FortiController-5208 system
You can create a FortiGate-5005-DIST high-throughput multi-threat network security system using one or two FortiController-5208 boards and multiple FortiGate-5005 boards in a FortiGate-5050 or FortiGate-5140 chassis.
AFortiGate-5020 chassis cannot be used to create a FortiGate-5005-DIST system. Functionally, one or two FortiController-5208 boards using the processing power of multiple FortiGate-5005 boards function much like a single FortiGate unit, but with far greater capacity.
In a FortiGate-5005-DIST configuration, the FortiGate-5005FA2 boards are used only for their processing power. The FortiController-5208 assigns tasks to each FortiGate-5005FA2 board and provides all external connections to the network. Given this division of labor, the FortiController-5208 board is also called the I/O board and the FortiGate-5005FA2 boards are also called the worker boards.
The FortiController-5208 board provides two 10 gigabit interfaces and four
1 gigabit interfaces for network traffic. The FortiController-5208 front panel also contains an additional four 1-gigabit interfaces for inter-chassis HA and future use. Optionally, you can double the number of available of network interfaces by adding a second FortiController-5208.
Once initial set-up is complete, all subsequent administration and configuration of the FortiController-5208 boards and FortiGate-5005 boards is done through the primary FortiController-5208 board.
The FortiGate-5005 boards are administered as a single unit, and therefore configured identically. All traffic is distributed to the FortiGate boards using the backplane interfaces so no front panel connections are required for the FortiGate boards.
The FortiController-5208 board includes the following features:
•Two 10 gigabit interfaces that can accept fiber or copper 10 gigabit Small Form factor Pluggable (XFP) fiber or copper transceivers.
•Eight 1 gigabit front panel network interfaces that can accept Small Form factor Pluggable (SFP) fiber or copper transceivers. Four of these interfaces are for data, two for inter-chassis high-availability (HA) connections, and two for future use.
•One fabric and two base backplane gigabit interfaces.
•Two RJ-45 RS-232 serial console management connections.
•An RJ-45 Ethernet management connection.
•Mounting hardware
•LED status indicators
Before you can connect any FortiController-5208 front panel interfaces, you must insert the XFP or SFP transceivers into the FortiController-5208 front panel cage slots.
This chapter includes the following information about the FortiController-5208 board:
•Front panel LEDs and connectors
•Backplane gigabit interfaces
•Installing XFP and SFP transceivers