Fortigate Firmware Version Preferences

[ChrisWessells]

Hello All! I have three versions of Fortigate, 200B, 110C, and 80C. I was urged to not upgrade to v5 because it would slow down the device too much. I am planning on upgrading to v4 MR3 Patch 14. Does anyone have any feedback about stable and fully functional versions? I am new to the Fortigate platform, but have experience with many forms of networking. I have learned much in the past three months and I am satisfied with the product. I just need to learn some tips and tricks. Best Regards,

[HA]

Hello, I strongly recommend to go with with 4MR3 release code (Patch 14 is perfect). Even if I run V5 on specific devices (the one that doesn' t support 4MR3), I think V5 is not ready for production environment... Regards, HA

[ChrisWessells]

HA, Thank you very much. I suspected there were some nuances. Best Regards,

[Dave_Hall]

Personally, I have no need for any of the new features on 5.0 with the acceptation of the wifi stuff (which IMO is starting to look really nice with that ability to create wireless P2P links). As for 4.0 MR3 Patch 14, I am currently in the process of certifying our Fortigates (approx. 50 to 60 units on 80CM, 200A, and 200B) for use on that patch level. So far what I like about 4.0. MR3 Patch 14 is the smaller memory footprint than the previous patch releases. I have not noticed any measurable performance differences though. What I do not like relates more to the patching/upgrade process itself than any one thing on the firmware. Following the patch release notes we have to go from patch 7->patch 10->patch 11->patch 14. (Most of our fgt are already on patch 10 now.) (Since we really do not have any spares in the office we really can' t flip a switch via our fm to auto-upgrade the firmware on the fgts in case something happens during the upgrade process.) Patch notes indicated we will also be needing to upgrade the firmware on the 30-40 FortiAPs attached to these fgts. So far, my experience with patching so far... Had to re-format the boot device on 2 x 80CMs and 1 x 200B when I stuck 4.0. MR3 patch 12 on those fgts -- they refused to allow upgrading to patch 14. (Fortinet support told me to reformat and install new firmware via tftp.) Had to format the log device on a few of our 200Bs almost every time I upgraded the firmware. Config changes while upgrading: - Country codes were added to the wtp-profiles (minor) - Logging to FortiAnalyzer changed between real time and store/upload (minor) - Soft switches with type physical stopped working after upgrading -- have to set type switch (major).