USB Console

[nbctcp]

I am using console server to connect to all my network gears such as Aruba, Cisco, Forti

All Aruba can use micro usb console  and some usb-c

All new Cisco can use mini usb console and some usb-c

Few Forti can use mini usb console

SerialtoUSB converter already $8 (not including console cable)

Good one generic micro usb cable only $2. 4x cheaper

SUGGESTIONS:

1. could you make all new Forti has microusb or usbc console

tq

[sw2090 · Accepted solution]

All FGT we  bought in the last years came shipped with a console cable. Also HP DB9 to RJ45 cables work with Fortigates. Just APC and Cisco cables won't because of non standardized pinouts on their side (not Fortinet's fault!).

[nbctcp]

You got DB9-RJ45 Console cable FREE

Then how much USB-DB9 serial converter, This one alone $10

Imagine if you have 10 Fortigate, total $100

Let say Forti has usbconsole port like Cisco, Aruba, PaloAlto, Sophos, Ruckus did How much good 2m microusb or usbc or miniusb cable. Only $2. Total $20

$20 vs $100. which one better

If all my Forti has usbconsole port. I can use old used Raspberry Pi 3 as my Console Server.

It has 4 usb ports. I can buy 4ports usb hub. 4x4=16 usb ports

Compare to this one

https://www.digi.com/products/networking/infrastructure-management/usb-connectivity/usb-over-ip/anyw...

At least raspberry 10x cheaper than usboverip

[sw2090]

If you buy some at alibaba its <$1 :

https://www.alibaba.com/p...B_top.5.465d7618ubzsRE

And as there is only <5 manufacturers of UART Bridge ICs they can only cook with water...

[mohamed_talbi]

Hi sw2090,

I have fortinet usb consol cable, is there an official driver ? if no could you recommend a driver from the internet please ?

Thank you

[sw2090]

there is no specific fortinet usb console cable. So there is also no official driver afaik.

FortiGates that have an usb console port use a standard usb cable (standard mini or micro usb plug).

For all others you would need an usb to serial converter as written above as they only have a rj45 serial console port.

In any case one needs to find out which uart bridge chip is in your usb2seral or the FGT if it has usb console port to know which driver one needs :)

Unfortunately most manufactures don't tell you. Best practice might be to use some linux box. connect usb2serial or FGT usb console port to it and execute lsusb or/and dmesq on console to see what got detected...

Also the Linux Kernel supports all those kown uart chips natively so you don't need any driver on linux. 

[Pizzaking]

"There is no specific fortinet usb console cable" ?

This is the cable you get with a new Fortigate these days.

[scheuri]

I don't want to necro the thread, but I have some pain with all that to be honest...

I am also rather desperate trying to get an "official" driver for that cable that @Pizzaking is showing! Those are branded by Fortinet!

We are sending these cables out to our customer with our fortigates (sometimes needed for troubleshooting, etc.) and the customer usually asks for an official driver (rightfully so) - because Windows doesn't seem to have a build-in driver and installing a "foreign" driver one (depending on the corporate policies of the OS and the corporate guidelines) might just not be feasible (or quite a hassle).

Considering Fortigate is a security company, I would expect them to give us something (even if it is just a relabel) official, so that we can point to that for our customers in order to install a driver to make it work!

My last experience is:

The usb cable seems to want a driver for "FT232R USB UART" and we got that from https://www.usb-drivers.org/ft232r-usb-uart-driver.html (couldn't find anything remotly more "legit").

So, yes...this might be just a little thing for Fortinet, but it isn't for us in terms of security (yes, sure - we could relabel it, but it wouldn't be an official download from fortinet, would it now?).

[Emil_N]

Any update on this? We ordered around 30 fortigates, all of which comes with the white Fortinet labeled console cable. Is there an official fortinet driver for this?

[scheuri]

Unfortunately no, at least not from my side.

Our Fortinet TAM claims that Microsoft Windows doesn't need any drivers from an external website as everything is supposed to be built in (driver is already in Windows).

I am pretty sure that is not right, however, I couldn't proof it as it turns out that our console cable seems to have a distributors logo on it and not the official fortinet logo. This means I am back to square one when arguing with Fortinet.

However, if you can confirm that plugging one of those "official" cables into windows results into nothing (unless you actively install a driver), you might want to get back to Fortinet with that proof...