Table of Contents
Advertisement
Planning your FortiGate configuration
Transparent mode
38
You can add security policies to control whether communications through the
FortiGate unit operate in NAT mode or in route mode. Security policies control the flow
of traffic based on each packet's source address, destination address and service. In
NAT mode, the FortiGate performs network address translation before the packet is
sent to the destination network. In route mode, no translation takes place.
By default, the FortiGate unit has a NAT mode security policy that allows users on the
internal network to securely download content from the external network. No other
traffic is possible until you have configured more security policies.
You would typically use NAT/Route mode when the FortiGate unit is used as a
gateway between private and public networks. In this configuration, you would create
NAT mode policies to control traffic flowing between the internal, private network and
the external, public network (usually the Internet).
If you have multiple internal networks, such as a DMZ network in addition to the
internal, private network, you could create route mode policies for traffic flowing
between them.
Figure 4: Example NAT/Route mode network configuration
In Transparent mode, the FortiGate unit is invisible to the network. Similar to a
network bridge, all of FortiGate interfaces must be on the same subnet. You only have
to configure a management IP address so that you can make configuration changes.
The management IP address is also used for antivirus and attack definition updates.
You would typically use the FortiGate unit in Transparent mode on a private network
behind an existing firewall or behind a router. The FortiGate unit performs firewalling
as well as antivirus and content scanning but not VPN.
Getting started
Fortinet Inc.
Advertisement
Table of Contents
