Running FortiOS (Fortigate VM) in VMware

April 7, 2016 ANJAN CHANDRA Fortigate, Fortinet

Running Fortigate (Fortigen Virtual FortiOS Appliance version 4.0) on VMware and initial setup
and licencing

Contents [hide]

o 0.1 Necessary downloads

 0.1.1 Fortigate FortiOS VM(v4.0) Downlaod

 0.1.2 Video Tutorial | Installation, Setup and Licencing of Fortigate VM
o 0.2 Open the Fortigate in VMware Workstation
 0.2.1 VM Setup
 0.2.2 Optimizing Hardware
o 0.3 Topology
 0.3.1 More about Virtual Netowrk and Sharing
 0.3.1.1 VM Netork Editor Configurations
 0.3.1.2 Varification of VM Adapters
 0.3.2 VM Apliance Port Lookup (Physical Port Vs VM Network
Mapping)
 0.3.2.1 VMnet0 > Port-1 > Internal Network > Subnet
192.168.0.0/24
 0.3.2.2 Vmnet8 > Port-2 > Internet > Subnet 192.168.137.0/24
 0.3.3 Firing UP the FortiGate VM
 0.3.3.1 Topology Varification
o 0.4 Configurations
o 0.5 Varify Web Console
 0.5.1 Fortigate VM Licencing Deprecated Procedure
o 0.6 Support Stuff

 0.6.0.1 Connected UTM – FortiGate/FortiWiFi/FortiRugged 90-60

Series
 0.6.0.2 Next-Gen Firewalls (NGFW) – FortiGate 100-200 Series

 1 More from my site

Necessary downloads

Fortigate FortiOS VM(v4.0) Downlaod

Notes:: The hardware compatibility of the above Fortigate VM is Workstation 6.5-7.x virtual
machine. Please try VMware Workstation 7.x or lower .

Video Tutorial | Installation, Setup and Licencing of Fortigate VM

Open the Fortigate in VMware Workstation

After download, simply extract the file and open the fortigate.vmx file in VMware.

VM Setup

Immediately after, it will be reflected on VMware window. Do not forget to change some initial
setting before you fire up the Fortigate.
Optimizing Hardware

Do a little changes here in memory settings to optimize the hardware of your PC. Set the
memory requirement 512MB.
Now do some changes in Virtual Network Adapter settings as compatible to your topology. Here
I made my own topology bellow and dis the post changes in VM Network Adapters.

Topology
More about Virtual Netowrk and Sharing

show more>>>

VM Apliance Port Lookup (Physical Port Vs VM Network Mapping)

Now see the changes I have done to implement my required topology.

Here I have taken two virtual interfaces VMnet0 and VMnet8. The hierarchy is given bellow.
VMnet0 > Port-1 > Internal Network > Subnet 192.168.0.0/24

Vmnet8 > Port-2 > Internet > Subnet 192.168.137.0/24

Firing UP the FortiGate VM

Now time to turn on the Fortigate VM.

A cli console will come up with login prompt ( username: admin password: N/A)
Now everything is ready, time to do initial configuration.

Topology Varification

Have a look at the topology once again

o VMnet0 > Port-1 > Internal Network > Subnet 192.168.0.0/24

o Vmnet8 > Port-2 > Internet > Subnet 192.168.137.0/24

Configurations
Fortigate-VM login: admin
Password:
Welcome !

Fortigate-VM # config system interface

Fortigate-VM (interface) # edit port1

Fortigate-VM (port1) # set ip 192.168.0.30 255.255.255.0

Fortigate-VM (port2) # set allowaccess http https fgmp ssh telnet ping

Fortigate-VM (port1) # end

Fortigate-VM # config system interface

Fortigate-VM (interface) # edit port2

Fortigate-VM (port2) # set ip 192.168.137.30 255.255.255.0

Fortigate-VM (port2) #

Fortigate-VM (port2) # set allowaccess http https ping

Fortigate-VM (port2) # end

Fortigate-VM (port2) #

Varify Web Console

Now we are finished with configuration. Time to open the Fortinet VM web console. Open the
IP(192.168.0.30) is browser. A login prompt will open then, type their only username(username:
admin), then login. The VM GUI console will come up then.
Now time to play with Fortigate.
Fortigate VM Licencing Deprecated Procedure

Each free fortigate vm have 15 days of trial licence. Once the trial period is over the GUI will
prompt for a new licence file.

So to get rid off this issue, the date need to be changed from the VM BIOS configuration. Open
the BIOS setup by pressing F2 key during VM boot.
Now change the date into the BIOS setup. The date should be a older date of the licence
expiration date.
Once the date is changed, the GUI will prompt a pop up showing the days to expire the licence.
The detailed discussions on policy, access control, NAT, load balancing on Fortigate will be
posted soon.
 Thank you.

Support Stuff

 Connected UTM – FortiGate/FortiWiFi/FortiRugged 90-60 Series

 Next-Gen Firewalls (NGFW) – FortiGate 100-200 Series

 Fortigate & VMware on Youtube