We're using it for web filtering, intrusion prevention system (IPS), intrusion detection system (IDS), and VPN. We are also using it as DSCP.
Senior Manager IT at Tata International Limited
Feature-rich and secure UTM box with fantastic support
Pros and Cons
- "The information security features are the most valuable."
- "It would be great if they can push the Microsoft updates through Fortinet OS and provide a centralized patch management system. They should also include the data loss prevention (DLP) and data leakage prevention features. They could also add network monitoring more effectively."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The information security features are the most valuable.
What needs improvement?
It would be great if they can push the Microsoft updates through Fortinet OS and provide a centralized patch management system.
They should also include the data loss prevention (DLP) and data leakage prevention features. They could also add network monitoring more effectively.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Fortinet FortiOS for nearly seven years.
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiOS
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiOS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is very much stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is very scalable. We have a global presence in more than 23 countries.
How are customer service and support?
We are satisfied with the support. They provide fantastic support. They provide online support, and on priority, they also provide a remote session.
How was the initial setup?
It is extremely easy to set up.
What about the implementation team?
We deployed it ourselves.
What other advice do I have?
This particular solution will be in a firewall. It's not a firewall, but it is a unified threat management (UTM) box. It acts as a firewall, plus it has many features like web filtering, VPN, DSCP, IPS, and IDS. It also has the high availability (HA) feature. You are getting a very good solution with all these features combined into one box.
I would rate Fortinet FortiOS a nine out of ten. We will surely keep using Fortinet FortiOS because it is a great and very secure product. We intend to only go with this product.
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.
Sr. Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Highly user-centric, performs well, but more GUI functionality needed
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiOS are its simplicity, highly user-centric, and performs well. The line speed and for heavy traffic, is helpful for us."
- "Fortinet FortiOS can improve by limiting the need for the CLI and GUI combination. The more functions they can have on the GUI and less on CLI would be helpful."
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiOS are its simplicity, highly user-centric, and performs well. The line speed and for heavy traffic, is helpful for us.
What needs improvement?
Fortinet FortiOS can improve by limiting the need for the CLI and GUI combination. The more functions they can have on the GUI and less on CLI would be helpful.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used Fortinet FortiOS within the last 12 months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of Fortinet FortiOS has been good, I have not had any issues at this point.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Fortinet FortiOS scalability has been good. However, we only have a small setup.
How are customer service and support?
The support offered by Fortinet FortiOS is good.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Fortinet FortiOS is straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price of Fortinet FortiOS is less than $10,000 annually. The price of the support is reasonable compared to competitors.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Fortinet FortiOS a seven out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiOS
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiOS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Network Support at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Flexible, easy to use, and meets our requirements
Pros and Cons
- "It's easy to use."
- "Right now, all the features meet my requirements."
What is our primary use case?
FortiOS is just an operating system. That's it. It's a firmware FortiGate is running.
FortiOS is the foundation of the Fortinet secured fabric.
How has it helped my organization?
You can have virtual domains. On top of each virtual domain, you can see the independent system. When comparing Fortinet with other vendors, the good part is you can set different priorities. It depends on different VDOMs. In my case, I have two VDOMs. One is called a VPN VDOM; the other is called a web filter VDOM. Usually, for other vendors, no matter how many domains, just one primary device is always a primary one. However, for FortiGate, you can separate them. In my case, I have machine one, and machine two. FortiGate one, Fortigate two. And for each FortiGate, we can have multiple VDOMs. In my case, I have two VDOMs. If you want to save money, you can split the workload, and this capability helps us save on costs.
What is most valuable?
It's very flexible firmware.
I really like it overall. It really meets lots of my requirements.
The initial setup is easy.
It's easy to use.
The solution is quite stable.
What needs improvement?
Right now, all the features meet my requirements. It's not lacking in any way.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have more than ten years of experience with the solution.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It is reliable. In terms of hardware. We are in a cycle right now to handle hardware replacement. We've been using the hardware for seven years now.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have more than 400 stores nationally in Canada. I have it in every different location. For each store, for business continuity purposes, we have two internet connections. One is the primary internet connection; the secondary is the LTE.
LTE is expensive, so we always use the primary, like cable or PPPoE. Unless the cable or PPPoE fails, then we switch traffic to LTE. Even for LTE, we control the traffic. For example, we have backup traffic. For LTE, we don't allow the backup traffic to go through LTE since LTE is for business continuity purposes only.
For redundancy, you build up the HA environment, meaning, at a minimum, you have two devices to work together. The secondary is always just sleeping there, dormant. When the primary fails, then you switch over to secondary.
However, for Fortinet, on top of this, you can have multiple VDOMs.
How are customer service and support?
I'm a very senior tech guy, and therefore I would rarely need their services. However, I will say they have been much better, and we find them helpful.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I've had previous experience with Cisco products.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very good. I'm a Cisco guy; I'm used to the command line interface. Therefore, right now, from my command line point of view, I like it. The hierarchy of the command line is very clear and it's very easy to change as needed.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The license is based on the machine itself, not on how many users. That's why we backhaul all the internet traffic to my head office, so in my head office, I only need to buy one license. To access the internet, we have a VPN tunnel.
I'm not sure of the exact costs. I didn't purchase it, I just use it.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I've compared the solution to Palo Alto and Cisco.
What other advice do I have?
Right now, more and more services are moving to the cloud. In terms of the cloud, the IP address changes so frequently. Today you see this IP for this service, the next day, without notifications, they may change IP to other IP addresses. So, originally, all firewall rules were based on the IP address. Now, it's not based on the IP address; it's based on the service. I can see Fortinet has already worked on this. For example, they provide internet service, which I remember, even though I haven't tried it yet. There's an internet service called Office 365. You just use this; you don't need to know the exact IP address or something; you just use this name. In the background, Fortinet updates this, updates all the information about this group, so you don't need to. The firewall keeps retrieving all that information from Fortinet, so you don't have to worry about the frequent change on the cloud side.
So far, I'm very satisfied with this device. Compared with other vendors, like Palo Alto and Cisco, I'm delighted with FortiGate, to be honest.
I'd rate it ten out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Senior Network & Security Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Easy to manage, effective intrusion prevention, and useful geographical visibility
Pros and Cons
- "The main features I find useful are intrusion prevention and web filtering. Additionally, the solution is easy to manage."
- "The solution could improve the log retention and reports."
What is our primary use case?
I am using Fortinet FortiOS in conjunction with a firewall for our network security.
How has it helped my organization?
This solution has helped our organization prevent multiple attacks. It has been beneficial having geographical visibility of what threat is being blocked in real-time.
What is most valuable?
The main features I find useful are intrusion prevention and web filtering. Additionally, the solution is easy to manage.
What needs improvement?
The solution could improve the log retention and reports.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Fortinet FortiOS for approximately eight years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Fortinet FortiOS is scalable.
We have different size organizations using this solution and when determining if it fits the organization's it depends on their use case.
How are customer service and technical support?
We have been satisfied with the technical support.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward.
What was our ROI?
I have found Fortinet FortiOS to be a good investment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price of Fortinet FortiOS has been reasonable.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We have evaluated other solutions, such as SonicWall, Palo Alto, Cyberoam, and Check Point before choosing Fortinet FortiOS.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution.
I rate Fortinet FortiOS 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: Implementor
Network and Security Engineer at Neurones
Easy setup and has good stability
Pros and Cons
- "The initial setup is easy. It's the easiest firewall installation process on the market. I work with three or four other products and this one is the easiest."
- "In terms of what needs improvements, the troubleshooting could use improvement. When we work with other products like Cisco ASA, Palo Alto, and Check Point, we see a big difference in the troubleshooting. It's not easy to find a report."
What is our primary use case?
We use the on-prem deployment model of this solution. We use the standard model for our clients.
What needs improvement?
In terms of what needs improvements, the troubleshooting could use improvement. When we work with other products like Cisco ASA, Palo Alto, and Check Point, we see a big difference in the troubleshooting. It's not easy to find a report. In order to overcome the problem, you have to install FortiAnalyzer to help you find the troubleshooting problem. FortiOS has its limitations.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I work with many products but this is the most stable OS I have seen. With Cisco, for example, if you do an upgrade, it's not guaranteed that the production will be stable. The upgraded release will release many bugs. FortiOS isn't like this.
There is something called Fortinet Fabric that helps you to enforce your security by connecting all of your products with FortiGate. For example, if you install FortiClient on your PC it will help you use the VPN and the antivirus. When there is an issue, if you have 1,000 users with FortiClient will send a message to FortiGate. I have many projects and I use FortiManager to manage them. It helps my team minimize implementation time.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have thousands of user using this solution. Only one person is required for the deployment.
How are customer service and technical support?
Their technical support has its positives and negatives. If you contact them, they are responsive and interactive and they have good solutions to the problem. The issue is with the support documents. When you need to do something advanced, there isn't good documentation for it. For basic tasks, there are plenty of videos and information but for advanced tasks or solutions, there is not.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easy. It's the easiest firewall installation process on the market. I work with three or four other products and this one is the easiest.
The time it takes to deploy will depend on the needs of the company and how complex they are. A basic installation will take one hour.
What other advice do I have?
It's important to have 24/7 support because the documentation is poor and you will need the support. It's important to have a support team and a support contract.
I would rate it a nine out of ten. Not a ten because of the troubleshooting. Other solutions have a mechanism to find your IP network. Cisco has something called Packet Tracer which is very advanced that helps you test your configuration. It really helps the engineers to test without affecting the product environment.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Network & System Administrator at National Takaful Company
User-friendly, simple configuration, and knowledge support
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiOS are user-friendliness, ease of use, and threat prevention."
- "We had assistance from one person from our local vendor for the implementation."
What is our primary use case?
I use Fortinet FortiOS for firewalls.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiOS are user-friendliness, ease of use, and threat prevention.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Fortinet FortiOS for approximately two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Fortinet FortiOS is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have approximately 100 users using Fortinet FortiOS. All levels of employees are using the solution.
How are customer service and support?
The support from Fortinet FortiOS has been good. They had the knowledge and professionalism.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were using Juniper before we choose Fortinet FortiOS.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Fortinet FortiOS was very easy. The configuration was simple to do. The whole implementation took approximately two weeks.
What about the implementation team?
We had assistance from one person from our local vendor for the implementation.
What other advice do I have?
Fortinet FortiOS is very effective and easy to use to configure. I would recommend it to others.
I rate Fortinet FortiOS a 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.
IT Network Engineer at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Has an easy initial setup process, but firmware updates need improvement
Pros and Cons
- "It efficiently manages large-scale firewall deployments."
- "The solution's firmware updates have significant bugs and issues."
What is most valuable?
The solution's most valuable feature is its ability to work efficiently with large-scale firewall deployments. Also, it provides custom segmentation for the firewall without adding any additional devices. It helps in reducing the cost of testing purposes.
What needs improvement?
The solution's firmware updates have significant bugs and issues. They affect the network and firewall. This particular area needs improvement. Also, they should include an advanced firewall feature.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate the solution's stability as seven.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I rate the solution's scalability a seven. The major bugs in the firmware update affect the scaling capabilities as well.
How was the initial setup?
The solution's initial setup process is easy.
What other advice do I have?
I rate the solution as 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: Partner
Technical Presales Engineer at a educational organization with 10,001+ employees
It has high availability features so we can have one box on hot standby to take over when another one crashes
Pros and Cons
- "FortiOS allows us to set up alarms for blocked websites and SSL verifications. When someone tries to access a blocked site, the solution sends a notification to the IT manager's mailbox."
- "FortiOS could provide a more detailed analysis of the network and connected devices."
What is our primary use case?
I was working at a bank where internal information security was strict, so I needed to block a lot of websites in Fortinet. For example, we needed to block Gmail, WhatsApp Web, porn, and violent content.
What is most valuable?
FortiOS allows us to set up alarms for blocked websites and SSL verifications. When someone tries to access a blocked site, the solution sends a notification to the IT manager's mailbox.
The user interface is easy to use. Fortinet has high availability features, so you can have an active and hot standby box. We can have two boxes in Rio and two in São Paulo. When a box crashes, we can transfer all the operations to the second box.
FortiOS tells you exactly what is happening in the first box, so you can quickly understand what went wrong and troubleshoot. Users rarely notice an impact on the daily operations.
What needs improvement?
FortiOS could provide a more detailed analysis of the network and connected devices.
For how long have I used the solution?
I used Fortinet for about nine months.
How are customer service and support?
We have a support contract with a third-party company, but Fortinet provides the licenses, so we update the solution ourselves using the license code.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Fortinet FortiOS nine out of 10.
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.
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiOS Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Updated: November 2024
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