Best NAC server out there at the moment, but needs improvement in training materials and support
Updated September 06, 2022

Best NAC server out there at the moment, but needs improvement in training materials and support

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Aruba ClearPass

ClearPass is used as a NAC and access server for wireless connectivity, and we are planning to use it for wired NAC in the future. It is used for wireless employee authentication with EAP-TLS, as well as wireless guest access with self-registration. It addresses wireless authentication problem in a reliable and scalable manner.

Pros

  • Wireless authentication with EAP-TLS.
  • Wireless guest access with self-registration.
  • Interfacing with Aruba wireless controllers.
  • Very good logging/troubleshooting.

Cons

  • Wired NAC with non-Aruba switches is clunky and hard.
  • Configuration is not intuitive.
  • Training materials online are practically nonexistent.
  • Even when given on official training courses, training materials are terrible.
  • ClearPass helps self-registration for guests and BYOD, which a large organization needs.
  • Is very reliable and scalable, so could be a good investment.
  • However, configuration requires expensive training and/or consultant use.
  • Training materials are lacking and low-quality.
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.
Support, unfortunately, is one thing that Aruba needs a lot of improvement. While some engineers are skilled, others have been quite low-quality. Engineers tend to not take ownership and one needs to keep calling to get a case moved forward in a timely manner. In my experience, many times an engineer owning my case would leave office and not be in the next day without resolving the case or handing it off properly. Licensing support in particular has been handled very poorly.

Do you think Aruba ClearPass delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Aruba ClearPass's feature set?

Yes

Did Aruba ClearPass live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Aruba ClearPass go as expected?

No

Would you buy Aruba ClearPass again?

Yes

Aruba Networks Wireless LAN (WLAN), FortiAP, VMware ESXi
It works very well with Aruba wireless controllers and, according to the demos, with Aruba switches for wired NAC. Works well for guest portals with self-registration. Posture checking - Onguard - is limited on Macs, but extensive on Windows. Onboarding with EAP-TLS on android phones requires an app. However, wired NAC is very hard with non-Aruba switches. Policies can be very granular.

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