FortiAnlayzer vs forti cloud which is best solution

[Niyas]

   Hello  could you please help me which device is better for reporting purpose, fortianlayzer or forti cloud.  Can please give me detailed difference between FortiAnalyzer and FortiCloud

[tanr]

On premise FortiAnalyzer is much more full featured than what you currently get with FortiCloud or FortiAnalyzer Cloud.   

For example, from https://docs.fortinet.com/document/fortianalyzer/6.2.0/cloud-deployment/461449/introduction

    "Other logs, such as Traffic Logs, are not supported in the base subscription."

Without traffic logs, it's pretty limited.

[emnoc]

It depends but 1st you need to understand the business case between the two;

e.g 

FC is for small office or business

FA is for enterprise or the medium to large buiness

Would I suggest a small kiosk to buy a fortianalyzer? NO!

Would I suggest a fortune 500  business to use FortiCloud ? NO!

As far as best, what was said earlier a on prem applaince for generating reports, logs events is far superior than FortiCloud.

FWIW;  I use both forticloud and papertrail for  my  cloud logging needs for my home.

Ken Felix

[lobstercreed · Accepted solution]

Ken makes a good point that very small offices may want to go with FortiCloud (even the free version), but if you're doing anything remotely advanced or want long-term, detailed visibility, go with FortiAnalyzer.  I wish I had it at home honestly.

I'll put it in clearer terms.  If you're large enough to run virtual servers (ESXi/HyperV), do yourself a favor and buy FortiAnalyzer VM.  It's cheap and it's a HUGE time-saver if you're troubleshooting.  I use it every day and feel absolutely hamstrung without it.  OH and it works fantastically as a syslog server.  Really can't say enough good things about it.

- Daniel