Understanding the Fortigate Management VDOM

The fortigate management vdom is critical. Without it and internet access, you will prevent simple operations such as;

• AV/IPS updates
• DNS queries
• NTP time-sync
• Webfilter rating look-ups
• forticloud logging
• the sending of SNMP or  Emails Alerts

All of the above originates by whatever vdom you  list as the management. If not clear, all of the above functions need internet access.

By the default, the management vdom is the "root" vdom. But if you have multiple vdoms enabled fortigate,   you can change this via the following command;

config global

config system global

      set management-vdom <the_vdom_name_here>

end

 Also make sure you are aware of the  management vdom, and what one ( vdom ) is in used. Its a waste of time diagnostic management functions from the wrong vdom.

Ken Felix
Security and Network  Engineer

kfelix  ----a---t---socpuppets ---d---o---t---com

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