No evaluation days when Deploying a Marketplace Fortigate in Azure PAYG

[mrstackit]

Hello,

I deploy a Fortigate Next-Generation Firewall through the Azure Marketplace. After a short period of time, I noticed that the 30-day free evaluation wasn't being applied, but instead, I was charged directly according to the cost management. Can anyone tell me why? Did I do something wrong during the creation process? 

The PAYG costs are displayed in cost management under Fortinet FortiGate-VM: ARM64 (PAYG) 2023.

Thanks for your responses.

[JohnMcdo]

Hi mrstackit,

From what I can tell the ARM processor version of the FortiGate is not covered under the 30-day free eval.

I would recommend stopping the version you have deployed, Fortinet license charges will not be applied when the FortiGate is shutdown via the Azure Portal.

The 30-day evaluation is for the first 30 days for the first FortiGate deployed in a subscription. Since the ARM and Intel FortiGate images/SKUs are different, you may be able to deploy the Intel version and get 30 days free.

[mrstackit]

Hi JohnMcdo, 

Thanks for the quick reply. That's good to know. So, if I have multiple subscriptions in my Azure account, can I always use the 30-day trial period for learning or evaluation purposes? I thought it always applies to the VM, and as soon as I create a new one, the 30 days start again.

The fact that the 30 days don't apply to ARM processors should be mentioned in the Azure Marketplace; otherwise, it would be misleading.

If I've already created a Fortigate with BYOD and a Premanent Trail license, will the 30 days still apply if I create a new Fortigate PAYG?

[JohnMcdo · Accepted solution]

Hi mrstackit,

As I understand it the 30 days is for the first FortiGate deployed in a subscription. The Sku/Plan of the FortiGate is also considered. The Sku/Plan of the ARM and Intel/AMD PAYG FortiGates are different, as well the ARM and Intel/AMD BYOL have different Skus/Plans.

Currently the 30 days only applies to the PAYG Intel/AMD Sku/Plan. This means that after an Intel/AMD FortiGate of that Sku/Plan is deployed for 30 days, license charges will be incurred. If a new FortiGate is deployed of the same PAYG Sku/Plan is deployed in the same subscription license charges will be incurred from day 1.

Hope that helps. I have informed the team that manages the Marketplace offer to update the listing or enable a 30 day evaluation on the ARM Sku/Plan