Short answer
A VDOM (Virtual Domain) is an isolated firewall instance running on shared FortiGate hardware, giving you dedicated policies and logs without a physical device on your premises. FirstNet uses Fortinet VDOMs to deliver its Hosted VDOM firewall service, with a separate security context for each customer or business unit.
In detail
How Hosted VDOM works:
- Each VDOM has its own firewall policies, NAT, routing and logs, separate from other tenants
- FirstNet's security team manages policies, logging and updates centrally
- Capacity or features can be added without on-site hardware swaps
- It can act as the firewall layer for FirstNet Private Cloud workloads and connected sites
Hosted VDOM comes in two options. Lite covers basic firewalling, NAT, routing, segmentation and site-to-site VPN for simpler environments. Enterprise adds intrusion prevention, antivirus, web filtering, application control, SSL inspection and SD-WAN where required and sized correctly.
A VDOM is a shared-platform service, so it offers less customer-specific design flexibility than a dedicated firewall. If you need dedicated HA or deep customisation, FirstNet's On Prem FWaaS places a FortiGate at your site instead.
Source: FirstNet Hosted Firewall & Network Security service page →
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