FortiManager Key Concepts
FortiManager is an integrated platform for the centralized management of products in a Fortinet security infrastructure. FortiManager provides centralized policy-based provisioning and configuration management for FortiGate, FortiWiFi, FortiAP, and other devices. For a complete list of supported devices, see the FortiManager 7.2.4 Release Notes.
FortiManager recognizes Security Fabric groups of devices and lets you display the Security Fabric topology as well as view Security Fabric Ratings.
To reduce network delays and to minimize external Internet usage, a FortiManager installation can also act as an on-site FortiGuard Distribution Server (FDS) for your managed devices and FortiClient agents to download updates to their virus and attack signatures, and to use the built-in web filtering and email filter services.
You can also optionally enable the FortiAnalyzer features, which enables you to analyze logs for managed devices and generate reports.
FortiManager scales to manage 10000 or more devices and virtual domains (VDOMs) from a single FortiManager interface. It is primarily designed for medium to large enterprises and managed security service providers.
Using a FortiManager device as part of an organization’s Fortinet security infrastructure can help minimize both initial deployment costs and ongoing operating expenses. It allows fast device provisioning, detailed revision tracking, and thorough auditing.
Inside FortiManager, an object database is shared by several modules, such as Policies & Objects, AP Manager, VPN Manager, Extender Manager, and FortiSwitch Manager, to provide policy configuration information to FortiGates. Other modules, such as FortiGuard, Device Manager, and FortiAnalyzer features, use protocols to communicate directly from FortiManager to FortiGates. This chapter describes how these components in FortiManager work together to manage FortiGates.
This section contains the following topics: