Item: Cisco AnyConnect
Rating: 10
Author: Gardar Svansson

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco AnyConnect

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Our organisation, uses Cisco AnyConnect, now known as Cisco Secure Client for our remote workforce and also for administrators being able to connect and manage our systems from remote locations. AnyConnect replaced what was before L2TP/IPSec which has become insecure and obsolete. Our organisation has about 40 - 49 employees, that can access the systems from home, if they need to work from home.

Pros and Cons

Pros

VPN remote Access
User access management via group-policies
Securing the connections with modules I.E Umbrella, Secure Endpoint

Cons

Update management, could be simplified, adding an auto fetch latest binaries, at the head end, but that's more of an FTD/ASA feature request.

Return on Investment

Simplified VPN deployment and enrollment of new users.
No Operating systems level debugging on connection issues.
Increased security using Single-Sign on with Duo Security
Much less time spent on debugging connection issues.

Usability

Cisco AnyConnect has really made my life as an administrator simpler, I can set up the client, add him/her to the appropriate groups for authorization, and the user is ready to work remotely. With the add on of Duo Security, we did manage to ditch Radius completely, and have our users created and managed from the Duo Cloud. Then Active directory for authorisation.

Security

Our Organisation, has benefited greatly from the simplicity of Cisco AnyConnect VPN client, we can deploy the correct connection profile to the users, and assign them group policies with the use og Active Directory. So the users input is minimal, they only need to press connect. With the addition of Duo Security, and Password less Single sign on policies we were able to make this even simpler for our workforce. The administration overhead is also minimal, once you're up and running with the policies you want to enforce across your workforce.

Support Rating

We have never had to contact Cisco support because of AnyConnect, and that's a part of why we love it.

Alternatives Considered

Before Cisco AnyConnect, we relied on a free and open standard called L2TP/IPSec, which is now outdated and considered insecure. Also support for it across all operating systems is going away. Since we were already running Cisco routers in our core, we decided to go with Cisco Secure Firewall, then known as Firepower that's why we chose AnyConnect for our deployment.

Key Insights

Do you think Cisco AnyConnect delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Cisco AnyConnect's feature set?

Yes

Did Cisco AnyConnect live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Cisco AnyConnect go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Cisco AnyConnect again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Veeam Data Platform, Cisco HyperFlex (discontinued), Cisco Secure Firewall, Cisco 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers (ASR 9000), Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches, Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access Points

Likelihood to Recommend

We purchased an Cisco Secure Firewall for our network, and were quick to adopt Cisco AnyConnect as our main VPN solution. The client is easy to deploy as a Binary at the head end, for clients to fetch the latest image, and image can be kept up to date if security vulnerabilities come up. This has simplified the management, for our administrators, since authorization for access can be managed with group policies that are assigned at the FTD to Active Directory groups. Cisco supplies the client, so no operating system configurations need to be maintained, or issues with clients not being able to connect because of operating systems update.

Cisco AnyConnect Feature Ratings

Comments

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Cisco AnyConnect simplifies deployment and management of remote workforce.