Aruba ClearPass vs. Ivanti Secure Unified Client

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

It is well suited for large corporations for granularity on users' roles, security levels for each application, and for logging in with an extra security layer. For doing demanding network tasks, like downloading a large set of data or for streaming, it could get slower than with a direct connection.

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

• Provides what any VPN should provide
• Works on many OSs, though I will relay my Mac OS experience in another section of the review
• Their clientless VPN offering could be interesting, depending on your needs

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• The user interface is outdated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

• It's a little slower
• Requires to be careful with the configuration on network
• It seems to cause a weird behavior in MAC when loading after turn on sometimes

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

I wasn't a part of the decision process to use Pulse Secure. I believe NordVPN Teams and ExpressVPN are both far superior products. Modern UI (Pulse Secure's UI is incredibly outdated), less reconnects, cheaper, less hacks (On April 20, 2021, CISA issued an "Emergency Directive on Pulse Connect Secure"), and simply faster overall connection speeds.

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

• It has a positive ROI

Incentivized