FortiConverter vs. VirtaMove

Unless you are rebuilding rules from scratch, FortiConverter is a must-have when migrating legacy rulesets from competing platforms such as Cisco ASA, CheckPoint, Juniper, etc. to FortiGate Appliances. Without FortiConverter, guaranteed there will be some flows you missed and you will be troubleshooting them during your cutover maintenance window. Utilizing FortiConverter, you will minimize such issues as cutover time because you have the ability to stage the new ruleset in advance. Complex topologies and multi-platform migrations require highly skilled consultation from experts that [have] done this several times before.

Incentivized

Best suited for applications where installing from scratch is not an option or a very difficult one. Migrating applications that you are familiar with, you have support for or have done in the past, via AppZero, in my experience, may become more time/resource consuming. In my environment it makes little sense for example to migrate an Office Suite via AppZero. Good at collapsing tiers (e.g. old application whose demand has waned and it no longer needs to serve large number of users). The score is awarded is a bit misleading, AppZero is invaluable when you have no other choice but for mainstream applications its value drops.

Incentivized

• Audit existing rulesets from CheckPoint, Cisco, Juniper and other platforms
• Build migration rulesets to FortiGate
• Stages migration before actual cutover
• Reduces or eliminates obsolete and shadow rules
• Simple logic

Incentivized

• When documentation regarding the implementation of an application is missing (e.g. old versions and support is prohibitive to obtain, or in case of homegrown applications) it becomes the tool available to perform the migration.
• There is always a back-out option, and different approaches/attempts can be made.
• Will provide you insight on what otherwise would be a "blackbox" application.
• Allows you to consolidated multi-tiered applications into fewer/single tiers.

Incentivized

• Programming or scripting skills are not needed but highly recommended
• Requires excellent command of REGEX
• Interface Mapping from complex topologies requires a deep understanding of FortiGate interface capabilities and scripting

Incentivized

• I'd like to see a more streamlined migration of applications relying on SQL.
• I'd like to see better documentation, or perhaps labs/examples available.

Incentivized

FortiConverter is currently the best option to assist in migrating legacy firewalls to FortiGate firewalls. FortiConverter is flexible enough to be the single tool to use when migrating Check Point, Cisco ASA, Juniper and other platforms to FortiGate Firewalls. FortiConverter is not a multi-user software however it is easy for multiple engineers to work on a single or multiple migration projects.

Incentivized

FortiConverter is the easiest of the firewall migration tools to use compared to Checkpoint SmartMove, Cisco Firewall Migration Tool, FWMIG, etc. It has a more robust user interface and allows you to customize the rule imports as needed. Rulebase analysis, hit count, NAT, and dynamic routing are presented in an easy to understand format with FortiConverter.

Incentivized

I have not use any other application for this purpose. I've selected AppZero based on peer recommendation and found it to fulfill the functionality I was looking for.

Incentivized

• Streamlined migrations successful on the first try
• Simple and fast cutover maintenance window
• Audit and tune existing rule base
• Quickly identify shadow rules
• Quickly identify rules with elevated access

Incentivized

• It has certainly proved to be a worthwhile investment. There were cases where to migrate an application several versions behind with lapsed support would've been a many zeroes expense. Done via AppZero, it was a LOT cheaper.

Incentivized