Fortinet FortiSwitch - Data Center Reviews

This is a solution that we use in our company and we also provide services to our clients.

The FortiSwitch is used to manage traffic between our VMs and physical hosts across multiple data centers. It is part of our network fabric and it can support the amount of throughput that we need to provide HA to service our clients.

The most valuable feature is the port analytics. When you start getting into FortiManager and some of their analytics tools, that's the stuff I'm more interested in.

Before using FortiSwitch, you need several certifications.

The price could be improved.

I have been using this Fortinet solution for five years.

We have not had any issues with stability. It's fine.

The scalability is fine. Our clients range in size from small businesses to large entities.

I have been in contact with Fortinet technical support several times and they seem to be good. We have had no issues with them.

We have experience with similar products from Ubiquiti and the biggest difference between them is the price. It is a significant difference. I can get the same sort of information out of the Ubiquiti suite, but I have to do it differently.

The initial setup is straightforward.

Every product has a thousand features and we're probably using 10% of them. So, it's more about certifications and knowledge for understanding capabilities.

My advice for anybody who is implementing this solution is to spend some time to get to learn it. Once you do, using it is pretty straightforward.

I would recommend the FortiSwitch Data Center, for sure, although there is always room for improvement.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

We have physical hosts across multiple data centers and primarily use the solution to lay network fabric that can support the amount of throughput that we need to our HA and service ports.

The port analytics are the most valuable aspect of the solution for our organization. When we start getting into the FortiManagers and some of their analytics tools, it becomes very interesting for us.

The product's got a thousand features, and we're probably using only 10% of them.

The interface is very straightforward.

We need to understand a bit more about certifications and knowledge for understanding capabilities. The solution should make that more clear to its users.

I've been using the solution for five years.

We haven't had any issues with stability. There haven't been bugs or glitches that I've seen. I haven't witnessed a crash. It's been good.

The scalability of the solution is fine for our organization's purposes. Those companies that need to expand it should have not problem doing so.

We've contacted technical support on several occasions. They've been fine. We have no complaints. We're satisfied with their level of service.

We also currently use Cisco and Ubiquiti solutions alongside Fortiswitch. The main difference between the three is the pricing. It's all worlds apart. The features, on the other hand, are pretty much the same. On Ubiquiti, however, we just have to get to the information a bit differently.

The initial setup was straightforward. It wasn't complex at all. We found it to be relatively painless.

We're Fortinet partners.

We are both using the solution and providing it to our customers.

The size of the clients we deal with vary. Some are small. Some are mining entities.

I'd recommend the solution. I'd rate it seven out of ten.

A valuable feature of FortiGate is its management integrity. FortiSwitch has two modes, one standalone and the other managed. The standalone mode cannot be managed from FortiGate, although the managed mode allows one to manage FortiSwitch from FortiGate. This includes the making or assigning of virtual LAN, interfacing, enabling and disabling and patching of upgrades. This can be done from FortiGate to every other FortiSwitch. 

It would be great were FortiGate to allow for the management of many switches, such as 50 or 60 FortiSwitches. The managed display is very low. It takes a long time for the view to become visible, two or three minutes, perhaps. This is irritating. When there are many switches being used, the speed declines noticeably. 

When it comes to stability and use of the managed feature, FortiSwitch does not consume many resources, such as CPU and memory. Yet, occasionally, we cannot understand the managed feature of the FortiLink platform. Stability is not really the issue. Troubleshooting is.

While the installation process is not complicated, the need to do regional configuration of FortiSwitch can be a bit on the tricky side. 

We have a singular project on the FortiSwitch and this solution does not have many features when it comes to modular installation. One can move from one port to another on the same switch. Since the FortiSwitches do not move, this resulted in a person being unable to move his personal configuration from the same switches. This is a very important feature which our customers require, as they need to have switching abilities, such as in the event that they will move to the conference room. FortiSwitches now offers this important feature. 

As Fortinet FortiSwitch - Data Center is a very young product, we have been distributing it for two or three years. 

Stability is not an issue, although troubleshooting can present a challenge. 

FortiSwitch makes it easy to deal with many switches. It allows a person to install all of the switches on a single special FortiGate button. When it comes to the configuration of one's network, this is important, since it spares a person from the need to individually integrate each switch in the event that there are many involved. 

Overall, Fortinet has good support, although this can vary depending on the engineer involved. 

While the FortiSwitch setup process is not very involved, the need to do regional configuration can be a tricky issue. There is a learning process. 

I rate Fortinet FortiSwitch - Data Center as a nine out of ten. 

We implement it for our customers and do the installation. 

Configurations between FortiGate and FortiSwitch have to link to each other as "FortiLink". We need configuration. The configuration is not like a Cisco switch. It has a unique configuration. 

FortiSwitch should improve the FortiGate map. The diagram cannot move, automatically to show the switch. The map does not map the physical location. It cannot move the diagram.

2 yeas

If the customer uses a certain function, the customer can change the configuration from FortiGate. They can unify their network to drive only on FortiGate. We can reduce the cost of the operation network. That function is very scalable and cheap.

The technical support depends on the technician's expertise. We can't choose any person in the technical support center. Sometimes they're not good. Sometimes they are good. They're almost always very good. 

The initial setup is not very difficult. The manufacturer has a lot of documentation about the product in their documentation website. We do all of the configurations from the documentation that is available. It's not difficult.

I would recommend this solution. It's suitable. If you use FortiGate you should use FortiSwitch. It's very helpful. It has a good configuration. I would recommend it. If you use Fortigate you should replace a Cisco switch to FortiSwitch. FortiSwitch should not be used as a legacy switch(standalone mode).
If we use it as a standalone mode, we can't use it in an SDN function. FortiGate should look at the whole packet in the network. 

I would rate it a nine out of ten. Not a ten because we cannot use it as a layer 3 switch when we use it as the standalone mode. because sometimes the customer wants to replace the layer 3 switch.

We can use the standalone normal FortiSwitch as Layer 3 Switch but if we want to use the SDN function, we have to use it as managed Layer 2 FortiSwitch.

but there is counter measure.

We recommend to proposal to choose more high-end model FortiGate.

so Fortigate can controll routing on behalf Layer 3 switch.

The interface is good.

It integrates well.

It works well.

The FortiSwitch product was initially quite complex.

I have been using Fortinet FortiSwitch - Data Center since 2018.

I don't have any issues with the stability of Fortinet FortiSwitch - Data Center.

It's a scalable solution.

Technical support is good. I don't have any problem with technical support.

We have the entire Fortinet FortiSwitch system - Secure Access, firewalls, and everything. We have the entire Fortinet fabric.

It takes some time to get used to the interface at first. I would rate the Fortinet Secure Access a nine out of ten.

This is not an area that I am involved with. I did not set up this solution. For me, it would be difficult.

The installation was done mostly by the integrator.

It is reasonably priced.

We had a difficult time at first because we were among the first to integrate this product, but everything went smoothly after that.

I would rate Fortinet FortiSwitch - Data Center a nine out of ten.

The solution can improve by upgrading QSFP+, it is very limited and must be supported more than it is now. If we need FortiSwitches to support all the QSFP ports our budgets would have to be very large.

I have been using Fortinet FortiSwitch - Data Center for approximately three years.

The solution is stable.

I have found the solution to be scalable.

We have thousands of users using this solution.

The technical support has been very good. They are responsive and helpful. I would recommend this support to anyone using their solutions.

The installation is not difficult.

We did the implementation of the solution. For typical installations, we use one technician and if we need to link other devices, such as Fortinet firewalls, then we use two technicians.

This solution is expensive but it does not require a license.

I rate Fortinet FortiSwitch - Data Center a nine out of ten.