FortiManager is Fortinet's centralized management platform for the Fortinet Security Fabric. It gives network and security teams a single interface to configure, monitor, and enforce consistent policy across FortiGate firewalls, FortiSwitch switches, and FortiAP wireless access points. A single FortiManager appliance or VM can handle everything from a handful of branch devices to tens of thousands across a global enterprise.

It depends on the model. The FMG-200F supports up to 30 managed devices, the FMG-300F up to 100, the FMG-400E up to 150, the FMG-2000E up to 4,000, and the FMG-3000F up to 10,000. The FortiManager VM scales by adding device license entitlements, so capacity grows with your deployment without requiring new hardware.

ADOM stands for Administrative Domain. ADOMs let you partition FortiManager into separate management workspaces, each with its own administrator accounts, device groups, policy packages, and log storage. This is especially useful for managed service providers handling multiple customers, or enterprises that need to separate management by business unit, region, or compliance boundary.

Yes. The hardware or VM base includes a license for a set number of managed devices. If you need to manage more devices than the base license covers, you add device license entitlements. FortiManager also requires an active FortiCare support contract for firmware updates and access to technical support.

Yes. The FortiManager VM edition runs on VMware ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V, KVM, and as a marketplace image on AWS and Azure. Capacity is determined by the license tier rather than hardware resources, so you can start small and scale by adding device entitlements rather than replacing the appliance.

No. FortiManager is a separate product with its own licensing. FortiGate firewalls include local management through the FortiOS GUI, but centralized management across multiple devices, multi-tenant ADOM separation, and enterprise-grade automation all require a dedicated FortiManager deployment.