Help Choosing Between FortiNAC 9.4 and FortiNAC-F 7.6 for New Installation

[Waloo5]

Hello everyone,

I’m planning a new installation for FortiNAC and I’m trying to decide between FortiNAC 9.4 or FortiNAC-F 7.6. I’m not entirely sure about the key differences between the two versions and which one would be the best fit for my needs.

Could someone please explain the differences between FortiNAC 9.4 and FortiNAC-F 7.6? Specifically:

• What are the feature differences?

• Are there any performance or scalability considerations?

• Which one is more suitable for a medium to large enterprise environment?

Additionally, if anyone has experience with configuring either of these solutions, I would greatly appreciate any tips, best practices, or even a step-by-step guide to help me get started.

NB: my licence is : FortiNAC Control and Application Extended VM Certificate (FNC-CAX-VM for 2 VMs)

(LIC-FNAC-PRO-100)

Thank you for your help!

Best regards,

[ebilcari · Accepted solution]

The main difference lies in the underlying operating system and the product's lifecycle.

FortiNAC 9.4 runs on CentOS and is gradually reaching its end of life (EOL). New installations should use the FortiNAC-F firmware branches (7.2, 7.4, or 7.6), which are built on FortiOS. While the core features and logic remain largely the same, later versions, particularly the 7.6 branch, introduce an improved UI and additional features not available in the 9.x branch.

You can explore the articles of the FortiNAC-F section for technical tips. Some helpful articles to start with:

Technical Tip: FortiNAC general troubleshooting guide

Technical Tip: Comprehensive guide for a simple FortiNAC deployment

Technical Tip: A simple deployment including FortiGate/FortiAP (self-registered guest)

Technical Tip: 'State based Control' concept and VLAN changes

[Waloo5]

Thank you @ebilcari  for your response! I also wanted to ask about licensing. If I switch to FortiNAC-F (7.2, 7.4, or 7.6), will I need to change my current license, or can I use the one I already have?

Could you clarify how licensing works between FortiNAC 9.4 and FortiNAC-F? Any details on this would be greatly appreciated!

NB: my received licenses for new installation are : FortiNAC Control and Application Extended VM Certificate (FNC-CAX-VM for 2 VMs)

(LIC-FNAC-PRO-100)

Best regards,

[ebilcari]

You can refer to the Datasheet page 15 for more information, FNC-CAX-VM (added X) licenses are introduced with FNAC-OS. With these licenses, two Base VM and a PRO 100, you can build an HA cluster (A/P) licensed at PRO level for 100 endpoints in total.

[Waloo5]

Thank you @ebilcari  for your response