Cisco Software-Defined Access (SD-Access) Reviews and Ratings

Rating: 8.8 out of 10

Score

8.8 out of 10

Community insights

TrustRadius Insights for Cisco Software-Defined Access (SD-Access) are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.

Pros

Security Features Appreciated: Users have praised the security feature sets, such as SGT tagging and compliance with security standards, for enhancing network security and governance. These features have helped in ensuring a robust defense against potential threats and vulnerabilities.

Valuable Monitoring Capabilities: Reviewers find the ISE monitoring and auditing capabilities valuable for enhancing network visibility by providing detailed insights into network activities. The ability to track and analyze network traffic has been instrumental in identifying issues promptly and maintaining smooth operations.

Efficient Automation Features: Customers have highlighted the automation features of the product, particularly DNA automation for daily tasks and telemetry functions. This automation not only saves time but also streamlines processes, allowing teams to focus on strategic initiatives while routine tasks are efficiently handled by the system.

Reviews

8 Reviews

Cisco Software-Defined Access (SD-Access) Review

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

December 11, 2023

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use it for controlling all our access to our campus networks and allowing user flexibility, all the resources and logging into the company's intranet and other services that they need internally.

Pros

It does well by cementing their users with a lot of the security feature sets, such as assist SGT tagging and working well with our security compliance and guard for governance. Using the ISE monitoring and auditing,

Cons

The user interfaces has a lot of needs for improvement, such as making it a bit more usable and accessible, as well as being more flexible in allowing us to consume the APIs that the products offers.

Likelihood to Recommend

It's well suited in our corporate offices, where all our business users resides and where we can control all their accesses. What doesn't really fit well is when we have our branch fronts, where all the software domain access features aren't utilized to its fullest, due to the fact that customers and users don't really need to have all the security features that SDA provides.

Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology (11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

#SDA shaking trust in Cisco

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

February 11, 2023

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I am using SDA in part of my Campus infrastructure. It supposed to be easier to administrate , fewer manpower, it turns out the the solution need a dedicated team to deal with all the bugs.

Pros

Automation for daily activities (DNA)
Telemetry (DNA)

Cons

NOT Micro segmentation for Broadcast and multicast
NOT Supporting Multicast over SD transit
NOT Supporting silent host
Demanding advantage license

Likelihood to Recommend

I dont see the point to use VXLAN in a campus environment that dont have the need of stretched L2 environment (fully aware about VXLAN header and SGTs ) LISP and BGP Crave a advantage licenses (extremely expansive )

Verified User

Engineer in Engineering (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

Pros and Cons in a nutshell

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

February 3, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

With a lot of branches to manage, Cisco SD Access automation helped in saving cost and useful time on operations. It also helped us in audits.

Pros

Automation capabilities
Cost and time saving
Audit compliance fulfilment

Cons

There are controller bugs.
Cost is high.
Implementation is a bit complex, can be improved.

Likelihood to Recommend

If my customers are having multiple sites and want to do automation and use policies in networking, this is the best solution.

Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology (201-500 employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

Cisco SD-Access Review

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

November 25, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Deploy this solution on a single customer and you will be truly amazed as it offers advanced features such as end-to-end segmentation, network automation, and a good user experience for a faster, more secure, easier to manage, and more efficient network. The two-piece, controller-based orchestrator and Network Fabric design [are] incredible, with many benefits for companies using this solution.

Pros

Network security
Stability of the user experience
Effectiveness and efficiency
Network Visibility
Integration with third-party solution

Cons

Use of licenses makes the solution more expensive
DNA versions contain many bugs

Likelihood to Recommend

I can't speak to the administration of Cisco SD-Access as I only implemented the solution provided. But it is amazing the solution contains many tools for the management of the whole network. Thanks to the security it contains you can apply different policies on the network for internal and external users and thus have much more control over who is connected.

Verified User

Engineer in Engineering (201-500 employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

Cisco Software-Defined Access Excellent solution, but still [needs] to be improved

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

November 5, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I configured and implemented this solution [Cisco SD- Acess] for 2 large companies. The main benefit I can include about this solution so far is the consolidation of all the below points: -Security: Identify and verify all endpoints and network segmentation (high and low level) -Monitoring: Network, applications and endpoints health, the best benefit in this point is related to insights that the controller provides to solve network issues. -Configuration: The deployment can be done in a way that saves time, not only for the first deployment but also for subsequent device incorporation in the network.

Pros

Security: Macro and micro segmentation
Configuration: LAN Automation and provisioning
Monitoring and telemetry: Network metrics and insights

Cons

Documentation: Working in this solution I realized there were missing information details about the fusion device support for nexus.
Fusion router: This roll in the fabric should be already integrated in the solution, right now it is configured manually.
Bugs: Unfortunately the solution still present a lot of bugs, mainly in the controller.

Likelihood to Recommend

The best way to use this solution [Cisco Software SD-Access] is in Campus LAN environments, [which] could be small, medium, and large sites, that includes remote branches also. And always use with 3 node (HA) availability. This solution is not appropriate for Data Center environments. This solution is not mean[t] to connect remote sites (the WAN itself). This solution is ideal to achieve high and low level hierarchies of security and connectivity of end users in a network.

Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology (51-200 employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

To one's own liking

Rating: 7 out of 10

Incentivized

November 5, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Cisco's SD-Access has reduced the downtime largely. [It] helped us in planning global expansion which can now be more agile. We are planning to invest in other areas due to the cost-savings from SD-Access and enhance our overall performance and productivity. The employees are interested in up-skilling in the technology, hence utilizing the resources in a better way.

Pros

Agility
Flexibility
Expansion
Global Reachout

Cons

Licensing
Bug fixes

Likelihood to Recommend

As far as my experience with SD-Access - I think it is well suited for multi-connectivity, network segmentation, and security. Things it is not so appropriate to use with, or I'd say things that can be improved are - better functionality with ISE, ease to understand licensing and better documentation for configuration (add-ons, etc), and licensing.

Verified User

Professional in Information Technology (5001-10,000 employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

Cisco SD-Access review

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

September 24, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are using Cisco SD-Access for [the] whole organization. With the help of Cisco SD-Access, we are able to address the problems [of] automation through DNA center, network insight through assurance, and segmentation using SGTs. We deployed [Cisco] SD-Access in all our offices across Canada with two-layer architecture. Moving out from the complex traditional to next-generation networks save[s] our timelines for critical projects.

Pros

Automation, pushing template-based configuration to multiple devices in one push saves time and manpower.
Assurance [helps trace] issues related to devices, clients, and provide the troubleshoot as [the] best practices.
Segmentation, with the use of the SGT tags, we are able to achieve segmentation and micro-segmentation securely.

Cons

There are some issues we are facing like the stability of the DNA center versions.
Need to simplify the licenses used for Devices and the DNA center which is hard to understand and explain further.

Likelihood to Recommend

If the use case [is] to have the automation and network insight in your network, Cisco SD-Access is a good solution to go ahead with. The only concern is the stability of the codes and the bugs/vulnerabilities. The other thing [is] as it is a new technology [you] would need more focus on the adoption program from Cisco.

Inderdeep Singh

Sr. Network Analyst in Engineering at KPMG Canada (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

4 years of experience

Happy with Cisco SD-Access

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

January 27, 2020

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We have 50 of our bigger sites ready for Cisco SD-Access. We finished refreshing the hardware to various models of the 9500 and 9300 Series. We have DNA-C running in EMEA, AMEC, and APAC, with full ISE integration. We have migrated a site of 4500 users to SD-Access (in one weekend) and have implemented two greenfield sites--one with a couple of thousand users and one small site with 60 users.

The site operations managers are thrilled with the Assurance module, and, after a period of learning along with Cisco, our management is happy with the visibility DNA-C offers.

Pros

Enhanced user experience
Better manageability

Cons

Better functionality with ISE
Better documentation of all the config that DNA-C adds to the on-boarded devices

Likelihood to Recommend

I think Cisco Software-Defined Access (SD-Access) is suited for most types of sites and for most organizations.

Only when there is too much variation in the types of sites and their requirements might Cisco SD-Access be less valuable.

Nasir Shaikh

Network Architect in Information Technology at Philips (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

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