Registering FortiGate

The FortiGate, and then its service contract, must be registered to have full access to Fortinet Customer Service and Support, and FortiGuard services. The FortiGate can be registered in either the FortiGate GUI or the FortiCloud support portal. The service contract can be registered from the FortiCloud support portal.

The service contract number is needed to complete registrations on the FortiCloud support portal. You can find this 12-digit number in the email that contains your service registration document (sent from do-not-reply-contract@fortinet.com) in the service entitlement summary.

To register your FortiGate in the GUI:

1. Connect to the FortiGate GUI. A dialog box appears, which indicates the steps you should take to complete the setup of your FortiGate. These steps include:

   1. Specify Hostname

   2. Change Your Password

   3. Dashboard Setup

   4. Upgrade Firmware

   If you completed the Configuring basic settings, the hostname and password steps are already marked as complete (checkmark). If you chose to deploy the latest firmware, the Upgrade Firmware step is marked as complete.

2. Click Begin to complete the dashboard setup. Two options appear (Optimal and Comprehensive).

   

3. Select the desired setting and click OK. The Dashboard > Status page opens. Note that the licenses are grayed out because the device or virtual machine is not registered.

4. Go to System > FortiGuard and click Enter Registration Code.

   

5. Enter the contract registration code from your service registration document.

6. Click OK.

To register the FortiGate on the FortiCloud support portal:

1. Go to support.fortinet.com and log in using your FortiCloud account credentials. If you do not have an account, click Register to create one.

2. In the left-side menu, click Register Product.

3. Enter the product serial number or license certificate number for a VM, select an end user type, then click Next.

   

4. Enter the Support Contract number and FortiCloud Key (optionally, enter a product description), then click Next.

   

5. Review the product entitlement information, select the checkbox to accept the terms, then click Confirm.

   

6. Go to Products > Product List. The FortiGate is now visible in the product list.

   

To register FortiGate to FortiCare in the GUI:

Starting in FortiOS 7.2.11, some FortiGates, such as 200G and 900G series, require you to register the new device with FortiCare after logging in to the GUI for the first time. You must register the FortiGate to FortiCare before you can access the GUI for further device configuration.

1. Ensure the FortiGate has the correct networking configuration to reach the Internet, such as receiving IP and gateway addresses from DHCP. See Configuring basic settings for an example.

2. Log in to the FortiOS GUI for the first time. The Register with FortiCare dialog box is displayed:

   

3. With FortiCloud set to Login, complete the fields, and click OK to register with FortiCare.

   If you do not want to register the device now, click Log Out, and register the device another time. However, you will be unable to access the GUI for further device configuration.

   

   The FortiGate Setup wizard is displayed.

   

4. Click Begin to continue.

Bypassing FortiCare registration

By default, FortiGates with new BIOS are set to FortiCare registration level 2 in the BIOS, and you must register the device to FortiCare before you can access the GUI. However, you can use the BIOS menu to manually set the FortiCare registration level to 1, and then you can bypass FortiCare registration in the GUI.

To change the FortiCare registration level:

1. Using the console cable, connect the FortiGate unit’s console port to the serial communications (COM) port on your management computer. See Connecting to the CLI for an example.

2. Hard reboot the FortiGate.

3. Press a key to interrupt the boot process when prompted:

   Boot up, boot device capacity: 28626MB.
   Press any key to display configuration menu...
   

4. Enter I to access System configuration and information.

   [C]:  Configure TFTP parameters.
   [R]:  Review TFTP parameters.
   [T]:  Initiate TFTP firmware transfer.
   [F]:  Format boot device.
   [B]:  Boot with backup firmware and set as default.
   [I]:  System configuration and information.
   [Q]:  Quit menu and continue to boot.
   [H]:  Display this list of options.
   

5. Enter C to access Set FortiCare registration.

   Enter C,R,T,F,B,I,Q,or H:
   [S]:  Set serial port baudrate (will take effect on next boot).
   [R]:  Set restricted mode.
   [T]:  Set menu timeout.
   [U]:  Set security level.
   [C]:  Set FortiCare registration.
   [I]:  Display system information.
   [E]:  Reset system configuration.
   [M]:  Display SPD information.
   [Q]:  Quit menu and continue to boot.
   [H]:  Display this list of options.
   

6. Enter 1 to set Not Enforce.

   Enter S,R,T,U,C,I,E,M,Q,or H:
   [1]:  Not Enforce
   [2]:  Enforce
   Enter FortiCare registration setting [2]: 1 

To bypass FortiCare registration in the GUI after setting FortiCare Registration Level to 1 in the BIOS:

1. Ensure the FortiGate has the correct networking configuration to reach the Internet, such as receiving IP and gateway addresses from DHCP. See Configuring basic settings for an example.

2. Log in to the FortiOS GUI. The Register with FortiCare dialog box is displayed:

   

3. Click Later to proceed without registering the FortiGate to FortiCare.

   The FortiGate Setup wizard is displayed.

   

4. Click Begin to continue.