Aruba ClearPass vs. Aruba Instant On AP Series Access Points

We have quite a few visitors to our campus and we don't want to have a set PSK for the wireless so we have configured a guest network where visitors can create an account and gain access to the internet and we don't have to "manage" it since the accounts will expire after a certain time. We have RF scanners in our warehouses and we want them to be allowed on the network and be put into its own VLAN. ClearPass can do this flawlessly by keying off of the MAC address when it comes online and putting it into the correct VLAN. This makes it so we don't have to add each device individually to the system. The only time ClearPass would not be appropriate is in a small deployment where the cost to value wouldn't make sense.

Incentivized

Aruba Instant On AP Series Access Points are well suited for a small to mid-size setup (i.e., from 20 users to 500 devices that need to connect to WiFi). Aruba provides access points for both indoors and outdoors (e.g., commercial spaces and offices, and manufacturing units as well). Aruba Instant On AP Series Access Points can also support controller-based architecture, and I would recommend going for that when the AP devices are more than 30.

Incentivized

• wide range of compatible devices
• have an easy-to-understand and hierarchical rule-writing structure
• easy-to-use interface and extensive documentation
• seamless MS AD integration

• Controllerless solution
• Users connect to different APs seamlessly (soft handoff) when moving from one region to another
• Stable--we have never faced any downtime with any APs
• Different SSID to segregate internal and guest networks

Incentivized

• The user interface is outdated
• Support is not as responsive as it used to be
• I'd like to be able to build dashboards

Incentivized

• Aruba Instant On AP Series Access Points miss having OTP generation--this is must, for guest users at least
• Pricing is high

Incentivized

Aruba Clearpass is straight forward in terms of day to day use for monitoring and basic user connectivity issues. The system is very robust on the back end, therefore some larger configuration changes may not be the most intuitive. System upgrades and license management are not the most intuitive either.

Incentivized

We had some issues with ClearPass integration with AirGroup on Aruba Controller Clusters. Basically, it was tough to get coordinated between the controller support and the ClearPass support.

Incentivized

From my experience, ClearPass has been the best NAC server of all I've seen. Even though configuration is somewhat hard and it's hard to get training, once you learn how to configure it it works very well. The policies are very granular and scalable and the interface is a well-done web GUI that does not need any extra plugins installed, as some of Cisco's product require. There are many more options than with FortiNAC, and many more integration options. Also, troubleshooting and logging is good.

Incentivized

Incentivized

• It has simplified our SSID management
• It has made it very easy for us to segment our network based on security groups
• It was relatively easy to implement with the support of a VAR

Incentivized

• Our users' productivity has increased, as they can now connect wirelessly
• We are now centrally controlling users' traffic from firewall and blocking or limiting use of unwanted web apps
• Has helped us in improving monitoring of user traffic

Incentivized