Yes—you can absolutely run a FortiGate firewall without any paid license. All the core networking and VPN features remain intact, making it a capable router and stateful firewall right out of the box. However, to leverage Fortinet’s advanced threat prevention, content inspection, and receive critical firmware and support services, purchasing FortiGuard subscriptions and FortiCare contracts... » read more
1. Pre-Reset Considerations Before you hit the reset, keep these in mind: Backup Your Configuration This ensures you can restore policies, objects, and VPNs later. Export Licenses VM instances: license is tied to the VM host; nothing extra needed. Hardware: licenses (AV, IPS, FortiGuard) are generally preserved in flash, but consult Fortinet support if you’re... » read more
1. FortiGate Traffic-Monitoring Concepts FortiGate inspects every packet and can keep counters on: Interfaces: total bytes in/out per physical or VLAN interface Policies: traffic matched per firewall rule Sources / Destinations: aggregated by IP address in FortiView Applications: using the Application Control engine’s counters You can view these counters in real time (for troubleshooting), or... » read more
FortiGate Web Filtering: Core Concepts FortiGate’s Web Filter engine inspects HTTP/HTTPS traffic and applies rules based on: Static URL Filter Matches explicit URL patterns or domains you specify (e.g., facebook.com, *.torrent*). Actions: Block, Allow, or Exempt (bypass further inspection). FortiGuard Category-Based Filter Uses Fortinet’s cloud-based categorization (Social Media, Gambling, Malware, etc.). Actions: Monitor, Block, or... » read more
1. What “FortiGate on Chrome” Actually Means FortiGate’s browser-side integrations come in two main flavors: FortiClient Web Filter Chrome Extension (formerly “FortiProxy”) that enforces URL filtering in the browser via the FortiGuard subscription. FortiGate SSL-VPN ActiveX/NW.js plugin or “chrome_extension” that allows SSL-VPN users to connect directly from Chrome without a separate client. Both are delivered... » read more
When network performance is your priority, or you’ve determined that FortiGate’s Application Control engine is no longer required for a particular policy or for your entire deployment, you’ll want a clear, repeatable process for turning it off. In this deep-dive, we’ll cover: What “closing” Application Control means GUI-driven steps to disable it globally or per-policy... » read more
Unwanted or malicious traffic targeting your network perimeter can originate from a handful of hostile IPs. FortiGate’s rich feature set lets you block these IP addresses at the firewall itself, preventing them from ever reaching your internal resources. In this post, we’ll explore: FortiGate’s traffic-processing model and why address objects are key Two primary methods... » read more
What Are Aruba Networks Access Points? Access points (APs) are devices that create a wireless local area network (WLAN) by connecting to a wired network and broadcasting Wi-Fi signals to enable wireless devices to connect to the internet or network resources. Aruba Networks Access Points are renowned for their reliability and performance, catering to various... » read more
Rebooting an F5 BIG-IP device may seem like a simple task, but in a production environment, doing it without proper preparation can result in service disruption or failover issues. This guide will walk you through how to safely reboot F5 BIG-IP from the GUI, along with best practices, a pre-checklist, and what to expect before... » read more