FortiManager
FortiManager supports network operations use cases for centralized management, best practices compliance, and workflow automation to provide better protection against breaches.
pholla
Staff
Staff
Article Id 422759
Description This article describes how to push the Domain name external feed connector to a FortiGate from FortiManager.
Scope FortiManager, FortiGate.
Solution

A domain name external feed is a dynamic list that contains domains and is periodically updated from an external server. The list is stored in a text file format on an external server.

Domain name threat feed connector can be created on the FortiManager, and that will be pushed to the FortiGate when the Firewall policy with the DNS filter is used.

 

  1. Go to Fabric View -> External Connectors, and select Create New. The Create New Fabric Connector wizard is displayed.
  2. Under Threat Feeds, select Domain Name Threat Feed and select Next.
  3. Domain Name:
    1. Create a Domain Name Threat Feed external connector 'MaliciousURL' with the list of URLs to be blocked in the DNS filter.

      MaliciousURL.png                                                                     
    2. Create a Domain Name Threat Feed external connector 'MonitorURL' with the list of URLs to be monitored in the DNS filter.

 

MonitorURL.png

 

  1. Create a DNS filter 'DNSThreatFilter1' and set the 'MaliciousURL' connectors to be blocked and the 'MonitorURL' connector to be monitored under the remote categories.

    Policy & Objects -> Security Profiles -> DNS Filter -> Create new.

 

DNSThreatFilter1.png

 

  1. Apply the DNS filter under a firewall policy under the Security Profile section.

    Policy & Objects -> Firewall Policy -> Create/Select the policy -> Security Profiles -> DNS Filter -> Select DNSThreatFilter1.

     

Screenshot 2025-12-10 120208.png

 

  1. Install the policy package on the FortiGate.

Install preview:

 

 config system external-resource
            edit "MaliciousURL"
                set type domain
                set category 193
                set username "Username_xyz"
                set password **********
                set comments "Malicious URL to be blocked"
                set resource "https://xyz.com/URLList.txt"
                set uuid e8aa242c-d563-51f0-2a6c-2180af2798ec
            next
            edit "MonitorURL"
                set type domain
                set category 196
                set username "Username_xyz"
                set password ********
                set comments "URLs to be monitored."
                set resource "https://xyz.com/MonitorURLList.txt"
                set uuid e8aa4bb4-d563-51f0-e123-3ff8c67e582d
            next
        end
        config dnsfilter profile
            edit "DNSThreatFilter1"
                config ftgd-dns
                    config filters
                        edit 1
                            set category 2
                        next
                        <trimmed for breivity>
                        edit 17
                            set category 193   <<< MaliciousURL category
                            set action block   <<< Action set to block
                        next
                        edit 18
                            set category 196   <<< MonitorURL category set to Monitor
                        next
                    end
                end
            next
        end
      
        config firewall policy
            edit 1
                set name "Test"
                set uuid 24eef30c-d557-51f0-07e4-98ee758c3e1d
                set action accept
                set srcintf "port5"
                set dstintf "port6"
                set srcaddr "all"
                set dstaddr "all"
                set schedule "always"
                set service "ALL"
                set utm-status enable
                set logtraffic all
                set dnsfilter-profile "DNSThreatFilter1"  <<<DNS filter applied
            next
        end

 

Note: If the action is set to allow under the remote categories in the DNS filter for an external DNS connector, FortiManager will not push that external DNS connector to the FortiGate.

 

FortiManager will push the external Domain name Threat Feed connectors to FortiGate only when the action is set to monitor or block, and the DNS connector is used in the firewall policy via DNS filter.

 

Selecting the Allow action for the FortiGuard Category-Based Filter does not actually allow the category. It merely implies that no filter has been applied.

 

It is recommended to avoid using the Allow action for remote categories, as it will not override the original action specified in the FortiGuard Category-Based Filter.

The Monitor and Block actions for remote categories can override the original action specified in the FortiGuard Category-Based Filter.