Aruba ClearPass Reviews

It's a reliable solution for our guest network access as well as mobile device registration.

The key functionality we're using is Active Directory in unison with device authentication, so every 45 days a user has to log in their password on their mobile phone so that you can use WiFi services in the office. We're going to be looking at ClearPass to do device authentication, which means the users will only have to register the device once and never have to re-enter the password again.

It was a complex solution to set up because of its newness. We needed a third-party implementor to help us.

It's a brand new installation for us, and we've only had it for a month.

So far, we haven't had any issues with deployment.

From what we've seen it's been pretty stable.

Right now, it's scaled. We're using it for guest internet services and it seems to be working pretty well. Our next phase with that would be to roll in for device registration as we roll out to our mobile device strategy.

10/10 for HP and 8/10 for the third-party.

We haven't really run into any support issues yet. On the integration side, there's obviously some expertise with the vendor, which is going to help us take care of some issues in the future, but it hasn't really been a difficult product to support.

We decommissioned other options. We had another, but we've since decoupled it and are now using ClearPass to do that.

Because of its newness it was complex, but the end result was pretty straightforward.

We did need a third party to come in and help us do the implementation. We had some initial help from an HP engineer on the Aruba side who spent some time with us, showing us an evaluation version of it, but when we went into production we had to get a third party to help us.

We're not really calculating ROI for the service. It's a necessary service delivered by IT to the corporation.

We're currently doing an entire refresh of our access point network, which is approximately 80 access points across the country. We've recently acquired all new hardware. We're refreshing the entire footprint.

Because Aruba was our primary vendor for our access points, it just made more sense for us to try to consolidate more services towards the new strategy.

It's only providing a very small service to us right now. It's not like we're looking at ClearPass on a very full-blown basis. My advice would be to just make sure to do a proper spectrum analysis, and each of your properties are areas that you intend to put WiFi, because it will be critical to where you put APs and how closely you put them together.

The most valuable feature for us is the ability to manage each access point from a single application.

As we are a reseller, we had it installed in our office for our customer test. Also, we were using it as our demonstration tool. I found ClearPass made our work easier as we were connected to WiFi on our laptop, meaning we weren't constrained to our desks.

They need to improve the wizard to make things easier to manage. When we had the access point, I was not sure how to get it to work with Aruba. I tried to follow the guide from Aruba support and the internet, but found it very limited even though I went through one of the two-day technical presentations. The wizard needs to show what you need to configure and what needs to be in there in terms of users. In the end, I got support from one of the Aruba systems engineers to get it to work.

I've used it for one year.

We had no issues deploying it.

We have had no stability issues.

We have had no issues scaling it.

I got support from one of the Aruba systems engineers to get it to work, but I haven't had to use them for anything else.

Our prior solution was a bit complex to configure things prior to deployment.

We deployed it with assistance from our distributor.

You should go for it.

The policy manager is the most valuable feature for us because it allows us to manage every client request in the way we want.

For an international big Italian fashion customer, we have deployed the WiFi network worldwide, including the hotspot network for serving the customer’s demand of a free connection in its stores.

I would like for Aruba to make it easier to configure. They could integrate the different engines (Policy Manager, Guest, Onboard) into one single product.

We've had no problems with deployment.

It's been stable for us.

It's scaled for our needs.

Attend first a ClearPass course as it’s very important in order to understand the product deeply.

The most valuable feature for us is its ability to provide clear authentication mechanisms to support multiple authentication requirements.

This product has provided us a tool to create authentication requirements that users have to meet in order to perform 802.1x authentication.

The update process is very intense and I believe Aruba should find a way to make this process smoother and easier to administer.

I've used it for two years.

We have not run into issues with the deployment.

We have not run into issues with the stability.

We have not run into issues with the scalability

It was hard at first because I didn’t have any training and was trying to figure out the best way for us to use this product with deploying 802.1x.

It was originally put in with a vendor team and was only set up for access to the appliances.

Our ROI has been good and solid.

The pricing/licensing is very competitive with other products out there.

We chose this product because we are using Aruba in other areas today.

Make sure you take a look at all the types of authentication you want to do and evaluate if you have enough appliances to handle the load. Keep in mind resiliency for failover as well.

The advanced RADIUS functionality is the most valuable feature for us.

It is possible to connect corporate people and external people to the WiFi with certificates by doing CA and on-boarding for external people and traditional Radius for the corporate people.

I'd like to see improvement with RADIUS and guest on-boarding. It also needs to be more intuitive to use with simplified administration.

I've used it for two to three years.

There were issues with High Availability and very important changes and issues with version upgrades.

There were no issues with the stability.

There were no issues with the scalability.

2/10 - it was very difficult to find the correct assistance. If we could find the right one, we would be happy.

We previously used Cisco NAC Guest Server and AMI GoPod. ClearPass is the evolution of AMI GoPod.

It was too complex. There is too much functionality in one device such as RADIUS, Guest, Provisioning, On-boarding, and NAC.

The implementation was done in-house. It is the corporative authentication solution and the Guest Portal for the customer.

It is a very complete solution with some important functionalities, but it can be difficult to implement and the support is not the best.

There are several valuable features, and the two most valuable to use are--

• ClearPass Policy Manager 
• ClearPass Guest

ClearPass Guest allows us to build a structured external captive portal with customized landing page for each customer.

ClearPass Policy Manager has to be easier to configure. Now, it is very powerful but very complex when you want to set some “profile enforcement” only for some type of guests or a disconnection policy with Radius COA.

We've had no issues with deploying this solution.

It's a very stable product and we haven't had any issues with instability.

It's scaled for our needs.

Plan very carefully your final configuration or you can lose yourself in the configurations phase.

The greatest feature in Aruba ClearPass, in my opinion, is its modularity and its openness to all vendors. Unlike its competitor (Cisco ISE), Aruba ClearPass supports integration with almost all vendors, and the ClearPass Guest module is unmatched by any other vendor. 

The ability to tune small details is really powerful and is always a selling point. 

Of course, let's not forget that the ClearPass Insight module which produces such valuable reports with small pieces of configurations is a great feature.

Customers who have used ClearPass had their organized improved with the ability to control all devices connecting to their network and the ability to even form a database of all the endpoints in the network and their fingerprints as well. 

Also, the integration with Aruba Wireless is always a plus point.

The main issue I have seen with Aruba ClearPass is specific integration with Juniper firewalls, and this is definitely something I would like to see in the future.

I've had no issues with deployment.

I didn't encounter any issues with stability.

I didn't encounter any issues with scalability.

I would advise customers who want to protect their network, do health checks on BYOD, provide guest access and of course AAA functions to manage their network devices to go for ClearPass, but they have to be ready to get into so much details as the power of ClearPass is in its ability to customize even the smallest details as they wish of course.

A major feature that I deploy and all my customers enjoy is the On-boarding function. Once properly set-up, it is very easy to configure and maintain all on boarded devices and users associated with those devices.

The feature that I use the most is the Access Tracker. It displays all relevant information of each authentication request and troubleshooting is a breeze on how the data is displayed.

I have deployed ClearPass in a number of organizations that have been using any number of outdated and obsolete security protocols for their wireless security from WEP and PSKs to MAC based authentication and global user names and passwords. Deploying ClearPass allowed these organizations to move from weak security protocols to industry standard security protocols.

Every deployment of ClearPass I have run into a bug or a feature that is not as user friendly as it could be. This can be easily improved upon by providing documentation and guides of proper syntax inputs. I have gotten around these issues by purely trial and error.

I have used ClearPass for the past five years and have deployed all the features that ClearPass has to offer. I have deployed it in school districts, hospitals, government agencies and all major industry verticals.

It is not as user-friendly and intuitive when first using it as it takes some time to know were everything is.

I have deployed Clearpass in environments that require over 500,000 authentications per day and have not had any issues.

I have deployed Clearpass in environments that require over 500,000 authentications per day and have not had any issues

For 90% of troubleshooting and basic configuration the Technical Assistance Center has always been very good, once the issue becomes a unique case specific to the customer that’s when resolving issues may take longer the three hours. Overall, Aruba Networks is really good in supporting ClearPass.

The basic network set-up is straightforward to get it on the network. Activating the licenses and getting the subscription key for ClearPass is a bulky and compression process with very little guidance or documentation. If there is an issue with the license, the only solution to almost always call Aruba tech support. Once the licenses are sorted out an upgrade needs to happen and the size of the update is 1.4Gb or more and based on the customers network, may take a long time. Finally, after ClearPass is on-line and fully updated, the configuration and basic troubleshooting is pretty straightforward. If it’s the first time someone is looking at it there is defiantly a learning curve.

I am the system integrator if it would be done in-house. If the person that is deploying ClearPass has experience with radius servers, deploying it would take three to six times longer than to hire a system integrator. Unless the in-house IT team has the time and resources to learn to deploy and troubleshoot ClearPass out of the box, then I definitely recommend getting a systems integrator. They would know how the system works, what questions to ask and troubleshooting techniques.

There are a lot of questions need to be answered before answering the real ROI question correctly, the biggest questions are how secure is your current network? Does it meet the industry security standards? Can you afford to have your network infiltrated or have loss of data? And can you afford to lose data? If not then pricing and licensing can be worked out.

Before you buy licensing know how and way you are using clearpass. I cant count how many times a customer has perched the wrong license or to many or not enough.

It can easily handle all types of authentication methods and has a large amount of flexibility, which can cover all scenarios. However it is lacking in third party integrations and little to no documentation on customization. Aruba assumes that you have working knowledge of their CSS tags, JavaScript, REST API integration and others.

If you are looking for a NAC solution ClearPass is one of the best all in one solution it covers all authentication methods and has a large flexibility that can be easily customized to fit any scenario in any industry vertical.