Network hardware compatible with Fortinet

[YevheniiK]

Hey, 

We are a small startup looking into buying a network firewall that would be easy to connect to the Fortinet VPN. 

I searched for articles describing how to do that with Juniper or Cisco, and that doesn't look straightforward. 
Therefore, I'm seeking advice on a modern, rack-mounted device suitable for managing a very modest amount of tracking that can be easy to set up as a Fortinet client. 

Best,

Yevheni

[ozkanaltas · Accepted solution]

Hello @YevheniiK ,

In my opinion, you are right way :). 

FortiGate has an easy-to-use GUI. Has a lot of documents like an administration guide, how-to guide, technical tips, etc.

Depending on the number of users and the amount of traffic, you can choose from the entry models (40F, 60F, 80F, 90G) or start from the 100 series (100F, 120G, 200F, 400F), which we call mid-range.

If you want to get more information about the specifications of these devices. You can review the datasheet.

Example datasheets.

https://www.fortinet.com/content/dam/fortinet/assets/data-sheets/fortigate-fortiwifi-40f-series.pdf

https://www.fortinet.com/content/dam/fortinet/assets/data-sheets/fortigate-100f-series.pdf

[YevheniiK]

That looks promising! Does it mean I can use 40F to share a VPN connection? Currently I'm using OpenForti on Linux  share it. 

[ozkanaltas]

Hello @YevheniiK ,

I don't understand exactly what you mean by sharing the VPN connection. Fortigate acts like a VPN server. You can also access your company resources using forticlient.

[YevheniiK]

We have around 20 clients that need access to the services with the VPN network. 

Can I plug in a switch in the 40F, connect those clients in that switch  and make them have access to the resources within the VPN network. 

[ozkanaltas]

I think 40F is more than enough for this scenario. 

[YevheniiK]

perfect! thank you 

[YevheniiK]

Hey ozkanaltas,

Could you please advise on handling the token-based authentication - what options will we have with 40F?

Currently, we are using the FortiToken mobile app. 

Thanks! 

[ozkanaltas]

Hello @YevheniiK ,

If you want easy configuration and deployment, you can resume using FortiClient Mobile. 

But if you want to use 3rd party (Like a Google authenticator, or Microsoft MFA) token app. You should integrate your firewall with the radius server.

Do you have any other option for 2fa? 

Or you can use e-mail as a 2FA. If you want to use this way, you can review this article.

https://community.fortinet.com/t5/FortiGate/Technical-Tip-Email-Two-Factor-Authentication-on-FortiGa...

You can review this document about the radius server. 

https://docs.fortinet.com/document/fortigate/7.4.3/administration-guide/748748/radius-servers