Network Access Control for Secure, Policy-Driven Infrastructure

Ensure Secure Access To Your Private Networks With Network Access Controls

Most organisations have no reliable way to control who and what is connecting to their network. Corporate laptops, personal devices, IoT equipment, contractors, and guests often receive the same level of trust, increasing the risk of unauthorised access and lateral movement. Network Access Control provides the visibility and policy enforcement needed to ensure every device receives only the access it requires.

ClearPass OnGuard

Aruba ClearPass provides device posture control to ensure endpoints meet defined security standards before network access is granted. Using its OnGuard capability, ClearPass evaluates device health during authentication by checking attributes such as operating system version, antivirus status, firewall configuration, and overall compliance with corporate policies. These checks can be applied across wired, wireless, and VPN connections. If a device fails validation, ClearPass can restrict access, place the device into a remediation network, or apply limited access policies until the issue is resolved. This approach prevents vulnerable or noncompliant endpoints from reaching sensitive resources while maintaining seamless connectivity for trusted devices.

ClearPass Policy Manager (CPPM)

Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager (CPPM) provides robust network access control with granular role-based policies for authentication, authorization, continuous monitoring and enforcement. Its highly interoperability feature helps customers to leverage their investment in earlier security products.

Aruba ClearPass gives you comprehensive and precise profiling, authentication and authorization for your users and guests, your systems, and devices trying to access your IT resources. It’s a rock–solid, affordable solution to control access to your network

HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager provides role and device–based secure network access control for Internet of Things (IoT), BYOD, corporate devices, as well as employees, contractors, and guests across any multivendor wired, wireless and VPN infrastructure.

With a built-in context-based policy engine, RADIUS, TACACS+, non-RADIUS enforcement using OnConnect, device profiling, posture assessment, onboarding, and guest access options, ClearPass is unrivaled as a foundation for network security for organizations of any size.

Multi-Vendor Compatibility

Enterprise networks are rarely built on a single vendor’s infrastructure. Aruba ClearPass is designed to operate across heterogeneous environments, integrating with multi-vendor switches, wireless networks, firewalls, and identity providers. By acting as a centralized policy engine, ClearPass enables organizations to enforce consistent authentication, device profiling, and access policies regardless of the underlying network hardware. This allows security teams to maintain uniform access control across existing infrastructure while avoiding costly rip-and-replace network upgrades.

With ClearPass, organizations can deploy wired or wireless using standards-based 802.1X enforcement for secure authentication. ClearPass also supports MAC address authentication for IoT and headless devices that may lack support for 802.1X. For wired environments where RADIUS based authentication cannot be deployed, OnConnect, offers an alternative using SNMP based enforcement.

HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass is the only policy platform that centrally enforces all aspects of enterprise-grade access security for any industry. Granular policy enforcement is based on a user’s role, device type and role, authentication method, UEM attributes, device health, traffic patterns, location, and time of day.

Hararei brings extensive experience designing and operating large-scale enterprise networks. We help organisations define access policies, integrate ClearPass with existing infrastructure, and develop a phased deployment strategy that delivers security improvements without disrupting business operations.

ClearPass Policy Manager Datasheet

Why Network Access Control Still Matters in a Zero Trust World

While Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) has become a key component of modern security architectures, it addresses a different challenge than Network Access Control (NAC). ZTNA controls access to specific applications based on user identity, device posture and risk, whereas NAC controls which devices are permitted to connect to the network in the first place. NAC remains essential for securing campus and branch environments, onboarding new devices, enforcing network segmentation, and managing unmanaged assets such as printers, cameras, medical devices and industrial systems that cannot support ZTNA agents. Together, NAC and ZTNA provide complementary layers of protection, helping organisations implement a comprehensive Zero Trust strategy that secures both network connectivity and application access.

Support Compliance and Audit Requirements

Network Access Control helps organisations demonstrate control over who can access sensitive systems and data. By enforcing authentication, device validation, role-based access policies, and continuous monitoring, NAC can support compliance initiatives across financial services, healthcare, government, and other regulated industries.

Not Sure If NAC Is Right For Your Environment?

Hararei can assess your current network access controls, identify unmanaged devices, and help determine whether Aruba ClearPass is the right solution for your organisation.

Request a NAC Strategy Discussion