FortiDDoS Virtual Series in Dubai, UAE
FortiDDoS Virtual Series gives organisations a software-based route to inline distributed denial-of-service protection while retaining the behavioural learning, packet inspection and autonomous mitigation approach of the FortiDDoS platform. The key buying decision is not simply which VM license is larger; it is whether the server, NIC architecture, PCIe design, link plan and resiliency model can support the selected VM04, VM08 or VM16 target.
Direct answer: what is the FortiDDoS Virtual Series?
FortiDDoS Virtual Series is the virtual-machine branch of Fortinet’s purpose-built FortiDDoS platform for inline DDoS detection and mitigation. The current family comprises VM04, VM08 and VM16, sized at different inspected throughput and packet-rate levels. It is mainly considered by organisations that want FortiDDoS capabilities on suitable server infrastructure rather than a dedicated FortiDDoS hardware appliance. Buyers should confirm the required traffic capacity, service-protection-profile count, server CPU resources, SR-IOV NIC support, PCIe architecture, interface design, high-availability topology and external bypass approach before selecting a model. These infrastructure dependencies are especially important because the published VM performance figures rely on a suitable accelerated server design.
What the virtual platform does
FortiDDoS operates inline and learns normal network and service behaviour so it can detect abnormal Layer 3 through Layer 7 traffic patterns and apply mitigation without relying on a conventional attack-signature workflow. It is designed to inspect traffic bidirectionally, maintain service-specific behavioural thresholds and respond to multiple attack vectors while continuing to evaluate whether traffic should be allowed or dropped. For buyers, the practical value is automated DDoS control close to the protected network, with detailed event, graphing and reporting information available for operations teams.
Who should consider it
The virtual series can fit enterprise data centres and other environments where a suitable bare-metal or carefully engineered virtual infrastructure is available and where a VM deployment is preferred for operational or procurement reasons. It is particularly relevant when the protected traffic falls within the virtual models’ performance range and the organisation can design around VM-specific limitations such as the absence of built-in traffic bypass. Organisations with larger volumetric requirements, higher-speed connectivity, strict bypass requirements or a preference for purpose-built interfaces should also compare the physical FortiDDoS appliances before finalising the design.
Business problems the virtual series can help address
Service disruption from packet floods
Volumetric and packet-rate attacks can consume network or server resources long before application teams have time to respond manually. FortiDDoS is designed to identify abnormal traffic behaviour inline and enforce mitigation while legitimate traffic continues to be evaluated.
Multi-vector DDoS events
Modern attacks can combine protocol floods, reflection traffic, TCP-state abuse and application-oriented patterns. A behavioural system can monitor many parameters at the same time rather than requiring an operator to build a new manual rule for every change in the attack.
DNS and NTP exposure
DNS and NTP are frequent targets or reflection mechanisms in DDoS incidents. FortiDDoS includes protocol-aware controls for these services. Exact capability depth can vary by platform generation, so the intended feature set should be checked against the current Fortinet documentation for the selected VM software release.
Need for virtual deployment
Some organisations prefer software-based infrastructure for lifecycle, rack-space or platform-standardisation reasons. The VM models create that option, but the server becomes part of the security design, which means CPU, NIC, bus topology and failure handling must be treated as purchasing criteria.
Which FortiDDoS VM should you shortlist?
The family is not a single blended specification. Each VM tier has a different performance target and service-protection-profile capacity. Start with the real traffic profile, then validate server resources and topology.
| Buyer requirement | Model direction | Confirm before ordering |
|---|---|---|
| Up to the VM04 published range | Evaluate VM04 | 3 Gbps inspected throughput, 4 Mpps small-UDP rate, up to 4 SPPs, server acceleration design |
| More traffic or more service segmentation | Evaluate VM08 | 5 Gbps, 6 Mpps, up to 8 SPPs, link architecture and headroom |
| Highest virtual-series target | Evaluate VM16 | 10 Gbps, 10 Mpps, up to 16 SPPs, CPU/NIC/PCIe capability and HA |
| Requirements beyond virtual design limits | Compare hardware FortiDDoS | Higher-speed interfaces, optical bypass, larger throughput, packet-rate requirements or operational preference |
Current FortiDDoS Virtual Series model information
The figures below are model-specific values from the current Fortinet product information and ordering guidance. They are performance targets observed under defined lab conditions, not a guarantee for every server. Actual results depend on the underlying hardware and network design.
| Information | FortiDDoS-VM04 | FortiDDoS-VM08 | FortiDDoS-VM16 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product type | Virtual DDoS appliance | Virtual DDoS appliance | Virtual DDoS appliance |
| Enterprise inspected throughput | 3 Gbps | 5 Gbps | 10 Gbps |
| Small UDP inspected throughput | 4 Mpps | 6 Mpps | 10 Mpps |
| SYN validation throughput | 2.6 Mpps | 5 Mpps | 5 Mpps |
| Maximum service protection profiles | 4 | 8 | 16 |
| Maximum protected subnets | 512 per SPP | 512 per SPP | 512 per SPP |
| High availability | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Traffic bypass | Not built into VM; external bypass is required for most deployments | Not built into VM; external bypass is required for most deployments | Not built into VM; external bypass is required for most deployments |
| Optional security services | IP Reputation and Domain Reputation subscriptions are optional and not required for core enterprise DDoS mitigation. | ||
| Performance condition | Published VM specifications require suitable DPDK CPUs and SR-IOV NICs with PCIe x8 buses. Performance can be substantially lower when these conditions are not met. | ||
Virtual deployment dependencies are part of the product decision
A FortiDDoS VM license does not by itself create the published performance level. Fortinet’s current ordering guidance ties the stated VM figures to DPDK-capable CPUs and SR-IOV NICs using suitable PCIe x8 buses. If those acceleration elements are not available, performance can fall significantly; the guide also notes that without them the VMs are limited to Gigabit Ethernet links regardless of the number of licensed CPUs. NICs should not share PCIe buses with unrelated applications, and a bare-metal server is recommended.
This makes the server bill of materials a security-design issue rather than an ordinary virtualisation detail. The host has to be sized for the intended model, network interfaces must be mapped carefully, and resiliency must account for the fact that FortiDDoS VMs do not provide native traffic bypass. In many production deployments an external bypass design should therefore be considered. Buyers should also note that the VM platform has less granular TCP, UDP-port and ICMP flood mitigation and graphing support than FortiDDoS hardware appliances, and transceiver information cannot be extracted from server NICs by FortiDDoS. These differences do not automatically make a VM unsuitable, but they should be understood before procurement.
A practical purchase and deployment journey
Measure the protected traffic
Capture normal, busy-hour and exceptional traffic, but do not stop at Gbps. Small-packet rate, service count, subnet count and expected concurrent DDoS patterns are important to VM sizing.
Validate the server design
Confirm CPU resources, SR-IOV support, physical NIC capabilities, PCIe bus layout and whether the server will be dedicated. The target model must be evaluated together with this infrastructure.
Define inline and resilience topology
Map WAN, protected network, VLAN, LAG or load-balancing dependencies, HA pairing and external bypass. Decide how traffic continues if the host, hypervisor, NIC or VM is unavailable.
Choose model and support
Shortlist VM04, VM08 or VM16 with operational headroom, then confirm support terms and whether optional IP or Domain Reputation services are required for the organisation’s policy.
Plan learning and go-live
Deployment should allow the platform to observe representative traffic, establish expected behaviour and verify protection profiles before relying on it for production mitigation decisions.
Test operations and handover
Validate dashboards, logging, alerting, HA behaviour, bypass procedure, administrative access and incident workflows. Document who owns changes, upgrades, support cases and post-event review.
Behavioural mitigation without a signature-first workflow
FortiDDoS uses machine learning to establish adaptive baselines for normal network and service activity. It then compares live traffic against those baselines and can apply mitigation when a meaningful deviation appears. That approach is relevant to DDoS operations because attack patterns can change quickly, source addresses can be spoofed and a single event can shift between multiple protocols or packet characteristics. A security team does not want every response to depend on waiting for a new signature or creating a broad emergency ACL that may also affect legitimate users.
The platform’s value is strongest when the deployment has been designed with clear protection profiles and representative learning data. Automated behaviour analysis is not a substitute for capacity planning. If an attack exceeds the incoming circuit capacity, local inline mitigation cannot recover bandwidth that has already been saturated upstream. Buyers that face this risk should consider a hybrid strategy in which on-premise detection and mitigation can be complemented by an upstream or cloud scrubbing arrangement. FortiDDoS provides documented mechanisms for hybrid integration, but the exact partner, routing and diversion design should be confirmed during solution planning.
For the virtual series specifically, the behavioural engine still depends on the host being able to inspect traffic at the required rate. CPU contention, insufficient NIC acceleration or unsuitable bus sharing can undermine the very visibility the DDoS system needs. This is why VM sizing should combine security requirements with server architecture rather than treating the software license as an isolated line item.
Packet-rate capacity matters as much as bandwidth
A common procurement mistake is to choose DDoS protection only by matching a Gbps figure to the internet circuit. Small packets can create a high packets-per-second load even when total bandwidth looks moderate. Network devices, state tables and security inspection paths can become stressed by packet rate before a nominal bandwidth ceiling is reached. Fortinet therefore publishes both inspected throughput and small-UDP packet-rate figures for VM04, VM08 and VM16.
For example, a buyer with a multi-gigabit link should not automatically conclude that VM08 is suitable simply because its 5 Gbps enterprise inspected-throughput value appears close to normal traffic. The team should examine packet distribution, peak rates, SYN patterns, service growth and the level of operational headroom required. If the organisation hosts DNS, public applications or other services that may receive unusually small or repetitive packets, Mpps figures deserve particular attention.
The published numbers are also tied to the acceleration assumptions in Fortinet’s ordering guide. A sizing exercise is therefore incomplete until the target server hardware is known. FourTeck can use the intended traffic pattern, model range and proposed host design to help create a more defensible shortlist before a quotation is requested.
Capacity questions to ask
- What is the 95th-percentile and peak traffic?
- What is the peak packet rate?
- How many protection profiles are needed?
- How much growth headroom is required?
- Can the upstream link itself be saturated?
- Is a hybrid scrubbing plan necessary?
Operational visibility, APIs and integration
DDoS protection is not only about dropping traffic. Operations teams need to understand what was detected, which protection profile was affected, how the event changed and what action the platform took. FortiDDoS provides dashboards, graphing, event information and reporting designed for this operational context. It also exposes a RESTful API, allowing organisations to consider integration with their own operational tooling where the required functions and permissions are available.
Fortinet also positions FortiDDoS within wider hybrid DDoS workflows. Its documented attack-signalling mechanisms can be used with third-party cloud mitigation partners so that a local device can remain part of a defence strategy when attacks threaten upstream bandwidth. The design details matter: routing ownership, clean-traffic return path, GRE handling, logging continuity, trigger conditions and operational authority should be defined in advance. A hybrid design should never be assumed from the presence of an API alone.
For organisations already using Fortinet technologies, the virtual series can also be evaluated as part of a broader security operations environment. Integration value should be judged on the actual management, logging and workflow requirements rather than on brand consistency alone. FourTeck can help identify which integrations need to be validated in a proof of concept or design review before production.
Where the virtual series can fit well
Enterprise data centres
Suitable when public services require inline DDoS protection and the organisation can dedicate or carefully engineer server resources. Traffic growth and upstream bandwidth should be modelled before choosing a VM tier.
Education and government environments
Can be considered for institutions with public-facing portals, DNS services and multiple protected subnets where policy segmentation and event visibility matter. Procurement teams should include support and lifecycle requirements in the evaluation.
Hosting and managed environments
The ability to create multiple service protection profiles may be useful where distinct services or tenants require separate behavioural baselines. The maximum SPP capacity differs by VM model and should be mapped to the intended service design.
Virtual-first infrastructure strategies
A VM can align with organisations that standardise on software appliances, but only if the security traffic path can be given the necessary host resources and physical NIC control. Shared-compute convenience should not override packet-processing requirements.
Integration and operational considerations
FortiDDoS is inserted into a live traffic path, so the project requires coordination between security, network and virtualisation teams. Network engineers need to identify the protected segments, VLAN design, routing or bridging context, upstream and downstream devices, load balancers, LACP dependencies and whether traffic can become asymmetric. Virtualisation engineers need to ensure the VM receives the intended physical resources and that host maintenance procedures do not unexpectedly remove the protection path. Security teams need to define learning, detection, mitigation and exception policies. Operations teams need clear monitoring and escalation responsibilities.
High availability also needs to be designed at several layers. FortiDDoS supports HA, but the surrounding server and network architecture must avoid common failure domains where possible. A pair of VMs on two logical guests does not provide meaningful resilience if both depend on the same physical NIC, host or upstream switch. External bypass planning is especially important because the VM series does not include the traffic-bypass capabilities found on FortiDDoS hardware appliances.
For change management, document how software updates, host patches, NIC firmware, hypervisor maintenance and network reconfiguration affect the inline path. The safest procurement outcome is a bill of materials and deployment plan that treats the VM, server, NICs, bypass component, switching and support coverage as one operational system.
Buyer questions to resolve before ordering
What are normal, busy-hour and attack-time Gbps and Mpps requirements, and what headroom is appropriate?
How many distinct protection profiles, public subnets, DNS services and application groups must be protected?
Which CPU, SR-IOV NICs and PCIe bus arrangement will be used, and will the server be dedicated?
Is HA required, where will each instance run, and how will external bypass or failure handling be implemented?
Are optional IP Reputation or Domain Reputation services needed, and what support term should be included?
Could a volumetric attack saturate the carrier link before local mitigation, making a hybrid cloud or provider arrangement necessary?
Procurement checklist for FortiDDoS Virtual Series
✓ Confirm the exact VM04, VM08 or VM16 model.
✓ Record required quantity and HA pairing.
✓ Provide expected Gbps and Mpps load.
✓ Define required service protection profiles.
✓ List protected subnets and public services.
✓ Validate DPDK-capable CPU resources.
✓ Validate SR-IOV NIC and PCIe bus design.
✓ Confirm physical link speeds and topology.
✓ Decide how external bypass will be handled.
✓ Confirm support contract requirements.
✓ Decide whether optional reputation services are required.
✓ Include installation, configuration and testing scope if needed.
✓ Confirm destination, licensing region and procurement timeline.
✓ Document upgrade, handover and operational ownership.
How FourTeck can assist
FourTeck can help convert a broad request for “virtual DDoS protection” into a procurement-ready requirement. The review can cover expected throughput and packet rate, model comparison, SPP needs, host-resource assumptions, NIC and bypass considerations, optional services, support coverage and project scope. Where installation or configuration assistance is required, that scope can be separated clearly from the software and support items in the quotation.
Buyers can also explore other security products, review deployment and support services, or contact FourTeck with a traffic profile and proposed architecture.
UAE availability and support guidance
Contact FourTeck to confirm current UAE availability for the exact FortiDDoS VM model, support term and any optional reputation subscription. Availability may depend on the model, license region, quantity, vendor processing and project timing. A VM purchase may also need related server, NIC or external bypass components that are not part of the FortiDDoS software entitlement itself.
Delivery and project coordination can be discussed after the exact requirement is confirmed. If the project includes installation, configuration, policy setup, testing or documentation, request those activities as explicit quotation items so that technical scope and commercial scope remain aligned.
Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Ajman project coverage
For organisations planning FortiDDoS Virtual Series deployments across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Ajman, FourTeck can coordinate requirement review around a single technical baseline rather than treating each site as an unrelated purchase. This can include confirming whether the same VM size is suitable at each location, whether traffic and public-service exposure differ, how HA and bypass will be implemented, and whether centralised operational procedures are required. Product availability, license processing, installation scope and scheduling can vary, so the destination, quantity and implementation expectations should be provided before quotation. Multi-site buyers should also state whether each site has its own internet edge or whether protected traffic converges through a shared data-centre design.
GCC Availability
FourTeck can assist GCC organisations that are evaluating FortiDDoS Virtual Series for enterprise data centres, public services or regional security projects. The first step is to confirm the destination country and technical requirement rather than assuming that a license, support package or server design is identical across markets. Projects in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain or Oman may differ in procurement process, license region, local infrastructure, carrier design and implementation scope. Share the intended VM model or traffic requirement, quantity, support term, deployment location, server platform and target schedule so quotation coordination can be based on a defined bill of materials. Availability, licensing, delivery schedules, service visits and vendor lead times can vary by country, model and quantity. For regional projects, FourTeck can also help structure model selection, configuration scope, installation planning and renewal guidance while keeping country-specific assumptions clearly separated.
Africa Availability
Organisations planning FortiDDoS Virtual Series deployments in Africa can ask FourTeck for requirement review and procurement coordination based on the exact destination and deployment architecture. This is especially useful where a project involves virtual appliance licenses, support coverage, host-server requirements, optional subscriptions and network components that may need to be sourced or scheduled separately. For East Africa and markets such as Kenya and Uganda, as well as projects in other African regions, availability and fulfilment can depend on license region, model, quantity, shipping arrangements for any physical components, local power or regulatory considerations, vendor lead time and installation scope. Buyers should provide the destination country, protected bandwidth and packet rate, proposed VM tier, server platform, desired support term and preferred deployment period. FourTeck can then help identify what must be confirmed before a commercial offer is prepared. Regional availability should not be interpreted as a promise of local inventory or a fixed onsite timetable.
What buyers are really trying to work out before choosing a FortiDDoS VM
Most serious buying questions around a virtual DDoS appliance are not “Does it block DDoS?” They are about sizing, the difference between virtual and hardware deployment, whether the internet link can still be overwhelmed upstream, how much server engineering is necessary, and what is actually included in the license. Those questions are more useful because they expose design dependencies before purchase.
Is FortiDDoS-VM a replacement for an upstream DDoS scrubbing service?
Not in every design. An inline FortiDDoS VM can inspect and mitigate traffic that reaches it, but a sufficiently large volumetric attack can saturate the organisation’s incoming circuit before the clean and malicious traffic reaches the local mitigation point. When the carrier link itself is the bottleneck, an upstream diversion or cloud-scrubbing arrangement may still be required. The right architecture therefore starts with circuit capacity, historical attack data where available and business tolerance for upstream congestion. Some organisations use local mitigation for fast response to common attacks and a hybrid path for exceptional events. The diversion triggers, routing mechanism and clean-traffic return design should be planned before an incident.
Why do DPDK and SR-IOV appear so often in FortiDDoS VM sizing?
Because high-rate packet inspection is sensitive to how packets move between the physical NIC and the virtual appliance. Fortinet’s published VM performance assumptions rely on DPDK-capable CPUs and SR-IOV NICs with appropriate PCIe resources. These technologies reduce some of the overhead that a conventional virtual networking path can introduce. A buyer that installs the same VM license on a generic shared host should not expect the same result automatically. The server specification, NIC model, slot placement, bus sharing and virtualisation configuration all deserve review. This also affects procurement: the “product” is effectively the FortiDDoS entitlement plus a host architecture capable of delivering the expected packet path.
How much capacity headroom should be left?
There is no universal percentage that can be guaranteed for every network. The useful approach is to separate normal traffic, organic growth, seasonal peaks and attack load. A VM that already runs close to its expected packet or bandwidth capacity during legitimate busy periods leaves less room for inspection and mitigation during abnormal conditions. Procurement should therefore consider both Gbps and Mpps, the number of service profiles and the server’s ability to sustain those rates. If growth is expected soon, compare the next VM tier or a hardware appliance rather than relying on an immediate license change without validating the host.
What does “virtual” change about failure handling?
It introduces additional infrastructure layers that can fail or be taken out of service: the physical server, hypervisor, NIC, PCIe path and virtual machine. FortiDDoS supports HA, but VM deployments do not include the native traffic bypass found on relevant physical appliances. An external bypass approach is therefore required for most VM deployments according to Fortinet’s current guidance. The topology should account for host maintenance, VM restart, NIC failure and software upgrade events. A design review should explicitly identify what happens to live traffic in each failure scenario instead of assuming that hypervisor HA alone solves inline continuity.
Price and quotation planning
Publicly visible reseller prices can be useful for understanding that FortiDDoS VM licensing is an enterprise security purchase, but they should not be treated as a UAE selling price. A final quotation can vary with model, support term, optional services, license region, vendor pricing and project scope. The more useful budgeting exercise is to separate the FortiDDoS VM entitlement, support, optional reputation subscriptions, server infrastructure, NICs, bypass component and professional services. This prevents a low headline software number from hiding deployment costs, or a broad bundle from obscuring which components are actually required.
When requesting a quote, provide the proposed VM tier if known, protected traffic, peak packet rate, number of sites, HA requirement, deployment country and desired support period. If the model is not known, provide the traffic and architecture data instead. FourTeck can then compare the VM04, VM08 and VM16 direction and identify which dependencies should be priced separately.
Questions that help prevent the wrong DDoS purchase
“Our internet circuit is 5 Gbps. Does that mean VM08 is automatically the right model?”
No. Circuit speed is only one sizing input. VM08 has a published enterprise inspected-throughput value of 5 Gbps, but the decision should also consider small-packet rate, SYN load, traffic growth, service-profile count and desired headroom. It is usually unwise to size an inline security platform so that normal or plausible peak traffic consumes the full published figure. The host design must also meet the acceleration requirements for the expected performance.
“Can we install it on the same virtualisation host as normal business applications?”
That requires careful review. Fortinet recommends a bare-metal server for the VM deployment and states that NICs should not share PCIe buses with other applications. Shared hosts can introduce resource contention or networking constraints that reduce packet-processing performance. If a shared architecture is unavoidable, validate it against current vendor guidance and test the expected traffic profile before treating it as production-ready.
“Do we need the reputation subscriptions for FortiDDoS to mitigate DDoS?”
Not for core enterprise DDoS mitigation. Fortinet lists IP Reputation and Domain Reputation as optional services and states that they are not required for enterprise DDoS mitigation. They may still be useful for organisations that want those additional intelligence controls. Procurement should separate required support from optional security subscriptions so that the bill of materials reflects the intended policy rather than automatically including every add-on.
“If the VM supports high availability, why do we still need to discuss external bypass?”
HA and bypass solve different problems. HA provides a way for FortiDDoS instances to continue protection when a peer becomes unavailable, while bypass provides a physical or logical path for traffic if the inline inspection path fails. The FortiDDoS VM does not include native traffic bypass, so Fortinet advises external bypass for most deployments. The exact design depends on the server and network topology.
“Should we choose virtual or hardware FortiDDoS?”
Choose based on the traffic path and operational requirements. VM models can fit organisations that want software deployment and have suitable server infrastructure. Hardware models may be better where higher inspected rates, higher-speed interfaces, integrated bypass options or appliance-oriented operations are important. Compare the total design rather than the license format alone. A virtual product that needs substantial host and bypass investment may not always be the simpler route.
“What should we send FourTeck before asking for a price?”
Send technical context with the commercial request. Include destination country, traffic bandwidth, peak packet rate if known, internet-link speed, protected services, number of subnets, desired HA, proposed server/NIC platform, support term and project timeline. If installation or configuration help is needed, say whether FourTeck should include design review, deployment, testing or documentation. This makes the resulting quote easier to compare and reduces the risk of missing infrastructure.
Related options and services to evaluate
FortiDDoS hardware appliances
Compare physical models when higher throughput, purpose-built interfaces or appliance bypass capabilities are important.
Fortinet firewall planning
DDoS protection often sits alongside firewall and edge-routing design. Review the complete traffic path before changing inline components.
Deployment and configuration
Add design review, installation, policy configuration, testing and documentation when the internal team needs project assistance.
Regional project coordination
For multi-country requirements, align licensing, bill of materials and technical assumptions before placing separate regional orders.
Why businesses contact FourTeck for this product family
The most useful assistance on FortiDDoS Virtual Series is requirement clarification. A procurement team may know it needs DDoS mitigation but not whether VM04, VM08 or VM16 fits the traffic profile, whether existing host hardware is suitable, or whether a hardware appliance should be compared. FourTeck can help structure those questions into model, support, optional service and implementation decisions.
The same process can include bill-of-material guidance, compatibility review, quotation coordination, installation planning, configuration scope, migration planning and renewal considerations. These activities should be defined according to the project rather than assumed to be included automatically. Buyers can learn more about FourTeck or send the technical requirement through the FourTeck contact page.
Frequently asked questions
What models are in the FortiDDoS Virtual Series?
The current Fortinet virtual lineup shown in the FortiDDoS product information includes FortiDDoS-VM04, FortiDDoS-VM08 and FortiDDoS-VM16. They provide different inspected-throughput, packet-rate and service-protection-profile capacities.
How do VM04, VM08 and VM16 differ?
Fortinet currently lists VM04 at 3 Gbps and 4 Mpps, VM08 at 5 Gbps and 6 Mpps, and VM16 at 10 Gbps and 10 Mpps for enterprise inspected throughput and small-UDP inspected rate. Their maximum service protection profiles are 4, 8 and 16 respectively. Actual performance depends on the underlying hardware.
Do FortiDDoS VMs need DPDK and SR-IOV?
Fortinet’s published VM specifications require DPDK-capable CPUs and SR-IOV NICs with appropriate PCIe x8 buses. Without the required acceleration design, performance can be significantly lower and the VMs may be limited to Gigabit Ethernet links.
Can FortiDDoS Virtual Series run on a shared virtualisation host?
A shared host should be reviewed carefully. Fortinet recommends a bare-metal server and advises that NICs should not share PCIe buses with other applications. The actual deployment should be validated against the current VM deployment guide and the intended traffic load.
Does FortiDDoS Virtual Series include traffic bypass?
No built-in VM traffic bypass is listed. Fortinet states that external bypass is required for most VM deployments. The bypass method and HA topology should be designed as part of the network project.
Are IP Reputation and Domain Reputation subscriptions required for DDoS mitigation?
Fortinet lists those reputation subscriptions as optional and states that they are not required for enterprise DDoS mitigation. Buyers can add them where their security policy calls for the additional reputation controls.
Does the virtual series support high availability?
Yes. Fortinet states that all FortiDDoS models offer high availability. The surrounding host, NIC, switch and bypass architecture should also be designed to avoid common failure points.
What information is needed for a FortiDDoS Virtual Series quote in Dubai or the UAE?
Provide the preferred model if known, quantity, protected bandwidth, peak packet rate, internet-link speed, service count, HA requirement, proposed server and NIC platform, support term, optional subscription needs and whether installation or configuration services should be included.
Can FourTeck help with sizing, deployment and licensing guidance?
FourTeck can help review the technical requirement, compare VM04, VM08 and VM16, identify server and bypass dependencies, clarify optional services and coordinate a quotation. Installation, configuration, testing and documentation can be scoped separately when required.
Build the quotation around the traffic path, not only the VM name
Send FourTeck your traffic profile, proposed host platform, HA requirement and destination. We can help compare the virtual models, identify deployment dependencies and prepare the right quotation scope for the UAE or a regional project.