| Description | This article reflects the reasoning and processes applied by TAC to the management of technical support requests submitted by a user when the firmware being used is in an End of Support status. |
| Scope | End of support Firmware and LTS. |
| Solution |
Why does Fortinet enforce the End of Support date? The cyber security environment has a continuously evolving threat landscape and to ensure doing the best to keep users secure it is necessary to continuously evolve and develop the products and software. To continue to deliver what the users need, it is necessary to make firmware obsolete as it no longer has the features the users require and may introduce vulnerabilities over time as it becomes no longer commercially viable to maintain it.
What is End of Support? The End of Support date for Software is the last date Fortinet is committed to provide any support in respect of a device which is running that level of firmware. Contractually Fortinet has no obligation to provide any support until the firmware is returned to a supportable version by the user. See below for references to the various documentation.
There are two exceptions to this:
For example; FortiOS 6.4 becomes End of Support (EoS) on 2024-09-30.
What will happen if a user with an active support contract, either online or calling in, requests support on an End of Support firmware? FortiCare Essential and FortiCare Premium users: users will be informed that there is no entitlement to support and that are required to upgrade to a supported version provided links to appropriate resources that will assist them in doing so. A recommended version of firmware shall be provided. Refer them to community articles at Technical Tip: Recommended Release for FortiOS
FortiCare Elite users: Will receive support as normal up to the Extended End of Support date.
Advanced Support Pro or Pro Plus users: Will receive elements of support based on their respective contract entitlements as described in the following question/answer.
Does a user have Extended End of Support with Advanced Support? No, however with the Pro and Pro Plus levels of Advanced Support, they are entitled to elements of support being, extended troubleshooting for 18 months beyond the End of Support date and the consideration for software fixes. To be clear this is not the same as Extended End of Support and does not alter the Product Lifecycle Policy in any way.
Use firmware after its End of Support date? At their own risk as they are not entitled to any patch or security updates in addition to not being able to raise support tickets. Users are given 18 months to upgrade from the end of the engineering support date and are further warned in Asset Management with a < 180-day warning on the dashboard.
Raise an RMA ticket if that device is on unsupported firmware: With limitations. Technical support is a prerequisite to confirm the failure of hardware therefore if troubleshooting the hardware is impacted through end-of-support firmware then the RMA will not be able to be processed, and a firmware update would be required to rule that out. If support can determine that it is an obvious HW fault, then the RMA will be permitted however no support will be offered in the restoration of the end-of-support firmware.
Raise a PRMA request: PRMA contracts allow for user self-determination of the fault. Upon receipt of the replacement part, the user will bear full responsibility for the installation of the firmware to an unsupported level. The PRMA field service engineer, if purchased, will not be committed to making available older firmware versions and will not perform any activity to update to a supported version.
FortiGuard updates availability: FortiGuard subscriptions are made available based on the standard terms and conditions. They require an active service entitlement to benefit from them. There are no commitments to provide a FortiGuard update for any end-of-support firmware unless extended as an LTS build.
The ability to update is tied to having a valid applicable contract in place and that the IPS or AV engine used in the firmware version has not changed when compared to currently supported versions where in that case the FortiGuard updates will still be available. There are however no ongoing commitments and no further QA testing to ensure the product is not impacted by receiving such an update.
Exceptions: Fortinet’s standard product lifecycle policy allows for support to still be provided to the last supported firmware version for a hardware appliance that itself is active, from a product lifecycle perspective, and no newer versions of firmware are made available.
LTS package usage: Firmware indicating Long Term Support, and access to support via the Extended EoS dates associated with it, is available to use on devices covered by FortiCare Elite contracts only. It is important to plan this firmware path, as there may not be an upgrade (or downgrade) path to reach that firmware when support is needed. As such it is also problematic to assume that FortiCare Elite can be purchased after-the-fact to purchase an extended support period. |
