Key concepts

FortiManager hosts Universal Connector MEA, and Universal Connector MEA is used to configure fabric connections to external applications.

Fabric connectors contain the configuration information that FortiManager uses to connect, authenticate, and communicate with external applications. The fabric connector also specifies what information to retrieve from external applications.

After the fabric connector is configured and enabled in Universal Connector MEA, it can communicate with the external application.

You must also enable communication between FortiManager and Universal Connector MEA, so you can use information retrieved from external applications in policies and objects. You enable communication between the two products in the Policy & Objects module in FortiManager.

After communication is enabled between FortiManager and Universal Connector MEA, you can use information retrieved from external applications in policies and objects, and install them to managed FortiGates.

FortiManager communicates with the external application to retrieve the latest information and provide it to managed FortiGates. FortiGates do not communicate with the external application.