How to Prepare for Fortinet End of Life: A Critical Step-by-Step Migration Guide

As Fortinet devices approach the Fortinet End of Life of their supported lifecycle, many security teams find themselves without a clear migration plan. This gap comes at a risky time. Cyber incidents continue to rise, and organizations that rely on aging security infrastructure are increasingly exposed to breaches, downtime, and compliance failures.

According to recent industry reports, data breaches remain a widespread problem across industries. IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report shows that the global average cost of a breach reached $4.45 million in 2023, the highest figure recorded to date.

At the same time, firewall technology is evolving. Market research shows that next generation firewalls account for the majority of new enterprise firewall deployments, while legacy firewall models are steadily phased out. Organizations that delay modernization not only increase security risk but also face higher recovery costs and longer incident response times when breaches occur.

This guide is designed to help you prepare for that transition, whether you are reviewing your Fortinet end of life list or beginning the migration process for the first time.

I. Understand Fortinet’s End-of-Life Lifecycle

You need to understand Fortinet’s product lifecycle before planning any migration. The way we manage firewall infrastructure depends on knowing what end-of-life means and how it affects your organization’s security.

What does Fortinet EOL mean?

Fortinet End of Life (EOL) is a formal process that phases out support for specific hardware or software products. This doesn’t mean your product becomes obsolete right away – it just marks the start of a planned transition period.

The EOL announcement usually means Fortinet has released newer models with better capabilities and security features. So the company will stop manufacturing, selling, and supporting older products based on a set schedule.

Network administrators need to start planning their migration strategy as soon as they get an EOL notification. Your organization faces several risks if you ignore these notifications:

• Running unsupported firmware vulnerable to new security threats
• No access to technical support when issues arise
• No critical security patches and updates
• Potential compliance violations in regulated industries

Key dates: EOO, EOS, EoES, LSED

The EOL process follows a timeline with four vital milestones:

1. End of Order (EOO) – The last day you can buy the product. Fortinet won’t accept new orders after this date, but you might still find stock at resellers.
2. End of Support (EOS) – Fortinet stops providing technical help for the product. This includes troubleshooting, configuration support, and bug fixes.
3. End of Engineering Support (EoES) – Fortinet stops developing firmware updates or security patches for the product. Your system could become vulnerable to new threats.
4. Last Security and Engineering Date (LSED) – The final cutoff for any type of support or security updates. Using the product after this date creates serious security and operational risks.

Your Fortinet products need active tracking of these dates to maintain security compliance and operational stability. You should focus first on devices near their LSED date since these pose immediate security risks.

II. Assess Your Current Firewall Environment

Image Source: SlideTeam

You just need a full picture of your current environment before migrating from a Fortinet end of life device. A successful migration strategy starts with taking inventory, finding outdated hardware, and reviewing performance gaps.

Inventory all firewall devices and configurations

Your first step toward Fortinet end of life migration starts with a complete inventory. You should enable device detection on your networks. This helps gather vital information about connected devices, including MAC addresses, IP addresses, operating systems, and hostnames. You’ll also want to document all current firewall configurations, security policies, rule sets, and access controls.

To manage inventory effectively:

• Register all products with Fortinet Support to track lifecycles accurately
• Document current configurations and network topology
• Review change management procedures to understand past modifications
• Create detailed documentation of allowed/denied traffic and NAT rules

Identify outdated or unsupported hardware

Once you complete your inventory, match each device against the Fortinet end of life list. Look at the End of Order (EOO) date, Last Service Extension Date (LSED), End of Engineering Support Date (EoES), and End of Support Date (EOS) for each device. Fortinet has announced that many FortiGate, FortiSwitch, and FortiWiFi models will reach EOS in 2026 and 2027.

Data breaches now cost around $2.70 million on average. Running outdated firewalls puts you at risk. Security vulnerabilities grow rapidly without regular patches and updates.

Evaluate current performance and security gaps

Take time to review your environment’s performance and security posture. You can spot throughput issues by checking duplex settings, negotiated speeds, and system performance with commands like “diagnose system top”. High CPU or memory consumption shows your FortiGate doesn’t deal very well with current demands.

Your security review should check firewall policies for overlaps and inefficiencies. Of course, a formal FortiGate audit helps find vulnerabilities systematically. This helps you spot high-risk areas and prioritize fixes before starting migration.

III. Step-by-Step Fortinet Firewall Migration Plan

Image Source: Fortinet

A successful firewall migration depends on following a clear sequence of actions that reduce risk, limit downtime, and protect critical traffic. The checklist below outlines the core steps security teams should complete when moving away from devices on the Fortinet end of life list.

1. Clean up unused rules and policies
   Remove redundant and inactive configurations before migration begins. Identify rules with no traffic hits, eliminate shadowed policies, and consolidate overlapping entries to simplify the ruleset and reduce misconfiguration risk.
2. Map applications and traffic flows
   Document how applications communicate across the network and identify traffic that requires continuous availability. Clear visibility into dependencies helps prevent service interruptions and ensures accurate policy translation.
3. Select a migration strategy that fits operational risk
   Decide on a structured approach such as phased transitions, full cutovers during maintenance windows, parallel deployments, or zone based migrations that preserve policy behavior during changeover.
4. Build and validate a lab environment
   Replicate production conditions in a test environment to verify policy enforcement, VPN connectivity, and application access. Testing in isolation allows issues to surface before they impact live systems.
5. Freeze changes and prepare a rollback plan
   Pause configuration changes ahead of migration and document recovery steps in case rollback becomes necessary. Back up all configurations and system states to ensure rapid restoration if problems arise.
6. Execute the migration and confirm stability
   Follow the migration plan closely during implementation and validate configurations after deployment. Review system logs, complete acceptance testing with stakeholders, and monitor performance through a full operational cycle to confirm success.

IV. Post-Migration Monitoring and Optimization

Your security posture needs constant monitoring after migrating devices from the Fortinet end of life list.

Track KPIs and compare with pre-migration baselines

You need to measure key performance indicators to confirm migration success. These metrics matter the most:

• Response time: Track average and peak response cycles to spot performance issues
• Server performance: Monitor CPU utilization, memory usage, and load averages
• Uptime percentage: We want to reach the “four nines” standard (99.99% availability)
• Error rates: Measure HTTP errors, logged exceptions, and thrown exceptions

These metrics should be compared against pre-migration baselines to spot improvements or areas that need work.

Remove temporary rules and recertify policies

Once stable operations are confirmed, your configuration needs cleanup by:

• Removing any temporary rules created during migration
• Analyzing existing policies to spot redundancies
• Eliminating unused objects or policies from your ruleset
• Running user acceptance testing with affected departments

Schedule regular audits and updates

Your maintenance procedures should include:

• Network security monitoring for malicious activity
• Tracking configuration changes, including who made them and why
• Regular security audits to protect against evolving threats
• Firewall log reviews to spot potential security incidents
• Documentation of major configuration changes for easier long-term auditing

A well-monitored post-migration setup will give you optimal security and performance throughout its lifecycle.

V. Planning Ahead Pays Off

Fortinet end of life milestones are not just technical deadlines. They signal a broader shift in how organizations must think about security resilience, operational continuity, and long term risk. Teams that act early gain the space to make deliberate decisions, test assumptions, and align security upgrades with real business needs instead of reacting under pressure.

Security infrastructure should support growth rather than constrain it. Treating end of life planning as an opportunity to modernize, simplify, and improve visibility helps organizations move forward with confidence. With the right preparation and ongoing oversight, firewall migration becomes a controlled transition that reinforces security posture rather than a last minute scramble driven by risk.