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Navigate the GUI

The FortiGate GUI is organized around what you're trying to do (Network, Policy, VPN, Log, etc.) rather than around device parts. Once you know the top-level menu layout, you can find anything.

Top-Level Menus

The left sidebar groups everything:

  • Dashboard — status, summary widgets, live performance.
  • Network — interfaces, VLANs, routing, DHCP, DNS, virtual wire pairs.
  • Policy & Objects — firewall policies, NAT, address objects, service objects, schedules, IP pools.
  • Security Profiles — Antivirus, IPS, Web Filter, DNS Filter, Application Control, File Filter, SSL Inspection.
  • VPN — IPsec wizards, IPsec tunnels, SSL VPN portals, SSL VPN settings.
  • User & Authentication — local users, user groups, LDAP/RADIUS servers, FSSO, FortiTokens.
  • WiFi & Switch Controller — FortiAPs, SSIDs, managed FortiSwitches (this menu only appears if any are configured).
  • Log & Report — view logs, configure log storage, reports.
  • Security Fabric — fabric topology, automation, FortiAnalyzer connection.
  • System — admin accounts, firmware, certificates, SNMP, HA, settings, FortiGuard, replacement messages.

The exact menu list varies by FortiGate model and what features are enabled. For example, WiFi & Switch Controller only appears if you have FortiAPs/FortiSwitches in the fabric.

Common Find-It Paths

  • "How do I add a firewall rule?" → Policy & Objects → Firewall Policy → + Create New
  • "How do I forward a port to a server?" → Policy & Objects → Virtual IPs
  • "Where do I see what's getting blocked?" → Log & Report → Forward Traffic (filter by Action = Deny)
  • "How do I add an interface?" → Network → Interfaces → + Create New
  • "How do I upgrade firmware?" → System → Firmware
  • "How do I back up the config?" → System → Configuration → Backup (or admin-icon top-right → Configuration → Backup, depending on version)

Useful UI Bits

  • CLI Console icon (upper right): opens a CLI terminal in the GUI. Faster than SSH for one-off commands.
  • Admin icon (upper right): your account menu — logout, change password, configuration backup/restore on some versions.
  • Help icon (?) on most pages: links to the official Fortinet docs page for that feature.
  • Filter bar at top of most lists (policies, logs, address objects): saves time on big tables.
  • Object selectors (the magnifying glass): when a field expects an address/service/interface, click the search icon to pick from existing objects rather than typing.

Common Issues

  • "Where is X?" — feature/menu name changes between versions. Search Fortinet docs by feature for the current path.
  • A menu I expect is missing. It's disabled. System → Feature Visibility lets you turn whole feature sets on/off (Web Filter, DNS Filter, etc.). If a menu is missing, check Feature Visibility first.
  • Object selector is empty. No matching objects exist yet. Create one in the relevant section first (e.g., Address objects under Policy & Objects).