Technical Tip: How to factory reset or fresh install FortiManager/FortiAnalyzer and restore the Backup file

The FortiManager backup configuration must ONLY be restored on a system with a factory default configuration, and running the same firmware version and VM Hardware type as the previously used system.

'Migrate from a different platform' is available starting with FortiManager v7.4.3. See the release notes for more information.

Steps:

1. Take a backup or make sure to have a valid backup to use to restore to a previously known working state: For this, navigate to Dashboard and select 'backup' in the System Information widget.

Enter a password if needed (starting v7.4.2 and later encrypted password is mandatory for system backup) to protect the system backup and save it to the local PC:

2. Use the following two commands, in this particular order, to reset or wipe a FortiManager to the factory default configuration:

exe reset all-except-ip

Press 'y'.

Wait for the system to restart and format the disk (this will not delete the OS or system-level files. To delete them proceed to re-deploy the fresh copy section in this article):

exe format disk

Note: For the hardware devices, install the desired firmware using TFTP before going to the next step.

3. Restore a backup configuration file:

4. Configure the FortiManager system to be online to re-established the management tunnel(s):

Using CLI command:

config system admin setting
    set offline_mode disable
end

Or GUI:

5. Allow a few hours for the FortiManager to re-download the FortiGuard service packages (Web database, Antivirus Package, AntiSpam, IPS packages, IOCs).

To re-deploy a fresh copy of FortiManager/FortiAnalyzer VMs:

Follow the deployment section in the admin guide corresponding to the virtual environment used.

For example: for VMWare, follow this document: About FortiManager on VMware ESXi.

Make sure of minimum system requirements and the correct guide based on the Firmware version being used.

To re-deploy a fresh copy of FortiManager/FortiAnalyzer hardware devices:

Follow the steps in the following community article and before step (6) choose [F] from the configuration menu to format the boot device. Once formatted, proceed from step (6) to the rest of the steps up to step (11). Once the firmware is installed, the device will reboot and the backup can be restored or reconfigured from scratch. See this article: Technical Tip: How to recover access to FortiManager or FortiAnalyzer when the admin password is lost on Hardware Products.

Related articles:

Technical Tip: FortiManager system upgrade, downgrade, and configuration restore information

Technical Tip: How to recover access to FortiManager or FortiAnalyzer when the admin password is lost on Hardware Products

Technical Tip: Upgrading FortiManager/FortiAnalyzer