Fortinet claims a high performance for the 3140B and for testing we hooked it up to the lab's Ixia XM2 chassis equipped with two Xcellon-Ultra NP load modules. We connected a 10GbE port to each load module and ran a range of HTTP throughput tests for IPS and anti-virus profiles.
With the default IPS profile enabled, we recorded an average throughput of 8.2Gbps for 128KB web page sizes which confirmed Fortinet's IPS rate. With IPS turned off and the anti-virus proxy profile enabled we recorded a throughput of 1.8Gbps for 128KB web pages which increased to 2.35Gbps for a 256KB page size.
Fortinet also offers flow based virus scanning which is less effective but faster than the proxy mode as it only uses the IPS engine to scan files without buffering them. With this profile selected, the Ixia system recorded higher throughputs of 5.6Gbps for 64KB pages and 8.6Gbps for 128KB pages.
The lab's Ixia performance testing system reported a tidy 8.2Gbps throughput with IPS enabled
Reporting features
Impressive logging and reporting features are provided by the FortiOS software and these can be used to create detailed web reports on areas such as bandwidth, web, email, application and VPN usage. The software can generate graphical reports revealing the top blocked sites, bandwidth hogging users and the most used applications. These findings can be exported to PDFs allowing them to be stored or emailed to colleagues.
For more detailed reporting we recommend the optional FortiGuard Analysis and Management Service (FAMS). The appliance can be set to upload selected logs regularly to your account on this hosted service which are used to present an extensive range of reports on all areas of user activity.
Overall, we found the FortiGate 3140B delivers an unbeatable range of security measures making it an ideal single product for enterprise network security. Performance is good with a high 10GbE port count, it's a cinch to deploy and reporting features are extensive.
Verdict
Fortinets’ strengths lie in its ability to pack more security measures into its appliances than anyone else and the FortiGate 3410B is no exception. It’s simple to deploy and our Ixia tests show it delivers the claimed throughput performance. For enterprises to get the best value from this appliance it needs to be deployed as a complete replacement for existing security equipment.
Chassis: 2U rack CPU: Fortinet FortiASIC Network, Content and Security processors Network: 10 x 10GbE SFP, 10 x Gigabit SFP Storage: 64GB SATA SFF SSD (max. 4) Ports: 2 x USB, RJ-45 console, 2 x Gigabit management Power: 2 x 300W hot-plug supplies Management: Web browser, CLI Software: Fortinet FortiOS 4.0 Other: 2 x 10GBase-SR SFPs included
