Technical Tip: How to create FortiGate VM in MacOS

Fortinet provides ARM64_KVM qcow2 images on the FortiCloud portal, such as FGT_ARM64_KVM-v7.4.*.M-build27**-FORTINET.out.kvm.zip.

It can be deployed on the MacOS system with UTM: https://mac.getutm.app/

1. Select 'Virtualize' to create an ARM VM with the best MacOS performance.
2. Select 'Other' .
3. Choose 'None'  in Boot Device and Select 'Continue'
4. Select Memory based on the usage and CPU Cores according to the VM license.

5. Keep the default setting in storage, as it will be removed.
6. Select 'Countine' in the 'Shared Directory' unchanged.
7. Give a 'Name' in the Summary and 'Save' and the pre-config VM is created, and the next step is to import the qcow2 image.
8. 'Right-click' to the new VM and select 'Edit'

9. Delete the existing 'VirtID Drive' and then create a new drive to import the FortiOS.qcow2 downloaded from the FortiCloud.

10. To have the Console access, a 'Serial' needs to be added in the 'Devices. Start the VM, and the 'Serial' window will show the FortiGate VM bootup. 

Extra actions:

1. If the Mac machine has a dock station or Ethernet port into a virtual port on the Mac, extra ports can be deployed on UTM.

2. An extra hard drive can be added for logging. The FortiGate VM will format the new device once it is added.

Once the license is uploaded, the FortiGate VM will function properly on the MacOS environment.