Firewall - Fortinet FortiGate FortiGate-5001 Administration Manual

About FortiGate Antivirus Firewalls

Firewall

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The FortiGate ICSA-certified firewall protects your computer networks from Internet
threats. ICSA has granted FortiGate firewalls version 4.0 firewall certification,
providing assurance that FortiGate firewalls successfully screen and secure corporate
networks against a range of threats from public or other untrusted networks.
After basic installation of the FortiGate unit, the firewall allows users on the protected
network to access the Internet while blocking Internet access to internal networks.
You can configure the firewall to put controls on access to the Internet from the
protected networks and to allow controlled access to internal networks.
FortiGate policies include a range of options that:
• control all incoming and outgoing network traffic,
• control encrypted VPN traffic,
• apply antivirus protection and web content filtering,
• block or allow access for all policy options,
• control when individual policies are in effect,
• accept or deny traffic to and from individual addresses,
• control standard and user defined network services individually or in groups,
• require users to authenticate before gaining access,
• include traffic shaping to set access priorities and guarantee or limit bandwidth for
each policy,
• include logging to track connections for individual policies,
• include Network Address Translation (NAT) mode and Route mode policies,
• include mixed NAT and Route mode policies.
The FortiGate firewall can operate in NAT/Route mode or Transparent mode.
NAT/Route mode
In NAT/Route mode, the FortiGate unit is a Layer 3 device. This means that each of its
interfaces is associated with a different IP subnet and that it appears to other devices
as a router. This is how a firewall is normally deployed.
In NAT/Route mode, you can create NAT mode policies and Route mode policies.
• NAT mode policies use network address translation to hide the addresses in a
more secure network from users in a less secure network.
• Route mode policies accept or deny connections between networks without
performing address translation.
Transparent mode
In Transparent mode, the FortiGate unit does not change the Layer 3 topology. This
means that all of its interfaces are on the same IP subnet and that it appears to other
devices as a bridge. Typically, the FortiGate unit is deployed in Transparent mode to
provide antivirus and content filtering behind an existing firewall solution.
01-28008-0013-20050204
Introduction
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