Getting Started

Introduction

FortiDDoS F-series features a clean-sheet new architecture that draws on more than 10 years of FortiDDoS’ DDoS mitigation experience while providing a flexible and forward-looking solution to detect and mitigate Layer 3 to Layer 7 DDoS attacks for enterprise data centers. FortiDDoS uses machine learning and behavior based methods, and monitors hundreds of thousands of networking parameters to build an adaptive baseline of normal activity. It then monitors traffic against that baseline and defends against every DDoS attack.

About this document

This document describes how to deploy a FortiDDoS virtual appliance disk image onto a virtualization server, and how to configure the virtual hardware settings of the virtual appliance. It assumes you have already successfully installed a virtualization server on the physical machine.

This document does not cover initial configuration of the virtual appliance itself, nor ongoing use and maintenance.

System requirements

Before you can install FortiDDoS VM, you must first have virtual machine (VM) environment software (a hardware abstraction layer (HAL), sometimes called a hypervisor) on your server. FortiDDoS VM is a virtual appliance that runs inside that environment.

VM environment	Tested Versions
VMware	ESXi 6.x, 7.x

For best performance, install FortiDDoS-VM on a “bare metal” hypervisor. Hypervisors that are installed as applications on top of a general purpose operating system (Windows, Mac OS X or Linux) host have fewer computing resources available due to the host OS’s own overhead. Hardware-assisted virtualization (VT) must be enabled in the BIOS.

For installation instructions, see the documentation for your VM environment.

Hardware-assisted virtualization (VT) must be enabled in the BIOS. You must also have the VM environment client, such as VMware vSphere Client, installed on a management computer. (A management computer is a desktop or a laptop that you will use to deploy and manage your virtual machines.)

Downloading software & registering with support

When you purchase a FortiDDoS-VM, you receive an email that contains a registration number. This is used to download the software, your purchased license, and also to register your purchase with Fortinet Customer Service & Support so that your FortiDDoS-VM will be able to validate its license with Fortinet.

Many Fortinet customer services such as firmware updates, technical support, and FortiGuard services require product registration. For more information, see the Fortinet Knowledge Base article Registration Frequently Asked Questions.

Fortinet Customer Service & Support shows the Fortinet Customer Service & Support website.

To register & download FortiDDoS-VM and your license:

1. Log into the Fortinet Customer Service & Support web site:

https://support.fortinet.com/

2. Under Asset, click Register/Renew.
3. Provide the registration number that was emailed to you when you purchased the software. Registration numbers are a hyphenated string of 25 numbers and characters in groups of 5, such as:

TLH5R-NUNDP-MC6T7-0DNWA-AP45ZA

A registration form appears.

4. Use the form to register your ownership of FortiDDoS-VM.

After completing the form, a registration acknowledgment page appears.

5. Click the License File Download link.

Your browser will download the .lic file that was purchased for that registration number.

6. Click the Home link to return to the initial page.
7. Under Download, click Firmware Images.
8. Click the FortiDDoS link and navigate to the version that you want to download.
9. Download the .zip file. You use the VM installation files contained in the .zip file for new VM installations. (The .out image files are for upgrades of existing installations only, and cannot be used for a new installation.)

   Files for FortiDDoS-VM have a FDD_VM filename prefix. Other prefixes indicate that the file is for hardware versions of FortiDDoS such as FortiDDoS 200F. Such other files cannot be used with FortiDDoS-VM.

10. Extract the .zip file contents to a folder. The following figure shows the contents of the package for VMware.

    The FortiDDoS-vm-64-hw4.ovf file is a VMware virtual hardware version 4 image that supports ESXi 3.5. The FortiDDoS-vm-64-hw7.ovf file is a VMware virtual hardware version 7 image that supports ESXi 4.0 and above.

    Refer to the VMware support site for information about VMware virtual hardware versions and ESXi versions.

VM environment	Download package
VMware	The ovf.zip download file contains multiple ovf files. The FortiDDoS-vm-64-hw4.ovf file is a VMware virtual hardware version 4 image that supports ESXi 3.5. The FortiDDoS-vm-64-hw7.ovf file is a VMware virtual hardware version 7 image that supports ESXi 4.0 and above. Refer to the VMware support site for information about VMware virtual hardware versions and ESXi versions.

Licensing

This section describes licensing. It includes the following information:

• Evaluation license
• License sizes
• License validation

Evaluation license

FortiDDoS-VM can be evaluated with a free 15-day trial license that includes all the features.

You do not need to manually upload the trial license. It is built-in. The trial period begins the first time you start FortiDDoS-VM. When the trial expires, most functionality is disabled. You must purchase a license to continue using FortiDDoS-VM.

License sizes

FortiDDoS-VM licenses are available at the following sizing levels.

FortiDDoS-VM sizes

	License/model
	VM04	VM08	VM16
Virtual CPUs (vCPUs)	4	8	16
Virtual RAM (vRAM)	16 GB	16 GB	32 GB

Maximum IP sessions varies by license, but also by available vRAM, just as it does for hardware models. For details, see the maximum configuration values in the FortiDDoS Handbook.

License validation

FortiDDoS-VM must periodically re-validate its license with the Fortinet Distribution Network (FDN). FortiDDoS-VM should directly connect to Fortiguard server for license validation.