Fortigate: How to configure 802.3ad Aggregate feature on firewall Fortigate

Overview

• 802.3ad Aggregate is a method of grouping 2 or more network ports together making them a single connection to consolidate bandwidth (trunking) or provide faul tolerance
• 802.3ad Aggregate with trunking feature increases the connection speed beyond the speed of single cable or single network port
• The improvement in tranfer efficiency really makes sense in a server environment where multiple connections are made from workstations
• Redundant also creates higher availabily and helps to avoid disruptions in network transmission

Diagram

How to configure

• Login to the Fortigate web interface page with an Admin account
• Choose Network -> Choose Interfaces -> Click Create New -> Choose Interface

• Enter name for Interface
• Choose Type: Choose 802.3ad Aggregate

• In Interface members: Choose ports which you want
• In Role: Choose LAN or DMZ according to your needs
• In IP/Netmask: Enter IP to manage
• In Administrative access: Choose service which you want

-> Click OK

• We can create VLANs with the 802.3 ad Aggregate interface just created
• In Interfaces -> Choose Create New -> Choose Interface
• Enter name for VLAN
• In Type: Choose VLAN
• In Interface: Choose interface 802.3ad which was created before
• In VLAN ID: Enter VLAN ID which you want
• In Role: Choose LAN
• In Address: Enter IP gateway of VLAN

• In Administrative access -> Choose services which you want
• In DHCP: Enable it
• In Address range: Enter range IP which you want
• In DNS server: Enter DNS which you want

-> Click OK

• Check config

** After configuring the 802.3ad Aggregate feature, on the Switch device we will configure Port Channel for 2 network ports running trunk with Fortigate device