Information gathering It is always best practice to perform a full network audit prior to any migration. This should include: Full back up of all security systems (including switches, routers) in case a back-out needs to be performed. Physical and logical network diagram with visual audit Understanding exactly where cables […]

Migration Network administrators are often reluctant to change firewall vendors due to the perception that the migration process is difficult. Indeed, there is no point hiding the fact that moving to a new vendor requires careful consideration. But concern over the potential pain of migration should not stand in the […]

Shutting down Always shut down the FortiGate operating system properly before turning off the power switch to avoid potentially catastrophic hardware problems. To power off the FortiGate unit – web-based manager: 1. Go to System > Status. 2. In the System Resources widget, select Shutdown. To power off the FortiGate […]

Performance Disable any management features you do not need. If you don’t need SSH or SNMP, disable them. SSH also provides another possibility for would-be hackers to infiltrate your FortiGate unit. Put the most used firewall rules to the top of the interface list. Log only necessary traffic. The writing […]

General Considerations 1. For security purposes, NAT mode is preferred because all of the internal or DMZ networks can have secure private addresses. NAT mode policies use network address translation to hide the addresses in a more secure zone from users in a less secure zone. 2. Use virtual domains […]