Deploying EMS as a VM image

The FortiClient EMS server can now be easily deployed as a Virtual Machine (VM) image like many other Fortinet products. In this release, we support the VMware ESXi and KVM hypervisors and provide VMs for both x86_64 and ARM architectures.

FortiClient EMS VMs are running in standalone mode.

To deploy FortiClient EMS on ESXi:

1. Click Create/Register VM.

2. Select Deploy a virtual machine from an OVF or OVA file.

   

3. Click Next.

4. Enter the VM name and upload the OVA file.

   

5. Click Next.

6. Configure the virtual machine.

7. Click Finish.

8. Review the configuration and start the VM. When the VM boot is complete, the OS log on page is displayed.

   

9. Log in to the virtual machine.

   The default credentials are: Username: ems Password: ems You will be required to change these credentials upon first log in.

10. Change the default password when prompted.

11. Access the FortiClient EMS GUI by the VM IP/FQDN address.

To deploy FortiClient EMS on KVM:

1. Set up QEMU/KVM on a Linux host.

2. Copy the forticlientems_vm qcow2 image under /var/lib/libvirt/images/.

3. Run the following command to initialize the virtual machine with the FortiClient EMS image:

   sudo virt-install --name EMS_VM --memory 4096 --vcpus 2 --disk path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/forticlientems_vm.7.4.1.1862.interim.qcow2,format=qcow2 --import --os-variantgeneric --network bridge=virbr0 --graphics none

   You can change the configuration in the command as needed.

   

4. Log in to the virtual machine.

   The default credentials are: Username: ems Password: ems

   

5. Access the FortiClient EMS GUI by the VM IP/FQDN address.

To install FortiClient EMS on ARM processor:

1. Download the ARM EMS installer from the support portal. The installer file name is in the form forticlientems_7.4.1.1867.interim.arm64.bin.

2. Make the installer executable:

   sudo chmod +x ./forticlientems_7.4.1.1867.interim.arm64.bin

3. Run the installer:

   sudo ./forticlientems_7.4.1.1867.interim.arm64.bin