Game in the Brain

Fortigate Scope of Basic Training:

1. Dashboard

2. Operation Mode and Inspection Mode

3. Network Settings

4. WAN Link Load Balance

5. Firewall Policies

6. Security Profiles (AV, Web Filter, App Control, IPS, AntiSpam)

7. NAT/Port Forwarding

8. Authentication

9. SSL VPN (web mode and tunnel mode)

10. IPsec VPN

11. Log & Report

12. Backup configuration

13. CLI and troubleshooting

Fortinet Cookbook

Lessons Learned.

1) Hands-on is great, but I really need to have a home application of this. “Hands-on is Great, but Application is better” The best home application of this is accessing my Studies Folder at home. 

2) I really need to invest in the Tools. While I would love to get my hands on a Fortigate FG30 I can’t afford one. That’s about 400usd. I can better afford a pfsense mini PC. I dont have an OLD pc to cannibalize to convert into a Pfsense firewall. 

After the Training to keep things Fresh I’ll buy this as part of my studies. Anyway I inquired with a local Pfsense shop. I can’t just buy this from China (the Lazada you see in the bottom), without factoring the risk that I will get a piece of junk or there will be some issues. Something this complicated and expensive (I can walk away from 500php or 10usd, but not 170usd).

3) That companies dont ask for IT to help them in making sense of their Network Needs. It really takes 1 man-day to Give basic training, but designing and setting up a Network for a business with a relatively uncomplicated system takes about 3 man-days for our 50 user site (1 manday per 20 network clients). The local Distributor of Fortinet is Charging about 5,000php (100usd) per man-day.

the formula for an IT with this kind of Training and Experience is (16,000/mo or  208,000php/year, note we have 13th month pay; and a 5-10% increase depending on how fast this person advance. A person with 3 years of experience will probably get 4/5 Customer Satisfaction score – that is about 1,100php or 22usd per manday ). So I think I can afford to Charge as much and lower depending on how much Sales Pipeline I can generate and how many Network IT I’m sending (if I’m sending a newbie to a project for training thats about 1,800php of cost of me per day).

The scope is visual inspection, Interviews, testing and verification, documentation of the logs, filling in the Process Templates and Diagrams and giving an Assessment to the client of their System, and Giving them a Visualized Recommendation for their Optimization. 

I would have the IT to perform this service, if I had such manpower, give the service for promising clients, as a “cost of sales”, and use it for the Pipeline of the Sales, and Apply Throughput World Marketing.   

3.1) Sophos and Watchguard have really bad resellers in the Philippines. I complained to Sophos about their Terrible Reseller who failed to train us and didn’t disclose that their Consultant was the OWNER of the company who sold us the Sophos 330. He charged us 14,000usd (700k php) for a device that costs 10,000usd if I just bought straight from Amazon and got my Subscription direct from Sophos.

I’m also just as unhappy about Watchguard MX470. Same as Sophos – gave us the product and no training.

4.1) My customer experience with Fortinet made me realize we could Probably Do better. I want to apply ISO Quality Training and my BPO Customer service training in such a project. I know how, and I would love to develop it, but to pay down the company’s Technical Debt will probably end me.