Aruba ClearPass Reviews

I've used the solution in the retail industry. We use it in hospitality as well. It's very secure in terms of authentication. 

The authentification is great. We're able to separate guests from employees on wireless. 

It's stable.

Support is decent.

The solution can scale well. 

The setup of ClearPass can be a bit convoluted at times. It needs to be simplified a bit more. 

It is a very expensive product.

I've used the solution for six or seven years. 

The stability is great. There are no bugs or glitches. It's pretty robust. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

The solution is extremely scalable. It's capable of growing as the environment changes. 

Aruba support is okay. 

The deployment is a challenge. Some of it is environmental and specific to the end-user. It can be hard to get all of the information together and pre-check the environment. Depending on the size and complexity o the environment, it can be a bit easier or harder. 

From an implementation perspective, about one to three people are needed depending on the size. One would need to be really experienced. You'd need a pre and post-sales engineer working hand in hand.

From a maintenance perspective, it's mostly set and forget. You might need to check it from a firmware perspective or if there are changes in the environment. 

There is an ROI from an end-user perspective, depending on the vertical. For example, for retail, when presenting guests with a splash page that tells them about sales and deals available to them, it could lead to increased sales.

The solution is not cheap. My understanding is that it is expensive and an investment. 

I am using the updated version of the solution. 

We're resellers. 

I'd rate the solution six out of ten. There are a lot of different manufacturers that do it a little bit differently and a little bit better. 

We use ClearPass to authenticate users and have a project in development that will use NAC solutions. In addition to these, we also use ClearPass to onboard clients for secure access and guest management.

We have flexible and detailed options to implement our security policy using ClearPass Policy Manager engine.

The authentication capabilities are one of the most valuable features, including the ability to build specific rules within the system to authenticate users in complex scenarios. The onboard feature to automate provisioning and configuration distribuition for secure networks has many useful resources. Additionally, the integration with other systems is a great value and a standout feature of the product.

One area for improvement would be the possibility of using social media providers for user authentication. In Brazil, we have a government-sponsored service that indicates users who would like to see this feature supported. I have made a formal request for this feature, but I am unsure if it will be considered for a future release. However, it would be a valuable addition for us.

We use ClearPass with Aruba controllers for our wireless LAN. We have the 7220 gateway/controller model and wireless APs, specifically the 510 series.

It is a stable product. We've never experienced any downtime with ClearPass. We have a cluster of ClearPass servers, and we've never had any problems with stability or downtime.

The scalability is good. You can scale very well.

I had to call customer support once because I needed to reset the license for an upgrade, and I needed guidance on how to use the new license model. That was the only time I had to call support. They responded to me quickly and it was a good experience.

I would rate it an eight out of ten, where ten is the easiest and zero is the most difficult.

It took a few months to deploy the solution. I was the main technician involved in the deployment.

The pricing is a little bit more expensive than other options, but it's worth the value.

Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten.

We use the solution for security.

It provides a single access point and is highly available.

The period of firmware updates is very short.

I have been using Aruba ClearPass for one year.

It consists of one-time passwords, so you don't have many challenges.

I rate the solution’s stability an eight out of ten.

We have 700-800 users, out of which 50 are concurrent.

I rate the solution’s scalability a nine out of ten.

The initial setup is easy.
If you take a controller concerning the APN, that is a one-time setup. Once you set it up, it doesn't give you any problem going further. The one-time setup takes around four to eight hours.

Compared to other solutions, it has a standard price.

Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

We are using Aruba ClearPass for authentication purposes.

The solution has been working well.

The scalability could improve.

I have used Aruba ClearPass within the last 12 months.

Aruba ClearPass is a stable solution.

I rate the scalability of Aruba ClearPass a nine out of ten.

The initial setup of Aruba ClearPass was simple.

We did the deployment of the solution in-house.

I rate Aruba ClearPass an eight out of ten.

Our clients use Aruba ClearPass since it is a NAC solution.

The most valuable feature, I would say, is the cost-effectiveness of the solution when compared to others.

Regarding the improvement needed in the solution, I remember our technical team stating that the installation front of the solution was a bit difficult when compared to other solutions. So, some of the other solutions, when compared to Aruba ClearPass, are more user-friendly to install.

I have been working with Aruba ClearPass for almost five to six years. My company is a reseller of the solution. I am unsure about the version of the solution I am using since we also deal in other products.

It is a stable solution. I rate the solution's stability a nine out of ten.

It is a scalable solution. I rate the solution's scalability somewhere around seven to eight out of ten. Mostly, our organization deals with medium and enterprise-sized customers.

I rate the solution's technical support team a seven out of ten. There are no issues with the support we are receiving. I will probably have to check with the engineers who have dealt with the technical support team. Since I have never heard a complaint against the support team, I would reconsider my decision over the rating provided by me previously and rate the technical support an eight.

Positive

I rate the solution's initial setup a six on a scale where one is difficult and ten is easy. There are some difficulties when installing the solution. For our company, installation is not difficult since we are system integrators who are well-versed in Aruba ClearPass. However, one of our customers told us that it is difficult to manage the installation part of the solution.

The solutions deployment was quick because our company is well-versed in deployment. So, it took around twenty to thirty days. Usually, four L3 engineers from our company are involved in the deployment process. For the maintenance and deployment of the solution, we have a lot of people in our organization. So, our company has around 28 engineers, and we serve around 120 customers in UAE. Specifically speaking, two network engineers are handling the maintenance part of the solution.

On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is too expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten. So, the price could be lower. The solution has a yearly based licensing cost attached to it.

I want to tell those planning to use the solution that it is a good solution where one needs to have a certain level of expertise to carry out the deployment phase. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

We have a wireless network for guests and employees. That is one of the biggest use cases for ClearPass.

These products help you to organize stuff. At the same time, these allow forms of regulatory requirements, for example, how to do, or what to do, what not to do, et cetera.

There are many features. Use case-wise, there are maybe 60% of features that you will choose. We don't have any particular kind of feature usage. Our usage is typical usage for any enterprise.

It is easy to use and more integrated with the Aruba wireless networks. That was the biggest selling point for us. We use Aruba Wireless and the Aruba identity engine as well as ClearPass. That was the whole point of using this product. Technically you can use it anywhere, however, since we already use a lot of Aruba, it made sense to keep using another solution.

The setup is simple. 

After HP, their support is the worst.

When you come into the production part, you want to know how easily you can do the updates or how you can easily you can do the patching. Once it comes to the support, if it is in the middle of the day when you are having some issues, and you don't get it, that's where you start thinking this is not the right product. For me, I mean, overall, it's not the pre-sales experience that needs improvement. It's post-sales. I know Aruba is one of the two products that I always like; however, it's the whole life cycle of the product that makes something good. For example, Cisco is not a good product. No one can beat their support. Aruba is a good product, yet if you need technical assistance, it's not good at all. 

I've been using the solution for six to eight years.

The stability is fine. We have no problems with that. There are no bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze. It is reliable. Peformance-wise, it's good.

The solution is scalable. I'd rate the ability to scale at an eight or nine out of ten in terms of how easy it is to expand. 

We have 5,000 users on the solution. 

Support is not great. It's actually quite bad. 

Negative

We use Aruba ClearPass and we use Cisco.

Aruba is a little simpler. When I say simpler, it means it has fewer knobs to tweak. However, if you have more knobs to tweak, you can control it a little bit differently.

Cisco ISE has been patched up in the last couple of years. It is a very good product and a very stable one. I don't see any real difference between the two products. They are 75% the same. We have the Cisco switching, and we like the Cisco ISE for that. If you have Aruba on the wireless, you want more Aruba.

It's fairly easy to set up. The vendor we work with is good and we are quite familiar with how it works. We use other similar products and don't have issues with the setup. Similar to Aruba and then Aruba Wireless, it is easy to manage with one vendor or one full contractor and you leave it there.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten in terms of ease of setup. 

We spent maybe three or four hours across two days doing the deployment. 

In terms of maintenance, you need to handle patching and vulnerability management sometimes. Historically, maintenance has been fine with the older versions. Recently, it is a little bit challenging.

We have three people who can the maintenance. Typically, one person is needed for the job.

We had a partner who sold Aruba to us. However, we work for other products, so we just sat down for a couple of days and that's it. That is all the time you need to set it up.

Their ROI is good. The ROI may be a bit less than Cisco in terms of the full environment. 

The licensing is almost the same as Cisco ISE. It is a little less, actually. It is a fair price. The only thing is all these products know each other's prices so they keep theirs pretty close to the same. Aruba will typically be a little less than Cisco to make it seem that they show benefit on the cost. However, it depends on how your terms are with the partners. You can maybe get a better discount. It is how your relationship is the principal that dictates the price. We have a fair discount, for example.

Support may be an additional cost.

We're a customer and end-user.

While I'm unsure which version of the solution we're using, it's likely close to the latest.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

I would advise new users to try to get better support lined up with them before buying the product. There's your account manager and support. If you discuss support before purchasing, you won't be alone. In contrast, with Cisco, you are never alone. Even if you call in the middle of the night, you will get assistance. 

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

My prior company used the solution to integrate multiple environments such as Cisco, Aruba wireless or wired devices, and BYOD cases. 

The solution integrates seamlessly. 

The continuous server and posturing are valuable. 

The solution should be more precise for VMs and allow for management of the entire system or stack. For example, the solution shows device-only information for Cisco AIs.

I have been using the solution for seven years. 

The solution is stable. 

The solution is definitely scalable. 

Technical support assisted us with our implementation and was good. 

The setup was straightforward with no issues. Deployment took one month and was a challenge because we had to integrate 600 devices. 

We utilized technical support for our implementation. 

The ROI is secure data. The question is whether you can afford downtime for a single unit or an entire system. It is hard to measure the value of data but is something you can't compromise. 

The solution has a licensing model. 

We did a proof of concept with Cisco ISE but chose the solution because we liked its seamless integration experience. 

Before implementing the solution, it is important to understand the system, develop plans, and determine what needs to be integrated. Learn what the solution does and how it will work with your use case. 

For example, some people choose the work kit without knowing what they need. Some require only the resource manager. Some don't know their gradual requirements for monitoring or management. Some don't understand that the solution is also provides network security. 

I rate the solution an eight out of ten. 

We use Aruba ClearPass for customers to ensure that whatever devices are entering the network have the correct posture. For example, they have the correct operating system and antivirus, and the firewalls turned on.

The most valuable features of Aruba ClearPass are its ease of use and the general network access controls.

A specific component is part of the solution called ClearPass Onboard, which can sometimes be complex and challenging to set up. If they could simplify the process and make it easier, that would be a benefit.

In an upcoming release, they need to include support for Android devices. Android devices are not fully supported at this time.

I have been using Aruba ClearPass for approximately five years.

The stability of Aruba ClearPass is good.

Aruba ClearPass is scalable. It's very good to scale because you can add additional units and integrate them.

I have used the support many times and they can help remotely which is helpful.

I rate the support from Aruba ClearPass an eight out of ten.

Positive

Aruba ClearPass is very easy to set up.

The time it takes to deploy the solution entirely depends on the customer's needs. Installing the software is very quick which can take about an hour. However, customizing and configuring it with all the different options can take from one day to a week or two depending on what the customer wants.

I do the implementation and configuration of the solution for customers.

You can get Aruba ClearPass either where you purchase it outright or you can be subscription-based. The cost will vary according to what is selected, but it's licensed per device. For example, for a hundred users or a hundred device license, it would cost approximately $2,000.

I have evaluated Fortinet and is good. It is simple and easy to use.

The maintenance could be more user-friendly. If you don't attend a course or if you don't have any technical knowledge of it. If a customer is going to maintain it themselves, they should attend some training.

My advice to others is to make sure they have the skill. Once they have the skills and have done the training, it's fairly simple to use the solution. If they try and do it on their own and try to figure things out, they are going to hate the solution because it's not built for them to figure things out on their own.

The second piece of advice is to make sure they understand what devices are supported and to what level because with smartphones, not all smartphones are supported and you can end up buying the solution to find that certain versions or certain models of smartphones are not supported.

I rate Aruba ClearPass a seven out of ten.