The Different Types of Networks: A Practitioner’s Field Guide
Manny FernandezAsk ten engineers to define "a network" and you will get ten answers that are all correct and none of...
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Demystifying FortiAuthenticator: Deploying FortiAuthenticator as an LDAP Server for Centralized FortiGate Authentication
Manny Fernandez1. Executive Summary Objective: This guide turns a FortiAuthenticator (FAC) appliance or VM into a standalone LDAP directory that other...
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Need to know information about FortiBleed
Manny FernandezDISCLAIMER: Please see link above for the official Fortinet response on "FortiBleed" as of this writing 20260703 FortiBleed, in short:...
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Is your FortiGate vulnerable to Management Access when using a Let’s Encrypt Certificate
Manny FernandezThe underlying assumption that Let’s Encrypt requires you to expose your FortiGate's management console or administrative GUI via plain HTTP...
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Building Custom Application Signatures on FortiGate
Manny FernandezFortiGate ships with thousands of built-in application signatures, but eventually you will hit traffic it does not recognize: an internal...
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iTerm2 Deep-Dive Configuration Guide for macOS
Manny FernandezA practitioner-grade reference for configuring iTerm2, with emphasis on the powerful and rarely-documented features that separate a default install from...
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Deploying FortiGate Dynamic Device and OS Identification for Network Visibility and Asset Inventory
Manny Fernandez1. Executive Summary Objective: This guide walks through enabling and operationalizing FortiGate's Dynamic Device and OS Identification (device detection) so...
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Demystifying Regular Expressions (Regex) in Fortinet Environments
Manny FernandezA Comprehensive Deep Dive, Best Practices, and Ready-to-Use Cheat Sheet 1. Introduction to Regex in FortiOS Regular Expressions (Regex) are...
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DNS Demystified: Lookup, Caching, Zones, Records, and Security from End to End
Manny Fernandez1. Executive Summary Objective: This guide explains exactly how DNS resolves a name into an answer, what happens at every...
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Mastering Routing Administrative Distance: A FortiGate and Multi-Vendor Engineering Guide
Manny Fernandez1. Title and Executive Summary Objective: This guide explains how administrative distance (AD) governs route selection when a router learns...
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FortiGate-to-FortiGate GRE Tunnel Deployment Guide
Manny FernandezOverview A FortiGate can build a strictly GRE tunnel to another FortiGate with no IPsec involved. FortiOS implements Generic Routing...
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Blocking Scribd Uploads on FortiGate Using Built-In FortiGuard Controls
Manny FernandezCustomer asked us how to block scribd uploads. I figured I would write an article and share with everyone. Executive...
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FortiGate Interface and Link Types: A Practitioner’s Field Reference
Manny FernandezExecutive Summary A FortiGate is only as flexible as the interfaces you build on it. Open the Network > Interfaces...
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Deploying FortiGate Firewall Policy Disclaimers for Acceptable Use Enforcement
Manny Fernandez1. Title & Executive Summary Objective: This guide explains how to deploy and operate the FortiGate firewall policy disclaimer, the...
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Power over Ethernet Standards Decoded: Matching PoE Types to the Devices That Need Them
Manny Fernandez1. Title and Executive Summary Title: Power over Ethernet Standards Decoded: Matching PoE Types to the Devices That Need Them Objective:...
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Deploying FortiGate Load Balance Health Check Monitors for High-Availability Virtual Servers
Manny Fernandez1. Executive Summary Objective: This guide documents how to build, apply, and validate Load Balance Monitors (config firewall ldb-monitor) on...
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Detecting Bettercap on the Wire: Building a Blue-Team Lab to Identify and Alert on Layer-2 MitM Activity
Manny Fernandez1. Objective This guide builds an isolated detection lab and walks through identifying the network artifacts that Bettercap and similar...
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Impacket Scripts Explained: A Practitioner’s Field Guide to the Toolkit Every Defender Should Recognize
Manny FernandezIf you have spent any time in a SOC, on a red team, or staring at a packet capture trying...
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Deploying FortiGate Public SDN Connectors for AWS: Dynamic Address Automation at Scale
Manny Fernandez1. Executive Summary Objective: This guide walks through configuring a FortiGate Public SDN (Software-Defined Networking) Connector for Amazon Web Services...
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What Is EVPN and VXLAN? A Practitioner’s Primer
Manny FernandezA vendor-neutral deep dive into the control plane and the data plane that modern overlay networks are built on.* Why...
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