The Fortinet FortiGate 30E is a muscular little desktop firewall. It’s the smallest in Fortinet’s expansive Fortigate line. However, the 30E is much more than a typical firewall.
It has many features and a lot of ability for its diminutive price tag. Features include IPS, Next-Generation Firewall, Threat Protection, and AntiVirus Scanning and Web Filtering. Plus, there’s DNS Filtering, Application Control, SSL VPN and a Web Application Firewall for running on-premise web services.
In addition, it has a USB port, a Console Port, 1x GE WAN port and 4x GE Switch Ports. The FG 30E can be used as a basic hardware firewall and SD-WAN device. As such, you’ll have NAT, TCP ports restriction, traffic policy controls and VPN for remote access without buying any recurring FortiGuard licenses.
FortiGate 30E Licensing
Although this device is usable without a software license, the real security benefits come with a subscription to FortiGuard services. Even as the smallest Fortinet model, the FG 30E can provide all NGFW advanced security features of larger models with these services.
FortiGuard subscription licenses give you access to AI-powered security intelligence services like App Control, Intrusion Prevention and Malware Protection. Plus, there’s Antivirus, Web Filtering, etc. These license subscriptions come in one-, three-, and five-year options.
Moreover, there are four bundle categories of subscriptions. They are 360 Protection, Enterprise Protection, UTM, and Threat Protection. Basically, these provide different levels of advanced protection. They give you features like web filtering, antivirus, malware protection, Intrusion Prevention, Anti-spam and much more.
Performance of the FG 30E
The FortiGate 30E features 950 Mbps Firewall, 300 Mbps IPS, 200 Mbps NGFW, and 150 Mbps Threat Protection Throughput. The 30E offers a great level of protection and far exceeds the expectations of an appliance at this price point.
Usability
The interface is very intuitive, and settings are easy to find. It’s certainly doable for a novice to configure. And, with a little know-how these devices can be deployed very quickly and seamlessly.
Once you know where to look, the visibility into network traffic is amazing. FortiView provides information on traffic in and out of LAN/DMZ and traffic from the WAN interface. This gives you a good overview of the bandwidth used by device or by application, the category of the traffic, and the risk associated with the traffic. Plus, you can also look under Log and Report for real-time traffic, which policy is being used, application control and web filter triggered events.
One of the really cool features of the FortiGate 30E is the Traffic Shaper. In essence, you can assign a high priority to VoIP traffic and a minimum amount of bandwidth to ensure you clients can hear you clearly and easily.
In addition, small business owners will also like the ability to schedule firewall policies. For example, you can lock users out of social media except for during their lunch break. This is a breeze with Fortinet Schedules.
In summary
Overall, this device is very stable with a high-level of protection and performance for up to 20 users. It would be perfect for homes and small businesses who require more protection and visibility than a modem/router with a built-in firewall.
So, if you have any further questions, please reach out to us here, or call Corporate Armor at 877-449-0458. Thanks for reading!