Extract the .zip file to obtain the .qcow2 image.
FortiOS Release Notes * Fortinet Security Fabric upgrade. * Downgrading to previous firmware versions. * Firmware image checksums. Fortinet Document Library Fortinet Product Downloads | Support
For live virtual environments, the .qcow2 file acts as the primary virtual drive. FortiOS v7.2.3 requires systematic resources to operate alongside security features like Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) and Antivirus scanning:
Mastering FortiGate-VM64-KVM: Deep Dive into FGT_VM64_KVM-v7.2.3.F-build1262-FORTINET.out.kvm.qcow2
Download the FGT_VM64_KVM-v7.2.3.F-build1262-FORTINET.out.kvm.zip from Fortinet Support (authorized access required). Ensure the MD5 checksum matches the provided value (often 51ab1b86bfe1a246b16c886725274df6 ).
Once you have the fortios.qcow2 file on your KVM host, you can deploy the VM using either the graphical or the command line with virt-install .
Before executing deployment scripts, ensure the host architecture complies with the hardware resource limits imposed by Fortinet's virtual licensing scheme. Hypervisor Requirements
If you encounter issues when deploying this specific image, check the following common problems: