Pulse Connect Secure
The best mobile VPN to enable secure access from any device to enterprise apps and services in the data center or cloud

Architecture and Key Components:

Pulse Connect Secure is available on a hardware-based (Pulse PSA or MAG Series) or as a virtual appliance as noted below.

• PSA300 Pulse Secure Appliance: Fixed configuration, compact appliance ideal for small and mid-size businesses, supporting up to 200 SSL VPN concurrent users. PSA300 is ideal for desktop deployments.
• PSA3000 Pulse Secure Appliance: Fixed configuration, rack-mount appliance ideal for small and mid-size businesses, supporting up to 200 SSL VPN concurrent users.
• PSA5000 Pulse Secure Appliance: Fixed configuration appliance ideal for scalable mid-size businesses, supporting up to 2,500 SSL VPN concurrent users.
• PSA7000 Pulse Secure Appliance: Fixed configuration appliance ideal for meeting the highest scalability needs of large businesses, supporting up to 25,000 SSL VPN concurrent users.
• MAG2600 Pulse Secure Appliance: Fixed configuration, compact appliance ideal for small and mid-size businesses, supporting up to 100 SSL VPN concurrent users.
• MAG4610 Pulse Secure Appliance: Fixed configuration appliance ideal for mid-size and large businesses, supporting up to 1,000 SSL VPN concurrent users.
• MAG6610 Pulse Secure Appliance: Chassis-based appliance ideal for scalable large businesses, supporting up to 20,000 SSL VPN concurrent users; it requires at least one service module (maximum of two) to be ordered and installed (MAG-SM160 or MAG-SM360).
• MAG6611 Pulse Secure Appliance: Chassis-based appliance ideal for meeting the highest scalability needs of large businesses, supporting up to 40,000 SSL VPN concurrent users; it requires at least one service module (maximum of four) to be ordered and installed (MAG-SM160 or MAG-SM360).
• Virtual Appliance: VMWare, KVM, and Hyper-V virtual appliances for scalable elastic deployment of SSL VPN services.

*Total number of licenses cannot exceed the maximum supported per PSA Series Appliance.

Tech Info:

That's just the beginning, take a look at features and benefits tab for more information.

Features and Benefits:

Key Features of Pulse Connect Secure

Feature	Feature Description
Layer 3 SSL VPN	Dual-transport (SSL + Encapsulating Security Payload) full Layer 3 VPN connectivity with granular access control.
Application VPN	Client/server proxy application that tunnels traffic from specific applications to specific destinations (available for Windows devices only).
Layer 7 Web single sign-on (SSO) via SAML	Allows end users to authenticate to the network through a Layer 3 tunnel, while simultaneously enjoying SSO to Web applications accessed through their browser via SAML SSO support.
Ease of use	Seamless roaming from remote access to local LAN access (Pulse Policy Secure).
Endpoint integrity and assessment	Assess and remediate end user devices prior to authentication with easy policy definition. Available on Windows, Mac OS X, Apple iOS, Android, and Windows Mobile 6.5 (capabilities vary by platform). Available pre-installed with Microsoft Windows 8.1 and RT.
Split tunneling options	Full range of split tunneling options are configurable. Includes enable and disable functionality with overriding route capability and route monitoring. Pulse AppConnect enables IT to integrate per-application SSL VPN connectivity for maximum data security and user transparency.
Flexible launch options (standalone client, browser-based launch)	Users can easily launch SSL VPN via their Web browser, or directly from their desktop.
Supports Pulse Cloud Secure Solution	Blend cloud and datacenter access into a seamless user experience for next generation workers. Ability to add compliance rules for hybrid DC access.
Preconfiguration options (Windows and Mac only)	Administrators can preconfigure a Pulse Secure deployment with a list of gateways for end users to choose from.
Authentication options	Administrators can deploy Pulse Secure for remote user authentication using a wide array of authentication mechanisms, including hardware token, smart card, soft token, Google Authenticator, one-time passwords and certificate authentication.
RDP/Telnet/SSH sessions using HTML5	100% clientless access using HTML5 browsers.
VMWare Horizon and Citrix Xen Support	Supports VMWare Horizon View 6.0.1, 6.1 & 6.2; 7.0 for VMWare Horizon View, Citrix Xen 7.6, StoreFront 2.6 & 3.0.
Granular SSL Cipher Configuration	Enables the administrator to select specific ciphers over those pre-configured for highly secure compliance.

End-to-End Layered Security

Pulse Connect Secure provides complete end-to-end layered security, including endpoint client, device, data, and server layered security controls.

Feature	Feature Description	Benefits
Host Checker	Endpoint devices can be checked prior to and during a remote access session to verify an acceptable device security posture requiring installed/running endpoint security applications (antivirus, personal firewall, etc.), as well as check for IT-required Operating System versions, patch level, browser type, and many other requirements. Custom-built checks for specialized customer requirements are also supported. Noncompliant endpoints can be quarantined, denied access, or granted access, depending on administrator defined policies. Whenever possible, Host Checker automatically remediates noncompliant endpoints by updating software applications that do not comply to corporate security policies.	Ensures that endpoint devices meet corporate security policy requirements before being granted network access. Remediates devices and quarantines users, when necessary. Can ensure that no potentially sensitive data is left behind on the endpoint device.
Trusted Network Connect (TNC) support in Host Checker	Allows interoperability with diverse endpoint security solutions from antivirus to patch management to compliance management solutions.	Enables customers to leverage existing investments in endpoint security solutions from third-party vendors.
Always-On VPN	Ensure all traffic from endpoints is sent over the tunnel which is set up automatically when an Internet connected is detected.	Enables organizations to enforce security, compliance and visibility on all traffic from endpoints even when they are not on-prem.

Ease of Administration

In addition to enterprise-class security benefits, Pulse Connect Secure has a wealth of features that make it easy for the administrator to deploy and manage.

Feature	Feature Description	Benefits
Mobile Device Management (MDM) integration (Available with AirWatch and MobileIron)	Enables consolidated reporting and dashboards for simplified management. Leverages MDM attributes for more intelligent and centralized policy creation. Facilitates transparent “no touch” MDM-based deployment of Pulse Clients to iOS and Android devices.	Extend MDM investments to gain comprehensive endpoint visibility and support additional mobile use cases.
Secure Access for SAP Applications	Embeds Pulse Secure Per-App VPN SDK into SAP’s Fiori mobile applications.	Provides transparent, secure data center connectivity for SAP services through the existing Pulse Secure VPN appliance. Additional details are available: https://www.pulsesecure.net/solutions/sap/
Integration with strong authentication and identity and access management (IAM) platforms	Ability to support SecurID, Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) including standards-based SAML v2.0 support, and public key infrastructure (PKI)/digital certificates.	Leverages existing corporate authentication methods to simplify administration.
Bridge Certification Authority (BCA) support	Supports federated PKI deployments with client certificate authentication. Bridge CA is a PKI extension (as specified in RFC 5280) to cross-certify client certificates that are issued by different trust anchors (Root CAs). Also, enables customers to configure policy extensions in the admin UI, to be enforced during certificate validation.	Enables customers who use advanced PKI deployments to deploy the Pulse Secure Appliances to perform strict standards-compliant certificate validation—before allowing data and applications to be shared between organizations and users.
Multiple hostname support	Ability to host different virtual extranet websites from a single appliance.	Saves the cost of incremental servers. Eases management overhead. Provides a transparent user experience with differentiated entry URLs.
Intuitive Dashboard Design	View and control enterprise access to the data center and cloud from one console. (Reference Diagram 1)	Quick access to dynamic information and reports. Customizable layouts via drag and drop functionality.
Customizable user interface	Creation of completely customized sign-on pages.	Provides an individualized look for specified roles, streamlining the user experience.
Pulse One Compatible	With Pulse One, configuring, updating, and monitoring PSA or MAG Series Appliances under a centralized management console with the capabilities of a single device/cluster or across a global cluster deployment.	Enables companies to conveniently manage, configure, and maintain PSA or MAG Series Appliances and other Juniper devices from one central location.
Pulse Application Launcher (PAL)	Enhanced support for non-JAVA based browsers.	Support for latest generation browsers (Apple, Microsoft, Google, Firefox, etc) that do not support Java and Active X.

Diagram 1 - Dynamic UI for Pulse Connect Secure, Version 8.2

Rich Access Privilege Management Capabilities

Pulse Connect Secure provides dynamic access management capabilities. When users log into Pulse Connect Secure, they pass through a pre-authentication assessment, and are then dynamically mapped to the session role that combines established network, device, identity, and session policy settings. Users have access only to those resources that are deemed necessary for that session, according to administratordefined policies.

Feature	Feature Description	Benefits
Dynamic role mapping with custom expressions	Combines network, device, and session attributes to determine which types of access are allowed. A dynamic combination of attributes on a per-session basis can be used to make the role mapping decision.	Enables the administrator to provision by purpose for each unique session.
SSL VPN federation with NAC (Pulse Policy Secure)	Seamlessly provision SSL VPN user sessions into NAC sessions upon login. Since session data is shared between the Pulse Secure Appliances for SSL VPN and NAC, users need to authenticate only one time to get access in these types of environments.	Provides users, whether remote or local, seamless access with a single login to corporate resources that are protected by access control policies. Simplifies the end user experience.
Support for RSA Authentication Manager	RSA Authentications Manager 8.1 enables Risk Based Authentication.	Offer another authentication layer option via email account.
Support for Google Authenticator	Enables multi-factor authentication using smartphones	Leverage ubiquitous smart phones to roll out a cost-effective and self-serve two-factor authentication mechanism, where one time passcodes are generated by a mobile app
Multiple sessions per user	Allows remote users to launch multiple remote access sessions.	Enables remote users to have multiple authenticated sessions open at the same time, such as when accessing VPN from a laptop and from a smartphone simultaneously.
User record synchronization	Supports synchronization of user records such as user bookmarks across different Pulse Secure Appliances.	Ensures a consistent experience for users who often travel from one region to another and therefore need to connect to different Pulse Secure Appliances running Pulse Connect Secure.
Mobile-friendly SSL VPN login pages	Provides predefined HTML pages that are customized for mobile devices, including Apple iPhone and iPad, Google Android, and Nokia Symbian devices.	Provides mobile device users with a simplified and enhanced user experience and webpages customized for their device types.

Flexible Single Sign-On (SSO) Capabilities

Pulse Connect Secure offers comprehensive single sign-on (SSO) features. These features increase end user productivity, greatly simplify administration of large diverse user resources, and significantly reduce the number of help desk calls.

Feature	Feature Description	Benefits
SAML single sign-on for cloud and Web applications access	SAML 2.0-based SSO to a variety of Web applications, including many of today’s most popular Software as a Service (SaaS) applications such as salesforce.com and Google Apps. Includes SSO functionality, even when connecting via a Pulse Connect Secure Layer 3 VPN tunnel, which is unique in the industry. Pulse Connect Secure supports deployments as both an SAML Identity Provider (IdP) and as a SAML Service Provider (SP).	Single sign-on to a user’s Web and cloud-based applications, simplifying the user’s connectivity experience.
Kerberos Constrained Delegation	Support for Kerberos Constrained Delegation protocol. When a user logs into Pulse Connect Secure with a credential that cannot be proxied through to the backend server, the gateway will retrieve a Kerberos ticket on behalf of the user from the Active Directory infrastructure. The ticket will be cached on Pulse Connect Secure throughout the session. When the user accesses Kerberos-protected applications, the Appliance will use the cached Kerberos credentials to log the user into the application without prompting for a password.	Eliminates the need for companies to manage static passwords resulting in reduced administration time and costs.
Kerberos SSO and NT LAN Manager (NTLMv2) support	Pulse Connect Secure will automatically authenticate remote users via Kerberos or NTLMv2 using user credentials.	Simplifies the user experience by eliminating users entering credentials multiple times to access different applications.
Password management integration	Standards-based interface for extensive integration with password policies in directory stores (LDAP, AD, and others).	Leverages existing servers to authenticate users. Users can manage their passwords directly through the Pulse Connect Secure interface.
Web-based SSO basic authentication and NTLM	Allows users to access other applications or resources that are protected by another access management system without reentering login credentials.	Alleviates the need for users to enter and maintain multiple sets of credentials for web-based and Microsoft applications.
Web-based SSO forms-based, header variable-based, SAML-based	Ability to pass user name, credentials, and other customer defined attributes to the authentication forms of other products and as header variables.	Enhances user productivity and provides a customized experience.

Provision by Purpose

Pulse Connect Secure includes different access methods. These different methods are selected as part of the user’s role, so the administrator can enable the appropriate access on a per-session basis, taking into account user, device, and network attributes in combination with enterprise security policies.

Feature	Feature Description	Benefits
Pulse Secure Client	Single, integrated, remote access client that can also provide LAN access control, and dynamic VPN features to remote users.	Pulse Client replaces the need to deploy and maintain multiple, separate clients for different functionalities such as VPN and LAN access control. The end user simply “clicks and connects.”
Clientless core Web access	Secure access to many different types of web-based applications, including many of today’s most common Web applications such as Outlook Web Access, SharePoint, and many others. Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) access in Pulse Connect Secure can be delivered over HTML5, via third-party RDP, through a WebSockets translator such as Ericom (www.ericom.com).	Provides the most easily accessible form of application and resource access from a variety of end user devices with extremely granular security control options. Completely clientless approach using only a web browser.
IPsec/IKEv2 support for mobile devices	Allows remote users to connect from any mobile device that supports Internet Key Exchange (IKEv2) VPN connectivity. Administrator can enable strict certificate or username/ password authentication for access via IPsec/IKEv2.	Full L3 VPN support for new devices that support IKEv2 but for which a Pulse Secure client is not yet available.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) support	Allows interoperability with VMware View Manager to enable administrators to deploy virtual desktops with Pulse Connect Secure.	Provides remote users seamless access to their virtual desktops hosted on VMware servers. Provides dynamic delivery of the VMware View client, including dynamic client fallback options, to allow users to easily connect to their virtual desktops.
ActiveSync Proxy	Provides secure access connectivity (strong encryption + certificate authentication) from mobile devices (such as iOS or Android devices) to the Exchange Server via proxy, with no client software installation. Enables up to 5,000 simultaneous sessions.	Enables customers to allow a large number of users (including employees, contractors, and partners) to access corporate resources through mobile phones via ActiveSync.
Secure Application Manager (SAM)	A lightweight Java or Windows-based download enabling access to client/server applications.	Enables access to client/server applications using just a Web browser. Also provides native access to terminal server applications without the need for a preinstalled client.
Network Connect (NC)	Provides complete network-layer connectivity via an automatically provisioned cross-platform download, Windows Logon/Graphical Identification and Authentication (GINA) integration for domain SSO, and installer services to mitigate need for admin rights. Allows for split tunneling capability.	Full Layer 3 VPN tunnel.

How It Works:

Secure Access from any device to any app.

Product Options:

Pulse Connect Secure currently includes several license options for enablement on the PSA or MAG Series Appliances.

User License (Connect Secure - ‘CONSEC’)

Pulse Connect Secure (CONSEC) licenses are per concurrent session licenses. (Please see the Ordering Information section below for licensing details.)

CONSEC licenses provide SSL VPN functionality that allows users to access the network. They fully meet the needs of both basic and complex deployments with diverse audiences and use cases, and they require little or no client software, server changes, DMZ buildouts, or software agent deployments. For administrative ease of managing license counts, each user license enables as many concurrent sessions as specified in the license and they are additive. For example, if a 100 user license was originally purchased and the concurrent user session count grows over the next year to exceed that amount, simply adding another 100 user license to the system will now allow for up to 200 concurrent users sessions.

Key features enabled by this license include:

• The combination of core clientless access, SAM, Pulse Client/ Network Connect provides secure access to virtually any audience, from remote and mobile workers to partners or customers, using a wide range of devices from any network.
• Provision -by- purpose goes beyond role-based access controls and allows administrators to properly, accurately, and dynamically balance security concerns with access requirements.
• Advanced PKI support includes the ability to import multiple root and intermediate certificate authorities (CAs), Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP), and multiple server certificates.
• User self-service provides the ability for users to create their own favorite bookmarks, including accessing their own workstations from a remote location, and even changing their passwords when they are set to expire.
• Multiple hostname support, for example, https://employees. company.com, https://partners.company.com, and https:// employees.company.com/engineering, can all be made to look as though each individual user community is the only ones using the system, complete with separate logon pages and customized views that uniquely reflect the needs and desires of that audience.
• User interfaces are customizable for users and delegated administrative roles.
• Advanced endpoint security controls such as Host Checker, and, cache cleaner, ensure that users are dynamically provisioned to access systems and resources only to the degree that their remote systems are compliant with the organization’s security policies, after which remnant data is scrubbed from the user’s device so that nothing is left behind.

High Availability Clustering Capability (No Additional License Required)

Customers have the ability to build clusters without buying any additional licenses. The clustering method can be explained in two simple steps:

1. Simply place an equal number of user (CONSEC) licenses on each PSA or MAG Series Appliance.
2. When the PSA or MAG Series Appliances are joined together to form a cluster, all of the user licenses add up so that the cluster can now support all of the licensed users. For example, building a cluster of 1,000 users is done by bringing together two boxes with 500 user licenses in each of the two units.

If either box fails, the remaining box inherits the full 1,000 user licenses.

Clustering supports stateful peering and failover across LAN connection, so in the unlikely event that one unit fails, system configurations (such as authentication server, authorization groups, and bookmarks), user profile settings (such as user defined bookmarks and cookies), and user sessions are preserved. Failover is seamless, so there is no interruption to user/enterprise productivity, no need for users to log in again, and no downtime.

Please note that WAN clustering is not supported on the PSA or MAG Series. Multisite clustering is supported, however, provided the sites are on a campus network with LAN-like connectivity.

ICE (In Case of Emergency) License (Optional)
SSL VPNs can help keep organizations and businesses functioning by connecting people even during the most unpredictable circumstances—hurricanes, terrorist attacks, transportation strikes, pandemics, or virus outbreaks—the result of which could mean the quarantine or isolation of entire regions or groups of people for an extended period of time. With the right balance of risk and cost, the ICE license delivers a timely solution for addressing a dramatic peak in demand for remote access to ensure business continuity whenever a disastrous event strikes. ICE provides licenses for additional users on a PSA or MAG Series Appliance running Pulse Connect Secure for a limited time.

With ICE licenses, businesses can do the following:

• Maintain productivity by enabling ubiquitous access to applications and information for employees from anywhere, at any time, and on any device
• Sustain partnerships with around-the-clock, real-time access to applications and services while knowing resources are secured and protected
• Meet federal and government mandates for contingencies and continuity of operations (COOP) compliance
• Balance risk and scalability with cost and ease of deployment

For the MAG Series Appliances, the ICE licenses are available in two forms: full ICE (which allows bursting to the full capacity of the MAG Series Appliances); and a 25% burst license (which allows bursting of up to 25% of the installed license count on any given MAG Series Appliances). For example, if the customer has a MAG6610 with a 1,000 user license, the 25% burst license option will support an additional 250 users during an unplanned event. Likewise, for the Pulse PSA Series Appliances, only the full ICE licenses are available.

Premier Java RDP Applet (Optional)
With the Premier Java RDP Applet option, users can remotely access centralized Windows applications independent of the client platform (Mac OS, Linux, Windows, and so on) through Java-based technology. As a platform independent solution, the Premier Java RDP Applet lets you use the entire range of Windows applications running on the Windows Terminal Server, regardless of how the client computer is equipped. By centrally installing and managing all Windows applications, you can significantly reduce your total cost of ownership. The Premier Java RDP Applet is an OEM of the HOBlink JWT (Java Windows Terminal) product created by HOB Inc., a leading European software company specializing in Java programming.

Documentation:

Download the Pulse Secure Pulse Connect Secure Datasheet (.PDF)