Run FortiGate Inside Your Computer Using GNS3

Image by Issa Itani

Run FortiGate Inside Your Computer

Using GNS3
Published on November 9, 2017

Issa Itani Follow

Information Security Consultant, CISSP 48 19 7
1 article

Hello, in this detailed guide i will show you how to add Fortigate to GNS3, how to do basic
network configuration for the machines, and how to access FortiGate through CLI
(Command-Line) and web.

Requirements

------------------------------------------------------

• GNS3 (V 2.0.3) & GNS3 VM (Or above)

• Download FortiGate appliance from Here

• Download FortiGate 5.6 Image from Here

• Download Tiny Linux Firefox Appliance from Here

• Download Tiny Linux Firefox Image from Here

------------------------------------------------------

Import Appliances & Images

Messaging

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fortigate-inside-gns3-cli-web-access-issa-itani/ 1/7
11/7/2018 (2) Run FortiGate Inside Your Computer Using GNS3 | LinkedIn

Start a new blank project, click File > Import Appliance, then choose the Free Upgrade
to Premium
1 FortiGate
1 appliance file (.gns3a)

Click Next, then choose "Run the appliance on the GNS3 VM(recommended)" option, after
GNS3 verify the VM requirements to run the appliance, click Next.

Click on Refresh, a list of all the required FortiGate files will appear like the following

In your case all the files will be missing. For this guide i will be using FortiGate 5.6.1.

Under FortiGate 5.6.1 on the list, click on FGT_VM64_KVM-v5-build1484....., then import,

then choose the file extracted from the FortiGate Image.

Note: In order for FortiGate to operate, it needs an empty harddisk

The harddisk can be created using linux tool called 'qemu-img' using the following
command:

qemu-img create -f qcow2 empty30G.qcow2 30G

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fortigate-inside-gns3-cli-web-access-issa-itani/ 2/7
11/7/2018 (2) Run FortiGate Inside Your Computer Using GNS3 | LinkedIn

or you can download the file from Here . 1 1 Free Upgrade

to Premium

To import the harddisk into GNS click on empty30G.qcow2 under FortiGate 5.6.1 on the
list, then import and choose the harddisk file.

After adding the two files they will be ready to install, click on Next, then choose
/usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64 (v2.5.0) for Qemu binary, then click Next, Next, Finish.

FortiGate will appear on Security

Devices Tab

To import Tiny Linux Firefox, Click File >>> Import Appliance >>> Choose the Tiny Linux
Firefox Appliance file >>> Click Next >>> Under Firefox 31.1.1~2 click on linux-tinycore-
linux-6.4...... then import >>> choose the Tiny Linux Firefox image file >>> Click Next
>>> choose /usr/bin/qemu-system-i386 (v2.5.0) for Qemu binary >>> Click Next, Next,
Finish.

Firefox will appear in the End Devices tab.

Network Topology & Configuration

For this guide i will configure a very basic network topology.

FortiGate Configuration

Right-Click on FortiGate, then click on Console to access the CLI. The username is 'admin'
and blank password.

To set IP on port 1 run the following commands.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fortigate-inside-gns3-cli-web-access-issa-itani/ 3/7
11/7/2018 (2) Run FortiGate Inside Your Computer Using GNS3 | LinkedIn

1 1 Free Upgrade
config system interface to Premium
edit port1
set ip your-private-ip/your-subnet-mask
set allowaccess ping http https ssh
end

show system interface (To verify the configuration)

Tiny Linux Firefox Configuration

Right-Click then choose console, a GUI will appear.

open a terminal and run 'ifconfig' to check for network interfaces. in my case i will configure
interface 'eth0'. Run the following commands to set an IP.

sudo -s
ifconfig eth0 your-private-ip netmask your-subnet-mask
route add default gw your-default-gateway-ip
route -n (To verfiy the configuration)

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fortigate-inside-gns3-cli-web-access-issa-itani/ 4/7
11/7/2018 (2) Run FortiGate Inside Your Computer Using GNS3 | LinkedIn

1 1 Free Upgrade
to Premium

To open Fortigate through web, click on Firefox and type your default gateway IP in the
URL bar. Enter username 'admin' and empty password

Finally, the portal will open and you should see the following

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fortigate-inside-gns3-cli-web-access-issa-itani/ 5/7
11/7/2018 (2) Run FortiGate Inside Your Computer Using GNS3 | LinkedIn

1 1 Free Upgrade
to Premium

I hope that this will help you in configuring FortiGate inside GNS3.

Report this

48 Likes

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fortigate-inside-gns3-cli-web-access-issa-itani/ 6/7
11/7/2018 (2) Run FortiGate Inside Your Computer Using GNS3 | LinkedIn

1 1 Free Upgrade
+38
to Premium

19 Comments

Show previous comments

Adeniyi Adewuyi • 3rd 1w

Senior Network Analyst at Brandt Group of Companies
Nice and easy. Make sure you have uvnc installed locally on your pc though. I had to figure that
out when tiny firefox will not start.
thanks for the information. 
Like Reply 1 Like

Guerouabi Amirouche • 3rd 2d

Ingénieur Réseaux chez Davidson consulting
this was helpful thank you
Like Reply

Add a comment

Issa Itani
Information Security Consultant, CISSP

Follow

Select Language
t Questions?
Visit our Help Center. English (English)
munity Guidelines

y & Terms
Manage your account and privacy.
feedback Go to your Settings.

dIn Corporation © 2018

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fortigate-inside-gns3-cli-web-access-issa-itani/ 7/7