FortiGate Managed Service Onboarding | Cybersecurity Services

### Overview In this walkthrough, Paolo Grassi, Senior Director of Product Management overseeing the Managed FortiGate Service, demonstrates the onboarding process for new customers using the FortiCloud dashboard. The service leverages FortiManager Cloud for cloud-based centralized device management. The onboarding walkthrough covers reviewing device entitlements, stepping through the onboarding wizard, configuring role-based user access, submitting the initial request, and performing local device authorization to finalize managed service operations.

### Key Topics - **Service Navigation & Device Overview**: Navigating to 'Managed FortiGate' via FortiCloud Services and understanding device registration, entitlement states, and timeline tracking. - **Preparation & Customer Classification**: Specifying whether an account operates as a Regular Customer (managing internal FortiGates) or an MSSP (managing client FortiGates). - **Deployment & Device Selection**: Selecting the deployment region for the FortiManager Cloud instance and importing entitled FortiGate devices. - **User Management & Role Assignment**: Assigning granular roles (Administrator, Initiator, Approver) to support corporate separation of duties or combined privileges. - **Submission & Service Timelines**: Finalizing requests, uploading supporting documentation or notes, and tracking progress against an expected three-business-day turnaround. - **Central Management Authorization**: Configuring Fabric Connectors on individual FortiGate firewalls to authorize management access via FortiManager Cloud.

### Technical Details - **Dashboard Location**: Accessed under `Services > Cloud Services > Managed FortiGate` on FortiCloud. - **Customer Types**: Users choose between 'Regular Customer' (own FortiGates) and 'MSSP' (client devices under the FortiCloud account), which customizes subsequent wizard fields. - **FortiManager Cloud Provisioning**: Customers select a hosting region from a dropdown list to deploy the cloud instance used by the Managed FortiGate service team. - **Device Import**: Populates serial numbers, descriptions, and location metadata automatically from FortiCloud for devices holding active, non-onboarded service entitlements. - **Access Roles**: Requires at least one of each role: - *Administrator*: Manages portal settings and accesses the user management section. - *Initiator*: Creates service or change requests. - *Approver*: Reviews and approves change requests created by other users. - **Local Device Configuration**: After the backend instance is provisioned, authorization is finalized in the FortiGate GUI under `Security Fabric > Fabric Connectors > Central Management`. The status must be set to `Enabled` with type set to `FortiManager Cloud` (leaving default parameters intact), generating an authorization request processed by the service team.

### Takeaways The onboarding workflow integrates directly with FortiCloud to automate device discovery, user imports, and instance provisioning. Successful deployment requires active service entitlements, proper setup of required administrative and operational roles, and a specific local device authorization step inside FortiOS Central Management settings before the Managed FortiGate service team can actively monitor and manage customer firewalls.