Accessing the Fortinet Wireless Remote Training Lab

The Remote Lab

The hands-on lab exercises and practical exams will utilize Internet-accessible equipment. This equipment is
located in a data centre in the USA.

The equipment selection is intended to provide each student with a realistic setup to perform the lab
exercises in a safe, low-stakes environment

For the labs, each participant will have access to a dedicated pod of equipment that consists of the following
equipment:

Two virtual Wireless Infrastructure MC1550 controllers running Fortinets System Director v7.0
Two Wireless Infrastructure access points
One physical wireless Win7 PC capable of connecting to the wireless networks created during the lab
exercises
One service appliance running Fortinets Network Manager Software v6.1. It may be running other
Service Assurance applications as well.
Once Fortinet Connect appliance.

There will also be some amount of other infrastructure equipment that allows the use of tagged VLANs and
provides services such as DHCP, DNS, SIP Proxy, and RADIUS.

How The Connection Works.

The connection to the datacentre is made using a VPN application called SDTConnector. This application
performs two functions:
Provides a secure VPN connection to the data centre
Provides a launcher for the applications used to access and configure the equipment in the Pod

Note: SDTConnector requires installation on a windows PC, at this point there is no

support for any other platform.

In addition to the installation of SDTConnector, there is also the requirement to install PuTTY and UltraVNC.
When the SDTConnector is launched, a VPN connection is automatically made to the datacentre, the additional
software can then be launched from the SDTConnector console to perform the labs tasks.
IP Port Numbers
To successfully connect to the remote equipment, SDTConnector uses outbound TCP port
numbers 7022 and 7122; they must not be blocked by a firewall.

The test performed below will reveal if the ports are blocked.

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Installing the Software.
The software can be installed at any time. Part of the installation incudes a connection test that will highlight
any issues you may have with connectivity.

You can leave the software installed if you plan to attend more than one lab or exam.

You only need to install this software if you plan to take part in the labs or the practical
certification exams.

Unzip the file to a suitable location. You should then have:

A copy of this ReadMe file
A Remote Lab Installers folder
An AccessTest.xml file

The installation process is also located in videos included in the .zip file

Critical: Please only use the versions of software included in the ZIP file. There may
well be newer versions available on the web, however we have no tested
these for compatibility.

If you already have copies of the software installed, you may need to
uninstall whilst connecting to the remote training lab.

Installing The SDTConnector
The SDTConnector software is the first software to install.
1. Open the Remote Lab Installers folder
2. Locate the SDTConnectorSetup-1.4.3.exe file and execute it.
3. At the welcome screen click the <Next> button.
4. Accept the default destination folder.
5. Click the <Next> button.
6. At the Choose The Start Menu Folder select <Install>
7. When the process is complete, click the <Close> button.

Testing the SDTConnector

Once the software has been installed it is important to test that it can successfully connect to the remote training lab. This
confirm the required ports are open between your computer and the data centre.
It is important that you perform this test from the location where you intend to access the lab.
8. Open the newly installed SDTConnector icon.
9. Once SDTConnector is open, from the File menu, select Import Preferences

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10. Browse and locate the AccessTest.xml file that was unzipped.
11. Open the file. You should now see a Fortinet Wireless Training Remote Lab entry.
12. Expand the entry and you will see an Access Test Host entry.
13. Select the Access Test Host entry and you should see an HTTP services button:

14. Select the HTTP services button and after a few seconds a web browser should start.
15. If SDTconnector has opened a successful connection to the data centre you will see It Works! in the browser
window:

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 Note: It is normal to see the webpage opened to the localhost
address in URL bar.

The port number will also vary with each connection

16. If you do not see the It Works! message it usually means that:
a. Your browser is using a proxy server to access the web - In which case you will have to temporally stop
using the proxy server.
b. Port 7022/7122 cannot be opened to the Fortinet Wireless data centre - You are probably connecting
from inside a corporate network that prevents the use of non-standard ports.
i. Please contact your IT team to get the port unblocked to a destination IP of 216.218.229.58
ii. OR connect from an alternative location.

Critical: If you cannot get access to the Remote Training lab you will not
be able to take part in the labs or sit the practical exam.

Installing The Supporting Software
If you have successfully installed the SDTConnector software and got the It Works! message, you can
now go ahead and install the remaining software

Critical: Please install the software in the default installation path offered by the
software installer.

SDTConnector is expecting to find the programs in the default location, if they
are installed elsewhere, SDTConnector will not be able to launch the
program properly.

1. You will first need to determine the windows system type (32 bit or 64 bit).
2. The easiest place to locate this information is on the system properties your windows system. This can be
accessed by selecting the Properties of your This PC or My Computer icon in windows explorer.

The bit version will be displayed here. Open the Remote Lab Installers folder.
3. Open putty-0.62-installer.exe and start installing.

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 4. Accept the default destination folder. Do not install in another location.
5. Click the <Next> button.
6. Accept the default installation options for the remainder of the install and then finish.
7. Return to the Remote Lab Installers folder.
8. Depending on your version of windows (32 or 64 bit) open either the VNC 32-bit or VNC 64-bit folder.
9. Open the installation program and install.
10. Choose the most suitable setup language and select the <OK> button.
11. Select the <Next> button, accept the licence agreement and select <Next>
12. Select <Next> again, when you get to the Select Destination Location accept the default folder and select
<Next>
13. At the Select Components screen, de-select the UltraVNC Server as it is not needed
14. Select <Next> and complete the remainder of the installation.
15. You have now installed all the software required for the lab.

If you have reached this point having received the It Works!
message and have successfully installed the software you are ready
to take part in the lab (or exam).
At the start of the lab (or exam) your instructor will give you a ZIP
file containing the configuration files required to connect to your
Pod of equipment. You can do nothing more until that point.
Once you receive your Pod files, you can carry on below.

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Configure SDTConnector To Access Your Pod
At the beginning of the lab (or exam), your instructor will give a ZIP file configuration and information
files for your Pod of lab equipment.

Note: These files are unique to you, please do not share them.


When you receive the ZIP files, open them and extract to a suitable location. The name of the file will
be the name of the pod you have been assigned.

You should have 3 files, the file name should contain the name of your pod:

<podname>-32.xml
Config files to use if your Windows workstation is 32-bit
<podname>-64.xml Config files to use if your Windows workstation is 64-bit
Specific configuration information for you pod. You will
<podname>LabConfig.pdf
refer to this during the lab.

1. Open the previously installed SDTConnector program.
2. Once SDTConnector is open, from the File menu, select Import Preferences

3. Browse and locate the location of the pod files you have just downloaded.
4. Select the version of .xml file that matches the version of Windows you are using. If you are using a 32 bit
version of Windows, select the -32.xml file. For 64 bit, select the -64.xml file.#
5. Close the SDTConnector program.

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 Critical: You must restart SDTConnector after importing an .xml file.

6. Restart SDTConnector.

Using the Remote Lab Software

The software is now ready for use. If you are planning on attending multiple labs or exams, the software can be left
installed, there is no need to remove and reinstall of each connection. You will only need a new set of Pod
configuration files.
We suggest you test access to each service
1. If not open already, open SDTConnector
2. Expand Fortinet Wireless Training Remote Lab:

3. You will now see a new set of icons. The precise list of icons may vary from the screenshot above and will
depend on the type of lab or exam you are doing.
4. Each entry will have its own set of services buttons.
5. For controller (shown above), start each of the services in turn and ensure that they successfully launch.
Clicking on the <HTTPS> button will launch a local copy of your web browser and open a connection to
the web interface of the controller over a VPN tunnel
Clicking on the <SSH> button will open the local copy of PuTTy and connect to your controllers command
line interface over a VPN tunnel.
6. If either service fails to launch, ensure that you have installed the applications in the default installation
location.
7. Once you have confirmed successful connection to the controller, select the Win7.. option
8. This will show a <VNC> button that will launch the local copy VNC you have just installed. It will establish
connection over the VPN to a Windows 7 workstation.
9. To access the desktop you will need to enter a password. By default this password is joshua
10. The VNC session should now start and give present you with the Windows desktop you will use during the lab.
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 If the VNC client fails to launch or connect, again check that you:
Are using the version of UltraVNC that matches your Windows version
Have installed UltraVNC in the default installation location.

Note: The default desktop size for the remote VNC can be made larger
by If you wish, you may enlarge it by right-clicking on the desktop
background and choosing Screen Resolution.

11. You may have other services that you can connect to, you may not require access to these, refer to your Lab
Guide to determine if this is the case.

If you have successfully connected to the all the services required,
you are ready to start using the remote lab.

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Things To Note.
MY BROWSER IS ACCESSING LOCALHOST?
When connecting to the controller using your local browser, you will notice that the URL references localhost

This is normal and is part or how the VPN connection works.
SPEED OF ACCESSING THE CONTROLLERS WEB INTERFACE
Your browser is accessing a web server in the US, as a result it can take some time for the initial connection to the
controller. Subsequent connections will be faster as the browser will cache content.