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reviewer1465347 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Infrastructure managerInformation an Communication Services Manager at a agriculture with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Great load balancing feature, secure and stable
Pros and Cons
  • "Good load balancing feature."
  • "We have an issue with hotel guest vouchers."

What is our primary use case?

We've used this solution for the guest portal for our client and we also use it to secure the network of our firm. I am the IT infrastructure manager and we are customers of Fortinet. 

What is most valuable?

I like the fact that we don't have to use our IP address and that it roams. I also like the load balancing feature which allows you to attach several internet connections and load balance.

What needs improvement?

We have an issue with the license when it expires because we're unable to use the computers. We are in the hotel industry and there's an issue with vouchers when guests come in wanting to use them. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for five years. 

Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
824,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's a stable solution. We had some issues after we upgraded but on the whole it's stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We don't have scalability requirements so I can't comment. 

How are customer service and support?

We had some issues with the local support, particularly with regard to purchasing the subscription. It took a very long time and at one point the license had expired and it took a while to sort out. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is simple and doesn't take much time.  

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

This is an affordable solution. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

FortiGate is the most effective solution for us and it's a cheaper option to Check Point or Palo Alto which we looked at. They are both very expensive. 

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution an eight out of 10. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Owner at Gabutto MArket
Real User
Stable and useful for intrusion prevention, VPN, and anti-malware purposes
Pros and Cons
  • "We are using the FortiGate 100D series. VPN, firewall, anti-malware, OTM, and intrusion prevention are useful features."
  • "It should have a better pricing plan. It is too expensive. It should also have a more granular view of the attack. I don't have FortiAnalyzer, and it is difficult for me to have a complete view when there is an attack on my server."

What is most valuable?

We are using the FortiGate 100D series. VPN, firewall, anti-malware, OTM, and intrusion prevention are useful features.

What needs improvement?

It should have a better pricing plan. It is too expensive. 

It should also have a more granular view of the attack. I don't have FortiAnalyzer, and it is difficult for me to have a complete view when there is an attack on my server.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable.

How are customer service and technical support?

I don't have any experience with their technical support. My partner contacts them for me.

How was the initial setup?

Its installation is not easy for me because I handle some other work, but I have two partners. One of them is very skilled at using FortiGate, and it took him a day to deploy it. After that, it took us a week to set all parameters and check all parameters and firewall functions.

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

It is too expensive for us. My organization is very small, and we have a total of ten users. We have three internal users and seven external users. The FortiGate 100D series is too expensive for renewing the licenses.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution if you can afford it. I would rate Fortinet FortiGate a nine 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.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
824,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Technical Services Manager at ProComm technologies
Real User
Helpful SD-WAN feature for uptime and privatizing applications, but needs better stability and integration
Pros and Cons
  • "The SD-WAN feature is the most valuable. This feature evolved from link load balancing. It has helped us in terms of our uptime and privatizing applications whenever we experience an outage. The SD-WAN feature has been a plus for us. Two-factor authentication has allowed us to add more users in terms of remote working. We have two-factor authentication for remote workers to authenticate them before they get on the network."
  • "It should be more stable. There should be full integration within Fortinet products themselves as well as with other third-party products. Especially when you're not dealing with SIEM and the correlation of the security box, we want Fortinet to be able to share that information with as many other products as it can."

What is our primary use case?

We're using it as an edge or a perimeter firewall. We have also used it to segment our LAN in terms of the endpoints and the servers, and we're also using it for remote access using SSL VPN. We have two other sites that we connect through FortiGate by using an IPSec, and we have integrated it with FortiAuthenticator for two-factor authentication and FortiAnalyzer to analyze logs and things like that. We are currently using the FortiGate 1200D series and running the latest software.

What is most valuable?

The SD-WAN feature is the most valuable. This feature evolved from link load balancing. It has helped us in terms of our uptime and privatizing applications whenever we experience an outage. The SD-WAN feature has been a plus for us. 

Two-factor authentication has allowed us to add more users in terms of remote working. We have two-factor authentication for remote workers to authenticate them before they get on the network.

What needs improvement?

It should be more stable. There should be full integration within Fortinet products themselves as well as with other third-party products. Especially when you're not dealing with SIEM and the correlation of the security box, we want Fortinet to be able to share that information with as many other products as it can.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

In terms of stability, I would rate it a seven out of ten. It should be more stable. Sometimes when you do firmware upgrades, a feature that was previously working is broken. There are things like that, but I guess that can be taken care of by reading the release notes and seeing what changed in the firmware upgrades.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is highly scalable. A customer had about 500 users.

How was the initial setup?

The installation was straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

We deployed it ourselves. You just need one engineer for its deployment and maintenance.

What other advice do I have?

We are skilled in Fortinet and Check Point. For customers who specifically want Fortinet, we will continue to provide this solution. Our first preference is Check Point, but if a customer insists on Fortinet, then we can do a lot of integration there and incorporate other products like FortiNAC, FortiWifi, and so on.

I would recommend this solution to others. I would rate Fortinet FortiGate a seven 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: Integrator
PeerSpot user
reviewer1316841 - PeerSpot reviewer
System Administrator at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Affordable, simple, effective, and has good support
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features are that it is very simple to configure and to manage."
  • "In the next release, maybe the documentation on how to use this solution could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case of this solution is as a firewall.

How has it helped my organization?

The way the rules are created and set up on our firewall is very quick, very simple, and does not take a lot of time. It allows us to spend more time in other areas.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features are that it is very simple to configure and to manage.

What needs improvement?

For me, this solution has nothing to improve and it meets the needs that I have. I don't see any way to improve, at least from my point of view on regular use.

In the next release, maybe the documentation on how to use this solution could be improved.

What I have noticed is that when we have done some configurations directly from the command line, there is not a lot of information regarding splitting.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for six years.

We are using the latest version.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a stable product.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Fortinet FortiGate is very scalable.

How are customer service and technical support?

We are satisfied with technical support. We have not had any issues.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is very straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

We used a reseller to help us with the implementation.

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

Pricing is very competitive. It's cheap for what it offers and for what it does.

It's very affordable.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others who are interested in using it.

Fortinet FortiGate is simple and effective.

I would rate Fortinet Fortigate a nine 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.
PeerSpot user
Assistant Manager (Infrastructure) at SISTIC
User
It has improved the security posture and visibility of our traffic
Pros and Cons
  • "Easy to use support and licensing portal as well as activation process."
  • "I would like to see improvements made to the dashboard and UI, as well as to the reporting."

What is our primary use case?

E-commerce environment, enterprise data center.                                                                                                                                                                                                        

How has it helped my organization?

It has improved the security posture and visibility of our traffic. The OS and the firmware updates are very straightforward.                                                                                         

What is most valuable?

All the features are very good, straightforward licensing, Fortinet product integration, standardized FortiOS and automatic uninterruptable firmware upgrade. Easy to use support and licensing portal as well as activation process.                                                                 

What needs improvement?

I would like to see improvements made to the dashboard and UI, as well as to the reporting. I would also like them to consider offering more predefined security templates.                       

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No issues.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

An eight and a half out of 10.

Technical Support:

They are able to identify an issue and resolve it within a pretty short period of time.

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

We previously used Cisco ASA. We switched to Fortinet Fortigate because it was easy to manage, and it uses a Single OS for the whole product. We were also able to learn how to use it very quickly.

How was the initial setup?

It is very straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented it ourselves with some assistance from vendor. Because of the limited assistance from the vendor, we do not know what the level of expertise was.

What was our ROI?

No

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

They have very competitive solutions across the entire product line.

They also offer very clear licensing and pricing.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Checkpoint, Cisco, Palo Alto, Sonicwall, Huawei, and Sophos.

What other advice do I have?

I found that the memory usage for the Fortigate firewall are relatively higher than other firewall brand when compared to same traffic volume. It might be the scan engine do their job well or the scan engine not well tuning. If there is a details information about this would be good.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Iz - PeerSpot reviewer
IzAssistant Manager (Infrastructure) at SISTIC
User

In fact I only apply on our DMZ firewall rules I only get the same result.

See all 2 comments
Network Administrator at Hellenic National Meteorological Service
Real User
Useful web filtering, beneficial remote access, and straightforward setup
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are remote access, web filtering, and IPS."
  • "Fortinet FortiGate could improve by having more capabilities for troubleshooting VPN connections. For example, I do get some feedback about the current status, but I could use some history and logging of important events. The information is logged in our Syslog server, but I could use that information from the device. If they could provide a GUI to have some more insight on what's going with my VPN would be useful."

What is our primary use case?

I am using Fortinet FortiGate as a firewall.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are remote access, web filtering, and IPS.

What needs improvement?

Fortinet FortiGate could improve by having more capabilities for troubleshooting VPN connections. For example, I do get some feedback about the current status, but I could use some history and logging of important events. The information is logged in our Syslog server, but I could use that information from the device. If they could provide a GUI to have some more insight on what's going with my VPN would be useful.

The way Fortinet FortiGate handles the phase two connection of a VPN setup could be better. For example, if I have to make a phase two traffic selector input, I cannot add more ports. For example, on a specific IP address pair, if I have an IP address pair source and destination, then I can only add one port. I'm not sure if I can do that through the command line, but on the GUI, I cannot, and this is a problem. I have to select another IP address pair to allow another port and this means new traffic selectors and a new set of tunnels. This causes more tunnels to need troubleshooting. 

I would like to be able to pass more diverse information through the same tunnel, and it doesn't seem to be possible if you want to limit the traffic through the tunnel and not allow all protocols between the same IP address pair. If we want to limit the ports, then I find there is a problem.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for approximately a year and a half.

How are customer service and support?

We have a contract with a Fortinet partner, and they're very good at providing support. We don't have the communication directly with Fortinet.

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

I have previously used a Cisco firewall, the 5520 model. It was not a next-generation firewall and did not have IPS integrated, and it was quite difficult to manage and to find features and implement them. Fortinet FortiGate is very good at this.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate is straightforward.

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

I do not have first-hand experience with the rice of Fortinet FortiGate, but I have heard the price was reasonable.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Network/Systems Administrator at TRSP
Real User
Reliable, simple implementation, and helpful support
Pros and Cons
  • "The scalability is good in Fortinet FortiGate."

    What is our primary use case?

    We are using Fortinet FortiGate for our security needs in an organization. You can have application and transport-based security. It functions according to the needs of the customer and there are additional add-ons that can be provided. Overall it is a good product.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for a few years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Fortinet FortiGate is a stable solution.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The scalability is good in Fortinet FortiGate.

    We have approximately 2,000 users using Fortinet FortiGate.

    How are customer service and support?

    The solution from Fortinet FortiGate is very good. Our experience has been very good.

    How was the initial setup?

    The implementation of Fortinet FortiGate was simple.

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

    If the price of the license in Fortinet FortiGate was less expensive it would be better.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would recommend this solution to others.

    I rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    reviewer1295655 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    Fast network speeds and security, framework needs to be frequently updated
    Pros and Cons
    • "I like that you are able to manage FortiGate from the FortiManager to create a more centralized environment."
    • "The solution's framework needs to be frequently updated in order to have a stable solution."

    What is our primary use case?

    We have several sites spread geographically across Latin America and Asia that use FortiGate. Some of them are unable to support cloud services so we have deployed it on-premise in order to provide ourselves with a fast and secure network.

    What is most valuable?

    I like that you are able to manage FortiGate from the FortiManager to create a more centralized environment.

    What needs improvement?

    The solution's framework needs to be frequently updated in order to have a stable solution.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    We have been using this solution for a little over one year.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    This is a stable solution is you are able to effectively maintain the framework.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    This is a scalable solution. We have about six thousand users and have plans to increase.

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

    My company used Blue Coat and Zscaler in the past but I am unsure why they switched.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup was not 100% straightforward, but it was also not too complicated. You have the choice to use templates or design your own so deployment length will be dependent on that.

    What other advice do I have?

    This is a great solution for companies spread across Latin America and Asia.

    I would rate this a seven 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.
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Fortinet FortiGate Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
    Updated: December 2024
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Fortinet FortiGate Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.