Fortigate Software Switch Vs Hardware Switch

It can also be useful if you require more hardware ports for the switch on a FortiGate unit. Curtis mayfield new world order download free. Similar to a hardware switch, a software switch functions like a single interface. A software switch has one IP address; all of the interfaces in the software switch are on the same subnet.

In Interface mode, the physical interfaces of the FortiGate unit are configured and handled individually, with each interface having its own IP address. Kommercheskoe predlozhenie po razrabotke kotlovana obrazec. Interfaces can be logically or virtually combined by configuring them as part of either hardware or software switches (for more information, see ), which allow multiple interfaces to be treated as a single interface. FortiGate units that are in Interface mode by default start with a hardware switch called either lan or internal, depending on the FortiGate model. This mode is designed for complex networks where different subnets are used to compartmentalize the network traffic.

The cited switches do not only have a throughput of 88 Gbps (424D) and 176 Gbps (448D) but also feature 2/4 10GE ports for uplinks. In comparison, the maximum throughput of a FGT-200E is rated at 20 Gbps, 9 Gbps for small packets (64b). In order to use a Fortigate as a backbone switch it would need to have 10GE ports; aggregating ports in a LACP trunk will be not as efficient and will exhaust the available ports (14 on a FGT-200E). The main reason I advise against this deployment pattern is that the main advantage of having a UTM firewall, namely protection via AV, IPS, Application Control etc., will have to be sacrificed for speed. The FGT is meant to manage the Fortiswitches in your LAN; as such it's very convenient (e.g., VLAN handling), powerful and you can even extend the security perimeter to your access ports.

Just keep in mind that the whole infrastructure will be as powerful as the weakest part, and that would be the FGT if used as a backbone switch. If you use a Fortiswitch for backbone and manage and monitor all switches from the built-in FGT switch controller, all is fine.

Looks good: FortiGate units can be used to remotely manage FortiSwitch units, which is also known as using a FortiSwitch in FortiLink mode. FortiLink defines the management interface and the remote management protocol between the FortiGate and FortiSwitch. EDIT after @user1016274's very reasonable comments: Using a switch (the FGT-200E) with only gigabit ports as core may severely limit the overall throughput of your network. Even aggregating multiple GbE ports won't enable you to run multi-gigabit flows across the switch. You should look into options using the FGT as controller only and connecting the faster switches directly.