Recommendations for upgrading FortiGate VM64-AWS on 6.4.6

[tacocat]

I've inherited a FortiGate VM64-AWS that's currently running FortiOS v6.4.6.  I see 6.4.9, 7.0.6, and 7.2.1 also available. 

What are recommendations for upgrading?  Is there a reason to stick to the 6.4 or 7.0 branches?   Do the clients need to update their versions of FortiClient?

Thanks!

[warshad]

Hi,

The most recent version is the most stable and has the most bugs fixed and vulnerabilities removed. Fortinet periodically updates the FortiGate firmware to include new features and resolve important issues.

Please check the release notes and see if it is good for your setup and decide accordingly.

[tacocat]

Great, thank you very much!  Is the upgrade path displayed in the UI accurate?  6.4.6 > 7.0.2 > 7.0.5 > 7.2.1?  Do I need to download the firmware or will that happen behind the scenes?  And do you have an idea how long it might take just so I can provide a rough estimate of availability? 

Thank you again!

[warshad]

Hi,

If you want to upgrade to 7.2.1 then you have to download all the relevant firmwares and first you have to upgrade 7.0.2 and 7.0.5 and lastly you can upgrade to 7.2.1. 

one upgrade can take around 10 to 15 min.