The community has people from all over the world. We can find solutions for our issues. If we can't resolve the problem, we can contact the technical support team. The support responds to our queries within 2 to 4 hours.

Positive

The initial setup is not difficult. The time taken for deployment depends on the number of users and the policy. If we know what policies must be implemented, we can do the simulation and test it quickly. We can implement the solution for 100 to 200 users in two days.

Cisco ISE has many tools on the same platform, with many functionality and features. We can troubleshoot and perform searches within Cisco ISE. FortiNAC only has network access control.

As an architect, I understand the tool's mechanism. Overall, I rate the solution a 6 out of 10.

We use Fortinet FortiNAC to protect against IoT threats.

Fortinet FortiNAC's automatic threat response capability is good.

Fortinet FortiNAC offers several valuable features, including data security, 99 percent uptime with VPN connections, MAC filtering, and traffic prioritization.

Fortinet FortiNAC could improve its hardware for use with cloud-based firewalls.

I have been using Fortinet FortiNAC for around five years.

I would rate the stability of Fortinet FortiNAC seven out of ten.

Fortinet FortiNAC is scalable. I would rate the scalability eight out of ten.

The technical support is good.

Positive

The initial setup is straightforward. We require two to three hours for deployment.

I would rate the price of Fortinet FortiNAC seven out of ten with ten being the most expensive.

I would rate Fortinet FortiNAC an eight out of ten.

We have 100 users.

Monthly maintenance is required. We have three engineers responsible for the maintenance.

I recommend Fortinet FortiNAC to others.