What advice do you have for others considering Fortinet FortiGate-VM?

Both Fortinet FortiGate-VM and appliance are available. The difference between Fortinet FortiGate-VM and appliance is the platform which you are hosting. In the appliance, I am really seeing the appliance already with the required OS and everything. When we go to the VM side, we have to host the VM according to the defined specifications, and we have to get the licensing for it. Basically, in the firewall maintenance and configuration part, I cannot see any huge difference. It is the same. When we go to the VM side, all the network cable management and some things are happening virtually. Feature-wise, as per my knowledge, there are no additional features when you go to the VM or the appliance. You can have the same features either you go with the appliance or VM. Fortinet FortiGate-VM, mainly affordability and flexibility because some customers do have their infrastructure in cloud environments. Some customers do not prefer to use the cloud platform's native firewalls. In those cases, customers are listing to host their own firewall. For cases in those situations, the customer can get the benefit for those areas since it is affordable. I think it is more affordable than cloud-native firewalls. Benefits mean the main benefit is when a customer is trying to purchase a firewall. They do not need to pay a price for the appliance. They only need to purchase a license. For the appliance, they can use their own platform to host the firewall. I think that is the main benefit when it comes to the VM side. Overall network security posture: when a customer implements their firewall in the VM in the cloud environment, they can monitor their hosted VMs' outgoing and incoming traffic. They can restrict access, and they can include IPS, AV, ATP, all these things to secure the traffic. I think it is a huge benefit rather than using the native cloud firewall that is provided by the platform. When we come to threat detection, I can mention IPS as well. Also under the threat landscape, since as I remember, Fortinet FortiGate-VM has the largest signature base in the IPS. They help us to prevent a lot of known threats using their signature database, which updates continuously. When we compare it with Sophos, I think the most benefits are their security posture. They have a strong security posture in Fortinet FortiGate-VM compared to Sophos. Also the utilization: Fortinet FortiGate-VM OS is very suitable for small hardware because Sophos OS runs on Linux, which requires huge CPU and RAM utilization. Those are the pros and cons when you compare it with Sophos. We are using that. Recently we have done an implementation where when someone tries to scan our ports in the firewall for a few times, we have scripts to block those IPs. It is very useful and user-friendly. We can get a lot of tasks done through that automation feature. Rather than depending on Fortinet's security posture, they provide us the possibility to integrate our firewalls with external threat feeds, which is a huge benefit. If Fortinet misses any host or signature update, we can get it updated through the external threat database. It is very flexible. We can use several external authentication platforms to integrate with our firewall, for example, SAML or LDAP. They provide so many integration points, and as I remember, they are free of charge as well. You have to size your firewall depending on your connection types and the threat sources. Fortinet FortiGate-VM firewall is based on that. You have to do proper sizing on the VM that you are putting the firewall on. In our country, Sri Lanka, most of the customers use their internal firewall and perimeter firewalls. When we take all the customers, it is about more than thirty to forty percent using Fortinet FortiGate-VM as their internal or perimeter firewalls. Huge customers, so we do have a high demand for Fortinet for the internal and perimeter levels. I would rate this product a seven out of ten overall.

What's more important than just having good policies in place is to have a security operations center that monitors all the KPIs and thresholds. This allows us to use that feature wisely and take timely measures to position ourselves effectively. If all the policies are well-placed, we can even automate responses, locking parts of the network to prevent attacks based on vulnerabilities or threats detected within our policies. I would rate Fortinet FortiGate-VM a nine out of ten. It's much better compared to the open source solutions we've used before. Not only is my average ticket a bit lesser due to the licensing and other factors, but I also experience fewer issues with my customers, at least when it comes to the Fortinet products.

I do not use the Hybrid Mesh Firewall feature by default. Regarding the downsides of the VM, I haven't run into any problems to suggest improvements. I use it just as if it's a physical appliance, and I don't have any offset differences. I rate Fortinet FortiGate-VM a seven out of ten.

We feel that Fortinet FortiGate is a very proven product that has undergone many changes in the market and has added many products. I recommend Fortinet FortiGate as a proven product that needs to be sized properly for proper implementation. It is easily integrable, especially for us. I strongly suggest Fortinet FortiGate. On a scale of 1-10, I rate this solution a 10.

We have Firewalls in our internal network. We have software Firewalls and Fortinet FortiGate Firewalls, which are hardware. We use Sophos and Fortinet FortiGate. We have two Firewalls mainly, for internal and outside networks. The Sophos Firewall is for external networks and Fortinet FortiGate Firewall is for internal networks. We haven't done the full SD-WAN integration as of now. We have our own software-defined network that is cloud-based. Our customer is preferring the hardware-based solution, so Fortinet FortiGate is under consideration. Currently, we are not using Fortinet FortiGate SD-WAN, but we have a plan for that. The Fortinet FortiGate solution is affordable and not complex. It can be manageable on private cloud. Most of our customers are government companies, so we are preferring the private cloud. Scalability is very important for us, though it's only scalable on our server. I have been using Sophos myself from the management side, and our team has hands-on experience with multiple vendors. The only concern is support-related. We have not tried AI and ML integration with Fortinet FortiGate, but we can consider it and will refer it to our clients. On a scale of 1-10, I rate Fortinet FortiGate a 10.

I would recommend Fortinet FortiGate to most organizations. I would rate Fortinet FortiGate overall as an eight.

I would add that all of Fortinet's UTM protection solutions are solutions that respond to the current ecosystem for the protection of critical infrastructures. My advice to others looking into using Fortinet FortiGate would be that while recommendations are great, they should ask more questions. I rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.

The solution is very easy to understand and handy. We have customers deployed both on-premises and in the cloud. Our main focus is on monitoring bandwidth utilization and identifying which applications are used most frequently and which IPs are affected. We have separate monitoring tools to identify malware or malicious content downloads, providing additional benefits. For data center solutions, we provide solutions based on throughput, number of users, and traffic routing from hubs to DC. The application utilization tracking allows us to see bandwidth usage per IP and MAC address, helping allocate traffic shaping for particular departments. I would rate it a nine out of 10

We also provide FortiGate-VM, FortiAnalyzer, and FortiManager to our clients. Fortinet FortiGate-VM is one of the easiest and most user-friendly brands we use, with excellent threat intelligence and accessibility. If you have multiple Fortinet FortiGates, you get easy access and better visibility with FortiManager or FortiAnalyzer. They have been improving with each version. I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

I would recommend Fortinet FortiGate-VM as a very good solution. I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

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.

I rate Fortinet FortiGate-VM eight out of 10. It has all the features. The only recommendation is to combine the vertical into a single box. To improve performance, they should build an engine in the box that enables them to scale per the user requirement.

Overall, I rate the product a nine out of ten.

Speaking about how the tool improved security within our company's virtualized environment, I would say that if I go for VPN, data in the cloud, or more number of users, then Palo Alto Networks is the best. If there is a smaller number of users, then Fortinet FortiGate-VM is good. For an MNC organization, Palo Alto Networks is a good option. For Indian organizations, I recommend Fortinet FortiGate-VM. A scenario where the solution was essential for cloud workload protection is applicable in a small company with 100 to 200 users of the product. If you need a tool without much of an investment, then it is better to choose Fortinet FortiGate-VM. The most effective part of the tool that is useful for network threat prevention is Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, which is free of cost and is available with a large number of uplink ports, so the servers can directly have a firewall, which is not something that is possible for Palo Alto Networks. I recommend the product to those who plan to use it. The product has a lot of customers in India. If I consider Fortinet FortiGate-VM's growing network demands, I rate the scalability a seven to eight out of ten. The management and configuration areas in the product are easy. The product offers a lot of security tools to meet a lot of security needs. Fortinet allows you to add security solutions one by one in your environment. Depending on the product's capability to deal with network scenarios and the use of internal and external firewalls, I rate the overall tool a ten out of ten.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

There's not much maintenance required. One to two people is required. Patches and upgrades are required and happen automatically if you've configured it that way. It is easy to deploy over the cloud. There are ready appliances to run in a public cloud like Amazon, Microsoft, or Google Cloud. I recommend the solution. It is fantastic, easy to deploy, and very scalable. It saves a lot of time. Some particular hardware is not available in stock. FortiGate-VM is a good alternative. You could download, configure, and apply it. You could buy it online or from a Fortinet partner. It's quick and easy to set up. Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

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

Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten.

My team consists of around 15 engineers who help me take care of the technical aspects of the product. I recommend the product to those who plan to use it. I rate the overall tool an eight and a half to nine out of ten.

I would recommend Fortinet for large-scale companies and Sophos for medium or small enterprises. I would rate it 8 out of 10.

I rate the overall tool a nine out of ten.

It would be beneficial for Forti to expand its cybersecurity solutions even further. While solutions like FortiSolor exist, there's room to enhance feature sets in line with the increasing requirements of compliance and private security needs. These can effectively address client-side security needs. Comparing Forti's offerings to competitors, certain strengths stand out. There are notable visibility and flexible configuration options. The client-side experience benefits from robust management capabilities accessible through this solution and the troubleshooting becomes seamless because of good visibility and an effective controller. I would rate it an eight out of ten.

I recommend the solution to others and rate it a nine.

My advice is if you have to go with the complete stack, go with the complete stack, not the replacement-only product. Don't look at it as a replacement. Choose a platform. Overall, I would rate it a nine out of ten. The reason is that I have a next-generation firewall. Fortinet FortiGate-VM provides various deployment options, such as physical or virtual devices, and it can be easily integrated with public clouds. Additionally, I can integrate it with other Fortinet products like network access control or zero trust network access in a single step, which is very convenient. Their security stack portfolio works well with my hybrid mesh firewall, and I am satisfied with its integration capabilities. We have had a very good experience with Fortinet FortiGate-VM. They are usually the first choice for us when it comes to designing. We have certain products for certain purposes, and this one is our preferred choice for firewall purposes. Moreover, They have hardware appliances that can be deployed on-premise, virtual appliances deployed on the cloud, and a mesh that can form a cluster. It's very good.

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.

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.

I'm a customer and an end-user. We use the on-premises version due to the fact that, in Algeria, we do not use cloud deployments. I'd advise potential new users that it's a good edge solution, and not necessarily the best for data centers. I'm very happy with this product and would rate it at a ten out of ten.

I'd give this solution a rating of nine out of ten.

We are customers and end-users. We don't have a business relationship with Fortigate. I would advise potential new users to check the compatibility of the UTM firewall, of the rules of your organization. It's not magic. It's hard work implementing that. I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten. We've been pretty happy with its capabilities.

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

This is a very easy appliance, and they make it easy to learn. I would rate it as eight out of ten.

FortiGate-VM is a good solution, and I would say one of the best solutions on the market. I would rate it an eight out of ten.

There are around 100 users making use of the solution in our organization. The solution is quite good. It is simple and fast. I rate Fortinet FortiGate-VM as a nine out of ten.

I rate Fortinet FortiGate-VM eight out of 10. However, based on experience, we usually don't recommend using VM firewalls. We still prefer using a hardware-based firewall when that's appropriate. It depends on your needs and the size of your user base. With FortiGate-VM, you can control the size of your firewall if you're using VMs. But on the other hand, if you are using Microsoft Hyper-V, you need to address all these vulnerabilities of Microsoft. And if you're using VMware, then you need to deal with VMware's vulnerabilities. The hardware version of FortiGate has already been hardened based on FortiGate standards. That's the main difference between the FortiGate appliance and FortiGate-VM.

Definitely, I would recommend this solution to others. FortiGate Cloud and FortiGate-VM are the same product. FortiOS is the operating system on FortiGate. Fortinet has a very large product portfolio. You have the VM, and you have physical appliances for Firewalls. I would rate Fortinet FortiGate-VM a nine out of ten.

I would recommend this solution to others. It is a stable firmware, with many releases. It has a lot of features. Apart from the firewall, it comes with antivirus, IPS, and Web Application Firewall. It has a lot of integration with external connectors, such as Teams, that are protected from threats that come from external sources. I would rate Fortinet FortiGate-VM an eight out of ten.

I will recommend the solution. If it's a first-time deployment in Azure, they need to understand a couple of things, like the interfaces we need to create. The good thing about FortiGate is that they don't hide how their devices work. You can go to their website and get every instruction that you need at any time. It's straightforward and even has pictures showing you what you should expect. I've done a few changes for the first time, and I didn't have to stress. But you must know the infrastructure well. On a scale from one to ten, I would five Fortinet FortiGate-VM a ten.

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate-VM a 10 out of 10. It tops others in terms of performance.

I work with a service provider and he sells service in cloud and FortiGate products, including FortiGate VMs. With this, he sells services, and I work with him on support and initial configurations or deactivations for customers. I work with various versions of the solution, the latest being 7.7. We use a variety of deployments, including on-premise and in public clouds. Not an American public cloud, however. Rather, it's a public cloud here in South America. I'd rate the solution at a ten out of ten. the product is excellent and I am very happy with it overall.

My advice would be to look to the anticipated growth of the network before starting the implementation so that you are appropriately sizing the scope and size of the equipment. Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give this solution a rating of seven — it's a solid product. Depending on the solution you need, some of the appliances can be a little cost-prohibitive at the high end, but at the low end, they're very cost-effective. Plus, the interface is simple to use. For the right customer, I think it's a solid play.

On a scale from one to ten, I would give Fortinet FortiGate-VM an eight.

I am on the implementation team, meaning that we configure the firewalls for our customers, mostly consisting of the BFSI banks and accounting for 2,000 people who make use of the solution. I cannot proffer advice to others who are considering implementation of the solution. All I can say is that it is straightforward and simple, only requiring configuration. I rate Fortinet Fortigate-VM as a seven out of ten.

I would definitely recommend this solution. I was advised to be very skeptical about the performance statistics as indicated in the documentation, but I didn't find that to be the case. It is very scalable with good performance. I would rate Fortinet FortiGate-VM an eight out of ten.

We like this solution. I would rate Fortinet FortiGate-VM an eight out of ten.

We're an end-user and a customer. We have a plug-in with the subscription. We use the current version on their 100Es. In general, I would advise other users that they need to look at whether they're going to go physical or virtual. I'd advise once they decide that to then look at the maybe lesser known next-generation firewalls that have functionality. The folks that are going to be operating the tool need to look at the user interface to make sure that that it is easy to use. Most users at an enterprise don't even know the firewall's there, let alone what it is, so they're not unique. I think all of the firewalls are pretty decent at not impacting users. The differentiator is which ones are easy to set up, which ones are easy to configure and use and how good they are at reporting. The other thing I would say is, look at whether or not they integrate into your overall IT management, whether you're using ServiceNow or what you're using for IT management. How do the firewalls integrate with that or not? It's important. I'd rate the solution at a four out of ten. It does base functions and it's doing that at a pretty high price.

The solution is FortiGate 60D and FortiGate-VM is FortiOS 5.2.2. I'm not sure which version of the solution we are currently on. Our company exports this solution to large customers. We're partners with Fortinet. We have the solution on a local server. I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten.

Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give this solution a rating of eight.

We were customers and end-users of the product. That is no longer the case. We've moved off of the product recently. We wanted a cloud-based option and therefore we switched. Overall, I would recommend the solution. I would rate it at a ten out of ten.

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

We're partners of Fortinet. We're using the latest version of the solution. We have been using the solution while we have been waiting for the hard drive version of the solution, which has been delayed. I would recommend the solution to other organizations. I'd rate the product eight out of ten.

At this point, aside from technical support, we have no issues with this product. It has everything that we need at the moment, and I cannot think of any other features that should be there. My advice for anybody who is implementing FortiGate-VM is that they need to understand how their business operates and what their requirements are. They need to understand the technology in terms of security and performance before they purchase any devices. I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

I would recommend this solution. As a piece of tech, as a firewall, it's really good. Local channel support in South Africa is very strong. The functionality of the gate is good. I think it probably surpasses many of its competitors. So I would recommend it. I'm very familiar with the realities of looking at it so I'll be very open with my customers in recommending FortiGate and at the same time explaining the pitfalls to them. I would rate this product a seven out of 10.

With our clients, there is a range of Fortinet FortiGate versions, anything from FortiGate 60E to FortiGate 3700D. Management connects to a FortiAnalyzer, and we have application firewalls as well. We have a centralized data center where we have a combination of customers with on-premises equipment. This includes small devices to secure the customer's environment, and larger devices at the data center, specifically for our customers. We try to build our services around Fortinet products. We prefer to work with Fortinet products based on what we have learned from the Gartner Magic Quadrant, and I recommend them. I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

We aren't really a customer or reseller, however, we do occasionally recommend the solution to clients from time to time. The entity I was recently researching for was looking basically to replace some existing solutions. That was the reason why they were asking me to help them do some research. I, on a normal basis, don't do that much with it anymore. However, because I have access, I've been helping them. I'm not using the latest version. I may be using the one before that, although I don't know the exact version number. I would warn other organizations that there are some places where some people run into some roadblocks, and they're not sure what to do. My experience in the past has always been that, at least, the support is actually really good. Therefore, if they're running into a situation that they're not sure about, it's probably better to call and seek professional help, as opposed to trying to force it, because it can get confusing really quick. I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

We recommend this firewall often and we've actually used many solutions previously. Since we chose this one, we've been overall quite happy with the results. We recommend it largely due to the fact that we use the solution ourselves. I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. If it wasn't for the pricing model and the scalability issues, I would rate it higher.

Normally I don't really push a virtual appliance. Some customers may be interested in a virtual appliance for scalability. For most of our customers, we are pushing hardware-based solutions and not a virtual appliance. For example, if we have a customer that has a private data center in Mauritius and wants to have a hybrid solution, let's say to interconnect on the public cloud, and they want to do SD-WAN to secure it from the public to its current on-premises data center, normally we will go with the virtual appliance on the public side. I would recommend Fortinet's hardware 100% of the time, especially in comparison to Palo Alto. With the VM, it's a harder question to answer. A better question would be: what do you will prefer for a next-generation firewall? Do you prefer Fortinet? Do you recommend Fortinet or Cisco or Palo Alto? I would say personally I always recommend Fortinet. I will continue to due to the fact that the cost and the integration, and the general user-friendliness, are all impressive. I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. I'd rate it higher if it had a longer trial, better licensing, and stronger technical support. There are still places for improvement in the solution.

FortiGate-VM would be for more like a cloud or on-premise SMB environment. And for anyone wanting to scale-up and get big performance, it should be used as a physical appliance. I would rate this solution a nine out of 10.

I like FortiGate-VM for constructing VPNs. It's easy to deploy. I would recommend it. It's quite easy. I would rate FortiGate-VM a seven out of ten. Not a ten because I think that Cisco is better.

We're just customers. We don't have a professional relationship with the organization. We're using the latest version of the solution. I have learned that they have some internal resources available. However, those who are not trained and certified should not be experimenting with it. I'd advise other organizations that, if they don't have a proper administrator who can monitor and maintain their appliance, it's better they if don't implement it. It's not like somebody who has a background of software can handle Fortinet. They need to be properly trained and knowledgable. I'd rate the solution seven out of ten overall.

We're resellers of both Cisco and Fortigate solutions. I'd advise other companies or users to give a try. The Virtual Appliance is very easy to set up. In terms of scalability, it's easy enough to expand out, especially if you compare it to the hardware. For the virtual solution, it's easily upgraded. For the physical, you need to do a POC. It really depends on what kind of distributor a company is working with. Some provide you all the resources. Others don't. I'm not sure how it works with the Cisco Virtual Appliance. For Cisco, I only know about the cloud. Normally, I provide my customer with Meraki. I won't provide a Cisco solution, even though Meraki is part of Cisco. I would rate the solution eight out of ten. There's still room for improvement. There could be a bit better support and not all solution providers offer this kind of Virtual Appliance in my region. Once more people use it, they may begin to improve on it even more.

We've also recently acquired FortiMail as well. This solution has the basic functionalities required for a firewall. In fact, in terms of our evaluation, it's basic functionalities are enough for us. If I were to compare it to Palo Alto, it does not necessarily have the full capability of that particular solution. We're not a bank. We don't belong to the banking industry so we don't really need such high caliber firewalls that provide multiple levels of security. It's not required with our industry, so a mid-range firewall like Fortigate is perfect. If your business is small or even enterprise-level, if it doesn't necessarily need multiple or heavy firewalls, Fortigate will actually work just fine for you. I'd rate the solution seven out of ten. It perfectly meets our requirements.

We used to be on the cloud, but we phased it out more than a year ago. I'd recommend the solution. It's one of the best on the market. It's great for financial services institutions. Security is important because of the type of companies that are typically dealing with it. I'd advise that users use it within a firewall, to create a double layer of protection or something similar. I'd rate the solution eight out of ten, especially when comparing it to other solutions.

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten. I only really use the solution for communication and ordering support. We don't have a business relationship with Fortigate. We're just a customer.

I would recommend using Fortinet, especially its web security proxy and web security gate because it is quite useful for them. I would suggest this solution. I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

Our customers for this virtual appliance are very happy with their deployments and I recommend it. This is not a perfect solution but we are not seeking one. Every product has room for improvement. I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

I will say that for low-end firewalls, Fortinet is good compared to the others. The pricing is good, and when you need a new feature, you don't have to buy a new device. I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

Overall, this is a good product with good features and priced well compared to others. It is GUI-based and I am happy with the interface. I would recommend it and cannot think of any changes that I would make. The only problem is that new releases tend to be a little buggy. I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

We're using the latest version of the solution. I'd recommend the solution. I'd rate it eight out of ten.

POCs are definitely the way to go because cyber-security is still in many cases new for many clients. Cybersecurity is a very wide arena in today's day and age. There is no one single solution, every day someone else is innovating some specialization in some form or another. Clients would like to see a proof of concept before they go on a large full-scale deployment. In the next release, I would like to have the possibility of being able to offer cyber-insurance with this because this is something that I think is completely unavailable at the moment here. This would add a whole new dimension. I would rate it a seven out of ten.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give it a 9. FortiGate is a nice and very good product but the implementation and post-implementation of the product are cumbersome. You have to manage four devices instead of two devices if I go for FortiAnalyzer. For a small, entry-level business, Fortinet should give the entire reporting on the UI so that end to end engineers can manage efficiently. So as technology is concerned, I give eight out of 10, but because of reporting, I would give five out of 10. I am just giving an example: if I know everything or you know everything but if you can't explain it, how do other people come to know that you know everything? FortiGate clearly captures each and everything for the backup capture and everything but it doesn't show what it is acquiring. Analytical reports are missing from there.