In this guide, we will walk through the steps required to access the FortiGate firewall’s Graphical User Interface (GUI) from the GNS3 simulator. Whether you’re a beginner or looking to refine your skills, this tutorial will help you get started with managing your FortiGate firewall efficiently.
Simply follow the steps outlined below to access the firewall’s in GUI –
1. Select ‘Security Devices’ from the left menu, then drag and drop the FortiGate device into the workspace.
2. Next, select ‘All Devices’ from the left menu and drag the cloud device into the workspace.
You may ask why a cloud device is necessary. Since I intend to access the firewall GUI using my Chrome browser on the physical machine (not within the GNS3-VM), the cloud device acts as a bridge, linking GNS3 with the physical machine for seamless communication.
Choose ‘GNS3-VM’ from the dropdown menu and click ‘OK’.
3.Click on ‘Add a link’ from the left menu and connect the FortiGate device to the cloud.
In this setup, I have used the Port1 interface of the FortiGate device and the eth0 interface of the cloud.
4. Right-click on the FortiGate device, select ‘Start,’ and then open the console to gain access.
5.The FortiGate device has successfully restarted.
The default username is ‘admin,’ and there is no password set, so just press ‘Enter.’ You will be prompted to set a new password.
Enter your new password, hit ‘Enter,’ then re-enter the same password for confirmation and press ‘Enter’ again.
6. To check the configuration of the Port1 interface, use the following command:
show system interface port1
By default, the Port1 interface is set to DHCP mode. Additionally, ensure that ‘http’ is enabled in the ‘allowaccess’ command line (administrative access), as we will be using HTTP in Chrome to access the device via its GUI. Therefore, HTTP must be allowed in the administrative access settings.
Due to DHCP mode, the Port1 interface will automatically obtain an IP address from the virtual machine
7. To check the IP address assigned to Port1, simply use the following command:”
get system interface physical port1
8. Once you have the IP address, open your Chrome browser and enter the following URL:
http://192.168.85.180
9.Enter the username and password, then click the ‘Login’ button to access the device.
10. Click on Later button
11. And voila, here’s the FortiGate dashboard – we’ve successfully accessed it via the GUI!
Now, you can easily perform any configurations or lab exercises through the intuitive GUI interface.
With the successful login to the FortiGate GUI, you now have full access to configure and manage your device. I hope this guide has helped you set up and navigate the FortiGate firewall seamlessly. Happy configuring!
Thank You!!