FortiGate-VM: Experience the Power and Flexibility of a Virtual Next-Generation Firewall (Free Trial License Included)

Fortigate VM Trial License: A Guide for Cloud Security

Cloud computing has become a vital part of modern business operations, offering many benefits such as scalability, agility, cost-efficiency, and innovation. However, cloud environments also pose significant security challenges, such as data breaches, malware infections, unauthorized access, denial-of-service attacks, and compliance violations. To protect your cloud workloads and applications from these threats, you need a robust and reliable firewall solution that can deliver consistent security across different cloud platforms.

Fortigate Vm Trial License For

Fortinet, a leader in network security, offers a virtual next-generation firewall (NGFW) solution called FortiGate-VM. FortiGate-VM is a full-featured FortiGate packaged as a virtual appliance that can be deployed on various hypervisors, software-defined networks (SDNs), and cloud platforms. It provides comprehensive protection from a broad array of network threats, leveraging the same FortiOS operating system and FortiGuard real-time threat intelligence as the physical FortiGate appliances.

If you want to try out FortiGate-VM for yourself, you can get a free trial license that allows you to experience its features and benefits for a limited time. In this article, we will explain what a trial license is, how to get one, how to install and configure FortiGate-VM, how to compare it with other firewall solutions, and how to get the most out of your trial period.

What is a trial license and how to get one?

A trial license is a temporary license that enables you to use FortiGate-VM without paying any fees. It is intended for evaluation purposes only and has some restrictions on its functionality and capacity. For example, the trial license supports only one CPU core, 2 GB of memory, low encryption level, no HTTPS administrative access, no technical support, no access to FortiGuard services (except IPS, antivirus, industrial DB), no multi-VDOM mode, and no firmware upgrade. The trial license also expires after 15 days from the first time you start the FortiGate-VM.

To get a trial license for FortiGate-VM, you need to register your product on the Fortinet Support Portal. You will need to provide some basic information such as your name, email address, company name, country, phone number, product model (FortiGate-VM), serial number (FGVMXXXXXXXXXX), vCPU count (1), memory size (2 GB), platform (choose from VMware ESXi/Workstation/Player/Fusion/NSX-T/VeloCloud/Cloud Director/HCX/Avi Networks/Citrix XenServer/Microsoft Hyper-V/KVM/OpenStack/AWS/Azure/GCP/OCI/AliCloud/Tencent Cloud/Huawei Cloud), deployment type (choose from private cloud/public cloud/Telco Cloud), use case ( choose from firewall/VPN/SD-WAN/IPS/antivirus/web filtering/application control/email security/endpoint security/cloud security posture management/cloud workload protection), and how you heard about FortiGate-VM (choose from Fortinet website/Fortinet partner/Fortinet sales/Fortinet event/Fortinet webinar/Fortinet email/Fortinet social media/Fortinet blog/Fortinet video/Fortinet white paper/Fortinet case study/Fortinet analyst report/other). After you submit the registration form, you will receive an email with a link to download the license file (.lic) for your FortiGate-VM.

What are the features and benefits of FortiGate-VM?

FortiGate-VM is a powerful and versatile firewall solution that can help you secure your cloud environments and achieve your business goals. Here are some of the key features and benefits of FortiGate-VM:

• Consistent security across private, public, and Telco clouds: FortiGate-VM can be deployed on various cloud platforms, such as VMware, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Oracle, Alibaba, Tencent, Huawei, and more. It can also support SDN integrations with VMware NSX-T, Cisco ACI, Nuage Networks, and OpenStack. It can protect your cloud workloads and applications from network-based threats, such as intrusions, malware, botnets, ransomware, DDoS attacks, and data exfiltration. It can also enforce granular policies based on user identity, device type, application type, location, and time. It can also provide secure connectivity between your cloud resources and your on-premises network using VPN or SD-WAN technologies.

• Integration with Fortinet Security Fabric and other cloud platforms: FortiGate-VM is part of the Fortinet Security Fabric, a unified and integrated platform that covers the entire attack surface from endpoint to cloud. It can share threat intelligence and security policies with other Fortinet products, such as FortiManager, FortiAnalyzer, FortiSandbox, FortiClient, FortiWeb, FortiMail, FortiCASB, FortiCWP, and more. It can also leverage native cloud services and APIs to enhance its functionality and visibility. For example, it can use AWS Lambda functions to automate security tasks, Azure Security Center to monitor security posture, GCP Cloud Armor to mitigate DDoS attacks, OCI Cloud Guard to detect and respond to anomalies, and more.

• Various virtualization and licensing options: FortiGate-VM supports different virtualization formats and licensing models to suit your needs and preferences. You can choose from OVF/OVA (Open Virtualization Format/Archive), VHD/VHDX (Virtual Hard Disk), QCOW2 (QEMU Copy-On-Write), RAW (Raw Disk Image), ISO (International Organization for Standardization), or AMI (Amazon Machine Image) formats. You can also choose from BYOL (Bring Your Own License), PAYG (Pay As You Go), or Metered Billing licensing models. You can also scale up or down the vCPU count and memory size of your FortiGate-VM according to your performance requirements.

• High performance, scalability, and flexibility: FortiGate-VM delivers high performance and low latency for your cloud traffic. It can process up to 20 Gbps of firewall throughput and up to 3 Gbps of IPSec VPN throughput. It can also support up to 10 million concurrent sessions and up to 2000 IPSec VPN tunnels. It can also scale horizontally or vertically using load balancing or clustering techniques. It can also adapt to changing network conditions using dynamic routing protocols such as BGP or OSPF. It can also customize its configuration using CLI commands or REST API calls.

How to install and configure FortiGate-VM?

To install and configure FortiGate-VM on your cloud platform of choice, you need to follow these general steps:

• Deploy FortiGate-VM on your cloud platform: Depending on your cloud platform, you may need to download the image file for FortiGate-VM from the Fortinet Download Portal or use the image file provided by the cloud provider. You may also need to create a virtual machine instance or a virtual network function (VNF) for FortiGate-VM on your cloud platform. You may also need to assign some network interfaces and IP addresses for FortiGate-VM on your cloud platform.

• Upload and activate the license file for FortiGate-VM: After you deploy FortiGate-VM on your cloud platform, you need to upload the license file (.lic) that you downloaded from the Fortinet Support Portal to your FortiGate-VM. You can do this by using the web-based manager (GUI) or the command-line interface (CLI) of FortiGate-VM. You may need to reboot your FortiGate-VM after uploading the license file. You can verify the license status and expiration date by using the GUI or the CLI of FortiGate-VM.

Configure basic settings and policies for FortiGate-VM: After you activate the license file for FortiGate-VM, you can configure some basic settings and policies for your firewall. You can do this by using the GUI or the CLI of FortiGate-VM. Some of the basic settings and policies that you may need to configure include:

• The system time, hostname, DNS servers, and NTP servers for FortiGate-VM

• The administrative access, password, and certificates for FortiGate-VM

• The network interfaces, IP addresses, routes, and NAT rules for FortiGate-VM

• The firewall policies, security profiles, and application control for FortiGate-VM

• The VPN settings, IPSec tunnels, and SD-WAN rules for FortiGate-VM

• The logging, reporting, and alerting settings for FortiGate-VM

• Use Virtual Domains (VDOMs) for multi-tenancy and segmentation: If you want to create multiple virtual firewalls within a single FortiGate-VM, you can use the Virtual Domain (VDOM) feature. VDOMs allow you to separate your firewall into different logical units that have their own interfaces, policies, routes, VPNs, and other settings. You can use VDOMs to isolate different tenants, customers, departments, or applications on your cloud platform. You can also use VDOMs to segment your network into different security zones or layers. You can manage your VDOMs by using the GUI or the CLI of FortiGate-VM.

How to compare FortiGate-VM with other firewall solutions?

FortiGate-VM is not the only virtual firewall solution available in the market. There are other vendors that offer similar products, such as Cisco ASA-V, Palo Alto Networks VM-Series, Check Point CloudGuard, Juniper vSRX, and more. How do you know which one is the best for your cloud security needs? Here are some criteria that you can use to compare FortiGate-VM with other firewall solutions:

• Performance and capacity: You should compare the throughput, latency, concurrent sessions, VPN tunnels, vCPU count, memory size, and other metrics that indicate the performance and capacity of each firewall solution. You should also consider how each firewall solution scales up or down according to your traffic volume and network conditions.

• Features and functionality: You should compare the security features and functionality of each firewall solution. You should look for features such as NGFW capabilities (application control, intrusion prevention system (IPS), antivirus, web filtering, etc.), VPN capabilities (IPSec VPN, SSL VPN, SD-WAN, etc.), cloud integration capabilities (SDN integration, cloud native services integration, cloud platform support, etc.), management capabilities (GUI, CLI, API, centralized management console , etc.), and support capabilities (technical support, documentation, community, etc.). You should also look for features that are unique or superior to each firewall solution, such as Fortinet Security Fabric, FortiGuard services, FortiSandbox integration, etc.

• Security and reliability: You should compare the security and reliability of each firewall solution. You should look for factors such as threat detection and prevention accuracy, false positive and negative rates, security updates frequency and timeliness, independent testing and certification results, industry recognition and awards, customer reviews and testimonials, etc. You should also look for factors that affect the availability and resilience of each firewall solution, such as redundancy, failover, backup, recovery, etc.

• Pricing and consumption: You should compare the pricing and consumption models of each firewall solution. You should look for factors such as upfront costs, recurring costs, licensing fees, usage fees, subscription fees, metered billing fees, etc. You should also look for factors that affect the flexibility and efficiency of each firewall solution, such as BYOL, PAYG, Metered Billing, etc.

By using these criteria, you can evaluate and compare FortiGate-VM with other firewall solutions and choose the one that best suits your cloud security needs and budget.

Conclusion

FortiGate-VM is a virtual next-generation firewall solution that can help you secure your cloud environments from various network threats. It offers consistent security across private, public, and Telco clouds. It integrates with Fortinet Security Fabric and other cloud platforms. It supports various virtualization and licensing options. It provides high performance, scalability, and flexibility. It also stands out from other firewall solutions in terms of features, functionality, security, reliability, pricing, and consumption.

If you want to try out FortiGate-VM for yourself, you can get a free trial license that allows you to use it for 15 days without any fees. You can register your product on the Fortinet Support Portal and download the license file for your FortiGate-VM. You can then deploy FortiGate-VM on your cloud platform of choice and upload the license file to activate it. You can then configure some basic settings and policies for your firewall and use VDOMs for multi-tenancy and segmentation. You can also compare FortiGate-VM with other firewall solutions using some criteria that we have provided in this article.

We hope that this article has given you some useful information and guidance on how to use FortiGate-VM trial license for your cloud security. If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to contact us or visit our website for more resources and support.

FAQs

Here are some frequently asked questions about FortiGate-VM trial license:

• Q: How can I extend my trial license period?

• A: The trial license period is fixed at 15 days from the first time you start the FortiGate-VM. You cannot extend it beyond that. However, you can request a new trial license if you want to try out FortiGate-VM again after the expiration date. You will need to register your product again on the Fortinet Support Portal and download a new license file for your FortiGate-VM.

• Q: How can I upgrade my trial license to a full license?

• A: If you want to upgrade your trial license to a full license, you will need to purchase a full license from a Fortinet partner or reseller. You will then receive a new license file (.lic) for your FortiGate-VM. You will need to upload the new license file to your FortiGate-VM and reboot it to activate the full license. You will then be able to enjoy all the features and benefits of FortiGate-VM without any restrictions or expiration date.

• Q: How can I get technical support for my trial license?

• A: The trial license does not include any technical support from Fortinet. However, you can still access some self-help resources from the Fortinet Documentation Library, the Fortinet Video Library, the Fortinet Cookbook, the Fortinet Knowledge Base, and the Fortinet Community Forum. You can also contact your local Fortinet partner or reseller for some assistance.

• Q: How can I monitor and manage my trial license?

• A: You can monitor and manage your trial license by using the GUI or the CLI of your FortiGate-VM. You can also use some external tools, such as FortiManager, FortiAnalyzer, FortiCloud, or FortiGate Cloud, to monitor and manage your FortiGate-VM. However, you will need to purchase a separate license or subscription for these tools. You can also use some third-party tools, such as SNMP, Syslog, or NetFlow, to monitor and manage your FortiGate-VM. However, you will need to configure these tools to work with your FortiGate-VM.

• Q: How can I backup and restore my trial license?

• A: You can backup and restore your trial license by using the GUI or the CLI of your FortiGate-VM. You can also use some external tools, such as FortiManager, FortiAnalyzer, FortiCloud, or FortiGate Cloud, to backup and restore your FortiGate-VM. However, you will need to purchase a separate license or subscription for these tools. You can also use some third-party tools, such as SCP, FTP, or SFTP, to backup and restore your FortiGate-VM. However, you will need to configure these tools to work with your FortiGate-VM.

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