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Cisco DNA Center vs Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.5
Cisco's DNA Center support is praised for responsiveness but criticized for delayed resolutions and inconsistent service quality.
Sentiment score
5.3
Cisco ISE support is praised for expertise but criticized for slow responses and inconsistent quality, especially with complex issues.
I rate the technical support as one out of ten.
 

Room For Improvement

Sentiment score
5.0
Cisco DNA Center needs improved integration, cost efficiency, user control, security, and enhanced interface with third-party compatibility.
Sentiment score
4.5
Cisco ISE requires improved integration, usability, and performance, with enhanced features and efficiency for better user adoption and experience.
They are very poor in asset classification and should focus on improving the preauthentication profiling, especially for NAC use cases.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Cisco DNA Center excels in scalability for medium to large enterprises but may struggle with costs and IP version 6 support.
Sentiment score
7.0
Cisco ISE is scalable for enterprises but requires proper design, planning, and hardware considerations for efficient deployment.
Factors like architecture, business nature, and legal limitations such as GDPR affect it.
 

Setup Cost

Sentiment score
2.6
Cisco DNA Center's high costs, influenced by licensing, challenge smaller organizations despite enterprise value, prompting alternatives consideration.
No sentiment score available
Cisco Identity Services Engine pricing is competitive but complex, with tiered licensing and additional costs potentially impacting smaller businesses.
Making large organizational costs significant.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Cisco DNA Center is reliable and robust with occasional errors, requiring updates or rebooting, but overall stable.
Sentiment score
7.7
Cisco Identity Services Engine is stable and reliable, with occasional update and scaling challenges, and generally effective support resolution.
The stability of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is poor for certain use cases, like authentication.
 

Valuable Features

Sentiment score
8.1
Cisco DNA Center streamlines network management with centralized control, automation, and analytics, improving security and performance with scalability.
Sentiment score
8.0
Cisco ISE provides robust network control, seamless Cisco integration, and enhances security with policy management, zero-trust, and BYOD support.
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is very good at device administration.
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco DNA Center
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (1st), Network Monitoring Software (19th), Network Automation (2nd)
Cisco Identity Services Eng...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
140
Ranking in other categories
Network Access Control (NAC) (1st), Cisco Security Portfolio (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

Cisco DNA Center and Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Cisco DNA Center is designed for Network Management Applications and holds a mindshare of 29.8%, up 27.4% compared to last year.
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), on the other hand, focuses on Network Access Control (NAC), holds 29.2% mindshare, down 31.6% since last year.
Network Management Applications
Network Access Control (NAC)
 

Q&A Highlights

Aymen FHOULA - PeerSpot reviewer
Jul 07, 2023
 

Featured Reviews

AvrahamSonenthal - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficiently manages our wireless network and provides valuable monitoring features
The platform's biggest benefit has been in managing our wireless network. Having a single pane of glass to control all wireless controllers and access points and to monitor activity has been a significant advantage. We're a small federal agency with around 300 network devices, so automation is a minor focus. It's more relevant for larger networks. The main benefits we've seen are in inventory management and the potential for configuration automation. However, I recommend using the DNA Centre only for larger networks with over a thousand devices; otherwise, it may not be cost-effective. Before proceeding, ensure that your devices are compatible with DNA Center, as not all Cisco devices are supported. Also, investing in proper training is different from plug-and-play. I rate it an eight.
Rohit-Joshi - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables us to ensure that any machine that comes into the network is patched and secure
Posturing is the most valuable feature. There are other tools available that can do some of their other features, like network authentication. The posturing was something because of the nature of the industry that we are in. There are people who go outside for work. Their machines are at times not in the network, and not patched properly. We don't know when they're going to come back, whether it is in a good state, whether it has antivirus, whether it's installed on those machines. Posturing is something that we have made our baseline policy that whenever a machine comes back to our network, it should have a certain level of the operating system and a level of security and antivirus installed. We couldn't have done this posturing without Cisco ISE. This is its greatest feature. It does help me to detect and remediate my network. It enables me to detect any external threat that comes to my network and remediate. If a machine comes into my network that does not qualify per my baseline policy, I have a policy that the machine gets redirected to where it can be patched and remediated. I can ensure that it is fully patched and secure. The entire idea of having ISE is to enhance cybersecurity resilience. The zero trust architecture was coined by the cybersecurity team itself. It was a task given to us in the infrastructure space to see how we can bring resilience into the cybersecurity network and ISE was the solution.
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Answers from the Community

Aymen FHOULA - PeerSpot reviewer
Jul 7, 2023
Jul 7, 2023
Prerequisite: 1) ISE and Cisco DNAC are compatible versions. 2) ISE GUI password matches ISE CLI password. 3) ISE and DNAC should have full privilege Credential. 4) Enable pxGride Service. 5) Enable ERS Read/Write service. 6) ISE and DNA Should be reachable.
See 2 answers
MOHAMEDELSHERIF - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 9, 2023
Hi Anyman 1- first you need to enable pixgrid setting at CIsco ISE at Admin setting. 2- You Need to activate ISE as Radius in DNA Setting tab at the left corner (user name and password is any ISE administrator user ). 3- From Network Hierarchy Tab in DNA Cisco  choose ISE as your AAA server. 4- You need to create STG  group at policy tab to create the proper user grouping. 4-Then go to provision / fabric / switch interface then apply ISE as your authentication profile. Most Importantly you need to ensure that your fabric switch has DNA advantage license
VK
Jul 7, 2023
Prerequisite: 1) ISE and Cisco DNAC are compatible versions. 2) ISE GUI password matches ISE CLI password. 3) ISE and DNAC should have full privilege Credential. 4) Enable pxGride Service. 5) Enable ERS Read/Write service. 6) ISE and DNA Should be reachable.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
20%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
6%
Educational Organization
26%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco DNA Center?
The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it gives some kind of ease in operations, especially since our company is moving from CLI to GUI-based configuration.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco DNA Center?
I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, with ten being expensive.
What needs improvement with Cisco DNA Center?
One area that needs improvement is the upgrade process. The time required for downloading and installing packages during upgrades is too long, often taking around ten hours. This is a significant i...
Which is better - Aruba Clearpass or Cisco ISE?
Aruba ClearPass is a Network Access Control tool that gives secure network access to multiple device types. You can adapt the policies to VPN access, wired, or wireless access. You can securely ...
What are the main differences between Cisco ISE and Forescout Platform?
OK, so Cisco ISE uses 802.1X to secure switchports against unauthorized access. The drawback of this is that ISE cannot secure the port if a device does not support 802.1x. Cameras, badge readers, ...
How does Cisco ISE compare with Fortinet FortiNAC?
Cisco ISE uses AI endpoint analytics to identify new devices based on their behavior. It will also notify you if someone plugs in with a device that is not allowed and will block it. The user exper...
 

Also Known As

DNA Center
Cisco ISE
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Aegean Motorway, BC Hydro, Beachbody, Bucks County Intermediate Unit , Cisco IT, Derby City Council, Global Banking Customer, Gobierno de Castilla-La Mancha, Houston Methodist, Linz AG, London Hydro, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Molina Healthcare, MST Systems, New South Wales Rural Fire Service, Reykjavik University, Wildau University
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, HPE Aruba Networking, Fortinet and others in Network Management Applications. Updated: October 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.