FortiGate-40F Network Security Appliance Plus 3 Year FortiGuard Unified Threat Protection (UTP) and FortiCare Premium (FG-40F-BDL-950-36)

For the money I find this to be one of the best SMB firewalls available. Compared to Sonicwall (which we also manage) there are more configuration options (including an inbuilt DNS server and slightly more flexible SSL vpn portal configuration), a more seemless/robust endpoint protection/NAC system, and SSL scanning does not require an additional license. If you require a large number of ipsec tunnels, the Fortigate CLI has a great diagnostic tool set. In mixed router configurations I often lean on those tools when basic logs fail me. I also work with Zywalls, which though great bang for buck in terms of some of the aforementioned features missing from Sonicwall, it doesn't hold a candle in terms of advanced end point NAC. The days of layered security are dwindling and it's vital to consider network access controls where deployment is viable. Also, be sure to check out the Fortinet cookbooks. Object based firewalls can lead to a bit of configuration complexity (a feature implementation can require numerous building blocks), the cookbooks lay out common scenarios well. Over all, Fortigate is my go to when I need full UTM and SSL-vpn in a single package.

I have to start by saying that I probably got an exceptional deal (for reasons unknown) on a FortiGate FG-40F with 36 months UTM (the protection package). For anyone who is familiar with, or willing to take the time to learn, the Layer 7 inspection and protection concepts and protocols this could be a great entry. The 40F model is certainly capable of supporting even a small business of, say 10--15 users/devices, and definitely just about any home environment. Setting up, registering and configuring is pretty straightforward (assuming at least some L7 experience).

I was looking at a Palo Alto 400 series, but the cost is much higher, and they only sell to businesses. The LAB firewall does not have all the features. Fortinet is starting to get more of the market share in security, so I wanted to work with them. Cisco ASA is no longer the market leader in firewalls.

Good performance out of the box. Register with Fortinet / update FortiGuard, create firewall policies, and put it on the edge to ward off would-be cybercriminals!! ;-)

The product works great so far. The product required a little research for a novice IT person. After setup, it works as advertised!

Second try at a Fortigate and another trainwreck. Web/DNS filtering absolutely doesn't work - blocked categories are either allowed right through or give an incorrect security error, with only a few actually working correctly. Specifically blocked sites, wildcard blocked sites, i.e. youtube.com, ebay.com, etc. all get right through. Presumably one of the categories blocked Windows updates, so *microsoft.com is whitelisted and it still gets blocked. Under web filtering categories, "Hacking", "Illegal Activies", and "Violence" will not stay blocked even when saved - they keep reverting to "Allow". PEOPLE - IF THE WEB AND DNS FILTERING COMPLETELY DON'T WORK, WHY WOULD THE INTRUSION PROTECTION / ANTIVIRUS / EXTERNAL SECURITY BE ANY DIFFERENT???

No issue whatsoever. I recommend.

I bought it for small office. FortiGate offers one of the best protection. 3 years UTP is reasonable. Price was very competitive. Shipping was from USA, took just few days. Pretty easy to install and configure if you know the stuff. FW was 2 versions behind, upgraded with no issues. I definitely recommend both the product and the seller. One of the best features is that I manage it remotely via FortiCloud portal.