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Yuvaraj P - PeerSpot reviewer
Network & Security Engineer at Viroka Technology Private Limited
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
A tool with a user-friendly GUI that is also easy to install and maintain
Pros and Cons
  • "The initial setup of Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is easy."
  • "For improvement, Fortinet needs to ensure that they provide quick support to users...Fortinet sometimes needs to respond to users facing issues within an hour."

What is our primary use case?

In my company, we use Fortinet FortiAuthenticator as a AAA server. We use it to integrate with LDAP and integrate with FortiGate in multiple locations with centralized authentication. We can authenticate the users since Fortinet FortiAuthenticator allows for two-factor authentication and FortiClient.

What is most valuable?

FortiGuard supports two-factor authentication or FortiToken, but it is only for a centralized location. With Fortinet FortiAuthenticator, we can allow centralized locations and users across the globe to use it.

What needs improvement?

Documentation is an area where Fortinet is constantly trying to improve.

For improvement, Fortinet needs to ensure that they provide quick support to users. Once a ticket gets created by our company with the support team, we have to wait for SLA, which can go up to four or sometimes six hours. Fortinet sometimes needs to respond to users facing issues within an hour. Fortinet needs to improve the part of engineering SLAs.

Automation is a feature I would like to see in the solution since Fortinet has included automation features only in FortiGate. It would be better to see automation features, like backup, interfaces, or statuses, in FortiAuthenticator.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiAuthenticator for five years. My company has a partnership with Fortinet.

Buyer's Guide
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January 2025
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is a scalable solution since the tool provides its users with the option to scale up.

With Fortinet FortiAuthenticator, I work for medium and large enterprises.

How are customer service and support?

I rate the technical support an eight out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is easy.

Fortinet FortiAuthenticator's deployment takes an hour if everything is up and running.

Three to four engineers are required for the deployment of the product.

What about the implementation team?


What other advice do I have?

Everything in the tool, including the tool's GUI, is user-friendly. 

The solution is easy to maintain, provided we know about the product. It is not a complicated tool, making learning easy for all. Some skills are required for a person to be able to maintain the solution.

With FortiGate, anyone can access or handle the tool, especially if they have handled other products. With FortiAuthenticator, opportunities to first understand the product to be able to use it.

I rate the overall product a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Presales Engineer at a comms service provider with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Strengthens security, flexible two-factor authentication options, and integrates well with other solutions
Pros and Cons
  • "It reduces the need for network administrator intervention by allowing the user to perform their own registration and resolve their own password problems and issues."
  • "I would like to see integration and customization capabilities with the end-user portal to solve authentication issues with diverse implementation scenarios."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use Fortinet FortiAuthenticator to centralize the management of user identity information in Security Architectures, enforce Role-Based authentication, and allow Two Factor authentication with Softclient support.

This is a must-have technology in Fortinet implementations with several gateways and distributed environments.

It is easy to set up and will reduce Network administrators' efforts to integrate diverse identification methods. Must evaluate Single Sing On Mobility Agents to full integration of users position on the network and complete the solution.

How has it helped my organization?

Using this product strengthens enterprise security. It offers role-based security policies and User Identity Management with different methods.

This product provides automatization. There is a self-service user portal for registry and support for domain and non-domain guest users, with diverse channels vía hardware tokens, software tokens, e-mail, and SMS.

This solution brings user satisfaction. It reduces the need for network administrator intervention by allowing the user to perform their own registration and resolve their own password problems and issues.

What is most valuable?

Key Features and Benefits

  1. Two-factor/OTP Authentication with FortiToken: Enforce user-based policies. Fortitoken is available in soft and hard versions for flexible usage.  Most Valuable in Mobile Phones App for OTP.
  2. Integration with LDAP and AD: This solution integrates with existing enterprise systems and technologies from diverse vendors of user information management systems.
  3. LPAD/AD/RADIUS/SYSLOG/KERBEROS/REST API/FSSO and Web Portals: There is flexible integration with these services.
  4. It is usable in network WAN, wireless, and VPN Scenarios.
  5. The domain and guest-users support are good.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see integration and customization capabilities with the end-user portal to solve authentication issues with diverse implementation scenarios. Specifically, with web applications, enterprise networks, and VPN.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Fortinet FortiAuthenticator for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a stable, set-and-forget product. Logical operations run in the Gateways.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

FAC 200E/400E will support environments for hundreds of users, based on Physical Appliances. If future needs are in the scope then I suggest implementing virtual deployments.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is not needed in any sense. We have three years running without hardware appliance incidents or major issues.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

This is the first authentication platform that I have worked with.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup process will vary from simple to complex and depends on your existing User Identity Systems, integrations, and scale of the network

What about the implementation team?

In-house engineers, properly trained, are responsible for deployment and maintenance.

What was our ROI?

Our ROI was reached in less than a year. This solution is good in terms of financial returns.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

FAC is an affordable solution for Middle Range (200E/400E) and also needs a package of mobility agents (2,000) perpetual.

There is nothing to buy in the gateways (FG) and it is fully integrated.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

As a Fortinet customer, the logical evaluation was FAC from the same vendor.

What other advice do I have?

This is a must-have technology in Fortinet deployments with distributed environments.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We implement and support Fortinet Technologies as MSSP.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiAuthenticator. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
831,020 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Business Development Manager at a retailer with 1-10 employees
Real User
Top 20
Enhance d and secure access with strong authentication
Pros and Cons
  • "The response from Fortinet is very fast."
  • "FortiAuthenticator should integrate with other applications."

What is our primary use case?

We are currently using FortiAuthenticator for VPN access.

How has it helped my organization?

For security access, it is good.

What is most valuable?

The Fortinet security area is authenticated; they use it to access that is the main purpose.

What needs improvement?

FortiAuthenticator should integrate with other applications. I currently use Google Authenticator and Office Authenticator, and it would be better if FortiAuthenticator could be added to other applications.

For how long have I used the solution?

As a user, I have been working with FortiAuthenticator for about three years now.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable, and I would rate it ten out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

The response from Fortinet is very fast. We use them for integration with the Mitel solution, and they are supportive and helpful.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

My colleague did the setup, and I didn't feel that he struggled much. It seemed straightforward and not too difficult.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing is about three on a scale where ten is low. Pricing should be more flexible.

What other advice do I have?

I recommend it to other users who are using FortiGate to go for Fortinet.

I'd rate the solution ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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PeerSpot user
JunedhRehman - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Infrastructure Engineer at Softrobotics
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Easy to configure, high performance, and secure
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiAuthenticator are easy to configure, secure, and the application has good performance."
  • "It would be helpful to receive a code by yourself for authentication instead of it registered to a phone."

What is our primary use case?

I am using Fortinet FortiAuthenticator for SSL and logins.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiAuthenticator are easy to configure, secure, and the application has good performance.

What needs improvement?

It would be helpful to receive a code by yourself for authentication instead of it registered to a phone.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiAuthenticator for approximately two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the stability of Fortinet FortiAuthenticator a nine out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Some additional features would be helpful.

Our customers are enterprise-sized companies.

I rate the scalability of Fortinet FortiAuthenticator an eight out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

The support is responsive and the support is in our local language.

I rate the support from Fortinet FortiAuthenticator a nine out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is simple compared to other solutions. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I price of the solution is expensive.

I rotate the price of Fortinet FortiAuthenticator a seven out of ten.

What other advice do I have?

We have one person for 100 users of the solution.

I rate Fortinet FortiAuthenticator a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
reviewer1372281 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Manager at a computer retailer with 11-50 employees
Reseller
Easy-to-configure product with good stability
Pros and Cons
  • "The product is good, cost-effective, and functionally efficient."
  • "They could expand FortiAuthenticator's capabilities to accommodate a broader range of environments."

What is our primary use case?

We use the product network device authentication for Linux and Windows server integrations.

What is most valuable?

The product is good, cost-effective, and functionally efficient. It has a valuable capability to work as a virtual machine and integrate with Active Directory.

What needs improvement?

They could expand FortiAuthenticator's capabilities to accommodate a broader range of environments. It needs a user-friendly interface and intuitive console for those needing in-house solutions. Additionally, there should be a mobile-centric approach for remote control capabilities while proceeding.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Fortinet FortiAuthenticator for more than ten years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is stable in our production environment.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have 5000 Fortinet FortiAuthenticator users in our organization.

How are customer service and support?

They could improve the response time for severe cases. At present, they reply within a day or two. However, they do provide good solutions.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We have used Cisco's firewall products before. In comparison, Fortinet is more user-friendly and easy to configure.

How was the initial setup?

We require two administration executives to manage the product.

What about the implementation team?

We provide implementation and maintenance support for all our customers.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The product has affordable pricing compared to other vendors. They offer valuable features considering the cost.

What other advice do I have?

Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is a very popular and robust product in the market. They provide integration with third-party applications.

I rate it an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
PeerSpot user
Oche Eluma - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Security Architect at Appzone Group
Real User
Top 5
Provides us with a single point of authentication, instead of having an authenticator on each one of the firewalls
Pros and Cons
  • "The first valuable feature is being able to see everything on one platform. This includes logs and authentication failure."
  • "The technical support team is bad."

What is our primary use case?

My environment is multi-cloud. I have a production workload in Nigeria. I have some data centers in Continental Europe and in the East US in multiple regions. We operate both on-premises and on two different public clouds: AWS and Azure. At the time, because of how Fortinet worked, we connected to our customers via remote access VPN.

Because of the nature of Amazon Infiniti, it had a very big impact in Africa and on how we implemented our SA as the most effective authentication service for our VPN. 

Originally, when people tried to connect, they had to put in their original credentials and send a request back. The issue here started before software tools were being used, and hardware tools had to be used for privacy. We had to have five firewalls and five different token devices. It was very clumsy and not efficient.

We decided to go with FortiAuthenticator because it provides us with a single point of authentication, instead of having an authenticator on each one of the firewalls. Only five to twelve hours are connected on the back and then Citrix will send us an email or a text message. We can then easily and seamlessly use the solution.  

What is most valuable?

The first valuable feature is being able to see everything on one platform. This includes logs and authentication failure.

The second valuable feature is that the delivery and delivery methodology is toll-free. This includes email configuration, using the mobile app, and text message delivery. There is no need to buy any extra hardware, it is free.

The third valuable feature is that the chip that is applied is free.

We save a lot of money on consolidating tool teams. We have multiple different tool teams. This solution provides us with a single point of authentication for all of the files in all of the teams' environments.

What needs improvement?

The user interface can be improved.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support team is bad. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

The cloud deployment felt limited, but there was valuable information on the Internet. A lot of testing needs to be done, and the deployment is easier for those who understand how to do it on the cloud. We needed support here and the support team could not figure out the issue. Eventually, one of the support team members helped, but there was still an information gap.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It is usually cheap. Without a license, you can use some basic features. You can buy a 20-year license and implement the solution once.

What other advice do I have?

I rate the overall solution a nine out of ten, due to support issues.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PedroMaia - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Director at Intdev Internet Technologies
Real User
Provides a high level of security with two-step authentication
Pros and Cons
  • "The two-step authentication provides a higher level of security."
  • "We've had some issues with integration."

What is our primary use case?

We are resellers of this solution and partners of Fortinet. I'm the managing director and we are based in South Africa. 

What is most valuable?

I really like the two-step authentication, it provides a higher level of security that we didn't have previously. Just having a password is not good enough anymore. 

What needs improvement?

There are some issues with integration. We also have a problem that the cost of the solution is linked to the dollar and that can result in significant unexpected price rises. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for a year. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable, we have over 1,500 users. 

How are customer service and support?

We had great technical support from an external company. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was relatively easy. There were some issues we had with the LDAP integration, but it was solved quite quickly. We had some outside assistance for the deployment. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The actual cost is fair but when our exchange rate in South Africa goes through the roof, then the price changes quickly. It would assist us if the cost could be standardized or fixed. The exchange rate has a significant impact on us. 

What other advice do I have?

I recommend this solution, it does what it's meant to. I rate FortiAuthenticator nine out of 10. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Haiyang Lu - PeerSpot reviewer
System Engineer - Security at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Priced high, but reliable and simple implementation
Pros and Cons
  • "We have not had issues with Fortinet FortiAuthenticator. It is stable."
  • "The price of the solution could improve, it is expensive."

What is our primary use case?

We're using Fortinet FortiAuthenticator to bypass identity to the Fortinet FortiGate. We do not use FortiAuthenticator too much because it is middleware.

How has it helped my organization?

Fortinet FortiAuthenticator has improved our organization because we are able to can create identity-based policies. For example, who are you and where are you. We are shifting from the IP-based to the identity-based.

What needs improvement?

The price of the solution could improve, it is expensive.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiAuthenticator for approximately five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have not had issues with Fortinet FortiAuthenticator. It is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is scalable.

We have approximately two people that are using the solution.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We needed to use Fortinet FortiAuthenticator because we wanted to use the identity-based policy so that FortiAuthenticator can help us to pass the identity to the Fortinet FortiGate.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Fortinet FortiAuthenticator was straightforward. The implementation process took three to four days with multiple sites.

I rate the initial setup of Fortinet FortiAuthenticator four out of five.

What about the implementation team?

We did the implementation of Fortinet FortiAuthenticator in-house and we have two people for the maintenance.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We typically purchase licenses for five years and when new projects come we reassess the situation and renew or switch solutions. 

There are no additional costs to the standard licensing fees.

I rate the price of Fortinet FortiAuthenticator a three out of five.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not evaluate other solutions before choosing Fortinet FortiAuthenticator.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Fortinet FortiAuthenticator a five out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiAuthenticator Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: January 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiAuthenticator Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.