Logging and reporting are useful components to help you understand what is happening on your network, and to inform you about certain network activities, such as the detection of a virus, a visit to an invalid website, an intrusion, a failed log in attempt, and myriad others.
Logging records the traffic that passes through, starts from, or ends on the FortiGate, and records the actions the FortiGate took during the traffic scanning process. After this information is recorded in a log message, it is stored in a log file that is stored on a log device (a central storage location for log messages). FortiGate supports sending all log types to several log devices, including FortiAnalyzer, FortiAnalyzer Cloud, FortiGate Cloud, and syslog servers. Approximately 5% of memory is used for buffering logs sent to FortiAnalyzer. The FortiGate system memory and local disk can also be configured to store logs, so it is also considered a log device. See Log settings and targets for more information.
Reports show the recorded activity in a more readable format. A report gathers all the log information that it needs, then presents it in a graphical format with a customizable design and automatically generated charts showing what is happening on the network. Reports can be generated on FortiGate devices with disk logging and on FortiAnalyzer devices.
FortiView is a more comprehensive network reporting and monitoring tool. It integrates real-time and historical data into a single view in FortiOS. For more information, see FortiView monitors.
 | Performance statistics are not logged to disk. Performance statistics can be received by a syslog server or by FortiAnalyzer. |
The following topics provide information about logging and reporting:
