FortiClient 5.6 Configuration Tool + Rebranding Tool

[AtiT]

Hello,

I have some questions about the Configuration and Rebranding Tool.

According to the FortiClient docummentation the Configuration tool is free and can be downloaded from the FNDN site.

Does it mean that I can create an MSI installer and provide it to hundreds of our customers for deploying via Active directory for free?

Does it matter that the configuration tool was downloaded under my account and I can user it for unlimited customers to create custom installer?

The Rebranding tool should be available to download with FNDN site license. What does it mean? Where to obtain this license and where to put/upload the license on the FNDN site?

[Sebastiaan_Koopmans · Accepted solution]

Hi AtiT,

Yes you can download it for free from FNDN site. from 5.4.4 No license is required to use the configuration tool

In the config tool you can define / select initial config file and features 

So you can create different installers for different installations

No license is required to use the configuration tool

licensing will the client get from EMS or your fortigate.

[jdbush · Accepted solution]

Baptiste wrote:

any chance to get an acces FNDN without knowing any Fortinet employee ??

I still don't understand as far a I have Fortinet Products and (expensive) support contracts for all my gears I can't get an access....

Seriously? Why do we need to know a Fortinet employee to get a download after paying for hardware, vpn subscriptions, etc? Ridiculous. Do we need to have a meet-n-greet? How can we get this configurator?

[jdbush · Accepted solution]

jpp wrote:

Actually, you get access to download when you register your product. Downloads are accessible from support site, and only for the products registered.

Configurator tool is downloadable from there. Unfortunately I can't see it for v5.6 , only for older versions.

Note: contact your local sales/support, they may help you ;)

I have access to all the downloads of 5.6 Forticlient and FortiClientTools. The problem is the FortiClientConfigurator is not in there. To get that, you have to be part of the FortiFamily & Friends to get access to the Forti-Developer site to get to the download. Why? The configurator is not any good without the client files. There is no reason to hide this file behind a second layer of security. I don't have any friends that work at Fortinet. Forum Admin...would you vouch for me so I can get this download? lol

[Charlie]

suffering from the same issue here, can not access the configurator as having to wait for our suppliers to come back with the relevant email addresses, can not use an old version because our licence file is not suitable.

[SteveRoadWarrior]

Try opening a case with support.  See if they may be able to make an exception in your case to get the 5.6 config tool. 

It works very well, and is worth the effort.  Plus it allows an XML file containing the telemetry server IP, which will allow you to have the clients automatically check in with the firewall.  You won't need to rely on broadcast messages for client provisioning.

[SteveRoadWarrior]

The 5.4 tool is in the normal place like where you would get firmware updates (used to be FTP).

The 5.6 tool is only available from the developer portal https://fndn.fortinet.net/index.php?/login/ or if you open a case and get a helpful technician :)

[mboback]

I just want to add - what is the logic behind gating the FortiClient configurator behind FNDN? It should be smack in the downloads section under Forticlient on the support portal.

I'm in the process of migrating one of my customers from Sophos firewalls over to Fortigate units - they have a number of external users who will need to leverage FortiClient for SSLVPN (coming from OpenVPN), and I'm now forced to have these various end-users install Forticlient with the Security Fabric option checked so they HAVE to install Telemetry and Vulnerability Scan. This is a terrible default to force this upon every customer installing FortiClient and assumes a one-size-fits all approach. It doesn't even give the end-user the option to UNCHECK the Security Fabric option if they want to, so not only can I not automate this without a gated configuration tool, I also can't simply tell the end-users to uncheck a box manually.

If anyone has any workarounds to this other than dealing with FNDN let me know - if there is some type of hidden install switch on the MSI package or anything I can use in the meantime, until I get FNDN access to deal with the issue let me know.

[tlwisner]

My paid for licensing specifies the Configuration tool is included. I finally got a helpful Fortinet rep to find two sponsors for my FNDN membership and they have both approved but my membership is still in limbo.  I use this to send out customized installers with only needed features and not having the tool has been a hassle - a needless hassle.  Taking away access to software my license entitles me too is just wrong. Suppprt gave me access to the last version of the tool but now they just say "join FNDN". My reseller did help find the Fortinet sponsors - you may want to contact your reseller and Fortinet account rep - they will be much more helpful than the Fortinet tech support. Good luck.

Note: just got approved for FNDN.  Do check with your sales rep!

[Psychodata]

I tried contacting support about this as well. Got this. 

Thank you for calling in.  As we discussed over the phone, the only way to get FortiClientConfigurator - is to have an account in FNDN.  When applying for the account, you will be asked for 2 Fortinet 'sponsor' emails which you can get from your local sales engineer, CDW Logistics Inc, I believe. 

CDW Salesperson tried to check with the Fortigate contacts, who said to buy the $4000+ FNDN license, per my CDW Quote.

Support says "Fortinet has two types of FNDN subscription - paid and free one. Please tell your salesperson that you need free one. " 

CDW Salesperson writes back that she got this from her FTNT contacts. 

I emailed them this morning for an update and got the following >>>In total seriousness, a FTNT Employee has had to have known the customer for a year to validate their access to it for free. This has been sent from the top down to FTNT employees.  I then responded right away asking how I proceed and have yet to hear back from them. I apologize for the delay on this. 

So, we'll see what happens. 

[tlwisner]

My Fortinet sale rep was the person who ended up getting me into FNDN after my reseller, Provantage put me in touch with him. I have been buying Fortinet products for over 15 years and maybe being in the middle of renewing some support and licensing helped. You need to get direct contact with your Fortinet sales rep.  Your reseller should be able to help you with this.

[afilice]

This sounds like some developer B.S. I am also having an issue with obtaining the configuration tool. Why is this not in our downloads like previous versions? Why are we not getting answers? I took a backup of my VPN and hope I can restore it on a different machine but honestly why are they protecting a tool the community is requesting that was available before? I am left with a bad taste on this issue.

[aaron833]

Like everyone else I don't understand Fortinet's deal with the rebranding tool.  Originally in 5.4.4 and earlier versions it was part of the configuration tool.  For 5.6 they removed it and you can only get it by jumping through these ridiculous hoops:

[ul]

Sign up to FNDN which requires 2 Fortnet employees to sponsor you - why???

Once you finally have FNDN access you still need to buy a license - wtf, seriously???[/ul]

It took me forever to finally get 2 Fortinet employees to sponsor me, only for me to realize I still needed a license.  If they want us to pay for the rebranding tool then just put it in with all the other downloads instead of trying to hide it in FNDN.  Finally, if you use EMS to push out FortiClient upgrades you can't use the custom re-branded version you created   

This whole thing makes me just want to dump FortiClient all together.  It's not even that great of an A/V tool and I've already had to remove it from some PCs because it was conflicting with some software causing it to crash.  EMS feels like it should still be in beta - It's okay for small deployments, but definitely not in an enterprise environment.  There is no way to push upgrades to specific computers, you just assign a deployment to a profile and hope it works - which I'm finding out it rarely does.

Anybody considering FortiClient or FortiClient with EMS, I'd suggest looking at a different A/V solution.  I love my FortiGates, but this A/V client is junk!