Fortinet FortiADC OverviewUNIXBusinessApplication

Fortinet FortiADC is the #9 ranked solution in top Application Delivery Controllers. PeerSpot users give Fortinet FortiADC an average rating of 7.8 out of 10. Fortinet FortiADC is most commonly compared to Fortinet FortiWeb: Fortinet FortiADC vs Fortinet FortiWeb. Fortinet FortiADC is popular among the large enterprise segment, accounting for 54% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a computer software company, accounting for 23% of all views.
Fortinet FortiADC Buyer's Guide

Download the Fortinet FortiADC Buyer's Guide including reviews and more. Updated: May 2023

What is Fortinet FortiADC?

Fortinet FortiADC is a robust application delivery controller (ADC) that delivers application optimization, application security, and application availability. FortiADC is a valued offering from Fortinet, which is widely recognized as a trusted supplier of dynamic security solutions worldwide. FortiADC offers dynamic security functions (AV, DDoS, and WAF) in addition to advanced application connectors for a simplified deployment and complete transparency to an organization's networks and applications. FortiADC offers three primary deployment options: physical machine, virtual machine, (VM) and cloud solution options.

Fortinet FortiADC Benefits

  • FortiADC security protocol: FortiADC integrates with FortiSandbox to improve the overall antivirus security protections where every file is scanned for known and unknown malicious risks. If a file is identified as malicious or problematic, it will be blocked in the future.

  • SSL protocol: FortiADC securely uses the most up-to-date cryptography to provide exceptional encryption and decryption using a hardware-based SSL ASIC. FortiADC offers complete transparency to inspect all traffic for threats, improves server response time, and reduces backend server load, SSL inspection and SSL offloading. FortiADC integrates seamlessly with Gemalto’s SafeNet Hardware Security Module (HSM).

  • FortiADC connectors: FortiADC Fabric Connectors offer open API-based integration and coordination with numerous software-defined networks (SDNs), third-party partners, and cloud management providers. Fortinet Fabric Connectors provide deep open and turnkey integration with recognized third-party vendors such as AWS, K8s, OCI, and SAP, in multi-vendor solutions, improving scalability, simplified management, and automation.

  • Business stability: FortiADC load balancing for on-premise global server load balancing (GSBL) and in the cloud (FortiGSBL Cloud) will ensure users can maintain a reliable and available network by improving the ability of scaling applications throughout numerous data centers to reduce application response times and enhance disaster recovery. Users are able to define protocols based on network latency concerns, overall data performance, and site availability.

Fortinet FortiADC Features

  • Application availability

    • 4-7 application load balancing: DNS, HTTPS, RTMP, RADIUS, MySQL and more

    • External fabric connectors: Splunk Integration, AWS/OCI Connector, Kubernetes Service.

    • Security fabric connectors: FortiSIEM, Fortigate BanIP Integration, FortiAnalyzer, and more.

    • Deployment modes: High availability (AA/AP Failover), Router mode, transparent mode (switch), one-arm mode (proxy with X-forwarded for support.

  • Web application firewall (WAF)

    • Security services: Captcha support, cookie support, HTTP header security, XML/SOAP/JSON validation, CSRF protection, API gateway, and more.

    • Application security: Web attack signature, bot detection, web vulnerability scanner, OWASP Top-10 Wizard, API protection and more.
  • Application enhancement

    • HTTP and TCP improvement: TCP buffering, HTTP compressions/decompression, HTTP caching (dynamic and static objects), Bandwidth monitoring using quality of service (QoS), TCP buffering, and more.

    • Authentication offloading: Two-factor authentication (Fortitoken/Fortitoken Cloud and Google Authentication), NTLM, AUTH2.0, SAML 2.0 (SP and Idp) RADIUS, LDAP, Kerbos, and local.

    • Networking: Integration with Ansible, Cisco ACI, OpenStack and Nutanix, NVGRE and VXLAN support, VLAN and port trunking support, IPv6 Support (SLB, firewall, routing and interfaces), Dynamic NAT, Hide NAT, Static NAT for added scalability and flexibility.

    • Management: Syslog support, SNMP using private MIBs with threshold-based traps. REST APIs, VDOMS, data analytics, real-time monitoring graphs, role-based monitoring, intuitive reporting, FortiView integration, and more.

Fortinet FortiADC was previously known as FortiADC Application Delivery Controller, FortiADC.

Fortinet FortiADC Customers

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data

Fortinet FortiADC Video

Fortinet FortiADC Pricing Advice

What users are saying about Fortinet FortiADC pricing:
  • "They offer a perpetual license."
  • "The solution is less expensive than F5 or Imperva and is the most reasonably priced option available."
  • "I believe the price is good. It's fair. There are no extra costs."
  • "The solution could be more cost-effective."
  • Fortinet FortiADC Reviews

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    Mohammad Ab.Rahman - PeerSpot reviewer
    Solutions Engineer at Snskies
    Real User
    Top 10
    Feature-rich, robust, and the technical support is responsive
    Pros and Cons
    • "The GSLB, the DR side, is the best part. Because we had our main side in one city, we created another, and we had a complete MPLS over the internet. We used the GSLB and data loss for our business applications."
    • "Because it is so generic, the documentation requires special attention. A person who has not worked on Fortinet FortiADC or a similar product will struggle to understand what the document is trying to say. The documentation could be more specific, and more detailed."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use Fortinet FortiADC for disaster recovery, server load balancing, and global level server load balancing.

    The GSLB is on the internet.

    I can do GSLB, global server load balancing, and disaster recovery for server load balancing with web features. We can use the FortiADC as a caching server for user experience, as well as a variety of other things. It is similar to half of the web. it is 80 percent of the web.

    What is most valuable?

    The GSLB, the DR side, is the best part. Because we had our main side in one city, we created another, and we had a complete MPLS over the internet. We used the GSLB and data loss for our business applications.

    What needs improvement?

    I recently switched from an open-source version to FortiADC. For that, I believe I need to see other vendors such as the F5, as well as the A10 or something before I can say what can be improved.

    Because it is so generic, the documentation requires special attention. A person who has not worked on Fortinet FortiADC or a similar product will struggle to understand what the document is trying to say.

    The documentation could be more specific, and more detailed.

    More step-by-step instructions for a new user, such as someone who has never used Fortinet FortiADC product from Fortinet or anyone else. Because I had previously used an open-source agent, I figured it out, but someone who hasn't would have some difficulties.

    Basically, it could be more specific for those who are unfamiliar with the product, so that anyone could begin working with it.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    We switched to Fortinet FortiADC five to six months ago.

    Buyer's Guide
    Fortinet FortiADC
    May 2023
    Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiADC. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2023.
    706,775 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Fortinet FortiADC is a stable product. The stability of Fortinet FortiADC is good.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    In our company, we have three to four people who are working with Fortinet FortiADC excluding myself.

    Increasing our usage is dependent on the size of our current IT infrastructure.

    If we want to scale it up, we'll need more FortiADCs.

    Fortinet FortiADC is easy to scale.

    How are customer service and support?

    I have contacted technical support. Technical support is good. I would rate it a four and a half out of five.

    Our only concern is with the licensing. They will support you if you purchased the licenses. If you haven't, then good luck.

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Positive

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    We were previously using an open-source server load balancing engine, but we switched to FortiADC because of the web filtering, web features, and application delivery, such as pay caching.

    I previously used Engine X as a load balancer. You cannot compare an open-source product to a commercial product.

    FortiADC now includes web and other features. If I'm talking about load balancing, Engine X will do the same thing that FortiADC does, but the issue is scalability. FortiADC is more scalable than Engine X and similar technologies.

    How was the initial setup?

    Because, I had already used multiple products, including ADC, load balancers, and the Forti web, I didn't have any difficulty. 

    I had assigned one of my proteges to do it, and he was feeling a lot of pressure because he didn't understand the documentation.

    If the documentation is good, installation should be simple because you can do it if you understand the document.

    I would rate the initial setup a four out of five. I am reducing one because of the documentation.

    This solution requires maintenance because it has web features enabled and for the web, the vulnerability features are required. If I want to stop the zero-days, I need to update directly. I'm fairly certain. Because we aren't using it for that purpose, I'm not certain, but I'm 80 to 90 percent certain it requires those kinds of updates, the security update.

    What about the implementation team?

    We completed the deployment ourselves. We did not use a third-party vendor team.

    For me, it was a very simple procedure. Talking about the entire solution takes days. However, if I'm talking about simple FortiADC local server load balancers, it took me about a day.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    Pricing is determined by the size of your organization, as it involves open-source if you have a small company, open-source can help small businesses and IT departments. Why do you need to purchase FortiADC? 

    However, if you're talking about large corporations that require this level of scalability and security, you will have to pay for it. What options do you have?

    The price varies depending on whether you are dealing with a local team or a presale team, and some offer discounts.

    They offer a perpetual license.

    I would rate the pricing a four out of five.

    What other advice do I have?

    For the time being, I believe it is a complete product. Maybe not, but it all depends on the use cases, for the time being, I don't believe that it requires any additional features for it. If I have a new requirement and this product does not meet it, I would suggest that something needed to be included or added.

    I would recommend it because you don't need to buy a heavy product if you only have a few application tools. However, if you are serving more than 5,000 to 10,000 people, you will need to purchase FortiADC, a proper load balancer. It could be from Fortinet, F5, A10, or any other vendor.

    We are a professional services team. We provide professional services to Fortinet and other vendors.

    Our company is a partner of Fortinet.

    I would rate Fortinet FortiADC a nine out of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    On-premises
    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
    PeerSpot user
    Saeid Khanipour Ghobani - PeerSpot reviewer
    IT Manager at Technology Evaluation Center
    Real User
    Top 5
    High-level load balancing and routing protocols but scalability is limited to 200 gigabits
    Pros and Cons
    • "The solution provides high-level services such as availability, redundancy, and load balancing between servers."
    • "The solution's WAF needs an upgrade because it is not as good as FortiWeb, VMware, F5, or Imperva."

    What is our primary use case?

    Our company uses the solution for various clients.

    For one customer, we use the solution for global load balancing, GSLB, and sending DNS requests to the primary DNS.

    For another customer, we use the solution as the ADC for data centers to protect all websites and use Layer 7 to provide DDos protection and load balancing for web traffic. 

    For a third customer, we use the solution as a GSLB but rented a data center rack to deploy as a virtual machine with all DNS requests going to the cloud and then to the customer. 

    How has it helped my organization?

    Our company provides WAF and complicated applications to customers. If we do not use the solution, we have issues because it protects the web server from SQL injections, XSS, DDoS, and HTTP attacks. Competitors such as Palo Alto, Check Point, and even FortiGate cannot provide a WAF. 

    Link load balancing also helps us to reduce our linked and internal traffic. 

    What is most valuable?

    The solution provides high-level services such as availability, redundancy, and load balancing between servers. 

    Routing protocols are better than those in FortiWeb.

    For example, CNN has one website but a lot of web traffic so we need more than one server for high availability and load sharing. The solution allows for load sharing across multiple servers or even multiple data centers where they run as active/active or active/passive. If we lose the primary data center due to natural disaster or a high global load, we can manipulate DNS traffic to the secondary data center.

    What needs improvement?

    The solution's WAF needs an upgrade because it is not as good as FortiWeb, VMware, F5, or Imperva. 

    The solution should be migrated to a software-defined network like Imperva and VMware. 

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using the solution for ten years. 

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The solution is stable. We use version 6.2.4 to provide better stability than the newer versions which have more bugs.  

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The scalability is limited to 200 gigabit throughput on the best version of the solution which is the 5000F series. 

    We can use the solution as an HA in active/active mode which allows us to increase throughput by 50%. 

    For one customer, we used the 1200F series with a 40 gigabit throughput and usage was less than 70% with one million users. 

    How are customer service and support?

    I have not used technical support for the solution but have used it for other Fortinet products. 

    Colleagues work for the company so I can get quick solutions for issues. 

    For one particular issue, technical support was not able to resolve our issue so they sent us a new version of the solution and that solved the problem. 

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup and configuration are very easy because the solution includes a simple OS. Initial configuration takes about ten minutes for simple environments. 

    It is important to assess the environment and decide what services, servers, and web applications are needed. 

    The solution can be configured in router mode or one-arm mode which uses source NAT as destination NAT to send traffic to the firewall. One-arm mode is more complex and requires discussions with our engineers. 

    For example, you have a website with Node.js for your programming language, Amazon S3 for your CDN, NGINX for your web server, and you use both React and reCAPTCHA. Our team meets with your developer to learn your website and OS through a multi-step process and then we configure the solution to protect everything. 

    What about the implementation team?

    Depending on the complexity of the project, we implement the solution ourselves or sometimes we rely on third-party teams to assist us. 

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    The solution is less expensive than F5 or Imperva and is the most reasonably priced option available. 

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    We use different solutions based on a customer's needs and budget. 

    Imperva is the best solution, F5 is the best for on-premises, and we also like Magic Quadrant. 

    VMware has all the features of FortiADC such as GSLB, load balancer, and WAF. It can be used for your data center or as a software-defined network with a single point of management that does not have 200 gigabit limitations. 

    What other advice do I have?

    It is important to know your network and load share needs before deciding on a solution. This assessment will help you decide if a certain model of the solution will meet your needs or if you should look at another product such as F5, Imperva, or VMware. 

    I currently use version 6.2.4 of the solution because we will not update to 7.0 or 7.1 until they are in the market for a year and all bugs have been worked out. 

    Fortinet equipment can have bugs and some exist in the version we use but the there are more bugs in the newer versions. 

    I rate the solution a six out of ten. 

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Private Cloud

    If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

    Other
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Fortinet FortiADC
    May 2023
    Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiADC. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2023.
    706,775 professionals have used our research since 2012.
    Seshi Dumpa - PeerSpot reviewer
    IT Security Manager at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    Top 5
    Excellent cloud scalability, technical support executes well, and cost factor is reasonable
    Pros and Cons
    • "Ease of use in deploying and having it up and running requires minimal knowledge."
    • "There is a mismatch between the number of features they are offering and the device capacity on how much it can handle."

    What is our primary use case?

    We load segregated data from the web application firewalls and have an alternative load balancer for both our internal and external applications. There are some extensive rewrites that we need. This load is used across our geographically dispersed locations, and data centers, that are actually facilitating both regions.

    What is most valuable?

    The ease of use is because of the functionality across these devices currently in the market. Most of the features are the same that they are offering with the certificate, be it the offloading options, load-balancing features, which is a provision, and a set of rules that you can implement. That has been kind of a common standard, of course, depending on the money and the grade of the device. Ease of use in deploying and having it up and running needs minimal knowledge is another reason. 

    What needs improvement?

    I would say in terms of their basic selling point was always everything built into one, even if you take their Fortigate firewalls, FortiWeb Application Firewall, be it FortiADC, they do push many features into one. And even the smallest version or the model of the device still gives you extensive features, but that comes at the cost of CPU and memory, which makes it hard. Even before you start to use extensive features, you start already seeing the CPU and memory be used to capacity. So at some point, I feel like there is a mismatch between the number of features they are offering and the device capacity on how much it can handle. If they can provide much more flexibility in designing it, that would be great because of the number of options it provides either fixed set as of now but given some open sources do more options, open source software, so configured on Linux and Freebase, they offer more than this. 

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been working with Fortinet FortiADC for the past four years now.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    When it comes to stability the issues are minimal. However, whenever we faced an issue, it was a major issue. So it does work well in normal mode, but when it has a problem, then it can be a very difficult situation.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    With the scalability option on the cloud, you can have that easily. 

    How are customer service and support?

    When I have worked with technical support on many occasions they do offer proper assistance in a timely manner, but their initial processing in the Fortinet support structure is more of a challenge. Depending on the educational level of the technical support depends on the speed of how your support ticket is handled and could take longer to diagnose.

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Neutral

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    The initial plan was to have FI as a global load balancer, but given the cost factor, we switched to FortiADC.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup was quite straightforward. You work with some network interfaces through configuration, plug it in, and have a default rule in place, and it still runs. It does the job on its own.

    What about the implementation team?

    We could manage it internally, as I mentioned, the ease of use and how easy you can deploy, it was still better, but I could not say the same for other devices. I have seen where you definitely need either an expert or vendor support to have those rules configured on other deployments. We do not have that kind of dependency with Fortinet or FortiADC products.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    You definitely need a support license. If it is critical web application firewalls and they have hundreds and thousands of customers, then I would say FortiADC higher models would definitely support it well.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would rate Fortinet FortiADC an eight out of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Private Cloud

    If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

    Other
    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
    Flag as inappropriate
    PeerSpot user
    Manager BU Network/Security at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
    Real User
    Good for load balancing traffic and DNS traffic
    Pros and Cons
    • "It's a good product because it supports all the features that ADC solutions in the market can support, like F5 solutions, for example, such as the LTM of F5."
    • "Fortinet has some drawbacks, and it can be a bit challenging to scale."

    What is our primary use case?

    It's used for load-balancing traffic and DNS traffic as well. We use FortiADC as the global traffic manager and DNS solution and also as a classic load application delivery controller.

    We use it to load balance between applications.

    What is most valuable?

    It's a good product because it supports all the features that ADC solutions in the market can support, like F5 solutions, for example, such as the LTM of F5.

    What needs improvement?

    Fortinet has some drawbacks, and it can be a bit challenging to scale. Maybe some new features could be added to address these issues.

    Another area of improvement is support. So the only problems are with support, and scaling can be a bit difficult. I

    For how long have I used the solution?

    It's been five years now. Currently, it's version 6.4.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    It is a stable solution.  We haven't faced any problems with stability, so let's say it's an eight out of ten.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    It's scalable. We can add more ADCs to the cluster if needed.

    I would rate the scalability a seven out of ten. Because if we miss the appliance's sizing in the beginning, it will be hard to scale.

    Our clients are small to medium-sized businesses. We didn't deploy the big appliances.

    How are customer service and support?

    The support is bad. Unfortunately, they are very late in responding to our requests. It takes too much time.

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Negative

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup is easy to install. The process is straightforward.

    The deployment takes around two to three days, considering the installation and configuration of some applications. We can easily configure the profiles.

    What about the implementation team?

    Usually, two people from my team, two engineers, work on the product. Moreover, customers usually request maintenance. So, one person is involved in the maintenance process.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    I believe the price is good. It's fair. There are no extra costs. You just pay for the license and, if applicable, for the hardware appliance. If it's a VM, there is no additional cost for the license.

    It's up to the customer to choose a licensing model. If you choose to buy yearly, it's usually on a yearly basis.

    What other advice do I have?

    You can go ahead and buy this product. It's very good, pretty stable, and the price is fair, as I mentioned. So, in terms of competition, it's a good product.

    Overall, I would rate it as an eight.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    On-premises
    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
    Flag as inappropriate
    PeerSpot user
    PeerSpot user
    Full support analyst at Gruppen
    Real User
    Top 5
    A stable solution with good SD-WAN and security capabilities and a good load balance with DNS intelligence
    Pros and Cons
    • "I like the solution's load balance with DNS intelligence."
    • "The configuration is relatively complex."

    What is our primary use case?

    I use Fortinet FortiADC for load balancing for different data centers.

    What is most valuable?

    My experience with Fortinet has been very positive. It provides a great layer when it comes to SD-WAN and other security capabilities. It offers many models for a host of environments. 

    I like the solution's load balance with DNS intelligence.

    What needs improvement?

    The price of the product is problematic.

    The configuration is relatively complex. 

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The solution is stable. 

    How are customer service and support?

    I have had no need for customer support. 

    How was the initial setup?

    The solution has a relatively complex setup. 

    What about the implementation team?

    We used resellers for the deployment. 

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    The solution could be more cost-effective. 

    What other advice do I have?

    The solution is deployed both on-cloud and on-premises. 

    I rate Fortinet FortiADC as an eight out of ten.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Fortinet FortiADC Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
    Updated: May 2023
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Fortinet FortiADC Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.