FortiGate 40F vs. 50E

[SecurityPlus]

In reviewing specs of the FortiGate 40F vs. the 50E the 40F looks very capable. Is there any reason to purchase the 50E over the 40F? Are there any issues with the 40F that I should know about? Thanks.

[andrewbailey · Accepted solution]

Hi SecurityPlus, The 40F definitely has better throughput (up to 600Mb/s in full threat protection), will support 6.4 but only has 4 LAN ports and 1 WAN port. It has the latest system on a chip so should be good for a few years. The 50E has more ports but not many other benefits. But, it depends on you requirements. Where do you want to use it? Do you need LAN ports for things like access points or will you use external switches? What is your WAN speed? If you have a gigabit fibre connection for example a 40F would bottleneck that connection. The Fortinet web site has the data sheets for all the products. Have you checked them out? Kind Regards, Andy.

[Toshi_Esumi]

No, other than much cheaper at eBay. I heard they wanted to get rid of models without ASIC chips. I have both 50E and 30E at home (sigh).

[andrewbailey]

Hi SecurityPlus, Personally I would avoid the 50E. It, and the 30E both look capable enough on paper but neither support the 6.4 release. You can see neither device is listed in the 6.4.X release notes. That maybe fine for you now but it limits the longevity of the device in my view. The limitation is due to flash memory size I believe. I have some personal experience here- I bought a 30E less than a year ago. It has been a poor performer- particularly with all the 6.2 release bugs. I’m still debating with my supplier how this gets addressed. If you went for a 50E it would need to be a great price and I would suggest using only the 6.0 releases. Hope that helps. Kind Regards, Andy.

[SecurityPlus]

So is the 40F considered a more powerful unit compatible with more FortiOS options?

[andrewbailey · Accepted solution]

Hi SecurityPlus, The 40F definitely has better throughput (up to 600Mb/s in full threat protection), will support 6.4 but only has 4 LAN ports and 1 WAN port. It has the latest system on a chip so should be good for a few years. The 50E has more ports but not many other benefits. But, it depends on you requirements. Where do you want to use it? Do you need LAN ports for things like access points or will you use external switches? What is your WAN speed? If you have a gigabit fibre connection for example a 40F would bottleneck that connection. The Fortinet web site has the data sheets for all the products. Have you checked them out? Kind Regards, Andy.

[SecurityPlus]

Thank you. Currently we would use 1 WAN, 1 LAN, and 1 FortiAP. The Internet connection is about 100M. It sounds as though we could still add 1 more FortiAP and a WAN 2 connection.

[andrewbailey · Accepted solution]

Hi SecurityPlus, It sounds like the 40F suits your initial needs well. If you need additional LAN ports you could always add a small switch- perhaps a 108E-POE to power and connect the FortiAPs. The 40F does not have POE so for your initial deployment you will need a POE adapter per FortiAP. The Fortinet ones are relatively expensive but work well. You could use cheaper ones if you prefer. The 40F only has 1 dedicated WAN port but I think you can categorise any port as providing WAN or DMZ function- but perhaps something to check on. Kind Regards, Andy.

[Tezro]

but ...

what do you mean that F series is "more powerful" ???

existence or newer version of SOC chip ?

what about RAM ?

still funny size of 2GB and memory conserve mode so you cannot use full IPS?

it is not a progress -it's only marketing

BTW

according to Fortinet itself you have to buy F series if you want to use 6.4.x FortiOS

so models like 30E or 50E are supported ONLY inside 6.2.x FortiOS family ...

[ede_pfau]

IMHO number of ports is not important at all. With APs (and to come) you'll need PoE anyway, so a FS-108-PoE or something with VLAN capabilities will serve you well. Run all LANs as VLANs over a (LACP) trunk, both models will suffice in this respect.

From the future perspective, the 40F is the one to go. (OTOH, we use to say "any model below a 60 aint no Fortigate" :)

[James_G]

6.4.x has made very good progress on memory management, 40f is now a real option if you can go for latest OS. Very capable unit.