Aruba ClearPass Reviews

The policy manager is the most valuable feature for us because it allows us to manage every client request in the way we want.

For an international big Italian fashion customer, we have deployed the WiFi network worldwide, including the hotspot network for serving the customer’s demand of a free connection in its stores.

I would like for Aruba to make it easier to configure. They could integrate the different engines (Policy Manager, Guest, Onboard) into one single product.

We've had no problems with deployment.

It's been stable for us.

It's scaled for our needs.

Attend first a ClearPass course as it’s very important in order to understand the product deeply.

The most valuable feature for us is its ability to provide clear authentication mechanisms to support multiple authentication requirements.

This product has provided us a tool to create authentication requirements that users have to meet in order to perform 802.1x authentication.

The update process is very intense and I believe Aruba should find a way to make this process smoother and easier to administer.

I've used it for two years.

We have not run into issues with the deployment.

We have not run into issues with the stability.

We have not run into issues with the scalability

It was hard at first because I didn’t have any training and was trying to figure out the best way for us to use this product with deploying 802.1x.

It was originally put in with a vendor team and was only set up for access to the appliances.

Our ROI has been good and solid.

The pricing/licensing is very competitive with other products out there.

We chose this product because we are using Aruba in other areas today.

Make sure you take a look at all the types of authentication you want to do and evaluate if you have enough appliances to handle the load. Keep in mind resiliency for failover as well.

The advanced RADIUS functionality is the most valuable feature for us.

It is possible to connect corporate people and external people to the WiFi with certificates by doing CA and on-boarding for external people and traditional Radius for the corporate people.

I'd like to see improvement with RADIUS and guest on-boarding. It also needs to be more intuitive to use with simplified administration.

I've used it for two to three years.

There were issues with High Availability and very important changes and issues with version upgrades.

There were no issues with the stability.

There were no issues with the scalability.

2/10 - it was very difficult to find the correct assistance. If we could find the right one, we would be happy.

We previously used Cisco NAC Guest Server and AMI GoPod. ClearPass is the evolution of AMI GoPod.

It was too complex. There is too much functionality in one device such as RADIUS, Guest, Provisioning, On-boarding, and NAC.

The implementation was done in-house. It is the corporative authentication solution and the Guest Portal for the customer.

It is a very complete solution with some important functionalities, but it can be difficult to implement and the support is not the best.

There are several valuable features, and the two most valuable to use are--

• ClearPass Policy Manager 
• ClearPass Guest

ClearPass Guest allows us to build a structured external captive portal with customized landing page for each customer.

ClearPass Policy Manager has to be easier to configure. Now, it is very powerful but very complex when you want to set some “profile enforcement” only for some type of guests or a disconnection policy with Radius COA.

We've had no issues with deploying this solution.

It's a very stable product and we haven't had any issues with instability.

It's scaled for our needs.

Plan very carefully your final configuration or you can lose yourself in the configurations phase.

The greatest feature in Aruba ClearPass, in my opinion, is its modularity and its openness to all vendors. Unlike its competitor (Cisco ISE), Aruba ClearPass supports integration with almost all vendors, and the ClearPass Guest module is unmatched by any other vendor. 

The ability to tune small details is really powerful and is always a selling point. 

Of course, let's not forget that the ClearPass Insight module which produces such valuable reports with small pieces of configurations is a great feature.

Customers who have used ClearPass had their organized improved with the ability to control all devices connecting to their network and the ability to even form a database of all the endpoints in the network and their fingerprints as well. 

Also, the integration with Aruba Wireless is always a plus point.

The main issue I have seen with Aruba ClearPass is specific integration with Juniper firewalls, and this is definitely something I would like to see in the future.

I've had no issues with deployment.

I didn't encounter any issues with stability.

I didn't encounter any issues with scalability.

I would advise customers who want to protect their network, do health checks on BYOD, provide guest access and of course AAA functions to manage their network devices to go for ClearPass, but they have to be ready to get into so much details as the power of ClearPass is in its ability to customize even the smallest details as they wish of course.

A major feature that I deploy and all my customers enjoy is the On-boarding function. Once properly set-up, it is very easy to configure and maintain all on boarded devices and users associated with those devices.

The feature that I use the most is the Access Tracker. It displays all relevant information of each authentication request and troubleshooting is a breeze on how the data is displayed.

I have deployed ClearPass in a number of organizations that have been using any number of outdated and obsolete security protocols for their wireless security from WEP and PSKs to MAC based authentication and global user names and passwords. Deploying ClearPass allowed these organizations to move from weak security protocols to industry standard security protocols.

Every deployment of ClearPass I have run into a bug or a feature that is not as user friendly as it could be. This can be easily improved upon by providing documentation and guides of proper syntax inputs. I have gotten around these issues by purely trial and error.

I have used ClearPass for the past five years and have deployed all the features that ClearPass has to offer. I have deployed it in school districts, hospitals, government agencies and all major industry verticals.

It is not as user-friendly and intuitive when first using it as it takes some time to know were everything is.

I have deployed Clearpass in environments that require over 500,000 authentications per day and have not had any issues.

I have deployed Clearpass in environments that require over 500,000 authentications per day and have not had any issues

For 90% of troubleshooting and basic configuration the Technical Assistance Center has always been very good, once the issue becomes a unique case specific to the customer that’s when resolving issues may take longer the three hours. Overall, Aruba Networks is really good in supporting ClearPass.

The basic network set-up is straightforward to get it on the network. Activating the licenses and getting the subscription key for ClearPass is a bulky and compression process with very little guidance or documentation. If there is an issue with the license, the only solution to almost always call Aruba tech support. Once the licenses are sorted out an upgrade needs to happen and the size of the update is 1.4Gb or more and based on the customers network, may take a long time. Finally, after ClearPass is on-line and fully updated, the configuration and basic troubleshooting is pretty straightforward. If it’s the first time someone is looking at it there is defiantly a learning curve.

I am the system integrator if it would be done in-house. If the person that is deploying ClearPass has experience with radius servers, deploying it would take three to six times longer than to hire a system integrator. Unless the in-house IT team has the time and resources to learn to deploy and troubleshoot ClearPass out of the box, then I definitely recommend getting a systems integrator. They would know how the system works, what questions to ask and troubleshooting techniques.

There are a lot of questions need to be answered before answering the real ROI question correctly, the biggest questions are how secure is your current network? Does it meet the industry security standards? Can you afford to have your network infiltrated or have loss of data? And can you afford to lose data? If not then pricing and licensing can be worked out.

Before you buy licensing know how and way you are using clearpass. I cant count how many times a customer has perched the wrong license or to many or not enough.

It can easily handle all types of authentication methods and has a large amount of flexibility, which can cover all scenarios. However it is lacking in third party integrations and little to no documentation on customization. Aruba assumes that you have working knowledge of their CSS tags, JavaScript, REST API integration and others.

If you are looking for a NAC solution ClearPass is one of the best all in one solution it covers all authentication methods and has a large flexibility that can be easily customized to fit any scenario in any industry vertical.

The two most valuable features for us are ClearPass guest and policy manager.

It keeps your organization secure in many ways, has easy guest logins, tons of options to customize the portal page, and many other useful enterprise-level features.

Automated guest account creation and the customizable captive portal has reduced the burden of the receptionist generating a token for guest access. It supports multiple authentication methods and the access tracker makes admin life easy for troubleshooting.

ClearPass onboard reduces the IT admin burden as well.

ClearPass Insight needs to be worked on. The functionality is not quite there yet.

Also, add-on licenses are expensive.

I've used it for one year.

There were no issues with deployment.

There have been no issues with stability.

There have been no issues with scaling it.

Aruba has one of the best support teams amongst all the vendors.

Technical support is the best.

There was no solution in place previously.

It was a little complex to set up. Following the installation guide makes the initial setup easy.

We implemented it in-house.

But if you do use a vendor, make sure your implementation partner is aware of all CleaPass features. Otherwise, it will be tough. Since ClearPass is a mix of AAA, NAC, Guest Module, Onguard, Profiling, and On-Boarding, make sure your partner is an expert in ClearPass.

The VM version is good for the cost, but add-on licenses are costly.

The VM version is good for the cost, but add-on licenses are costly.

We also looked at Cisco ISE.

• 802.1x quick, easy, and secure wireless access for our staff machines
• Customizable captive portal for quick and easy BYOD access for students
• Quick and easy ability to allow guests to use the wireless network

Bringing mobile devices on to the network has been simplified and secured at the same time.

Installation can be time-consuming, so Hire an Aruba consultant to do the install and save yourself a lot of time. There will be plenty of time for you to learn the product later. Plus, the consultant can pass on some valuable information during the process.

I've used it for two years.

There were no issues with the deployment.

There have been no issues with the stability.

There have been no issues with the scalability.

Aruba Support is fast and accurate. I never have problems getting someone on the line that can find a resolution the problem we are having.

The initial set-up was straightforward.

We had a vendor team on site which helped accelerate the process.