Fortinet FortiGate-VM Reviews

We are using Fortinet FortiGate-VM on one VM, and two we are using as a dedicated appliance.

The features that we actually use are the IDS/IPS or IPS feature. We also use Intrusion Detection and WAF, Web Application Firewall. They have their own VDOM. We are using FortiAnalyzer for that separately and FortiBackup.

We are not using it yet. What we are focusing on first was migrating to a new VPN. That was one of the first steps. Then enabling the firewall and moving all the subnets as a gateway through Fortinet FortiGate-VM. If I remember correctly, we also are enabling WAF, enabling SSL inspection, and introducing FortiAnalyzer and so on.

Security is of course a major improvement, and we have more visibility on the network. We can probably say that the cost is manageable with four or five people managing those since we are a telecom and we also have our SOC. Comparing with others, it's straightforward and simplicity. We are not paying for features we are not using right now, but for the future, probably the Fabric and so on, but we only have those now.

From our perspective, it's quite good. When we have the visibility, we will make our policies depending on the threats that are coming because we are using many different other security measures. Fortinet FortiGate-VM as an internet gateway or firewall is very good for us.

We use an on-premises deployment.

The features that we actually use are the IDS/IPS or IPS feature. We also use Intrusion Detection and WAF, Web Application Firewall. They have their own VDOM. We are using FortiAnalyzer for that separately and FortiBackup.

I'm not entirely sure because I have to check now. What we purchased is a licensing for three years. I have to check now because in the coming year, we will be checking those. Probably, I'm not sure what the price is. It might be that it should be a little cheaper for us.

We have been using Fortinet FortiGate-VM for two years for the firewalls, and I think four years with our mail, FortiMail.

There are not really complexities, so I would say that it's straightforward.

It does not cause issues because actually it makes it longer. We do not only work with Fortinet FortiGate-VM, but I think it was around three months when we established everything. We were not in a hurry, which is why we did it ourselves. We had some kind of process first to determine our design and so on, the basic design. Because we are a telecom, we have to involve a lot of units and so on. But for deployment, it was straightforward. Until we had what we needed, and then we created everything ourselves from firewall. It does not take one hour or one day because we work partially on that and mostly focused on other jobs that we have, then we come back to Fortinet FortiGate-VM and so on. Probably we can say that within three months, we have started moving VLANs and people making through the gateway and so on. We implemented VPNs and some other things.

We have had several cases with some support, but we can make it somewhere around eight.

We are part of Telekom Slovenia. From our mother company, they have infrastructure that we took all the hardware from. I think it's a regional setup on the Adriatic part of East Europe, but I'm not sure.

There are not really complexities, so I would say that it's straightforward.

We did it with our team. We are about four members in my unit who are dealing with Fortinet FortiGate-VM. In the beginning, when we introduced FortiMail, it was from Forti itself with support from them, establishing the first setup. This is regarding the FortiMail VMs. It was some kind of lessons or training. We were together with them, and regarding the Forti Firewall, we did it alone with our team.

My team is mostly dealing with it. I only get some reports from them as my duty. I am not involved directly in implementing it and so on. But I am aware of the functionality and so on from Fortinet FortiGate-VM. We have a team of four people mostly who are dealing with Fortinet FortiGate-VM. There are also two or three others who are dealing with the FortiMail. We also have a SOC here who is dealing with the FortiAnalyzer. As a Head of Security, I am getting those reports and so on. My input or my role is very low on some occasions, but I am not typically managing directly those firewalls.

It might be positive.

From our perspective, it's quite good. When we have the visibility, we will make our policies depending on the threats that are coming because we are using many different other security measures. Fortinet FortiGate-VM as an internet gateway or firewall is very good for us.

I'm not entirely sure because I have to check now. What we purchased is a licensing for three years. I have to check now because in the coming year, we will be checking those. Probably, I'm not sure what the price is. It might be that it should be a little cheaper for us.

We are part of Telekom Slovenia. From our mother company, they have infrastructure that we took all the hardware from. I think it's a regional setup on the Adriatic part of East Europe, but I'm not sure.

From our perspective, it's quite good. When we have the visibility, we will make our policies depending on the threats that are coming because we are using many different other security measures. Fortinet FortiGate-VM as an internet gateway or firewall is very good for us. I would rate this review as an eight out of ten.

On-premises

Being a cloud service provider with data centers using VMware technology, we primarily use it as a  firewall and for Disaster Recovery in Hybrid Cloud Solution. We faced some issues with changes from NSX-V to NSX-T on VMware Cloud Foundation Infrastructure, which is no longer  able to provide SSL VPN remote connections for end-users, so we replaced it with Fortinet FortiGate-VM for our customers as a new endpoint in the cloud, enabling us to create a VPN and utilize SSL VPN solutions. My customers mostly deploy Fortinet FortiGate-VM on the cloud.

We are using VM01 most of the time, as we have more customers, although sometimes we can use VM02. In the EMEA region, we mainly  have customers related to Fortinet FortiGate-VM. My favorite capabilities are VM01 and VM02.

We use it in a hybrid cloud solution, meaning the customer on-premise is using another technology or the same. It's better for us if they are using Fortinet, and we don't face issues with this solution. For what we need to do, which is setting up a VPN connection between both sides and using it for SSL VPN connections for remote users, it works effectively and we haven't encountered vulnerabilities.

It's user-friendly and easy to set up. It's designed with the customer in mind. As someone who is precise, I understand the importance of selling the solution effectively while ensuring it meets the customer's needs. This means that my focus is on gathering customer feedback. It's not just about what I see; it's about understanding the customer's perspective. Customers often want to know how they can use the solution and how to set it up, which is the main concern I address.

Fortinet Security Fabric's Real-time Threat Response capabilities are satisfactory; it's a good solution.

There are vulnerabilities to address regarding security, as customers often ask about that. The main concerns are vulnerability detection and identification. Regarding the effectiveness of Fortinet FortiGate-VM in providing high-level security for high-level customers, we have some visibility issues, so it doesn't seem high level; there's definitely room for enhancement.

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate-VM for two years.

We provide reliability; if one VM is up, the other can be down, so if there's a problem with the first, the backup can be activated. It's more about the design than the solution itself. 

For SMB customers, it is a very good solution; I am unsure about enterprise customers.

Flexibility and scalability are very important for our customers. They primarily use this solution for SSL VPN and VPN connections, and most of the time it's for disaster recovery as a service in our cloud, functioning as a hybrid solution where they use something in their on-premise environment and just need an endpoint in the cloud.

We provide managed services, handling the setup to create the necessary VPN connections for secure data transfer. If a customer wants to move from VM01 to VM02, it's not difficult for us to manage. Fortinet FortiGate-VM adapts effectively; for example, you have a limited number of VPN connections on VM01, accommodating around 1,000 remote users, and if the customer needs another endpoint, we can deploy VM02 and manage that transition effectively.

Our support is good; we are the ones providing technical support to our customers. As a cloud service provider, our value is in offering solutions with our expertise, so we don't rely on Fortinet for support.

Positive

We moved to this new solution at the end of 2024. I have three customers using Fortinet solutions and haven't faced any issues.

It's user-friendly, and we can set it up easily with customers. 

Most of our customers appreciate FortiManager, as the tools are interesting for easy setup of the product. Feedback regarding the interface is good; it's easy to understand, and the documentation from the Fortinet partner portal provides comprehensive information on product setup and management, which is beneficial for them.

My customers mainly use a managed services solution, meaning they don't have a lot to do by themselves; our services provide the solution. If customers want to deploy it by themselves and are already Fortinet customers, we just provide resources on the cloud. They can directly set up what they want on the VM we provide in the cloud.

The price is interesting for the customer; if you compare this solution with Competitors, it is maybe more suitable for SMB customers. The price is better than the competition.

We also provide EDR, XDR, SD WAN solutions around Fortinet, but we don't have customers in South  EMEA using this solution.

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate-VM an eight out of ten.

Hybrid Cloud

Other

We are mainly using Fortinet FortiGate-VM firewalls which are particularly hosted in cloud environments. It will connect cloud environments with on-premise networks and secure cloud-hosted VM traffic, both outgoing and incoming traffic. Those are the main requirements we are receiving.

Real-time threat response is really good, and sandboxing and all the signatures are most of the time accurate. They are aligned with recent threats, and Fortinet also has Fortinet Labs where they do their own research and publish new signatures and threats in real-time to the firewalls and all the devices, so I think it is pretty good.

When comparing with Sophos, I think Fortinet's Security Fabric is really nice because they do have more signatures. When we talk about IPS and all these security features, I think Fortinet is good in that aspect.

Fortinet does provide a lot of visibility in Fortinet FortiGate-VM, and some devices do not have an inbuilt HDD. For logs and data retention, they provide the FortiCloud free service for seven days. Using those features, we gather information to troubleshoot and find root causes. They also have a FortiView section, which is very useful to find out the top sources, top destinations, and which sessions are running. It is very useful.

We mainly get firmware upgrades from time to time, and there are bugs. For the moment, I do not have any features in my mind to mention regarding improvements.

Since I have not worked with VMs so frequently, I cannot tell exact points. Overall, you are asking about the improvements which have to be done on the VM side. They are updating frequently, but sometimes it depends on internet connectivity. Those databases are not getting updated in such cases, so external threat feeds are helpful.

I can say it has been about one to two years using it as a company. We use both the platforms.

I have not experienced any stability issues.

It is scalable, but as per my knowledge, the license is bound to the hardware it comes with, which I have read.

I have worked with the customer team and also the technical team. When we come to technical support, they provide very professional support to mitigate threats or troubleshoot issues. They provide the expected support.

Three years ago, I worked in a different company. Now I work in a different one.

I think someone who is new to firewalls can do the initial setup without any issue if they follow the guide. It is not that complex.

Most of the time, we are purchasing it through our local partners and local distributors.

Obviously, when a customer hosts their firewalls in VMs, they will get ROI because they do not need that many specifications or hardware requirements to host a firewall.

It is reasonable.

I am actually working with Fortinet and Sophos, and also I am looking partially for a rival to Checkpoint as well.

Both Fortinet FortiGate-VM and appliance are available. The difference between Fortinet FortiGate-VM and appliance is the platform which you are hosting. In the appliance, I am really seeing the appliance already with the required OS and everything. When we go to the VM side, we have to host the VM according to the defined specifications, and we have to get the licensing for it. Basically, in the firewall maintenance and configuration part, I cannot see any huge difference. It is the same. When we go to the VM side, all the network cable management and some things are happening virtually.

Feature-wise, as per my knowledge, there are no additional features when you go to the VM or the appliance. You can have the same features either you go with the appliance or VM.

Fortinet FortiGate-VM, mainly affordability and flexibility because some customers do have their infrastructure in cloud environments. Some customers do not prefer to use the cloud platform's native firewalls. In those cases, customers are listing to host their own firewall. For cases in those situations, the customer can get the benefit for those areas since it is affordable. I think it is more affordable than cloud-native firewalls.

Benefits mean the main benefit is when a customer is trying to purchase a firewall. They do not need to pay a price for the appliance. They only need to purchase a license. For the appliance, they can use their own platform to host the firewall. I think that is the main benefit when it comes to the VM side.

Overall network security posture: when a customer implements their firewall in the VM in the cloud environment, they can monitor their hosted VMs' outgoing and incoming traffic. They can restrict access, and they can include IPS, AV, ATP, all these things to secure the traffic. I think it is a huge benefit rather than using the native cloud firewall that is provided by the platform.

When we come to threat detection, I can mention IPS as well. Also under the threat landscape, since as I remember, Fortinet FortiGate-VM has the largest signature base in the IPS. They help us to prevent a lot of known threats using their signature database, which updates continuously.

When we compare it with Sophos, I think the most benefits are their security posture. They have a strong security posture in Fortinet FortiGate-VM compared to Sophos. Also the utilization: Fortinet FortiGate-VM OS is very suitable for small hardware because Sophos OS runs on Linux, which requires huge CPU and RAM utilization. Those are the pros and cons when you compare it with Sophos.

We are using that. Recently we have done an implementation where when someone tries to scan our ports in the firewall for a few times, we have scripts to block those IPs. It is very useful and user-friendly. We can get a lot of tasks done through that automation feature.

Rather than depending on Fortinet's security posture, they provide us the possibility to integrate our firewalls with external threat feeds, which is a huge benefit. If Fortinet misses any host or signature update, we can get it updated through the external threat database.

It is very flexible. We can use several external authentication platforms to integrate with our firewall, for example, SAML or LDAP. They provide so many integration points, and as I remember, they are free of charge as well.

You have to size your firewall depending on your connection types and the threat sources. Fortinet FortiGate-VM firewall is based on that. You have to do proper sizing on the VM that you are putting the firewall on.

In our country, Sri Lanka, most of the customers use their internal firewall and perimeter firewalls. When we take all the customers, it is about more than thirty to forty percent using Fortinet FortiGate-VM as their internal or perimeter firewalls. Huge customers, so we do have a high demand for Fortinet for the internal and perimeter levels.

I would rate this product a seven out of ten overall.

Public Cloud

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

I was called regarding a review on Fortinet FortiGate, FortiSOAR, and I mentioned working with it, so it is acceptable for me to answer some questions. I have just initiated one requirement with FortiSOAR. The impact of SD-WAN on the network performance is significant, and SD-WAN is the basic feature today offered by every firewall OEM. Previously, we worked with Fortinet FortiGate for IPsec VPN tunneling, and today we have implemented SD-WAN as well. We are implementers with many customers for whom we have been working. Some customers are big, some are small, but we have been working with many companies. My customers work in varied industries, including banking, finance, manufacturing, and IT, because cybersecurity is the need of the hour. Every company requires it, and firewalls are basic; companies choose either Fortinet FortiGate, Check Point, Palo Alto, or SonicWall. We have integrated SD-WAN capabilities with Fortinet FortiGate for our customers' networks. We have not partnered with any company for that matter. We implement and do the servicing. People purchase, and we do the servicing and integration to their network.

One feature of Fortinet FortiGate that I find very unique is the virtual domain, VDOM. The VDOM feature allows you to integrate multiple domains; if you have multiple domains, you can create multiple VDOMs. VDOMs are a feature that is very unique and not available with other competitors. Fortinet FortiGate has that feature, which I really appreciate. Regarding Fortinet Unified SASE, the effectiveness of security policies across multiple locations is managing efficiently with FortiManager. The stability of Fortinet FortiGate is excellent.

For Fortinet FortiGate firewall, I have been working for the last 15 years.

The stability of Fortinet FortiGate is excellent. It is a very stable product.

It is easy to scale Fortinet FortiGate. There are no problems with scalability.

I had a chance to work with Fortinet support. My impression of the support is really good. It rates 9 out of 10 for support. If you consider it, 10 out of 10 is acceptable. I don't see any challenge with the support center. The support needs to be maintained at a high standard.

Positive

Setting up Fortinet FortiGate is really very easy.

People purchase, and we do the servicing and integration to their network.

My customers' return on investment after implementing Fortinet FortiGate depends on how they analyze it. Quantifying it is complicated, and Fortinet FortiGate is definitely a proven product with strong threat handling and management. The value of Fortinet FortiGate is significant, with a huge database of signatures that effectively blocks attacks. However, quantifying the return on investment in percentage terms is very subjective.

As an implementer, I don't sell devices, so I may not know about pricing. However, I interact with pre-sales and support teams, and I find their adaptability and support to be very good.

My customers work in varied industries, including banking, finance, manufacturing, and IT, because cybersecurity is the need of the hour. Every company requires it, and firewalls are basic; companies choose either Fortinet FortiGate, Check Point, Palo Alto, or SonicWall.

We feel that Fortinet FortiGate is a very proven product that has undergone many changes in the market and has added many products. I recommend Fortinet FortiGate as a proven product that needs to be sized properly for proper implementation. It is easily integrable, especially for us. I strongly suggest Fortinet FortiGate. On a scale of 1-10, I rate this solution a 10.

Hybrid Cloud

Other

My use cases primarily involve cloud environments for Azure or AWS, and 90% of my usage would be in the Azure environment.

What I appreciate the most about Fortinet FortiGate-VM is that it is not much different than hardware appliances. I have worked with other VMs in Azure that are firewalls, and the SSH capabilities on those devices lack functionality, whereas I don't have that problem with Fortinet FortiGate-VM. I can SSH into the firewall without issues.

The Security Fabric real-time threat response capabilities are great if customers have all the products to go with it. In most cases, they may have two firewalls or they may have one firewall and FortiAnalyzer. If a customer is utilizing FortiMail, all these components can integrate together, allowing logs to be centralized and feeding back to one another in the event of a potential threat. It's great, yet unfortunately, we don't have enough customers using different products from Fortinet to really take advantage.

In terms of room for improvement, logging could be improved. Sometimes the logs are more difficult to read and to identify root cause analysis. Another enhancement that would be great, but wouldn't just be on VMs, could target the VM—the addition of a syslog table we could view to better identify what to expect from logging.

I have been using it for the last three to four years in my career.

Fortinet FortiGate-VM is a very scalable product, especially from an HA standpoint.

I have contacted technical support and customer support. When I compare them to SonicWall, they are about equal in contrast, as we have about the same number of challenges between both of them.

Positive

I have used alternatives to this VM.

The initial deployment of Fortinet FortiGate-VM was easy for me. To deploy the VM took maybe an hour.

Fortinet FortiGate-VM requires ongoing maintenance on my end. I have to keep track of the CVEs that may be out there, and that's probably one thing that Fortinet is plagued by, having a number of CVEs out there. The good thing is they patch them quickly and let their customer base know about them as soon as they do, or at least as it appears compared to other vendors that try to hide them.

Deployment would be a team effort due to it being in the Azure environment. You have to have the Azure engineer deploy the VM itself, and then I would gain access and do the initial provisioning of the firewall.

Regarding the pricing, it tends to be a bit higher compared to SonicWall. That's why we end up having customers go the SonicWall path when they would be much better off going the Fortinet FortiGate-VM path.

The closest solution I would compare it to would be SonicWall NSVs, which I've worked with the most, although I wouldn't compare it in a positive light. 

For a small office or a small company, the NSV may be fine, but I appreciate the granularity of Fortinet FortiGate-VM. Granularity in security policies is where Fortinet FortiGate-VM stands out. I prefer Fortinet FortiGate-VM over SonicWall NSV because of the granularity. The ability to have security policies is a major plus, as each firewall policy can have its own security policy, which I can't do with SonicWall. This makes Fortinet FortiGate-VM the much better product.

I do not use the Hybrid Mesh Firewall feature by default. Regarding the downsides of the VM, I haven't run into any problems to suggest improvements. I use it just as if it's a physical appliance, and I don't have any offset differences.

I rate Fortinet FortiGate-VM a seven out of ten.

Public Cloud

Microsoft Azure

I use Fortinet FortiGate-VM for firewall purposes including traffic allow and deny functions, along with all related firewall policies, VPN, IPsec VPN, SSL VPN, and security purposes.

Fortinet FortiGate-VM firewall is deployed in the environment for security purposes to protect the outside domain from the internet network to the inside network. Additionally, Fortinet FortiGate-VM VPN client is used for VPN purposes including SSL VPN. Connections to branches are established via IPsec.

Use cases include IPsec tunneling and VPN for connecting all users as clients. Fortinet FortiGate-VM is also used to protect the outside network. Multiple firewall policies have been created for blocking outside internet traffic to the inside LAN network.

Fortinet FortiGate-VM offers valuable features including SSL VPN, FortiWAF, and FortiManager.

FortiWAF is most valuable in the environment to protect web-related traffic. VPN and SSL VPN are also valuable because there are over a thousand users connecting remotely to the data center.

Fortinet FortiGate-VM protects the environment from the outside and will protect the data center from external threats. It automatically detects signatures that are malfunctioning. When intrusion protections are used, outside domains from countries such as China and Russia are blocked to protect the inside network.

Regarding Fortinet FortiGate-VM improvements, there is no current specific suggestion. However, there are multiple upgrades available, and recommendations are received every month. This creates a very difficult situation regarding getting downtime for upgrades. The suggestion is to create a more stable software product so that upgrades are not required every month or within months. If a more refined product is created, downtime or continuous upgrades would not be necessary.

Overall experience is very good, but continuous CVEs require upgrading the firewall to overcome vulnerabilities. The suggestion is to work toward overcoming vulnerabilities to reduce the frequency of upgrades. Due to continuous upgrades required for security patches, the rating given is nine instead of a higher number.

I have used Fortinet FortiGate-VM for the last five years.

Different options were available before. Previously, Sophos was used, but Sophos had some limitations, which is why the transition was made to Fortinet FortiGate-VM.

Palo Alto is used in parallel as an alternative solution. However, Fortinet FortiGate-VM is preferred as it is user-friendly.

The interface is excellent and very useful for troubleshooting. Configuration is very user-friendly and is appreciated when compared with other firewalls. The dashboard of Fortinet FortiGate-VM is valuable for troubleshooting, monitoring, and all functions can be performed on the same device.

FortiGate-VM AI is a new feature that has not had time to be fully explored, but there is anticipation that it will be helpful.

Fortinet FortiGate-VM is user-friendly and can be handled by anyone. The user interface and dashboard are valuable for troubleshooting and monitoring. Fortinet FortiGate-VM is recommended for use.

This review has been rated nine out of ten.

Hybrid Cloud

Microsoft Azure

Our main use case for Fortinet FortiGate-VM is for SSL VPN connections, web filtering, and application controls. We are using EPS and Fortinet FortiGate-VM, and we segregate the policies in this organization by not allowing unacceptable web applications such as WhatsApp and Facebook.

A specific example of how we use web filtering and manage the VPN features day-to-day is that we maintain it according to email requests from end-users. They send mail to their team managers, and we approve it for particular end users. We maintain day-to-day activity in these firewalls and have generated logs including local logs, forward logs, and screenshots. When any IPS or IDS triggers in our firewall, we resolve that with the particular end user and maintain communication through email notifications.

Fortinet FortiGate-VM is deployed in our organization on-premises only. We do not have any private or public cloud deployments. We maintain this firewall for our security purposes.

Our main valuable features are SSL VPN connections, web filtering, and application controls. We segregate policies in this organization by not allowing unacceptable web applications such as WhatsApp and Facebook.

Fortinet FortiGate-VM has positively impacted our organization by improving both security and productivity. We are currently using the FortiGate firewall 100F model.

Fortinet FortiGate-VM's AI capabilities are good, but they could be improved a bit for security purposes. It is easy to manage, but it will be difficult to maintain compared to Palo Alto.

We have maintained Fortinet FortiGate-VM for the last three years.

Fortinet FortiGate-VM is stable.

Fortinet FortiGate-VM's scalability is very good. The online support is also very good. Previously, we had many tickets, and they resolved our problems in a timely manner.

The customer support for Fortinet FortiGate-VM is very good.

Previously, I have worked with Sophos and Palo Alto firewalls.

I have seen a return on investment with this firewall. Money was purely saved with this firewall because compared to other vendors, it is very reasonably priced with reasonable licensing costs. We maintain Fortinet FortiGate-VM easily, which is why I recommended this firewall.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Fortinet FortiGate-VM is that licensing is very reasonable. We recently upgraded our licenses with a three-year extension license that we purchased for approximately four lakh.

Before choosing Fortinet FortiGate-VM, we evaluated other options including Check Point and Palo Alto.

The advice I would give to others looking into using Fortinet FortiGate-VM is that there is better pricing and better support for this firewall. We recommended it to other organizations and to some of our colleagues.

For security purposes, we have triggered it when malware emails come to our end users, and at that time, we trigger to the peer-to-peer security. For email spam, we segregate that URL, copy-paste it into this firewall, and there is no trigger for any malware. It is not a difficult task for our end because Fortinet FortiGate-VM is easy to manage.

Regarding firmware upgrades every few months, there is a significant difference compared to Sophos or Palo Alto. You can easily trigger web policies, application policies, and user-based policies. It is very easy compared to previous firewalls. Fortinet FortiGate-VM is the best for practice purposes and for live use. You have to maintain firewall notifications and related tasks.

We maintain ISO guidelines and step-by-step documentation. We are implementing additional applications in our organization, such as Office 365, which is completely online. We maintain that particular URL so we can allow end users access. For these triggers and web applications, we are using Fortinet FortiGate-VM. I would rate this product an 8 out of 10.

Majorly, we have cloud migration solutions where we connect Fortinet FortiGate-VM with, usually for the FortiGate of the customer, an in-house solution. We have been through many different kinds of projects where we had to adapt the customer firewall solution. 

A significant portion of our clients comes from the retail sector, particularly grocery stores. In the grocery market here in Brazil, there is generally low maturity in IT solutions and cybersecurity overall. MikroTik is commonly used for networking. Many of our clients utilize MikroTik or pfSense as their primary solution for their stores. Occasionally, they may also use Sophos or Fortinet at their headquarters. Through numerous projects, we have identified various vulnerabilities during penetration tests conducted in their environments. One of the primary concerns is usually the firewall, which prompts us to explore different security options. For example, we have a strong partnership with Trend Micro for Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR).

From there, we establish a connection between the customer's solutions and Fortinet. Sometimes, we implement SD-WAN to connect every store securely. This allows them to connect even with firewalls and SASE solutions, enabling connections via 5G to integrate the entire company with our cloud solutions. In summary, the foundation of our projects typically revolves around cloud migration, starting with security solutions or penetration tests that identify vulnerabilities. This leads us to implement both physical appliances and VM appliances as needed.

Our visibility into network traffic has improved since implementing Fortinet FortiGate-VM, at least based on the feedback from the operations team. 

Fortinet adapts to evolving threats based on what I've seen. With AI implemented, they can analyze how new threats behave, enhancing their ability to respond. Nowadays, the prevalence of AI as a threat vector makes security harder; therefore, having a partner that's developing AI features for improved security is commendable.

My background is primarily in cloud infrastructure rather than security. When considering Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) or SASE solutions, I believe it effectively closes many gaps in a customer's connectivity and environment. For me, this level of security is crucial.

There are areas for improvement because usually, most policies don't change much. There's always room for enhancements, whether for VM or physical appliances, because threats evolve, necessitating adaptation and a different approach to the security environment.

I have about two years of experience with Fortinet FortiGate-VM. We primarily used to work with open-source solutions. Three years ago, we established a strong partnership with Fortinet. Since then, we have been working with Fortinet FortiGate as our primary solution for firewalls. I am familiar with both Fortinet FortiGate-VM and FortiGate physical appliance.

I can't rate technical support or customer service because I'm in the commercial area. From my perspective, I would rate it an eight out of ten. We are primarily supported by our own sales team, and recently we gained help from a Fortinet partner account manager, who has been assisting us with key customers and opportunities. 

Positive

Our clients used different solutions. I believe that Fortinet has a larger installed base, which means they are exposed to more threats. This exposure helps them evolve more quickly and develop new solutions and protections against emerging threats. As a result, their response to issues is generally faster than that of their competitors. While I wouldn’t say they have more features than all the others, they do tend to introduce new solutions, policies, and tools more rapidly because of their extensive installed base. This allows them to be more responsive to new threats than other companies.

The initial setup used to be complex, but with the addition of features, potentially involving AI, it has become more straightforward. As far as I know, that was a challenge previously, but with recent releases, the setup process is increasingly automated.

We have a direct contract with Fortinet, but we primarily use the OCI environment. While we also partner with AWS, Azure, and GCP, about 90% of our infrastructure is in OCI. We are an ISV for Oracle. We offer a platform that enhances scalability for client-server solutions in the cloud. Over time, we have developed capabilities in integration, data management, and AI agent building. Our platform not only manages the infrastructure but also incorporates security tools like Fortinet and other solutions for phishing protection. In terms of integration, we provide an iPad solution along with a data warehouse and lake house construction process. This allows users to create their own data pipelines and ultimately deliver information to Business Intelligence (BI) tools or DataView tools. Additionally, users can build their own AI agents that operate entirely within their environment, using their own data without the need to export it to external tools. Oracle recognized us as an ISV capable of managing our customers' environments within our own accounts. Currently, we have more than 20,000 companies integrated into our operations within OCI.

What's more important than just having good policies in place is to have a security operations center that monitors all the KPIs and thresholds. This allows us to use that feature wisely and take timely measures to position ourselves effectively. If all the policies are well-placed, we can even automate responses, locking parts of the network to prevent attacks based on vulnerabilities or threats detected within our policies. 

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate-VM a nine out of ten. It's much better compared to the open source solutions we've used before. Not only is my average ticket a bit lesser due to the licensing and other factors, but I also experience fewer issues with my customers, at least when it comes to the Fortinet products.

Public Cloud

Other

We are a system integrator, so we are dealing with Fortinet and Sophos. I work with all of them, depending on the customer's needs. I have experience with Fortinet, particularly with deployment experience using Fortinet FortiGate-VM, this particular firewall.

For me personally, the best features of Fortinet FortiGate-VM are that it is user-friendly and easy to deploy. The GUI is very user-friendly, so anyone can quickly learn how to use it.

Fortinet FortiGate-VM is time-saving and robust from a security perspective, so it brings positive benefits to the organization.

In the future, I would like to see configuration backup on email included in Fortinet FortiGate-VM.

The AI capabilities that they launched last year should be enhanced. If we procure FortiManager, then through FortiAI, we can find out the issues or the configuration changes required as per best practices. Those things need to be added to help us troubleshoot more easily. If the AI helps us even with troubleshooting, it will save a lot of time for us as well.

Some of the compatibility and technical support issues are reasons why I rate it eight instead of nine or ten; the rest of everything is good.

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate-VM for around five to ten years.

We were facing challenges while deploying Fortinet FortiGate firewall on AWS with Graviton instances; we were not able to build HA. The Graviton processor has some limitations. I do not know exactly what the issue was, but we changed the instance type and then installed it. There must be some compatibility issues with that particular Graviton CPU and Fortinet.

It took a couple of weeks, approximately two to three weeks, to overcome all those issues.

The technical support is very helpful, but reaching technical support is quite difficult because whenever we have raised a ticket, it takes a lot of time to reach them and even make them understand the issue. When we raise a ticket, it routes to some L1 engineer, and they might not have adequate AWS or Azure knowledge, which is why it took a lot of time to get an L3 or L2 engineer and find a resolution.

We have an entire team of ten to fifteen people involved in the process of deployment, and they are the implementation engineers.

With respect to cloud networks, we may require some detailed documentation because that will help improve our implementation.

It was good; I did not find any challenge with Fortinet Security Fabric's real-time threat response capabilities.

We do not utilize Fortinet FortiGate-VM's Hybrid Mesh Firewall feature.

It is better how I assess the impact of Fortinet FortiGate-VM's threat detection on our IT security and our customer's IT security after implementation.

It is very affordable and very competitive pricing; I think it is a good solution. I rate this product eight out of ten.

Public Cloud

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

We are a reseller of Fortinet FortiGate, so we have several use cases. We use Fortinet FortiGate to protect banking companies, and we use it to protect edge cloud data centers and so on.

Fortinet FortiGate has positively impacted our organization by allowing us to scale fast.

One of the best features of Fortinet FortiGate is SD-WAN. It works very well with BGP, and AD-VPN is also great. The routing features from Fortinet FortiGate are exceptional. For the security features, their WAFs are extremely limited, however, everything else is great.

They are very affordable compared to Palo Alto and other vendors, offering a great solution for networking and SD-WAN with extremely good protection. 

They have great features, and I can integrate with EMS for ZTNA and numerous other functionalities. 

The networking aspects of Fortinet FortiGate, such as FortiSwitches and FortiAPs, and how they act integrated are impressive. From the firewall, I can manage the whole network, which makes operations much easier.

I have several concerns about Fortinet, however, regarding Fortinet FortiGate itself, they could improve their support system. It's hard to get a good engineer to help you.

Additionally, they lack a post-sale process; once the sale happens, they just vanish, and then you're on your own. That is my main problem.

The WAF is extremely limited. You can't create exceptions, for example. You can only enable or disable. You can create exceptions, however, they must be applied globally. 

I am doing my first implementation with SASE. With Google, it lacks a lot of app integration and a lot of features that the other competitors have.

I started to work with Fortinet FortiGate more than 15 years ago.

Fortinet FortiGate's stability has changed over time. They used to be very stable. In the past couple of years, they started releasing numerous new features, and things have become somewhat unstable. 

From one version of Fortinet FortiGate to another, sites have stopped blocking, and I experience some minor problems that have become usual in the past couple of years. They are working very hard to fix these issues. 

Currently, I would rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate at about seven or eight out of ten.

Fortinet FortiGate has excellent scalability; I would rate scalability a perfect ten.

It is extremely hard to get a good engineer from Fortinet to help with day-to-day operations and problems.

Positive

The initial setup for Fortinet FortiGate is straightforward. There's extensive documentation available on the internet, and they have great support on that subject. 

Their administration guide is excellent, and their training program is also great and free. You can configure a Fortinet FortiGate in approximately two hours if you understand your network requirements.

In Brazil, the ROI situation is complicated because everything is very expensive. However, we haven't used MPLS for over five years now, and it was extremely beneficial to see the changes from MPLS to SD-WAN using Fortinet FortiGate. Our ROI was extremely high at that time. 

Currently, our ROI is more focused on day-to-day operations, and it's excellent. I don't have the exact number, however, it's highly favorable.

I would advise people considering using Fortinet FortiGate to buy it and trust the company; it's a great product. You need to be a little patient with Fortinet itself. However, the product is great. 

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate overall at about a nine out of ten. That said, they lack good support.

Hybrid Cloud

Microsoft Azure