1

Hey all:

Any Fortiswitch SMB users here?

I have a Cisco background and was going to purchase 3 units of a 48port CBS 350 with 10GBE SFP+ ports and POE+ support. But they are wickedly on backorder. My supplier (Insight) suggested two Fortiswitches as options, though honestly I believe they are constrained as well.

The first is FS-148F-FPOE, the second is WAY beyond my price range (FS-448E-POE).

Here’s my question:

I was trying to ensure that my basic needs can be met here, but it is hard to figure this out.

In my environment, I need to have a managed L2/Lite L3 switch. The FS-148F-FPOE seems to hit those marks. But it is the L3 aspects I cannot tell.

In my LAN today, I have to be able to tag/untag ports to VLANs. No problems there on the FS-148F to do that. I also need to ensure that I can assign an IP address to EACH vlan and to be able to do inter-vlan routing within the switch. I also need to be able to assign DHCP addresses in the switch. (I could use an external DHCP server if I have to.)

I cannot confirm that I can assign IPs to each VLAN and if I can do inter-vlan routing WITHIN THE SWITCH.

Can anyone who’s actually used the entry level fortiswitches confirm for me?

When I try to search on FN’s support, it refers me to the fortios guides, but those guides do not indicate whether the configurations are supported on this FS-148E-FPOE switch or not.

If I do end up substituting using the FN switch, I don’t want to find out that I can’t do inter-vlan routing and IP assisments (static) to my VLANs.

I’d love for some confirmation from any of you who may currently be using “hands on” the FS-1XX series switches. (the FS-2XX and FS-4XX are just out of my price range).

Cisco has a non-poe version I’m looking at. But TBH, I’m tired of managing external POE injectors they just make a mess of my power and wiring closet, so I’m hoping to find a POE switch to replace the non-POEs I am using now.

Thanks in advance.

@Fortinet

10 Spice ups
2

The 100 series in SMB is amazing, especially underneath a FortiGate. The 100 series typically does everything you need with VLANs and then some.

The 400 is beyond your price range because it’s not an SMB switch. It’s not really even a distribution switch, it’s more for aggregation.

The 148 PoE (specifically in the F-gen) is amazing. I’ve deployed hundreds of them paired with FortiGate firewalls. Absolute best SMB pair in my opinion.

3

I haven’t used one so do not know for sure, but I get the impression that the intended use is with a Fortigate - and in that scenario they are layer 2 only with the fortigate firewall performing inter-vlan routing.

The feature set https://fortinetweb.s3.amazonaws.com/docs.fortinet.com/v2/attachments/025d119d-9412-11eb-b70b-00505692583a/FortiSwitch-7.0.0-Feature-Matrix.pdf states that the 148 supports static routes - that usually means inter-vlan but it also states it is software only - so you would not want to use that. an L3 switch does it in hardware, so again the ‘software only’ routing makes me think it is not inter-vlan, certainly not asic level switched between the 2 vlans. It doesn’t do dhcp server either.

I would avoid if you need an L3 switch.

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Unless you have a Fortigate, I’d stick with Cisco. The fortiswitches are designed to be managed by a fortigate. CLI will be very different from what you’re used to with Cisco.

5

I ended up going with a Cisco model CBS350, which I’ve worked with before. They’ll do the job I need. Problem was, I had to go without POE model b/c they were back ordered for 250 days

I love Fortinet 60F/80Fs, but never used their switches. The genuine L3 switches from FN were just too much money for my SMB budget. This 1xx series is not a real Lite L3 switch. So I stayed a way from it.

I need to be able to do inter-vlan routing in the switch (hardware) at ethernet wirespeeds. That software routing or requiring a FGATE is just not going to work. The 80F I have doesn’t do 10GBE and I cannot afford one that could.

Most of my network is L2, but I do have a couple subnets that I’d like to continue to do inter-vlan routing INTRASWITCH. So I’m sticking with the Ciscos.

anyways, thanks for the help.

@andrewdawson9043