Item: HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager
Rating: 10
Author: Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Aruba ClearPass

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We currently use Aruba ClearPass across the entire company. We have it tied to our Active Directory for 802.1x authentication on both the wired and wireless networks. When employees connect to the network, they are prompted for their credentials and are put in the proper VLAN according to the groups they belong to in Active Directory.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Granularity in access.
Multiple sources of authentication.
Manage guest and defined users with the same tool.

Cons

Nested configurations can get tiresome and hard to follow.
More robust reporting.
Add the ability to search MAC addresses including colons and periods.

Return on Investment

Time saved when employees move desks using 802.1x.
Saved money using the same tool for authenticating network devices for administration and end-users alike.
Checking logs for failed authentication makes troubleshooting easy.

Alternatives Considered

I have not reviewed any alternatives to ClearPass.

Support Rating

Technical support is easy to get a hold of and responsive to requests. There are certain options in the command line that TAC keeps to themselves for troubleshooting purposes, and I am not a fan of having to call in for support to have a deep-dive into a given issue. I would like it if the robust logging commands and controls were available to owners/administrators of the system.

Key Insights

Do you think HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager's feature set?

Yes

Did HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Asana, Okta Workforce Identity, Graylog, Microsoft Teams, Skype for Business (formerly Lync)

Likelihood to Recommend

Aruba ClearPass is perfect for implementing 802.1x access. Having the ability to configure the system to drop users into the proper network ad-hoc is invaluable when you have a large organization; the old method of manually configuring interfaces as employees move around is gone. If you are looking for something that has robust and easy to access logs, you will have to look at an external tool; the built-in options with ClearPass are not that great.

Comments

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Simplifies day-to-day operations