The primary use case of this solution is the management of firewalls.
Infrastructure and Cloud Architect at Vizion network
Easy to use, reliable centralized management, with good technical support
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features are the centralized management of the firewalls."
- "It's a difficult process to transfer one interface from one virtual domain to another."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are the centralized management of the firewalls. By unifying the deployment process of the policies among many of the firewalls, or virtual domains that you have, and it is very easy to install and use.
What needs improvement?
The user interface itself has areas that need improvement.
It would be very useful if they come up with a feature or a process that makes the transition of the interfaces between virtual domains easier. It's a difficult process to transfer one interface from one virtual domain to another.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Fortinet FortiManager for a few years.
We are using the latest version.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's a very good solution. It's a stable and reliable product.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's a very scalable solution. It has been designed for a large environment.
The concept of using a FortiManager is when you have a scalable modular infrastructure and several firewalls or Fortinet devices that you want to manage in a centralized environment.
We have three people using this solution and they are infrastructure engineers.
In our type of business, there is no plan or place for more expansion or improvement as we have a certain set of business services. The firewall is protecting our network and Fortinet devices are very limited in our company.
In our business, we cannot see a future for improving or expanding the use of FortiManager for some time.
How are customer service and support?
The Fortinet technical support is very good. It's a good team.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, we did not use a different solution.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easy and took less than an hour to deploy.
What about the implementation team?
I did not use a vendor. I did it myself.
What was our ROI?
We are not yet at a point where we can see a return of investment. It's going to take some time for our new project, which is still in the deployment process, to start paying back the investment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing costs depend on how many devices you want to use. It's based on the licensing model and the number of devices you add to the system.
The more devices you add to FortiManager, the more you need to pay.
I am not aware of any additional costs.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We did not evaluate other options as we already had FortiGate devices. FortiManager was the only option.
What other advice do I have?
You have to plan everything with very specific details before deploying the FortiManager, otherwise, it will be complex.
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

Manager IP Network Security Planning at MTN
Easy to setup, learn, and use
Pros and Cons
- "The user interface is very easy to navigate."
- "Regional support in African countries needs to be improved."
What is most valuable?
The user interface is very easy to navigate. It is comfortable to use.
What needs improvement?
Regional support in African countries needs to be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using FortiManager for less than a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
So far, FortiManager has been really stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have not pushed our usage to the point where we have had to scale, yet.
How are customer service and technical support?
The platform does not have proper support for Africans.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward and not as cumbersome as some other products.
Our deployment took a month or two because of the change management.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to anybody who is researching this product is that it is quite easy to use and the learning curve is not steep.
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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Fortinet FortiManager
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Security Engineer at MTDS
Good central management but bad stability
Pros and Cons
- "The central management feature is the most valuable to me."
- "The product is not very stable."
What is our primary use case?
It is used to manage several firewalls, primarily for setting policies and as a central management point for all the firewalls.
What is most valuable?
The central management feature is the most valuable to me.
What needs improvement?
We find that several vulnerabilities are showing up every week, so we have to check every time with the customer to make sure everything is okay and to apply patches when needed. The frequency is a little disarming. So, the product is not very stable.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Fortinet FortiManager for a year. We are currently using the latest release, version 7.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the stability a four out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
There is not an issue with the technical team. It's more about the product itself.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing model is affordable. Largely, customers opt for this solution because it has a low price.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I would rate the product a five out of ten, mainly because of its stability and also because the technology is not as advanced as some of its competitors, such as Palo Alto and Check Point.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Senior Associate Manager at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Highly stable solution with excellent central management
Pros and Cons
- "FortiManager's most valuable feature is central management."
- "In the next release, FortiManager should include more protection features."
What is our primary use case?
I primarily use FortiManager for network automation and central management.
What is most valuable?
FortiManager's most valuable feature is central management.
What needs improvement?
In the next release, FortiManager should include more protection features.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been working with FortiManager for about a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
FortiManager's stability is excellent - I would rate it ten out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
FortiManager is easy to scale up and down.
How are customer service and support?
Fortinet's technical support is hands-on and provides a good service.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
FortiManager is a bit expensive - I would rate its pricing three out of ten.
What other advice do I have?
FortiManager is most suitable for the enterprise level. I would recommend FortiManager and give it a rating of ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
Diretor Técnico at TND Brasil
Provides centralized management and makes it easy to configure all firewalls with the same configuration
Pros and Cons
- "The capability of centralized management is valuable. We can configure all firewall boxes with the same configuration."
- "The compatibility with legacy products should be better. It would also be nice if the software could manage other devices from Fortinet and third parties."
What is our primary use case?
It is used for the standardized configuration of all the firewalls that we have installed for our customers.
What is most valuable?
The capability of centralized management is valuable. We can configure all firewall boxes with the same configuration.
What needs improvement?
The compatibility with legacy products should be better. It would also be nice if the software could manage other devices from Fortinet and third parties.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using it for a short period. It has been almost six months. We are a reseller, and currently, we have six to eight technicians who are using it.
What other advice do I have?
It is fine for us. I would rate it a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
Co-founder at Korunet
Integrates well, stable, and good technical support
Pros and Cons
- "Fortinet FortiManager allows a full view of all the devices on the network from one location."
- "The solution could improve by having better integration with other solutions other than Fortinet."
What is our primary use case?
Fortinet FortiManager can be used to manage all your Fortinet solutions. We are using it as a VM solution.
What is most valuable?
Fortinet FortiManager allows a full view of all the devices on the network from one location.
Fortinet FortiManager integrates will with other Fortinet solutions, such as FortiAnalyzer.
What needs improvement?
The solution could improve by having better integration with other solutions other than Fortinet.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Fortinet FortiManager for years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable, it is good for large companies to manage their devices.
We have six customers using this solution.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support is very good.
What about the implementation team?
We have one engineer that does the implementation and maintenance of the solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The license model they use depends on the size and is not limited to the users.
What other advice do I have?
The solution is good but we want to move to the cloud at some point to save money on infrastructure. For example, on the cloud, we would not need a server room or data center building.
I would recommend this solution to others.
I rate Fortinet FortiManager a ten out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Consultant at DNS a.s.
You can see if workstations or services are affected by an attack with a simple click
Pros and Cons
- "For the whole security fabric from Fortinet, with a simple click you can see if some workstations or services are affected by an attack. You can really easily quarantine it, check the solution, and fix it."
- "Fortinet is releasing quite a lot of new versions and I would say that most of the versions are not well tested before they're pushed out. Even the new versions sometimes are a bit buggy before it's all correct."
What is our primary use case?
FortiManager is a virtual appliance, you can have it in a cloud, buy your own license, or pay for the solution as a service. It's very helpful because you can manage many products from other customers, just from the cloud, which is where you administrate domains for all the customers you might have. You only have one point of deployment of the new FortiGates, for example, FortiSwitches, FortiAPs with a single click that you do not need to deploy the configuration on a unit itself. So it means, for example, you can just send the new boxes to new offices and from the cloud FortiManager, you just let some technical guy send it to the internet. It gets the serial number of the FortiManager. It can be paired and the configuration can be directly downloaded. You don't even need to touch the box physically. So that's an amazing feature.
What is most valuable?
For the whole security fabric from Fortinet, with a simple click you can see if some workstations or services are affected by an attack. You can really easily quarantine it, check the solution, and fix it. It's very good from a security perspective.
What needs improvement?
Fortinet is releasing quite a lot of new versions and I would say that most of the versions are not well tested before they're pushed out. Even the new versions sometimes are a bit buggy before it's all correct.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using FortiManager for six to seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We don't have any issues with stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is good.
How are customer service and technical support?
Our support was often sent to a foreign country and they didn't speak good English. But the second level of support was all perfect.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Checkpoint has a kind of manager that is similar. I think Palo Alto and Cisco have something similar as well.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward and so simple. You don't need to know the functionality that much and it guides you on how to deploy it correctly. It's quite simple to set up as a solution.
The deployment takes a few days.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate it a nine out of ten.
It does not make much sense if you only have one FortiGate. If you have multiple devices and you can share some kind of templates or configuration template for security rules then this is a product you should use.
In the next release, there should be a little bit better of a deployment for applications that should also be relevant for mobile phones.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Distributor.
Asst. Network Security Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Reasonably priced, and the centralized management helps to consolidate network security operations
Pros and Cons
- "Fortinet has the option of synchronization in the cloud, so you can manage everything if you have a cloud account."
- "The response times from technical support need to be a bit quicker."
What is our primary use case?
We are a solution provider, reseller, and distributor. Fortinet FortiManager is one of the security products that we implement for our customers.
How has it helped my organization?
FortiManager is a benefit to our clients who have several Fortinet products in their ecosystem. For example, they may have different products such as FortiGate firewall, FortiAnalyzer, and FortiSandbox, and they can orchestrate them from FortiManager.
It also allows for multitenancy, where we can manage the security solutions of several different customers.
What is most valuable?
Fortinet has the option of synchronization in the cloud, so you can manage everything if you have a cloud account.
FortiManager supports orchestration in distributed environments and provides features such as automation and profiling. It allows you to push the configuration for new deployments, which makes the setup of new systems easier.
It fits well into either NOC or SOC environments to assist with managing the overall security solution.
What needs improvement?
The GUI and the whole process of configuration should be improved.
The response times from technical support need to be a bit quicker.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with FortiManager for about two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable, although if you are managing hardware appliances then there are some limitations. If you are using the VM then you can just upgrade your license and add resources.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical support wait times are long and this is an area that should be improved. Raising a ticket through the portal will sometimes take more than 24 or 48 hours. The response time definitely needs to be a bit quicker.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I work with a variety of security vendors and have a lot of experience with Fortinet products. I also work with solutions from McAfee and Palo Alto.
I have also worked with the Cisco DNA Center and they have some futuristic options in the interface.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is not complex and it will take only one or two hours to get the appliance online. After this, it will take time to populate the configuration with all of your assets. There is a lot of planning involved in this stage.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
In comparison with other products, the price of FortiManager is reasonable.
What other advice do I have?
In terms of deployment options, it has a lot of options for enterprise-level organizations such as telcos and banks. Overall, I think that this product is okay.
I would rate this solution an eight 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: Reseller.

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