Fortinet FortiGate-VM Reviews

Fortinet FortiGate-VM was used for our company's customers, but presently, most of our clients use Sophos UTM.

My company's clients use Fortinet FortiGate-VM to protect their entire internal network.

Fortinet FortiGate-VM has very good features. The most important factor about the product is that it is very intuitive. Fortinet FortiGate-VM is very handy compared to Check Point and Palo Alto.

With Fortinet FortiGate-VM, you get all the tools in the basic package, so there is no need to get a special platform for each component, which makes it much easier to implement.

The stability of the product is an area of concern where improvements are required.

The response time of the technical support team is an area of concern where improvements are needed.

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate-VM for a few years. My company has a partnership with Fortinet.

Stability-wise, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

There are certain issues that users may face when they update Fortinet FortiGate-VM due to some bugs.

Considering that the machines work with the same operating system and in the same method in an environment, the use of the scalability feature is very easy.

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

I work with our company's small, medium, and enterprise-sized clients who use the solution.

At times, you can get a quick answer from the support team, but for some cases or issues, it takes a long time for the technical team to respond.

I rate the technical support a seven out of ten.

Neutral

I have experience with Check Point and Palo Alto. The first firewall that my company worked with was Check Point, and we have used it for many years.

The product is easy to implement.

The solution is deployed on the cloud and on an on-premises model.

The complexity of the organization determines the time required to deploy the solution. Basically, it takes three hours to deploy the product, and for a big company, it takes two days.

One good engineer is enough to take care of the deployment phase of the product.

The pricing of the product depends on a company's negotiation skills, and if a company can't get it at a good price, there are other tools that can be purchased from the market.

I rate the product price a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price.

Our company needs to make either a yearly or a three-year payment towards the licensing charges attached to the product. There are no additional costs attached to the solution apart from the tool's licensing charges.

Fortinet FortiGate-VM is a very good product.

The maintenance of the product is very easy. One person is required to take care of the maintenance of the product.

I recommend the product to those who plan to use it. Before buying the product, people should consider the ease of implementation Fortinet FortiGate-VM offers.

Check Point is the best when it comes to monitoring and investigating logs. In general, the most important thing users should consider is that the implementation part should be good, for which Fortinet FortiGate-VM is the best.

I rate the overall tool an eight out of ten.

I use Fortinet FortiGate-VM in my company to manage firewall installation and endpoint connectivity.

The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is easy to operate.

If a user makes any changes, it will immediately have an effect on the solution. If a user makes any changes in a product like Palo Alto, there is a need to push those changes to the firewall and apply commit changes, which shows the configuration part, making it a good feature since it sometimes helps, considering how a user may make small errors.

Errors made by a user get applied when using Fortinet FortiGate-VM. In the production environment, if a user makes any changes in a live environment, there is a need for the user to be very alert. The aforementioned area can be considered for improvement in the solution. Palo Alto is good for the production environment.

Capacity-wise, I think the solution's log storage area is something that needs to be increased since, by default, it stores logs for only seven days. The compliance team in our company needs to check the logs, which may be older than ninety days. Though the tool provides a storage hard disk with enough space, in our company, we can't store logs.

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate-VM for more than three years. My company is a customer of the product.

As my company uses an active-passive deployment in our environment, we did not face any stability-related issues with the product. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

Around 4000 to 6000 employees in my organization use the solution.

The solution's technical support is good. I rate the technical support a ten out of ten.

Positive

I rate the product's initial setup phase a ten on a scale of one to ten, where one is a difficult setup phase, and ten is an easy setup phase.

The solution can be deployed in an hour or two.

I deployed the solution by myself in my organization.

It is a medium-priced product.

Compared to the other VMs in the market, Fortinet FortiGate-VM is very easy to use.

I rate the overall tool a nine out of ten.

We have a private cloud environment with two firewalls and a physical host with a total storage capacity of approximately 5 terabytes running on VMware. The private cloud is a payment services gateway processing transactions from 1,500 outlets nationwide. We have around a thousand virtual machines, and all of them use Fortinet. 

We like FortiGate-VM's IPS features and its ability to create multiple virtual firewalls. 

I have used FortiGate-VM for five years. 

Stability is one area where Fortinet stands out. We don't see dropped sessions or downtime. The hardware is extremely stable, and our utilization stays well below the limits. 

You need to upgrade your box to scale, but it's easy to migrate from one to the other. 

Fortinet support needs improvement. The response times are lackluster. Fortunately, the product is stable and we seldom have issues. Also, it takes months for them to deliver hardware when we order it. 

Neutral

It's easy to install and configure FortiGate-VM. One engineer can finish the job in half a day. 

You will recover your investment if you purchase the right size and use it for six or seven years. However, you'll lose money if you need to replace or upgrade the box after three years. It's critical to buy the correct size from the start.

FortiGate-VM is a little expensive compared to Sophos. You pay a fixed license for the box, but there are various options if you need to upgrade. 

I rate Fortinet FortiGate-VM nine out of 10. It's a solid product overall, but Fortinet support has a lot of room for improvement. I wouldn't recommend it for an enterprise use case. It might work, but you should test it first. They have various options, so you should pick one that meets your business requirements and your environment.

The use case of FortiGate-VM is primarily for securing the perimeter of private clouds in the dedicated environment created for customers. This can be achieved through a virtual appliance or physical hardware solution. Beyond only perimeter security, some customers also require DDoS services, and FortiGate-VM can provide this through its own solutions that can be combined and offered as a bundle to meet the specific needs of the customer.

The solution can be deployed on-premise and on the cloud too.

The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate-VM are its flexibility and scalability. This solution is available as a license, which allows us to activate it based on the specific needs of the customer. This gives us and the customer a great deal of versatility and customization options. 

There is always room for improvement in any solutions, including Fortinet's FortiGate-VM. Although the solution claims to have a superior throughput compared to other OEMs, upon closer examination and comparison, there is potential for significant improvement in this area. In today's rapidly evolving technology world, it is important to continuously strive for enhancement and development, and I believe Fortinet can make significant strides in this direction for the FortiGate-VM.

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate-VM for approximately 18 years.

The solution is stable.

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

The solution is scalable, it can be easily and effectively expanded as the customer's requirements grow and change. This makes it an incredibly agile solution that can be tailored to meet even the most demanding demands. There is some room for improvement in this area.

The solution is suitable for small to enterprise-sized companies.

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

The support from Fortinet FortiGate-VM is excellent, it is one of their strongest points.

I rate the support from Fortinet FortiGate-VM a nine out of ten.

Positive

The initial setup of the solution is simple because everything comes with GUI. The entire infrastructure for the customer is simple to set up with the GUI.

The choice between an on-premise or cloud solution is a decision that ultimately depends on the specific needs and requirements of the customer. Currently, there is a trend towards utilizing cloud-based products as they offer a wider selection and can be easily deployed. On the other hand, some customers may prefer an on-premise setup, which involves deploying physical equipment on the customer's premises or a virtual machine from an OEM. The cloud solution offers greater agility, flexibility, and speed but can also present challenges, especially in the semiconductor industry where delivery times may be longer due to stress in the market. In conclusion, both options have their own advantages and disadvantages, and the decision between them should be based on the specific requirements of the customer.

Taking into consideration the magnitude of the entire implementation, the deployment process could potentially take approximately three weeks, assuming all necessary components are readily available for the physical setup. After this stage, the User Acceptance Testing (UAT) phase commences, which may last for an additional week. Subsequently, before the final implementation into production, the customer would conduct a final UAT to ensure all elements have been successfully deployed and functioning as intended.

I rate the initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate-VM an eight out of ten.

The price of the solution is competitive. Fortinet FortiGate-VM had a lot of advantages when it came to pricing. However, the competition has also geared up to a larger extent and it has become comparable now to the other solutions.

In terms of security, it is crucial to understand that the cost of security measures should not be the sole determining factor. The security of your overall infrastructure and setup must be a top priority, regardless of the price of security appliances or OEMs. However, when considering the entire solution, including the security infrastructure, the cost will play a crucial role in the final decision-making process.

It is imperative to choose the best available options, but the cost of the entire solution should not be exorbitant and prevent it from gaining approval from clients.

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

When evaluating the overall solution, it is important to consider both the benefits and drawbacks. Fortinet FortiGate-VM presents a multitude of advantages that make it a fantastic product choice. It offers exceptional stability, a scalable design, and unparalleled support from the manufacturer. It is with great confidence that I wholeheartedly recommend Fortinet as a reliable and valuable solution.

I would recommend this solution to others as long as it's fulfilling the requirements of the customer.

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

We use Fortinet FortiGate-VM for a constrained firewall and comprehensible security solution. Currently, I'm involved in implementing FortiGate and FortiManager for a customer project over the past month, and Fortinet has proven to be quite effective in this regard.

Regarding specific features, I appreciate the option for external selection, where you can choose either to use a default or create a self-description. This simplifies the process compared to other vendors that require creating a test extension profile and then applying it to the installation. With FortiGate, there is a streamlined approach. From the benefits perspective, clients mainly see cost reduction, especially with FortiGate VM Firewall, as it eliminates the need for additional hardware.      

The product is satisfactory. I haven't identified any features to improve, and based on the number of deployments I've handled with FortiGate-VM, there haven't been any complaints from the customer's side.

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate-VM for the past five years. 

Fortinet is a stable and user-friendly solution. The configuration is straightforward, and it provides a secure environment. I recall a challenge where a customer was using VDOM to segment their networks, but faced issues with communication between firewalls. Through online research, I discovered a tool to replace Fortinet, and it resolved the issue. During a critical migration for a large customer with six hardware firewalls, Fortinet proved reliable and prevented the possibility of mistakes. The GUI interface is well-organized, especially the security tab, making it easy to navigate. Fortinet simplifies network and security tasks, making it accessible for those with a basic understanding of networking and security concepts. Overall, as a vendor, Fortinet stands out for its streamlined approach, avoiding the need to navigate between multiple locations for configuration.

I haven't personally tried Fortinet's technical support, but according to my colleague who has used it, the experience was not positive. He mentioned that the support process is not as direct and efficient as Cisco's. In Cisco, when there's an issue, you can call, initiate a case, and the support engineer can join you directly for troubleshooting. However, with Fortinet, it seems the process involves working on the case independently, and the support requests are assigned to different engineers. 

When advising the team for cost reduction, I suggest going with the VM if there's no budget. However, if there is a budget, I recommend purchasing the hardware. For all vendors, technically speaking, hardware is considered better than VM. However, for Fortinet, the difference between VM and hardware is mainly budget-related. If the customer has a budget, it's advisable to purchase the hardware. When recommending from the sales team's perspective, if the customer has a budget, they will suggest going with hardware. If there's no budget, the recommendation is to opt for VM, especially if the customer is working with Azure or AWS. The difference between VM and hardware lies primarily in patches, and overall, everything is satisfactory. One aspect worth noting is that during VM deployment, checking connectivity between the hypervisor, distribution switch, and network firewall is required. In contrast, for hardware, once the configuration is complete, connectivity is straightforward.

As for my overall rating of the FortiGate VM solution on a scale from one to ten, with one being the worst and ten being the best, I would rate it as a ten.

We are using Fortinet FortiGate-VM for network-level security.

There is a cloud and on-premise version of the solution available.

Our company deploys this solution to many companies.

The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate-VM are the ease of use, IPS system, application filter, web filtering, and email security. Additionally, there is a migration tool that other vendors do not provide. We only need to upload the configuration file to the tool, and it converts everything, except the passwords, and gives us the new configuration, which we can directly upload on the firewall. This migration process takes a maximum of 15 minutes.

The solution can improve by adding separate interfaces for proxy and flow-based usage.

In the next release, the web application firewall should be integrated into the hardware. There is separate hardware for the web application firewall and for  FortiGate.

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate-VM for approximately seven years.

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

We have approximately 30 users and 30,000 users.

This is a scalable solution.

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

The support from Fortinet FortiGate-VM exhibits high responsiveness. Whenever I raise a ticket on their portal, they typically respond within 15 to 20 minutes. In urgent cases, we can contact them via a ticket, and an engineer will be promptly assigned to assist.

I rate the support from Fortinet FortiGate-VM an eight out of ten.

Positive

I have used multiple types of firewalls and vendors, such as Cisco Firepower. Palo Alto, and Sophos.

Palo Alto is a great solution but it is expensive. I would choose them over Fortinet FortiGate-VM but they are too expensive. For my use case, Fortinet FortiGate-VM is the best for the environment.

Fortinet FortiGate-VM has discounts for generalized partners.

The initial setup time of Fortinet FortiGate-VM depends on the policies and filters that need to be applied to different users. The time can vary a lot on the environment. Its time ranges from minutes to a month. However, we can do the process remotely and it takes approximately 10 minutes.

We do the implementation of the solution.

The license can be purchased at intervals of one, three, and five years.

The price of the solution is in the middle range compared to the other vendors. However, the vendor is increasing the price gradually.

One person is suitable in a 24-hour period for the maintenance of the solution. A three to five administrator maintenance team would be sufficient to cover all the maintenance shifts per week.

I highly recommend Fortinet FortiGate-VM to others.

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

We use the product primarily in environments requiring robust network security and compliance, especially in the banking and enterprise sectors.

The platform has enhanced our organization's security posture by providing effective threat protection, bandwidth management, and SDN capabilities.

They could enhance the product's functionality for more comprehensive threat detection and mitigation, especially for large-scale deployments.

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate-VM for several years. 

The product is stable. 

The product is scalable. 

The initial setup of FortiGate was straightforward. It involved detailed planning for appliance selection based on user numbers, throughput requirements, firewall, IPS capacity, and VPN needs. 

We managed the implementation in-house, leveraging our expertise in network configuration.

FortiGate offers a favorable ROI due to its competitive pricing structure and effective network security capabilities, making it a cost-effective choice for our organization.

We evaluated alternatives like Checkpoint and Palo Alto. We chose FortiGate for its cost-effectiveness, robust performance in our specific use cases, and the comprehensive support provided by Fortinet.

The product's threat protection features have been instrumental in managing subscription-based licensing and ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements, especially in banking environments.

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

We employ Fortinet FortiGate-VM solely for testing purposes, similar to how we employ virtual machines in a virtual lab environment to evaluate solutions. When customers inquire about potential solutions, we typically construct and thoroughly test these solutions in our lab environment before providing confirmation. Once we've successfully conducted a proof of concept, we then extend an offer to the customer.

Both the hardware and virtual versions offer comprehensive capabilities required for perimeter network protection. Positioned at the network perimeter, they provide profiles that can be easily configured, including antivirus, DNS protection, web filtering, IPS, and application awareness for over five thousand applications. This allows for tailored configurations based on specific application usage within our network.

The scalability and flexibility of FortiGate VM have greatly benefited our organization. Its exceptional scalability allows us to adapt and expand according to our evolving needs.

Integrating FortiGate VM with our existing systems was straightforward, as I recall no difficulties during the process. I would rate it a solid ten out of ten for ease of integration.

The performance and availability of FortiGate-VM in our setup vary depending on the specific models chosen. We refer to data sheets and comparison tables to identify devices that meet our specific requirements. This involves considering factors such as performance metrics, encryption and decryption capabilities, and the number of secure connections supported. By comparing different models, we can select the one that best suits our needs.

The GUI of FortiGate is exceptional.

The features of FortiGate VM that we find most effective for network security include its universal operating system, which is the same across both hardware and virtual machine deployments. This consistency ensures that both real boxes and virtual machines run on identical images, accessible via both command line and graphical interfaces for convenience.

SD-WAN could be enhanced to provide a clear division between control and data planes, utilizing controllers to manage tasks within the network.

We have been using it for more than three years.

I am satisfied with its stability. I would rate it ten out of ten.

It provides outstanding scalability capabilities. I would rate it ten out of ten. 
We serve a diverse range of customers, including large government organizations in Ukraine and small businesses. FortiGate is suitable for a variety of customer types, accommodating the needs of both large enterprises and smaller organizations.

We haven't encountered any open trouble tickets in the past three years, so we don't have firsthand experience with how Fortinet handles cases.

The initial setup is straightforward, earning a rating of ten out of ten for ease of use. Compared to other options, it stands out as exceptionally simple, largely due to the extensive documentation provided by Fortinet. Additionally, numerous YouTube tutorials are available online, making it easy to find solutions without necessarily having to consult the documentation.

For deployment, FortiGate can be utilized in both on-premises and cloud environments, offering flexibility in its application. It can serve as a client-side perimeter device within a customer's network or function as a cloud-based service. Our organization predominantly offers cloud-based solutions, leveraging FortiGate installations at our Sentinel node facility. Here, we manage customer traffic by configuring it to pass through FortiGate, allowing us to provide next-generation firewall services to customers who lack their infrastructure. We tailor configurations to suit each customer's specific needs.

Alternatively, if a customer requires an on-premises solution, we may deploy a physical appliance at their site. In such cases, where the customer lacks the expertise to manage the firewall effectively, we offer a managed service option.

Deployment typically takes no more than a few hours, thanks to the straightforward installation process and the clarity of the documentation provided. Especially in simple configurations with uncomplicated topologies, deployment can be completed within minutes.

The price falls somewhere in the middle; it's neither cheap nor expensive. I would rate it five out of ten.

When purchasing an appliance, it's essential to acquire the accompanying subscription. This is crucial because frequent updates to antivirus profiles and other features are necessary, often occurring daily. Operating the device effectively requires a subscription from Fortinet, which we consistently purchase.

Fortinet FortiGate-VM is purpose-built as a next-generation firewall, excelling in its performance of this specific function. Its designated place in the network aligns perfectly with its capabilities, making it an ideal device for its intended purpose. Overall, I would rate it ten out of ten.