Fortinet FortiGate Initial Setup
Saurabh-Pal
Sr. Security Specialist at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
Deploying FortiGate is straightforward. You have to check with the customers to see if their offices use other devices. Next, you must do the basic configuration and connect all the networks available at the customer's site individually.
The SD-WAN setup is the most time-consuming task because you need to configure the address and service objects. After that, you implement basic policies and connect the office network with Fortinet. Deployment only requires one person.
Jose Gisbert
Manager Network (IT/OT) at a consumer goods company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Due to the extensive network, the deployment spanned several months; however, on a site-by-site basis, each deployment was completed within a few hours. We had a minimum of two people per country involved in the deployment with 1-2 people from Central IT.
View full review »WA
Will Alfaro
IT Consultant at Escuela de Comunicación Mónica Herrera
We have a FortiGate appliance. We are using the 2000F version of FortiGate and running the license for FortiOS.
First, we design our network, then we update policies.
Fortinet makes the process very easy. I try to make it more efficient by replicating policies using the GUI.
How long it takes to deploy depends on the complexity. I have 20 or so subnets and some services and I can manage the deployment in two to three hours.
It is not difficult to maintain the solution.
View full review »Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
767,995 professionals have used our research since 2012.
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Dhsrms Fff
Team Leader Network & Security at Rogers Capital
The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate was straightforward.
The time it takes to implement a firewall a large and small firewall is the same. It does not matter the size of the firewall. The complexity comes from the network and the scope of work that we need to do for the customer on the network.
If it is a large network, it will take us more time to deploy it, because there is more to configure. If it is a small network, it will take less time, but configuration-wise, it's likely the same.
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Adeel Razzaq
Network Ar at IBEX Holdings Ltd
I was not exactly involved in its initial setup, but at a later stage, I had to jump into that. I was more into Cisco setup.
Overall, the setup was easy. There was a portal, and most of the things were similar to other hardware we use, such as Palo Alto. We found some bugs during the setup, and there was not much support available from the Fortinet support team
In terms of maintenance, there are upgrades available roughly every quarter.
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EhabAli
Sr. Cybersecurity Solutions Architect at BMB
The initial setup is straightforward. We need to determine whether the firewall will be positioned in an active-standby or active-active configuration. Based on this decision, we will choose the appropriate license. If the firewall is intended for use with the Internet, we will need to include features such as a full DNS filter. However, if it's being used in a data center, these features may not be necessary. Additionally, we need to consider the speed of the interface, 1G or 10G, and the expected amount of network traffic to properly size the firewall model and ensure proper throughput. This is the initial phase of the process. Once the firewall has been deployed, it's a matter of connecting it and configuring policies.
When it comes to the deployment model of SD-WAN, my customers usually buy the appliance. They already have FortiGates, so we're just connecting firewalls to each other. In Kuwait and Egypt, there are mostly on-prem deployments. It's rare to have someone deploying a firewall on the cloud, and if it's deployed on the cloud, it's for a certain reason. It's not for SD-WAN because you're not loading balancing or you don't need SD-WAN for cloud access. In the countries where I was responsible for its implementation, there was only on-prem deployment.
There is one single challenge with the deployment of SD-WAN, but it's not from the FortiGate side. It's from the customer side. You need to understand your traffic so you can get the best out of SD-WAN. For some organizations, it's huge because they don't know which application is doing what and which is more important than the other. Especially during the COVID years, a lot of applications popped up. Companies used to release an application every few weeks. To do a proper implementation, you need to understand your network, understand your application, and set your priorities. Once you do this, the implementation will be a piece of cake. If you have all the information, it will take a day or two days.
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Esubalew-Berihun
Network Engineer at Ahad
The solution is very simple. The process is easy to understand. It's not complex at all.
I helped deploy the solution. We had to integrate it with internal and external firewalls.
We had the full functionality in place within five days. We had five people managing the deployment process.
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Viraj Fernandopulle
General Manager Group IT at DART GLOBAL LOGISTICS PTE. LTD.
Initially, there was a learning curve during the deployment. We did have the help of local vendors.
If our policies are already in place, we can have the solution up and running in less than a day using a script. However, if we need to determine our policies while implementing the solution, it can take over a month to complete.
View full review »JJ
James-Jiang
IT Security Analyst at a energy/utilities company with 51-200 employees
The initial deployment is simple. We need to determine which interface is the WAN interface and which is the internal interface.
With Fortinet, we should prioritize a centralized approach to ensure synchronization and consistency across the network. This centralized management strategy will streamline the implementation of SD-WAN, as it allows for the deployment of standardized templates and traffic configurations. Centralized management also simplifies future modifications, as minor changes can be pushed down without requiring complete redesigns. Conversely, deploying SD-WAN without prior centralized management can lead to complexities and potential disruptions. For instance, if WAN interfaces are configured independently of SD-WAN, integrating SD-WAN later will necessitate removing and reconfiguring existing data, policies, firewall policies, and rules. This process can be time-consuming and error-prone.
JA
reviewer1116360
Project Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
For our organization, the initial setup was not straightforward. It was pretty complex. That's due to the fact that we had many networks to set up and many sites to take into account.
Syed Ali Waqas
Head IT at Burraq Cyber Security Solutions
The initial deployment is easy. The solution can be installed by following the on-screen prompts, and the policies can be implemented through the interface dashboard.
Deploying the system takes one full business day. We begin by gathering user requirements from each department, as they have varying policies. The policies are implemented department-first, followed by branches. Finally, VPNs are generated for remote users. Two people are required for the deployment.
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Ubeyd Kara
Founder at Prosight
FortiGate is easy to deploy. The deployment time varies depending on the customer's network topology. How many policies does the customer require, and what kind of license do they have? FortiGate is easier than Palo Alto Networks and Check Point and takes less time.
We typically start by analyzing the customer's topology and understanding their requirements, including policies, routines, etc. We implement the device once we know what the customer needs. One engineer is usually enough to deploy FortiGate in a small or medium-sized environment.
An enterprise project requires a more detailed analysis of the network requirements before implementation. That can take two or three days. Once we understand the network, it may take another two or three days to configure the device and one or two days to implement it.
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FirasHamdan
Information Technology Manager at Petra
The initial setup is moderate. It depends on the client's requirements.
We typically can deploy the solution within two or three days. We have a security engineer that handles the initial setup.
It does require some maintenance, and that can be a bit difficult.
View full review »DO
Denis Orellana
Network Solutions Architect at Yazata Solutions
Our biggest Fortinet solution was 500 plus retail sites. This customer chose the whole nine yards, including FortiGate, FortiSwitch, FortiAPs, and the FortiExtender, which is the LTE router.
I made the templates for the configuration for our bottom tiers because they were the ones rolling them out. I made a standard template config and wrote notes specifying necessary changes for each site.
The primary difficulty was trying to understand our customer's requirements and concerns because they were with an old provider. The provider had a lot of things on-site that weren't necessary. Deploying the Fortinet solution itself wasn't hard.
Getting there was hard because we had to sit down with the customer and their tech team to determine what was needed because they had old Cisco routers. That took about three weeks and required a lot of on-site visits, but it wasn't hard to deploy the solution once we got an understanding of the requirements was not hard.
We trained the customers to manage and maintain the solution themselves. The only maintenance we do is emailing them monthly when we get notifications from Fortinet about router upgrades. You can configure it and then forget it.
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MOHAN SUKUMAR
Head of computer systems at Indian Institute of Space Science & Technology(IIST)
The initial deployment can be completed in a few days. Two to three people are involved in the deployment.
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Abdallah Rukab
Network Security Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The initial setup is straightforward. Depending on the customer's requirements and environment, the deployment can take anywhere from one day to a couple of weeks and can be completed by a single person.
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Reviewer:734513
Network Security & DataCenter Architect at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees
The initial deployment was complex. We started with a low-level design, discussing with the vendor that we had a certain number of firewalls and concurrent sessions available on the network, and that we had remote sites. We began by implementing the boxes in the data center, then the main data center headquarters, and then the campus network, which has its own data center with a firewall module. We later installed it in one of our accessory branches in their data center. The installation was done in phases.
When the high-level design was in place, we began migrating the configuration. We used a migration tool from Cisco and Juniper, which was very smooth because it was intelligent enough to take all the network IDs, policies, and source destinations, forward based. This meant that we had fewer challenges when we started the migration.
However, we did encounter some challenges during the migration. These were not due to Fortinet, but rather to the configuration that had been migrated from the other vendor. We resolved these challenges by manually checking each policy one by one, and the issue was rectified within a couple of days.
A total of four people were involved in the deployment. Two people from our organization, one from the vendor, and one from the partner. We have to go through our partner to access the vendor.
View full review »JM
Jim Morrill
Network admin at Penobscot Valley Hospital
Its deployment and maintenance are easy.
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Javed Hashmi
Chief Technology Officer at Future Point Technologies
I mostly work on the pre-sales side. I discuss all the features, and then I work with the deployment team. They do the installation.
Its installation is easy. Normally, we get the scope and have the high-level design. After that, we go to the low-level design where we manage all the configuration templates. We have discussions with the customer and finalize all the policies that need to be applied at the site. We segment sites by size, traffic, application usage, etc. We apply the policies on a group basis, and then we apply the configurations on the controllers or the sites.
In our area, people are mostly interested in on-prem setup instead of cloud because not many controllers are located within the country, so the traffic has to be traversed outside the country. For banks and financial sectors, on-prem is more suitable, but small organizations can have it on the cloud.
View full review »PP
Prasanth P.
Global Chief Information Officer at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
We had professional services deploy FortiGate. For maintenance, we have an annual maintenance contract, and there are periodic firmware upgrades. A network admin is responsible for maintenance.
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Leif Thomas
Director, Information Systems at Ohio Art Co
Our model of deployment is on-premises. I would say the initial setup process was complex. Integrating the security fabric with multiple firewalls, FortiClient, and FortiMail was slightly more complex than originally anticipated. The results are great.
Costa Mitsios
Deputy Technical Director at Space Hellas S.A.
I rate the initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate a four out of five.
If we properly designed the installation beforehand, the installation would take us 10 to 15 minutes.
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Ehab.Fawzy Mohamed
Chief Engineer at Hilton Worldwide
The initial setup was very easy. We had two third-party members and four of my team members implement this solution. It took us five to six days to install and deploy both the software and hardware. For the software alone, it took us about two days to implement. You need two people to manage and maintain this solution.
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Moeed Mahmood
Network Administrator at Chase Up
The initial setup is straightforward and easy to manage. There is no maintenance required.
JB
reviewer1336140
Senior Network Engineer at a government with 201-500 employees
Our needs are a little bit more complex than others. That said, overall, I would say it's about average in terms of the ease of setup. We got to do a VPN tunnel across, and it was AD VPN, it was something brand new.
When I set things up now, it's pretty straightforward. When I first started, it was different as I'd never seen the technology before. When I first started, I'd never seen this technology, I didn't have a clue. Others may be in the same boat.
Now that we're familiar with technology, this is very easy to set up. We've deployed 30 of them. I've got junior engineers that can follow my instructions and set up the FortiGate, and we're up and running. It gets easier over time. We've been doing this over the last two years.
We have up to two people needed for deployment and maintenance tasks.
View full review »PK
Philimon Kaitano
Network Manager at a tech company with 1-10 employees
The initial setup is straightforward. I did the deployment and didn't have any issues with it. It took one day to complete.
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Heson Ko
Software Development Specialist at Unicomp Information Co. Ltd.
The initial setup was easy.
View full review »GD
Guy DEKESSUEDEM
HEST manager at ALTT CONTROL PLUS
The tool is easy to deploy.
View full review »ES
Eric-Smith
Solutions Engineer/Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
It is pretty simple. For example, I just set up a new network with a 100E, and I have got four stackable switches. It will run a network with 23 access points. I set up all the VLANs, routing, rules, and other things. It won't take more than four hours of work. I am getting ready to box up and ship it out. It will be plug and play once it gets to the site.
View full review »AB
Andrew S. Baker (ASB)
Cybersecurity & IT Operations Professional (VirtualCxO) at BrainWave Consulting Company, LLC
The devices are very easy to setup, even if you need to configure VPNs. You could have an HA config up and running within 60-90 minutes, with the latest firmware installed, and a couple of policies and tunnels.
If you do not regularly work with enterprise-class firewalls, you might need to add an hour to the above scenario, but the provided wizards make it pretty easy to address the basic functions.
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Irshad Ali
Presales Manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
For one of the clients, it was deployed on the Azure public cloud. Initially, it was not easy. It was complex. Every product and technology requires a certain type of prerequisite, and when you have anything hosted on a public cloud, it becomes a tedious job to get things done quickly because multiple stakeholders are involved in that.
I have deployed Secure SD-WAN specifically for many customers. I find it easy, but you need one person to be at the site for remote connectivity. That person just needs to do the basic configuration. Once the device has IP reachability, you can easily discover it from FortiManager, which is the central controller. So, once you have the device on FortiManager, it takes a few clicks to onboard the device because you already would have a template in place.
The deployment duration depends on the number of sites. For a customer with ten sites, it would take a week's time because there are a lot of dependencies. It also depends on the customer's readiness and availability, but a week's time would be enough for the deployment of ten sites. If there is proper planning in place, you can also deploy 50 sites in a week, but that's something you cannot control from your side because there are a lot of dependencies on the customer and the service provider. If you have to integrate it into a customer's existing network, it becomes quite challenging to make them understand your prerequisites. There are instances where nobody is available from the customer side from the technical standpoint to help you. Those are the roadblocks, but from the solution perspective, it's quite easy to onboard devices.
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Sitti Ridzma Salahuddin
System Engineer at a wholesaler/distributor with 501-1,000 employees
Deploying FortiGate is straightforward. It typically takes about three days to deploy and configure the solution. One person is usually enough to deploy it.
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Ed Sexton
Account Director at Exponential-e
It is reasonably straightforward if you've got the management portal in terms of FortiCloud. With that, migrating from one firewall, as it reaches the end of support, to an upgraded firewall is fairly intuitive. You should be able to easily reverse out a script and configuration and apply that to the new firewall, following proper governance as a managed service.
We're a managed service provider, so we would probably put two to three PS engineer days to follow the appropriate protocol. From a lead time perspective, a new high availability firewall deployment should not take more than 10 working days from the config test, deployment, and failover test perspective.
View full review »AV
Andrei Vaskin
Specialist at a comms service provider with 11-50 employees
It is deployed on-premises. Our customers prefer to deploy not only Fortinet devices but all security devices on-premises. They rarely use cloud licenses. Some customers only buy it from us, and for some customers, we also set it up.
Its setup is easy for us, but not every company wants to use our service for setting it up because of the cost. They prefer to install it themselves. In some cases, it could be hard for them.
In terms of the implementation strategy, we first try to understand what problem a customer wants to solve by using FortiGate. We collect a lot of information about a customer's network, such as protocols and devices being used. We try to prepare this device in our local lab. We preload the device and send it to the customer, and then we finalize the installation in the customer's building.
We have very technical staff, and we do not have difficulties with installations. We have had situations where customers do not have much experience with it, and then we recommend them to go for certain features such as IPS, antivirus, etc.
The deployment duration depends on the size of the environment, but generally, it does not take more than one or two months.
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Girgis Hady
Network Technical Lead/Manager at WadiDegla
It was very simple.
View full review »AK
reviewer930837
Senior Manager (Engineering Department) at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
It is quite easy. The duration depends on the complexity. If you are using a firewall from one brand and WiFi from another brand, then you probably would need more time to do the setup. Overall, the saving is around 25% in terms of labor hours.
AhmedAboalassaad
Network & Security Team Head at Amiral
The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate is very straightforward.
I rate the initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate a four out of five.
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Raphael Haroun Ikyagh
Network Administrator at Letshego
Initial setup is straightforward. There weren't too many issues with setting it up. It takes one hour or so.
View full review »VK
reviewer1289523
Network Engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
While I did not participate in the main part of the installation, I've discovered from deploying small FortiGates such as FortWiFi 60E, that it's good. It's not too complex of a process. It's pretty straightforward. It's easy.
View full review »AJ
reviewer1959201
Operation Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The initial setup is straightforward. Fortinet provides step-by-step instructions in its documentation. The Fortinet engineers and support team are always available to assist, but even for a non-technical person, the deployment is easy.
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Özden Aydın
Technology Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
I was sometimes involved in its deployment. Its deployment was simple for me. It was very simple and easy. It took five to six hours.
It does require maintenance. There are probably one to two people required for its maintenance.
View full review »CT
reviewer2129880
Head of IT at a educational organization with 51-200 employees
The time required for a basic deployment is roughly three weeks, whereas a full deployment involving customizations and optimization of rules and policies may take up to two and a half months.
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Michael Vlahakis
Founder at Digivalue
It could be simpler. Sometimes, it is very difficult. Policies tend to mix up sometimes, and it can be difficult to have clear policies for one particular thing.
View full review »DE
Darrell Elias
Technical support engineer at a comms service provider with 1-10 employees
Including the reconfiguration of the network setup, the deployment took at least five days. But the actual deployment of the device only took one day. There were four people involved.
View full review »WG
administ2171925
IT Engineer at a aerospace/defense firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
The initial deployment was straightforward due to our understanding of the product and its operation. It was completed in one day by a team of two.
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Ibidapo Ibrahim
Head of IT Infrastructure at a non-tech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The initial setup is straightforward. As long as we know what we are doing the deployment can be completed within one business day.
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Luis Teran
Engineer at Cyber Sea
The initial setup is easy.
The deployment and maintenance can be done by one person.
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Rehan Rauf
Network Engineer at Nayatel Pvt. Ltd
We have two or three local engineers that help us with deployment.
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Shaik Sayeed
Information Technology Solutions Manager at UBG
The initial installation is straightforward, and the full process takes one to two days.
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Taimoor Khan
Network Operations Engineer at Inara Technologies
We typically deploy the solution to our client's VMs. The deployment sometimes takes about a month. We have a team of 12 people who work on the FortiGate side.
View full review »SA
Shewraj Anoop
IT Manager at SICOM LTD
It was the vendor who did the initial setup. It was done within the time range that was allocated for the setup. My guess is that it was straightforward.
We are still in the process of implementing the solution. The commissioning has not yet been done. What we had previously is now changed to a new solution and a new way of doing things, and this is still in the implementation phase. Our implementation is being done phase-wise. We do things and tune it until we are happy with it, and then we go to the next phase. So far, it's working fine.
Mario De Keer
IT Infrastructure & Service Manageer at Cerba Research
It is easy to use.
View full review »JS
reviewer1127952
Network Engineer at a logistics company with 10,001+ employees
It is straightforward at the beginning.
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Volodymyr Khorenzhyi
Network Engineer at Thunder Software Technology Co., Ltd.
It's an easy setup. Everything is very straightforward and simple to understand. It's not complex, not difficult. A company won't have any issues with the process.
The deployment might take up to one week. I don't remember exactly. I continued to add some features, however, in the instant deployment, when it came here I had another router here, it wasn't too long of a process. Later, I asked my bosses to buy a firewall and when it arrived, on a Friday in the evening, I installed it and everything was fine. It was very fast.
I handle the deployment and maintenance myself. We do not need a big team to manage everything. It's pretty low-maintenance.
View full review »DO
David Oparinde
Managing Director with 51-200 employees
The Fortinet FortiGate deployment is not difficult. It's not simple, but it's easy for someone to learn. The whole process took approximately three hours. Cisco solutions are more difficult to deploy.
Ahmad Aloqlah
General Manager at GlobalTech
It was straightforward. We didn't face any issues.
View full review »KN
KrishnakumarNair
IT Manager at KSB MIL Controls Limited
The initial setup is not complex at all. I found it to be very straightforward. This was due to the fact that we had this solution procured along back in 2007 or 2008, as a smaller firewall, a FortiGate 60C.
We don't have anyone that handles maintenance full-time. It's an on-call situation. If we have issues or need maintenance, we raise a ticket and it is dealt with.
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AT4
Security Engineer at Mercantile Communications Pvt. Ltd.
The solution is easy to configure and maintain remotely.
View full review »AG
Ashleigh Gilson
Senior Director Information Technology at a hospitality company with 1,001-5,000 employees
It wasn't complex. It was time-consuming because there were so many rules that had to be set up. We were migrating away from Check Point and going to Fortinet.
Deployment took six weeks.
View full review »IS
IrfanShaikh
CEO at Acme Technologies
It is very easy to install. It is way easier than Cisco.
The deployment duration varies from customer to customer. It depends on what features they want to utilize, what is their scenario for IP addressing, and what security level they want to implement. It also depends on the policy and the planning of the technical teams. My engineers and the customer's engineers sit together, and they plan the activity and take care of everything. After that, they decide what to implement and how long it will take. Sometimes there are physical, logical, or IP addressing problems, so it all depends on the customer and our implementation planning. I have three guys for deployment.
View full review »SM
reviewer1294776
Owner at a consultancy with 1-10 employees
The solution's initial setup is straightforward. It's actually gotten better. I got good at doing it from scratch from the command line, or even from the GUI with all the 50 steps to set up stuff. However, now they're wizards and it's much better. It was the thing that probably a lot of people commented on initially, and they just worked hard to fix it. They updated the software from version four to five to six. They did a good job at making it easier.
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Sunil Kumar Nair
Director Of Information Technology at Al Falah University
The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate is straightforward we had an right person in-house for deploying it. Moreover, If required, Fortinet has its support extended to us. We can approach them anytime and they can assist us with any kind of complicated configuration.
View full review »RM
RajM2
Deputy Manager Of Information Technology at Nitco Limited
The deployment took approximately four months.
View full review »JT
JackTrantham
Technical Account Manager at DSM Technology Consultants, LLC
The initial setup is straightforward.
There's a lot to it, but it's very easy. It's a web interface and very easy to walk through it.
View full review »SC
reviewer2152560
Technical Project Manager at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
There are no challenges in the initial setup. The people required to deploy the situation are based on the customer's expertise. We handle various types of configurations, and sometimes there are additional requirements with load balancers on top of the firewalls. We need to integrate these firewalls with that ALG.
Generally, we consider security as a separate thing. These firewalls and the LOBs will take care of some further issues based on the customer's requirements. For smaller organizations, one person can provide or ensure a sort of service. We will need three more administrators or developers if there is more traffic or high-cost tech.
View full review »NC
Nicholas Chan
Sales Director at Visualize Technology (M) Sdn. Bhd.
Initial deployments can be complex depending on the customer's requirements. Implementation can take up to a couple of days. There aren't usually too many issues. The solution requires some maintenance, mainly monitoring.
MS
MahmoudSaleh
Quality Trainer at MOH
The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate was very complex because our connection to other sites that were using different network topology and ISP providers. We have faced a very complex situation. The company takes approximately three to four months in order to make our system stable. Nowadays, we are going to make our provider and network with one subnet to make it easier to maintain, manage, and monitor any attack and threats from any device anywhere. This will allow us to access devices, ports, and switches to be able to take the right action.
Our network was very complicated and we are using different operating systems, databases, applications, and video.
View full review »TN
Thendo Ndzimeni
Network Administrator at Automated Outsourcing services
Installing Fortinet FortiGate is straightforward. The Cookbook tells you where the issue is, then the packs that come with the software, they are quick to advise on what bugs you can expect, and how those bugs can be fixed. I enjoyed installing the product.
The initial setup for Fortinet FortiGate took less than a week. We spent another week migrating the policy, or recreating the policies on the new object, because of the incompatibility with Check Point. We had to recreate the policies, otherwise, the change was quick, and we just had to mount them and connect the HA link and the other internet link. The setup was quick.
View full review »AR
reviewer1285998
Product Manager at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Based on what my engineers told me, it is easy to install. It is straightforward.
View full review »AK
AnilKumar12
Solution Architect at TNS Networking Solution Pvt. Ltd
Initial setup is easy to configure.
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Michael-Sugg
President at Sovereign Managed Services
The initial setup is complex for me due to my lack of experience with the Fortinet FortiGate product. The complexity can be a good thing, however, as there's a lot of really good features associated with it. Where it could be simplified is in having that easy deployment option, and then you can start going down and trying to get into the nitty-gritty and figure out when do you need the extra features.
Right now, I'm just in a test environment getting all the firmware up and tested. Then, once I have it tested, I'll take it to the client location and yank out their WiFi mechanism, their WiFi router, and put this in.
View full review »CA
Chingiz Abdukarimov
Director at a integrator with 11-50 employees
Initial setup in plain networks is very straightforward. For large environment you should prepare beforehand, because FortiGate is a highly-tunable and feature rich product, so you must have a plan with many considered details.
AS
Amgad Soliman
Senior System & Security Administrator at a legal firm with 51-200 employees
For the Fortinet installation, our initial setup was for word filtering. It was very easy and did not take a lot of time. The deployment took about three days.
FortiGate is very easy. The entire solution setup processes took about three days. I can make many of the rules for most users as we need it configured easily.
View full review »BS
Benison Shroffe
Assistant Manager - Network & Security at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
The initial setup is extremely simple. Customers that have never used it can manage it with ease after a few days.
View full review »GD
reviewer1249359
Executive at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
The initial setup is straightforward, however, we have knowledgeable teams. We also use Fortinet to check the configurations and make sure everything is supported during implementation.
It's pretty standard to deploy. We're also familiar with Palo Alto and Check Point and there is not much of a difference between the three.
View full review »DG
Daniel Gorham
Senior Network Architect at Combat Networks
The initial setup is fairly straightforward.
View full review »UB
UzairBaig
Solution Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The initial setup is straightforward. We have field configuration guides that we follow and you don't need to have much in-depth knowledge to set it up initially. However, performing the fine-tuning requires that you have proper training on the device.
Deploying the firewall for a new customer will be completed within two to three days, or perhaps a week at the most.
View full review »MO
Miguel Ortiz
Security Solutions Architect at Verizon Communications
Fortinet is very easy to service and set up.
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it_user236517
Senior NetOps Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
It's a very simple setup as everything is well documented online and via the Fortigate channel on YouTube. Also, I posses a large amount of knowledge gained during the years that has helped me to deploy all my solutions. Even from the the beginning, it was easy as Fortigate has a great GUI and good online help,
View full review »AN
Anand Navik
Technical Specialist at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
I have deployed it for a bank at a core level. On the perimeter, there was a Palo Alto firewall, and at the core level, we deployed the FortiGate firewall at DC and DR locations. After that, we deployed SD-WAN. We replaced the MPLS switch with the Fortinet SD-WAN device, so the whole branch traffic comes to the SD-WAN box, and from there, it comes to the FortiGate firewall, and then it goes to the Palo Alto firewall for the internet access and resource access. While migrating branches from MPLS to SD-WAN, we did require a maintenance window.
There was no difficulty. It was very user-friendly. I have had many difficulties with the Check Point firewall. I have deployed major projects on the FortiGate firewall. I migrated more than a thousand branches on Fortinet SD-WAN and implemented FortiGate super massive firewalls at DC and DR locations. There were no complexities. Only at one location, I had an issue related to SD-WAN, but my query was resolved by Fortinet's local team.
It's an on-premises firewall for the DC and DR locations. I have never worked on cloud projects, but if there is any opportunity to deploy it on the cloud, I will do it. I have only done on-premises deployment.
View full review »JS
JeanSpiteri
Infrastructure Engineer at a hospitality company with 51-200 employees
The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate is very straightforward. I would give it a 5 out 5 on ease of setup.
View full review »MH
reviewer1392267
Fraud Risk Analyst at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
The installation process for Fortinet FortiGate was very easy. Installation was done by one technician, e.g. one technician was enough.
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Yassin Hassan
Senior Technical Support Engineer at a agriculture with 1,001-5,000 employees
Setting up FortiGate isn't complicated. I handled the installation myself, but we have two technicians responsible for maintenance.
View full review »AM
reviewer1779540
Security Presales Consultant at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Fortinet FortiGate has simple ways some of the features can be configured, such as VPN and routing protocols. You need additional effort to do it using Palo Alto. Palo Alto has a more detailed required configuration and this is why extra effort is needed.
I would rate the implementation of Fortinet FortiGate a five out of five.
The process of implementation is easy.
View full review »MM
Mohsinoddin Mohammed
Information Security Principal at Alkhorayef
The initial setup was straightforward.
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Raphael Nwosu
EVP, Product Line Management & Growth at Kropmann Communications Ltd
The initial setup was pretty easy. It was not difficult.
Everything I did was in one day. If I have to do some fine-tuning, that takes a little bit longer. Typically, one day is enough to deploy.
View full review »JA
reviewer1784364
Founder / Principal at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
It is straightforward for someone with Fortinet experience. If you don't know anything about Fortinet, you can take it out of the box and plug it in.
Its deployment is usually on a location-by-location basis. Each location often takes one day for the implementation of a new data service. One person is usually enough for its deployment and maintenance.
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Ali ALI
Assistant Manager Traditional Channels at FrieslandCampina
The initial setup is very easy. It is not complex.
When compared to Cisco, it is very easy.
View full review »PH
reviewer1448721
Deputy Manager at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
In terms of the initial setup, the process was not complex at all. We found it to be very straightforward and easy. We didn't run into any issues setting everything up.
We have one engineer that handles ongoing maintenance for us when we need it.
View full review »MM
Md Mohiuddin
Assistant Manager IT at Urmi Garments Ltd
The initial setup was complex. The deployment took a few days to get set up. Initially, we were using an IPVanish. We switched to this tool since we thought it would be easier. But it turns out it wasn't easier to set up and run.
View full review »BK
Bora Kaptanoglu
Network Security Executive at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The initial setup was easy and took around half a day.
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Kirubel Markos
Senior Cyber Security Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate is very simple and user-friendly. The configuration for the solution is easy. The time it takes for the deployment depends on the environment of the company. It can take a week, but typically it takes three to four days.
View full review »RK
Rehan Khurram
Systems & Network Administrator at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate was very simple and straightforward.
View full review »YK
reviewer1255635
Head of the Satellite Infrastructure and Operation System Department at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
Its initial setup is normal. It is not too complex.
View full review »US
UmerSiddique
Sr. Network Engineer at a pharma/biotech company with 5,001-10,000 employees
The initial setup is simple. It's only complex if the design hasn't been sorted or tested. If we're deploying, we study the network, traffic patterns, and traffic path, which is, I think, the most important thing about deploying any network device. We can easily create or delete, modify or customize and optimize the feature, the network, the routing, the policy, and the different features of this device. Most of the time we carry out the implementation ourselves, deploying in different phases; firstly connecting the network, and then partially shifting the traffic phase by phase. When we removed ASA and shifted all the traffic to Fortinet, the overall performance and overall working was very impressive. Downtime probably came to a total of 15 to 20 hours. We have multiple groups using this product - I would estimate somewhere between 12,000 to 13,000 users and the solution is used continuously.
JS
reviewer967515
Network Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
The initial setup was not complex. It was pretty straightforward.
How long it takes to deploy the solution depends on the company and the configurations required. Sometimes I am able to do it in one day, whereas other times it takes more than one month to complete.
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ZaidoonAbuhanak
SALES PRODUCT MANAGER at NOURNET
FortiGate is very easy to set up
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Mohamed El-Sherbini
IT Manager at Mada Insurance
The setup of Fortinet FortiGate is straightforward.
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Charbel Hajj
Senior Supervisor at MEPEQ
It's not straightforward. You must have at least the knowledge and the settings. It's not that simple.
The length of time it takes to install is determined by the configuration you have inside. It could take anywhere from 30 minutes to three hours.
In our company, I am responsible for the solution's maintenance and deployment.
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Qaiser Abbas
Sr. Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The initial setup and installation for this product is good. It's very straightforward. It's nice because you can quickly set it up.
How long the installation takes will depend on the customer, e.g. It'll be based on their requirement, because not all customers have the same requirements. Every customer has a different requirement.
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Hariom Kumar
Manager Technical Support at Rubik Infotech Pvt. Ltd
The implementation process is not complex. It's an easy solution. It's not complex setting everything up.
View full review »AP
Amar Patil
Security Engineer at Hitachi Systems, Ltd.
The management console is pretty simple, so anyone who understands networking can initially deploy the solution. But you need some good hands-on experience for advanced configuration. The amount of time required to deploy depends upon the project and also the organization. So it takes around four to five days to deploy a smaller device. And for the largest device, it takes around a maximum of two months. We do the deployment on our own. So we have a sales team, a pre-sales team, and a deployment team. Our sales team gets this and handles the sales end. After that, we come into the picture. So we do the whole migration, as well as the new implementation and everything. It should take no more than two people to deploy. If we want to migrate from one Fortinet device to another, then we use the command line. They have some script in their firmware, and we can migrate the script directly from the older firewall to the new one. So it isn't too complex.
View full review »NA
Naseema Ap
Manager systems at HOCL
The initial setup is straightforward. The total amount of deployment time required depends upon the number of users. Fortinet FortiGate automatically corrects any mistakes you make in the installation process.
View full review »it_user283398
Security Analyst at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
The initial setup is easy; no issues with doing it.
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Tamer Baher
Professional Services Manager at Insight Technology
It's easy to set up.
For maintenance, if you want to add a mesh configuration, you can restore your configuration from the backup.
View full review »RM
reviewer1798890
Works at a non-profit with 51-200 employees
Its setup is easy.
View full review »AT
Alexandros Tzampazis
Network Administrator at Hellenic National Meteorological Service
The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate is straightforward.
View full review »JH
reviewer1295655
Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
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.
View full review »RV
Raghunath Venkatesh
Business Development Manager - Security at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
The initial setup is great. It's not complex or difficult. It's pretty simple, pretty straightforward.
We installed it within a day with no issues. It doesn't take much time.
We have five to six technicians that can handle deployment and maintenance responsibilities. We are all engineers that are managed centrally.
View full review »MA
Mushtaq Ahmad
Manager IT at Riphah
The initial setup is very easy. It's straightforward. We didn't run into any complexities. We were able to set it up without any issues at all.
View full review »KS
Kshitij Singhai
Owner at Computech Associates
Its initial setup is very straightforward. It is very easy if one knows the basic concepts. It has a graphical user interface, which makes it straightforward to configure. You can configure it step by step. The basic implementation of this firewall can be done in a very simple way. There could be some complexity at the Enterprise level, but at a basic level, it is very straightforward.
The deployment duration depends on the complexity level. A simple deployment can be completed in a few hours. A complex deployment can take one to two days depending upon the requirements. This is because, in addition to implementation, we also have to test the solution as per a customer's requirements to see whether it is fulfilling the given task or not.
View full review »SP
SitaramPatro
Enterprise Service Manager at Technology Associates Limited
The initial setup is not complex. It's pretty straightforward.
It's pretty simple for us as we're very familiar with the product. Every year we do a minimum one or two million dollars of business with Fortinet. At this point, my team is very experienced.
It's very easy to migrate from other solutions and we can migrate within one day.
It's pretty plug-and-play. You can handle everything in an hour or two and then you can do the testing. It's very easy.
View full review »NC
NipontChartkul
Director, CFO at IT Green Public Company Ltd.
Fortinet FortiGate is user-friendly to set up. The UI is fine. We still have concerns about security with Fortinet.
The security could be improved compared with Palo Alto Networks equipment. Palo Alto Networks products have more technical issues than Fortinet.
Overall, Fortinet FortiGate is not complicated to set up.
View full review »it_user755889
Consultant at MT Pockets Computers
For the product that it is, the initial setup was straight forward but not so simple. The Dell EMC product is simple, this is more complicated than that but it wasn't incredibly difficult. We rolled that out on a test network initially and to try to get our rule sets correct so that we didn't run into issues and did testing for about a week. The initial set up time took around an hour and a half, and it was on a virtual network with a bunch of virtual machines. We just tested it for about a week just to make sure that we weren't going to run into a lot of issues switching from the old IDS to the new one.
View full review »DN
Diana Nongera
I.T. Manager at Pacific Cigarette Company
The initial setup was not straightforward. You need some training and to learn some of these things through the experience of using it.
View full review »MA
Mina Aziz
Senior System Engineer at Effvision
The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate is simple. It is not complex. The whole process took us one day.
View full review »MZ
MichaelZhang
IT Director at Guangdong Technion Institute of Technology
The initial setup is quite simple.
Not including the preparation, setup took about three days to just unpack them, connect it to the power, power it on, and do some initial configuration. That's just the three days, but we took about two weeks for the preparation and planning.
View full review »RJ
reviewer1457472
Firewall Engineer at a marketing services firm with 1-10 employees
The solution's initial setup is not complex. It's pretty straightforward. In my case, I have many years of expertise working with FortiGate and therefore it was not difficult. It's quite good and easy to manage.
How long it takes to deploy the solution, depends on what the customers ask you to do. More or less, however, it might take maybe one day to make the initial setup of the unit and the configuration that the customer requests. It may take another day or two to put it on service and check that everything is working properly, once again, based on the requirements of the customer.
SK
reviewer1441512
Deputy General Manager Information Technology at a media company with 201-500 employees
The initial setup was straightforward. It was completed in a month or so.
View full review »SH
Sagy Haham
CEO at SAYCOM
The initial setup is easy.
View full review »VS
reviewer895482
ICT Officer at a non-profit with 5,001-10,000 employees
The initial setup was very straightforward.
View full review »it_user241101
Network Administrator at a real estate/law firm with 51-200 employees
It was very straightforward and we encountered very little problems. Fail-over occurred within a second with zero outages or anyone actually taking notice. Firmware updates were easy to apply in a live environment if required, and the GUI was very easy to understand.
View full review »KM
Krzysztof Morański
Systems Engineer at Vernity
The solution's initial setup is pretty simple and straightforward. It's not overly complex or difficult.
The length of time it takes to deploy really depends on the size of the project.
While we do assist the client with the implementation, they tend to handle the maintenance on their end.
View full review »MS
reviewer1470960
Lead Architect at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
The initial setup is intermediate in complexity but support and online documentation covers for it.
View full review »JT
reviewer1091898
CEO/CTO with 201-500 employees
The initial setup, for me, at least, is very straightforward. It's just a few clicks and you're set up. It may be a bit more complex for someone else who may not be as familiar with the product.
View full review »AC
reviewer1238928
Sales Engineer - Sênior at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
We didn't face any complexity when handling the initial implementation. The process is quite straightforward.
The implementation itself can sometimes take less than a week. On average, you should expect it to be about a week in total.
View full review »DB
reviewer1344861
Security Systems Analyst at a retailer with 5,001-10,000 employees
I never set them up.
View full review »JC
Jan Christiaan
Network Security Engineer at Social Security Commission
Having background knowledge, the initial implementation was not really complex for me. You just need to know your environment and what is needed as well as what is allowed.
The business input was the only item outstanding as there were issues such as who needs to have social media access at what time and who needs to have full access. Those were business decisions, however, but from the technical side, it was fairly easy.
View full review »EP
reviewer951024
Director of IT with 51-200 employees
I didn't set it up initially, but I did set up a lot of things from scratch. I think it could be more simple. When you're looking at a proprietary solution, usually it's aimed for end-users and they just want to do point and click. I believe in certain aspects, pfSense was simpler. I think there's maybe just a bit of a learning curve, but I guess you would experience that with any platform.
View full review »VS
VeerSharma
Branch Manager at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
The initial setup is straightforward and it is easy to configure.
View full review »it_user249372
Senior Security Consultant with 501-1,000 employees
IMHO It is the most straightforward enterprise-level next generation firewall.
View full review »AŚ
Arkadiusz Świerczek
IT Specialist at Divante
It was a huge jump for us on the administrative side to implement this kind of hardware because we previously used just a simple product for home-usage.
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Mohamed Abdel Hassanein
Managing Director at FORESEC
The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate was easy. The most important thing is the management software with the license for accounts that need an additional license. But it is also acceptable.
The initial setup takes a while. It seems to take some time longer than usual due to the customer's onsite preparation of the required information. Overall it takes around five to seven working days.
View full review »ME
reviewer1256787
Technical Lead at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
We didn't have a problem with the installation. It wasn't complex in any way. We found it to be quite straightforward.
The deployment process was very fast. It took less than a day for us to do everything we needed to do.
In terms of maintenance, we have eight people taking care of the troubleshooting of tickets.
View full review »TA
Thameem Ansari
Senior solution architect at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
The initial setup was easy. The deployment duration depends on the situation. I have done the installation in one to three days.
View full review »TD
Ted De Vos
President at simnet
The initial setup was not straightforward but not too complex. It's a bit of both.
View full review »FN
Fernando Neto
Network Analyst at Aloo Telecom
The setup was straightforward and easy, and the equipment has a good command line interface.
View full review »VB
Vineeth Babu P
IT System Administrator at emirates hospital
The initial setup is straightforward. The normal VLAN interface configuration with the LAN configuration is fine. There is no problem with that.
Our deployment took a maximum of half an hour to forty-five minutes. It only took this much time for the entire configuration including the LAN and policy configuration.
View full review »it_user545559
Owner at a tech services company
Initial setup complexity will vary with the complexity of the installation. It is relatively straightforward and simple to set up basic configurations. More complex requirements entail reading through a lot of documentation in order to complete the firewall configuration because of the myriad of features and options that are available in their O/S. The 'cookbooks' are a big help in these instances.
View full review »SC
Simon Chaba
ICT Manager at a aerospace/defense firm
The user interface is relatively easy. The devices are easy to deploy and figure out if you have experience with other security appliances.
View full review »IK
Issam-Kawash
Sales project manager at Saraha
The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate is straightforward.
View full review »KM
reviewer940329
ICT Systems Administrator at a philanthropy with 11-50 employees
The setup for Fortinet FortiGate was easy, because we had it done by another company. It was a construction company that we had this set up for, but I can't remember their name.
View full review »QV
reviewer1465347
IT Infrastructure managerInformation an Communication Services Manager at a agriculture with 5,001-10,000 employees
The initial setup is simple and doesn't take much time.
PG
Pier Andrea Gabutto
Owner at Gabutto MArket
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.
View full review »JT
reviewer1451103
Chief Information Officer at a analyst firm with 10,001+ employees
The setup is pretty complex and not easy to implement.
View full review »EM
Effort Moyo
Technical Services Manager at ProComm technologies
The installation was straightforward.
View full review »AN
reviewer1316841
System Administrator at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
The initial setup is very straightforward.
View full review »IY
Iz
Assistant Manager (Infrastructure) at SISTIC
It is very straightforward.
View full review »WK
Waseem Khan
Network/Systems Administrator at TRSP
The implementation of Fortinet FortiGate was simple.
View full review »ML
reviewer1254792
Network Engineer at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
The implementation of Fortinet FortiGate is very easy. The equipment is simple to deploy.
View full review »MK
reviewer1392531
Dy General Manager at a real estate/law firm with 501-1,000 employees
The setup was easy.
View full review »SA
Sandhy Ami
Works at Aeon Mall Indonesia
The setup was easy.
View full review »AY
Adriana Ymeri
IT Infrastructure Engineer at Communication Progress
The initial setup is simple, as with all Fortinet technologies. Deployment time depends on the situation. For small customers it takes about one to two hours. For larger companies with different kinds of firewalls in their infrastructure, it may take a day or two, it depends on the complexity of the network, the infrastructure and the size of the business. The solution is suitable for any size company. Maintenance depends on the contract with our customers, but Fortinet includes support with every license. If a customer wants support from us, we provide it.
TF
reviewer1458159
Officer / General Manager Software R&D Laboratory at a manufacturing company with 501-1,000 employees
The initial setup was very easy and straightforward. It was not complex. We do, however, use the basic functionality and therefore we don't really get into much complexity during the implementation.
The deployment itself is rather quick and we were able to get everything sorted in about one day.
View full review »RV
reviewer1346826
Manager - IT at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
The initial setup was complex. We had to connect it and set up the PCI DSS compliance. To maintain this, there are a lot of things that have to be done on a regular basis. This includes scanning and hardening the servers, then rescanning. Initially, it is very complex.
We have the FortiGate firewall in our environment, and we are using network segmentation. Based on the segmentation, there are policies. Based on the policies, the traffic to the critical components is monitored and goes through the IDS/IPS antivirus profile. We also have hosted applications, so a basic DDoS and WAP are configured.
View full review »SC
Simon Coombs
System Administrator at a media company with 11-50 employees
It was fairly straightforward.
View full review »DY
DaleYeh
Principal Mining Consultant at senhwabio
The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate is not so difficult. We got the instructions for the installation from Fortinet online.
The majority of the work was implemented by our vendor. The deployment took about two days to complete.
View full review »JC
MnG32
Manager and General Attorney with 51-200 employees
I was not involved in the initial setup of the devices. I only had to check it out and make sure it was working fine. But I saw the guys working with the configuration. Occasionally they had to reference the manual but had to find the answers on Google.
View full review »it_user179136
Network Engineer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Initial setup was straightforward.
View full review »it_user149982
Project Manager at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
It was quite simple if you have at least a minimum of experiment with Firewalls integration. It is now even simpler thanks to the FortiExplorer application.
View full review »it_user275226
IT Director with 501-1,000 employees
It's straightforward, and was transparent for the users.
View full review »EK
EranjayaKumarasiri
Security Engineer at Eguardian lanka
The initial implementation of Fortinet FortiGate is not complex because the GUI environment is easy to use. We can do a lot of things in the GUI. If the configurations engineer, network administrator, or network engineer has knowledge about firewalls, the process will not be complex. It can easily be managed.
View full review »PH
Phil Horst
President at Integral Design Software
The initial setup is fairly technical and it's not something the untrained person would want to do. You need to know what you're doing in order to set it up.
View full review »MP
MaheshPatel
Sr. Corporate Marketing Executive at Amity Infosoft Pvt. Ltd.
Easy by WebGUI and also mobile app.
FS
Ferrianto Suryanto
Director Of Technology at PT Exa Teknologi Indonesia
The initial setup and new configuration are very easy. It is very user-friendly. It's only three clicks from the menu, two or three sub-menus and we already have it configured. It's not difficult because we have experience with the SonicWall, Palo Alto, etc.., but Fortinet is user-friendly.
View full review »RJ
reviewer1457472
Firewall Engineer at a marketing services firm with 1-10 employees
The initial setup was very easy and straightforward.
The time it takes to setup the solution depends on the case. It may take less than a day or more than two months, it depends on the technology that is being used. For example, a hospital I am working with has 20 switches with two firewalls, but there are issues in the physical place and not in Fortinet. In this case, the environment limits the speed of setup.
View full review »GI
reviewer743844
Mgr. IT Infrastructure and Network Operations at a media company with 11-50 employees
Part of the setup was straightforward and other parts were complex. They need to work on feature placements and menus.
View full review »it_user339975
Project Consultant at a tech consulting company
Usually always simple and straight forward. I can get a client up and running with most standard policies and inbound/outbound control in a single day and make adjustments as needed. I can usually preconfigure Fortinet products and send them out for install.
View full review »it_user234777
IP Senior Engineer at a comms service provider with 501-1,000 employees
It was straightforward. Taking control of the device for first time is easy, and the cookbook manual is very helpful.
View full review »it_user998895
Project Manager at renaissance group
The initial setup is not complex. It's pretty straightforward. We found it to be quite simple.
When I bought it, I found that the user interface made everything pretty easy from the start. They also have very good help features that can assist you if you get stuck. It was pretty easy to configure the items I needed to.
View full review »KO
Kofi Osei-Appaw
Consultant at WorldNet ICT Solutions Limited
The challenge for the initial setup was at the ISP level. We have the Fortinet firewall running, but between the various sites, we wanted to implement FortiWAN. It didn't work because of the BGP issue.
View full review »KS
Kevin Stephens
ICT Administrator at a mining and metals company with 11-50 employees
The initial setup was not complex.
View full review »AK
Ahmed Konsowa
Senior Security Consultant at SEE "Systems Engineering of Egypt"
It was very straightforward. An easy installation process.
View full review »YA
Yousef Altaj
Tech Manager at Global tec
It was very straightforward an easy for us to initially install.
View full review »it_user431136
Consultant Information Technology at a tech company with 51-200 employees
It's simple: Just turn it on, access your Web console via the default IP address and then perform the settings.
View full review »ZB
reviewer1776702
Group Manager Procurement/SCM at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
It is a little complicated. It took four months.
View full review »MC
Madalena Carvalho
System ADM at a recreational facilities/services company with 501-1,000 employees
The initial set up was not something that I was concerned with.
View full review »LW
Leo_Wong
Consultant at Resolve Technology Limited
We find the solution to be pretty straightforward to set up and deploy. We didn't have any difficulties with implementation.
The deployment takes less than a week. It's a pretty quick process.
We provide maintenance services for our clients.
View full review »JM
reviewer1193787
Network Manager at a transportation company with 5,001-10,000 employees
The installation was super easy, we were up and running in less than 50 minutes.
View full review »DA
Directcust4564
Directorate at a wholesaler/distributor with 51-200 employees
I was not there when the initial setup was done.
Currently, we have five staff in charge of maintenance.
View full review »AL
Alberto E. Luna Rodriguez
Network Security Coordinator at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Initial setup was very straightforward. Interface is very friendly and easy to comprehend.
View full review »AG
Anderson Guedes
Specialist of IT Solutions at InterNexa
Fortinet FortiGate is simple to implement. We have five engineers and five analysts that do the implementation and maintenance of the solution.
View full review »LM
reviewer1784964
Head Of Technology at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
The initial setup is straightforward. The length of time required for deployment depends on the customer's environment and use cases.
View full review »MP
reviewer1282434
IT Operations Director at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The initial setup isn't complex at all. We found it to be quite easy. It's straightforward.
The deployment took us about three to four weeks or so.
We use two people for deployment and maintenance.
View full review »AH
Ahamed Ali Hameed
IT Manager at Hadef & Partners
ES
Emmanuel Salamat
Solutions Architect at Universal Access and Systems Solutions
The deployment of Fortinet FortiGate is complex. It depends on how long you are going to maintain the network of the client. For us, it would only take a day or two.
View full review »it_user819147
Head of IT at CGP
Setup and installation of Fortinet FortiGate were very straightforward. The deployment stage took five days. We used an integrator company and they were very good.
View full review »RO
Randy Obanon
IT Manager at Soporte Antivirus Ltda
The initial setup was easy. The implementation took around two hours.
View full review »it_user125442
Dono at a tech consulting company
It's straightforward. You just need to understand the concept, and how to apply it.
View full review »
Arf Wu
Manager at Readytech
The initial setup is straightforward.
View full review »ZR
reviewer1136826
Manager at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees
The initial setup is reasonably straightforward.
View full review »SW
reviewer1485723
Compliance Officer at a venture capital & private equity firm with 11-50 employees
This is a cloud-based solution. Therefore, there really isn't an installation process per se. It's very easy to get started.
View full review »AM
Avantha Malalage
Chief Information Officer at teamddt
The initial setup is straightforward. For example, the SMB solution is straightforward. We have to follow the instructions and customize it as per the customer's request for the enterprise solution.
View full review »NN
reviewer1084257
IT Infrastructure Specialist at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
We are currently on 80D, and it was a direct upgrade. The deployment didn't take that long because it was a direct replacement or upgrade from an older appliance 60D to 80D. It was easy for the vendor to deploy because they saved the policies and other things that were in use for the older appliance and had to be migrated over to the new appliance. It was done within maybe a day or two.
View full review »VV
Vandy Va
Head Of IT Infrastructure at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
The initial setup is relatively straightforward.
View full review »NS
NomanSaleem
IT & PPN Coordinator at a manufacturing company
The solution overall is very easy to understand. Therefore, the initial setup is not complex. It's straightforward. Even the configurations are good. An organization shouldn't have too much trouble with it.
How long it takes to deploy depends on what you want to configure on a firewall. It depends on the policies being implemented. That definitely takes time depending on the company and what is being done. If you are familiar with all features and all the steps regarding how to create a policy and how to implement a policy, it is pretty easy and won't take too long.
View full review »RJ
reviewer1192146
Director at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The initial setup is not complex. It's pretty much a straightforward implementation. There aren't really any surprises.
The length of deployment differs based on the kind of policies a client would like to implement. If they are very simple policies, then there isn't a lot of work to worry about. However, if there are complex policies or multiple policies, it does take some time to get things up and running.
I didn't handle the installation personally, as I am in sales.
We have three or four people in our organization who handle maintenance.
View full review »DS
Derrick Slaton
IT Specialist 3 at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
The initial setup was complex. The user interface was a little bit difficult so it made actually setting it up a little bit complicated. The deployment took a week to roll out four branches.
View full review »BT
Eric TOURE
System & Network Administrator at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The initial setup of this solution wasn't complex at all.
View full review »SP
reviewer1474071
Data Center Operations and Customer Support Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
It's straightforward.
View full review »MV
reviewer1456182
Senior Information Technology Auditor at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
The initial setup is not complex, it's easy. It took 30 minutes to deploy.
It only requires one person to deploy and maintain.
View full review »it_user1383504
Information Security at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
The initial setup was straightforward. We were implementing on a large project and it took a weekend to completely deploy with all the features, connections and everything.
GA
Gamal Al-Hamzah
Network Engineer at LinkTech
The initial setup was easy and not complex at all.
View full review »it_user454521
Deputy Chief Manager at a newspaper with 5,001-10,000 employees
The initial setup was simple but the DC was complex.
View full review »it_user375528
IT NETWORK ENGINEER at a energy/utilities company with 501-1,000 employees
The initial setup is simple in the CLI or Web GUI.
View full review »it_user245154
Customer Support engineer at a healthcare company with 51-200 employees
This product has a setup wizard (FortiExplorer) for the initial configuration, while the physical connectivity is done via a USB cable which is very easy to use.
View full review »it_user236523
Senior Information Security Engineer with 501-1,000 employees
It was complex because there was a huge network with VLANs configured and routing protocols enabled.
View full review »it_user229269
Network Security Infrastructure - Tech Specialist with 10,001+ employees
It was easy to set up.
View full review »it_user107088
Network Support Analyst at a non-tech company with 501-1,000 employees
Yes it was, when you plug-in to the Fortigate Manager there is this wizard that will guide you to making it work basically, and that was it.Afterwards you can add your additional features as your company needs. The initial setup took me just 10 or 15 minutes.
View full review »
Suresh Bora
IT Infrastructure Lead at iConnect IT Business Solutions DMCC
The initial setup is simple and took us about half an hour. We have 50 users in the company. We have one person who deals with all our maintenance and deployment issues.
View full review »TK
reviewer1457130
CIO at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees
I am working as a manager, and I am not doing any of the configurations.
We only require one person for the maintenance of this solution.
LJ
Lenos Jacob
Head of Customer Success at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
We did not have any problems with the implementation.
The initial setup was straightforward.
View full review »it_user510852
Technical Services Manager with 501-1,000 employees
Setup is very straightforward.
View full review »it_user677703
Superintendent, Process Automation and Safety at a pharma/biotech company with 5,001-10,000 employees
It does require someone knowledgeable in routing, firewall rules, and these firewalls in particular. Once it is set up, they are easy to modify and maintain.
View full review »
Walid Semrani
Networking and Security Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
The initial setup was so easy! FortiGate has everything facilitated for deployment and we are able to do everything from their web interface.
View full review »RJ
reviewer1418730
Director at a consultancy with 1-10 employees
The setup is easy.
View full review »MZ
Matteo ZAMOLO
Program director at a tech consulting company with 201-500 employees
All the firewalls, more or less are similar, it is very easy to install this type of equipment on the premise of the customer.
View full review »SB
Consultant76
Security Engineer at a real estate/law firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
The initial setup was straightforward and easy.
View full review »it_user867420
Network Engineer
The initial setup is straightforward, once you understand the operating system environment.
View full review »it_user700113
Owner
It is an easy setup and configuration.
View full review »AJ
reviewer1368420
Telecommunications Engineer at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
The initial setup is straightforward. It's pretty easy.
At the very most, it takes a day to deploy.
View full review »AC
reviewer1462002
Network Engineer at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Deployment was very easy.
View full review »AL
reviewer1464204
GM: Information Systems at a logistics company with 501-1,000 employees
It was complex for me, but it was quick.
View full review »JG
reviewer1262043
Junior Support Analyst at a pharma/biotech company with 201-500 employees
The initial setup was very easy.
View full review »IQ
reviewer943938
Branch Manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
The implementation is not complex. It's very straightforward to set up and does not take a lot of time to deploy everything.
That said, I did not handle the implementation myself, so I can't speak to more technical aspects of the job.
We had four or five resources that assist in network security and they all helped with the deployment.
View full review »it_user929583
Network and Security Manager at a consumer goods company with 10,001+ employees
I was involved in the initial setup and it was very easy and the features and interface are very good for us to understand what is going on.
View full review »YK
reviewer1255635
Head of the Satellite Infrastructure and Operation System Department at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
The initial setup was easy.
View full review »RB
Rodolfo Bento Matos
CEO e confundador at Infinity Learning
The set up was a little complex, but the interface and the process are user friendly.
View full review »it_user460626
IT Manager at a tech vendor with 501-1,000 employees
It was installed by the IT solution provider while setting up the school.
View full review »DM
reviewer1247301
Founder, Chairman of the Board at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
It is easy to deploy and use. It didn't take more than a day.
View full review »ML
reviewer1254792
Network Engineer at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
The complexity of the initial setup depends on the implementation. There are some that are very simple, whereas others are complex.
View full review »KN
reviewer1483797
Service Delivery Engineer - Network Security Lead at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The installation is not difficult but there is a learning curve, it becomes easy over time.
The basic installation took approximately two days. A more complicated scenario can take even up to two weeks. Depending on the options that you are looking for, there are many things you can consider. If you are looking at a complex design then you are going to take more time.
View full review »MR
reviewer1238931
Junior Network Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The installation is straightforward and it took about two months for us to deploy for our last customer.
Some customers have this deployed on-premises, whereas others have a cloud-based deployment. The choice depends on the environment.
View full review »AC
Anderson Clivati
Specialist of IT Solutions at INTERNEXA
The initial setup is very easy. Deployment time depends on the complexity of the situation.
it_user913353
Gerente de Seguridad Informática at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
I was involved in the initial setup. When we decided to use Fortinet, we were already a customer of Fortinet. So, my previous firewall also was Fortinet and the experience with the brand and with the provider was very good. We have no issues. We like to keep with the same brand.
View full review »it_user181989
Technical Consultant at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Straightforward
View full review »DO
reviewer1486140
System Administrator at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The initial set up is complicated.
View full review »it_user795288
Pre-sales Engineer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Initial setup was not complex.
View full review »AC
Alan Chavira
Engineering Manager at a tech consulting company with 1-10 employees
Straightforward.
View full review »it_user241746
Software Test Engineer with 501-1,000 employees
Setup was straightforward and the documentation was very clear which meant that there were no issues during the initial setup.
View full review »it_user234774
IP Core & Security Supervisor at a comms service provider
It was complex to setup.
View full review »MA
Mohamed Abdullah
Senior Security Engineer at crystal networks
The configuration was very easy. I didn't have any problems with it.
It depends on the project, but I don't need a lot of resources to maintain it. One or two staff are enough to deploy and maintain it.
View full review »NW
reviewer1487706
Head of Technical at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
You need some training, but it's mostly easy. It's a bit of pain, but it's not that difficult, even if you're untrained.
View full review »MB
Manjil Bhetwal
Presales Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The initial setup is straightforward.
View full review »it_user915438
Director TICs at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
The initial setup is not difficult, but tricky. It's easy, but it's important that their technical support will help you during the configuration of the platform. Procedures that appear logical are not always so.
View full review »it_user433407
IT Infrastructure Engineer at a tech company with 11-50 employees
For Fortinet solutions, the initial setup is very easy.
View full review »PD
reviewer1465677
Group Leader – FM Operations Team at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The initial setup is straightforward and it is very quick to deploy.
View full review »KS
Reviewer3147
Network Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
The initial implementation was straightforward.
View full review »Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
767,995 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiGate Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2024
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