Start, power off, or reboot a firewall

Power off a firewall to shut it down without deleting it, start it to bring it back, and reboot it to restart it while it runs. All three keep the firewall’s plan, addresses, VPCs, and FortiGate settings as they are.

A powered-off firewall is still billed at its plan’s rate, until you delete it. It passes traffic again once you start it.

Before you begin

• The firewall is unlocked. See Lock a firewall.
• The firewall has finished any change in progress, such as Creating, Reinstalling, Upgrading, Powering on, or Powering off.
• Your role in the project can update firewalls.

Each action is available in one state:

Action	Available while the firewall is
Start	Powered off
Power Off	Running
Reboot	Running

Power off the firewall

To upgrade the firewall’s plan, power it off first.

1. In MyAccount, under Network, click Firewall.
2. On Manage Firewall, in the firewall’s row, click Actions, then Power Off.
3. In Power Off Firewall, turn on I understand the risk, and want to power off the Firewall : . Billing continues while the firewall is off, and powering off while the disk is busy can damage it.
4. Click Power Off.

Status shows Powering off, then Powered off, and Firewall powered off successfully shows. Powering off usually takes about 20 seconds.

The firewall keeps its plan, its public IP and Add-on IPs, its VPCs, and every setting on its FortiGate.

Start the firewall

1. On Manage Firewall, in the firewall’s row, click Actions, then Start.
2. Start Firewall asks Are you sure, you want to start the Firewall : ? Click Start Firewall.

Status shows Powering on, then Running, and Firewall started successfully shows. The firewall usually reaches Running about 16 seconds after you start it. The FortiGate’s screen opens about 20 seconds after that. It passes traffic again, with the same settings as before.

Reboot the firewall

Reboot the firewall to restart it without changing its settings or its plan. A reboot is also the fix when Firewall Detail still shows the old plan after an upgrade.

1. On Manage Firewall, in the firewall’s row, click Actions, then Reboot.
2. Reboot Firewall asks you to turn on I understand the risk, and want to reboot the Firewall: .
3. Click Reboot.

Firewall reboot successfully shows. Status keeps reading Running during the reboot. Traffic through the firewall stops while it restarts, and the FortiGate’s screen comes back in under a minute.

Check the firewall’s status

On Manage Firewall, Status updates by itself and reads Running or Powered off once the change finishes.

While the firewall is powered off, you can move it to a bigger plan; see Upgrade a firewall plan. To stop billing, see Delete a firewall. For help with a start that does not finish, see The firewall does not reach Running after a start.