Prevent firmware upgrade depending on the current firmware license's expiration date 7.4.2
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This information is also available in the FortiOS 7.4 Administration Guide: |
In FortiOS 7.4.2 and above, enforcement of an active FortiGate firmware license to allow firmware upgrades has been improved. Enforcement is based on the expiry date of the current firmware license compared to the release date of the first GA release of a major version. For example, for FortiOS 7.4.x firmware upgrades, enforcement is based on the expiry date of the current support contract compared to the release date of FortiOS 7.4.0 GA.
Therefore, upgrades between major, minor, and patch versions are only allowed if the firmware license is valid relative to the release date of the first GA release of a major version. If the firmware license expiry date is earlier than the firmware first GA major release date, then the firmware upgrade to that version will not be allowed. See the following Example.
In the System > Firmware & Registration page, until the support contract is renewed, FortiGuard upgrades will be unavailable; namely, the Confirm and Backup Config button will be grayed out. However, you will be able to view the FortiGate firmware images available on FortiGuard using Latest, All Upgrades, and All Downgrades tabs and this functionality will be restored upon support contract renewal.
Downgrades from one major version to another are not blocked because the FortiGate should have had a firmware expiry date that is later than the release date of the older firmware major version.
For example, if the firmware license expiry date was March 25, 2024, the FortiGate is currently running 7.4.2 and you wanted to downgrade to 7.2.7, since the release date of 7.2.0 GA was March 31, 2022 then this firmware downgrade would be allowed. The firmware license expiry date is later than the release date of the older firmware major version, 7.2.0 GA.
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This new feature is an expansion of 7.4.0 and 7.4.1 new features. See Prevent FortiGates with an expired support contract from upgrading to a major or minor firmware release and Prevent firmware upgrades when the support contract is expired using the GUI 7.4.1 for more information on upgrading to major and minor versions. |
Example
In this example, the release dates of major versions are as follows:
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7.4.0 GA release on May 8, 2023
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7.6.0 GA release on March 31, 2024
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7.8.0 GA release on March 31, 2025
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This example is using fictitious GA release dates of future versions for illustrative purposes only. These dates do not indicate the official FortiOS release schedule. |
The following table demonstrates whether you can upgrade the target FortiGate firmware version depending on the current firmware license expiry date.
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Firmware license expiry date |
Is a FortiGate firmware upgrade allowed to the target version? |
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7.4.x |
7.6.x |
7.8.x |
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| March 31, 2025 or later | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| March 25, 2025 | Yes | Yes | No |
| March 25, 2024 | Yes | No | No |
| May 2, 2023 | No | No | No |