The FortiGate unit supports a variety of log devices, including the FortiCloud service and FortiAnalyzer units. This provides greater flexibility not only when choosing a log device, but also when your logging requirements need updating.

When you have developed a plan that meets your logging needs and requirements, you need to select the log device that is appropriate for that plan. A log device must be able to store all the logs you need, and if you require archiving those logs, you must consider what log devices support this option.

During this process of deciding what log device meets your needs and requirements, you must also figure out how to provide a backup solution in the event the log device that the FortiGate unit is sending logs to has become unavailable. A backup solution should be an important part of your log setup because it helps you to maintain all logs and prevents lost logs, or logs that are not sent to the log device. For example, a daily backup of log files to the FortiAnalyzer unit occurs at 5 pm.

Log devices provide a central location for storing logs recorded by the FortiGate unit. The following are log devices that the FortiGate unit supports:

These log devices, except for the FortiGate system memory and local hard disk, can also be used as a backup solution. For example, you can configure logging to the FortiGate unit’s local disk, but also configure logging to a FortiCloud server and archive logs to both the FortiCloud server and a FortiAnalyzer unit.