Beyond traditional RADIUS/TACACS, ClearPass acts as a Context Broker . It uses a robust set of REST APIs and HTTP-based outbound notifications to share data with "non-authentication" systems like SIEMs, Next-Generation Firewalls, and Asset Management databases. This allows the entire security infrastructure to benefit from the rich identity and profiling context that ClearPass gathers, enabling a coordinated response to threats across the entire network.

While RADIUS requests (for network access) are almost always found in the Access Tracker, TACACS+ requests (for device administration) that fail early in the process-such as those from an unauthorized source IP-may not appear there. In these cases, the Event Viewer is the correct diagnostic tool. The Event Viewer captures system-level errors, including "Unknown NAD" alerts for TACACS+ attempts, which will help the administrator identify why the request isn't being processed by a service.

When adding a new Network Access Device (NAD) in ClearPass, the administrator must enter the device's source IP address or IP range. This ensures that only authentication requests originating from trusted NADs are accepted by ClearPass, providing controlled and secure communication between the NADs and the authentication server.