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Cisco Software-Defined Access (SD-Access)

Score8.4 out of 10

17 Reviews and Ratings

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What is Cisco Software-Defined Access (SD-Access)?

Cisco's Software-Defined Access (SD-Access) provides automated end-to-end segmentation to separate user, device and application traffic without redesigning the network. Cisco SD-Access automates user access policy so organizations can make sure the right policies are established for any user or device with any application across the network.

Categories & Use Cases

Reviews

What users are saying about Cisco Software-Defined Access (SD-Access).
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#SDA shaking trust in Cisco

Incentivized
Verified User
Engineer in Engineering (10,001+ employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I am using SDA in part of my Campus infrastructure. It supposed to be easier to administrate , fewer manpower, it turns out the the solution need a dedicated team to deal with all the bugs.

Pros

  • Automation for daily activities (DNA)
  • Telemetry (DNA)

Cons

  • NOT Micro segmentation for Broadcast and multicast
  • NOT Supporting Multicast over SD transit
  • NOT Supporting silent host
  • Demanding advantage license

Return on Investment

  • The LCM become bloody expensive

Alternatives Considered

Cisco Nexus Dashboard

Other Software Used

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), Cisco Prime LAN Management Solution

Usability

Cisco SD-Access review

Incentivized
Inderdeep Singh
Sr. Network Analyst in Engineering at KPMG Canada (10,001+ employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are using Cisco SD-Access for [the] whole organization. With the help of Cisco SD-Access, we are able to address the problems [of] automation through DNA center, network insight through assurance, and segmentation using SGTs. We deployed [Cisco] SD-Access in all our offices across Canada with two-layer architecture. Moving out from the complex traditional to next-generation networks save[s] our timelines for critical projects.

Pros

  • Automation, pushing template-based configuration to multiple devices in one push saves time and manpower.
  • Assurance [helps trace] issues related to devices, clients, and provide the troubleshoot as [the] best practices.
  • Segmentation, with the use of the SGT tags, we are able to achieve segmentation and micro-segmentation securely.

Cons

  • There are some issues we are facing like the stability of the DNA center versions.
  • Need to simplify the licenses used for Devices and the DNA center which is hard to understand and explain further.

Return on Investment

  • Time and manpower save in case of configuration devices.
  • Easy to find issues and guided process to troubleshoot issues through DNA center.
  • Integrations and API calls helps beyond the expectations
  • ROI

Alternatives Considered

Arista Campus Switches, Aruba Networks Wireless LAN (WLAN) and Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches

Other Software Used

Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series, Citrix ADC (formerly NetScaler ADC), Cisco ASA

Cisco Software-Defined Access (SD-Access) Review

Incentivized
Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology (11-50 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use it for controlling all our access to our campus networks and allowing user flexibility, all the resources and logging into the company's intranet and other services that they need internally.

Pros

  • It does well by cementing their users with a lot of the security feature sets, such as assist SGT tagging and working well with our security compliance and guard for governance. Using the ISE monitoring and auditing,

Cons

  • The user interfaces has a lot of needs for improvement, such as making it a bit more usable and accessible, as well as being more flexible in allowing us to consume the APIs that the products offers.

Return on Investment

  • The positive impact is that it gave us some return on value so that we don't have to invest too much on multi-vendor products, as well as giving us the flexibility to choose what sort of features that we need to turn on or use at any given time.

Happy with Cisco SD-Access

Incentivized
Nasir Shaikh
Network Architect in Information Technology at Philips (10,001+ employees employees)

Pros

  • Enhanced user experience
  • Better manageability

Cons

  • Better functionality with ISE
  • Better documentation of all the config that DNA-C adds to the on-boarded devices

Return on Investment

  • Investment made last year and ROI already showing, because we combined it with our hardware refresh.

Cisco Software-Defined Access Excellent solution, but still [needs] to be improved

Incentivized
Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology (51-200 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I configured and implemented this solution [Cisco SD- Acess] for 2 large companies. The main benefit I can include about this solution so far is the consolidation of all the below points: -Security: Identify and verify all endpoints and network segmentation (high and low level) -Monitoring: Network, applications and endpoints health, the best benefit in this point is related to insights that the controller provides to solve network issues. -Configuration: The deployment can be done in a way that saves time, not only for the first deployment but also for subsequent device incorporation in the network.

Pros

  • Security: Macro and micro segmentation
  • Configuration: LAN Automation and provisioning
  • Monitoring and telemetry: Network metrics and insights

Cons

  • Documentation: Working in this solution I realized there were missing information details about the fusion device support for nexus.
  • Fusion router: This roll in the fabric should be already integrated in the solution, right now it is configured manually.
  • Bugs: Unfortunately the solution still present a lot of bugs, mainly in the controller.

Return on Investment

  • Positive: Less time to provisioning a device in the campus Lan network
  • Positive: Less time to troubleshoot the network
  • Negative: the implementation phase itself was too long because of a lot of bugs in the oldest versions.

Other Software Used

Cisco SD-WAN, PRTG Network Monitor, SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)