New box, do I need to upgrade the firmware?

[Natzy]

Hello guys, 

I new to this community since we just deployed the newly purchased FortiGate-201F with firmware version 7.2.2 build 1577 (mature) which is current on the 7.2 series. From my experience in my previous firewall which is Sophos UTM (already out of sale), we always upgrade to latest firmware as long as there in no major issues on the new releases. Now I have the option to upgrade to version 7.4.3 build 2573 (GA). It is safe to upgrade to 7.4.3?

Natz

[jera]

Hello @Natzy 

Yes, you may upgrade to 7.4.3. You can verify the product integration and support for 7.4.3 using this link:

https://docs.fortinet.com/document/fortigate/7.4.3/fortios-release-notes/760203/introduction-and-sup....

To verify the known issues, you can switch to Known Issue bullet from the left pane:

https://docs.fortinet.com/document/fortigate/7.4.3/fortios-release-notes/236526/known-issues.

[ozkanaltas]

Hello @Natzy ,

You don't need to update the last version of FortiOS but you need to upgrade last version of 7.2. Because your version includes a newly released SSL VPN breach, you can upgrade to 7.2.7 so as not to be affected by this breach.

Also, You can track firmware versions with their maturity tag. If the version name includes an "F" tag, this means this version includes Feature updates and if the version name includes an "M" tag, this means this version matures well for the upgrade. 

If you want to get some information about maturity level you can read this article. 

https://docs.fortinet.com/document/fortigate/7.4.3/administration-guide/173707/firmware-maturity-lev....

Also, before the upgrade I suggest you should read the release notes. You can access with link below for 7.2.7.

https://docs.fortinet.com/document/fortigate/7.2.7/fortios-release-notes/760203/introduction-and-sup...

Furthermore, every time you need to follow the upgrade path. You can use this tool when you upgrade your box. 

https://docs.fortinet.com/upgrade-tool

[hbac]

Hi @Natzy,

7.4.3 has some new features which doesn't exist on 7.2 versions. However, 7.4.3 is not mature. the latest mature version is 7.2.7. 

Regards, 

[Rajneesh]

Hello @Natzy Upgrade to the latest is always preferred but you will have to take various decision before doing the upgrade like check the release notes for any bug to the version you are going to upgrade and also check for the vulnerabilities for that version.