Building a FortiGate SD-WAN Lab in EVE-NG (2025 Guide): Images, Common Issues, & Lessons Learned

An early-morning grind to kick off a FortiGate SD-WAN lab build using EVE-NG. Starting around 2AM—no coffee—I focused on researching, setting up, and experimenting with the lab environment while trying a streaming-style video for the first time. Still a lot to improve! This lab is part of my goal to review and refresh FortiGate SD-WAN, which I worked on years back and want to revisit. 🔗 https://layer3life.wordpress.com/cate... 🗒️Requirements & Setup Notes: 1. Fortinet Image Download Images must be downloaded from the Fortinet Support Portal. You can register for free here: https://support.fortinet.com/support/#/ Registration allows you to download KVM images for lab and testing purposes. 2. Versions Used FortiManager: Version 7.4.7 FortiGate: Version 7.2.x I haven’t fully tested version compatibility in EVE-NG yet. However, based on the FortiManager Compatibility Matrix, FortiManager 7.4.x should still support FortiGate 7.2.x or later. Further testing will confirm this. 3. EVE-NG Image Upload The image upload process follows the standard EVE-NG backend procedure. Simply follow the official step-by-step guide from the EVE-NG documentation. 4. File Upload Tool Used WinSCP to upload images to the EVE-NG server. ⚠️ Important note: Make sure to rename - update the image folder and files correctly. 5. Known Issue – FortiManager Encountered an issue when running FortiManager. ✅ Solution: Increase the assigned memory to at least 16GB. #FortiGate #Fortinet #SDWAN #FortiGateSDWAN #FortiManage #Eve-NG #itpreneur #NetworkSecurity