Author: Carl Stalhood

NetScaler Gateway 11.1 RADIUS Authentication

Last Modified: Sep 21, 2019 @ 3:48 pm

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RADIUS Overview

For two-factor authentication using Azure Multi-factor Authentication, see Jason Samuel How to deploy Microsoft Azure MFA & AD Connect with Citrix NetScaler Gateway

Citrix CTX125364 How to Configure Dual Authentication on NetScaler Gateway Enterprise Edition for Use with iPhone and iPad.

Some two-factor products (e.g. SMS Passcode) require you to hide the 2nd password field. Receiver 4.4 and newer supports hiding the 2nd field if you configure a Meta tag in index.html.

Two-factor authentication to NetScaler Gateway requires the RADIUS protocol to be enabled on the two-factor authentication product.

On your RADIUS servers, you’ll need to add the NetScaler appliances as RADIUS Clients. When NetScaler uses a local (same appliance) load balanced Virtual Server for RADIUS authentication, the traffic is sourced from the NetScaler SNIP (Subnet IP). When NetScaler uses a direct connection to a RADIUS Server without going through a load balancing Virtual Server, or uses a remote (different appliance) Load Balancing Virtual Server, the traffic is sourced from the NetScaler NSIP (NetScaler IP). Use the correct IP(s) when adding the appliances as RADIUS Clients. And adjust firewall rules accordingly.

For High Availability pairs, if you locally load balance RADIUS, then you only need to add the SNIP as a RADIUS Client, since the SNIP floats between the two appliances. However, if you are not locally load balancing RADIUS, then you’ll need to add the NSIP of both appliances as RADIUS Clients. Use the same RADIUS Secret for both appliances.

Two-factor Policies Summary

When configuring the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server, you can specify both a Primary authentication policy, and a Secondary authentication policy. Users are required to successfully authenticate against both policies before being authorized for NetScaler Gateway.

For browser-based StoreFront, you need two authentication policies:

  • Primary = LDAPS authentication policy pointing to Active Directory Domain Controllers.
  • Secondary = RADIUS authentication policy pointing to RSA servers with RADIUS enabled.

For Receiver Self-service (native Receiver on mobile, Windows, and Mac), the authentication policies are swapped:

  • Primary = RADIUS authentication policy pointing to RSA servers with RADIUS enabled.
  • Secondary = LDAPS authentication policy pointing to Active Directory Domain Controllers.

If you need to support two-factor authentication from both web browsers and Receiver Self-Service, then you’ll need at least four authentication policies as shown below.

Primary:

  • Priority 90 = RADIUS policy. Expression = REQ.HTTP..HEADER User-Agent CONTAINS CitrixReceiver
  • Priority 100 = LDAP policy. Expression = REQ.HTTP..HEADER User-Agent NOTCONTAINS CitrixReceiver

Secondary:

  • Priority 90 = LDAP policy. Expression = REQ.HTTP..HEADER User-Agent CONTAINS CitrixReceiver
  • Priority 100 = RADIUS policy. Expression = REQ.HTTP..HEADER User-Agent NOTCONTAINS CitrixReceiver

Create Two-factor Policies

Do the following to create the Two-factor policies:

  1. Create an LDAP server.
  2. For RADIUS, on the left, expand Authentication, and click Dashboard.
  3. On the right, click Add.
  4. Change Choose Server Type to RADIUS.
  5. Give the server a name.
  6. Specify the IP address of the RADIUS load balancing Virtual Server.
  7. Enter the secret key specified when you added the NetScalers as RADIUS clients on the RADIUS server. Click Test Connection.
  8. Scroll down and click Create.

    add authentication radiusAction RSA -serverIP 10.2.2.210 -serverPort 1812 -radKey Passw0rd
  9. Since you can’t create authentication policies from the authentication dashboard, go to NetScaler Gateway > Policies > Authentication > RADIUS.
  10. On the right, in the Policies tab, click Add.
  11. Name it RSA-ReceiverSelfService or similar.
  12. Select the RADIUS server created earlier.
  13. Enter an expression. You will need two policies with different expressions. The expression for Receiver Self-Service is REQ.HTTP.HEADER User-Agent CONTAINS CitrixReceiver.
  14. Click Create.

    add authentication radiusPolicy RSA-ReceiverForWeb "REQ.HTTP.HEADER User-Agent NOTCONTAINS CitrixReceiver" RSA

add authentication radiusPolicy RSA-ReceiverSelfService "REQ.HTTP.HEADER User-Agent CONTAINS CitrixReceiver" RSA

add authentication ldapPolicy Corp-Gateway-ReceiverForWeb "REQ.HTTP.HEADER User-Agent NOTCONTAINS CitrixReceiver" Corp-Gateway

add authentication ldapPolicy Corp-Gateway-ReceiverSelfService "REQ.HTTP.HEADER User-Agent CONTAINS CitrixReceiver" Corp-Gateway
  15. Create another policy to match the ones shown below. Both RADIUS policies are configured with the same RADIUS server. The only difference between them is the expression (CONTAINS vs NOTCONTAINS):
    Name Expression Server
    RSA-ReceiverSelfService REQ.HTTP.HEADER User-Agent CONTAINS CitrixReceiver RSA
    RSA-ReceiverForWeb REQ.HTTP.HEADER User-Agent NOTCONTAINS CitrixReceiver RSA

  16. Go to the NetScaler Gateway\Policies\Authentication\LDAP node.
  17. On the Policies tab, create two policies with the expressions shown below. Both LDAP policies are configured with the same LDAP server. The only difference between them is the expression (CONTAINS vs NOTCONTAINS).
    Name Expression Server
    LDAP-Corp-ReceiverSelfService REQ.HTTP.HEADER User-Agent CONTAINS CitrixReceiver LDAP-Corp
    LDAP-Corp-ReceiverForWeb REQ.HTTP.HEADER User-Agent NOTCONTAINS CitrixReceiver LDAP-Corp

Bind Two-factor Policies to Gateway

  1. When you create or edit a NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server, bind the policies as shown in the following table. Priority doesn’t matter because they are mutually exclusive.
    Policy Name Type Bind Point
    LDAP-Corp-ReceiverForWeb LDAP Primary
    RSA-ReceiverSelfService RADIUS Primary
    LDAP-Corp-ReceiverSelfService LDAP Secondary
    RSA-ReceiverForWeb RADIUS Secondary 

    bind vpn vserver gateway.corp.com -policy Corp-Gateway-ReceiverForWeb -priority 100

bind vpn vserver gateway.corp.com -policy RSA-ReceiverSelfService -priority 110

bind vpn vserver gateway.corp.com -policy RSA-ReceiverForWeb -priority 100 -secondary

bind vpn vserver gateway.corp.com -policy Corp-Gateway-ReceiverSelfService -priority 110 -secondary
  2. The session policy for Receiver Self-Service needs to be adjusted to indicate which authentication field contains the Active Directory password. On the Client Experience tab is Credential Index. This needs to be changed to SECONDARY. Leave the session policy for Web Browsers set to Primary.

    set vpn sessionAction "Receiver Self-Service" -ssoCredential SECONDARY
  3. On the StoreFront server, when creating the NetScaler Gateway object, change the Logon type to Domain and security token.

RADIUS Load Balancing – NetScaler 11.1

Last Modified: Nov 6, 2020 @ 7:29 am

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RADIUS Load Balancing Overview

Two-factor authentication to NetScaler Gateway requires the RADIUS protocol to be enabled on the two-factor authentication product.

On your RADIUS servers, you’ll need to add the NetScaler appliances as RADIUS Clients. When NetScaler uses a local (same appliance) load balanced Virtual Server for RADIUS authentication, the traffic is sourced from the NetScaler SNIP (Subnet IP). When NetScaler uses a direct connection to a RADIUS Server without going through a load balancing Virtual Server, or uses a remote (different appliance) Load Balancing Virtual Server, the traffic is sourced from the NetScaler NSIP (NetScaler IP). Use the correct IP(s) when adding the NetScaler appliances as RADIUS Clients. And adjust firewall rules accordingly.

For High Availability pairs, if you locally load balance RADIUS, then you only need to add the SNIP as a RADIUS Client since the SNIP floats between the two appliances. However, if you are not locally load balancing RADIUS, then you’ll need to add the NSIP of both appliances as RADIUS Clients. Use the same RADIUS Secret for both appliances.

When load balancing RADIUS, you’ll want a monitor that verifies that the RADIUS server is functional. The RADIUS monitor will login to the RADIUS server and look for a response. You will need static credentials that the RADIUS monitor can use to login to the RADIUS server.

If you don’t want your monitor to login to RADIUS, then the only other monitoring option is Ping. Adjust the firewall accordingly.

If you have RADIUS Servers in multiple datacenters, you can create multiple load balancing Virtual Servers and cascade them so that the local RADIUS Servers are used first, and if they’re not available, then the Virtual Server fails over to RADIUS Servers in remote datacenters.

RADIUS Monitor

The RADIUS Monitor attempts to successfully log into the RADIUS server. For RSA, create an account on RSA with the following parameters as mentioned by Jonathan Pitre:

  • Setup a user with a fixed passcode in your RSA console.
  • Ensure you login with that user at least once to the RSA console because you’ll be asked to change it the first time.
  • There is no need to assign a token to your monitor user as long as you are using a fixed passcode. You don’t want to waste a token on a user just for monitoring.

Henny Louwers – Configure RSA RADIUS monitoring on NetScaler:

  1. In the NetScaler Configuration Utility, on the left under Traffic Management > Load Balancing, click Monitors.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Name the monitor RSA or similar. Change the Type drop-down to RADIUS.
  4. On the Standard Parameters tab, you might have to increase the Response Time-out to 4.
  5. On the Special Parameters tab, enter valid RADIUS credentials. Make sure these credentials do not change or expire. For RSA, in the Password field, enter the fixed passcode.
  6. Also enter the RADIUS key configured on the RADIUS server for the NetScaler as RADIUS client.
  7. For Response Codes, add both 2 and 3. 2 means success, while 3 indicates some kind of failure. Either result means that the RADIUS server is responding, and thus is probably functional. But 2 is the ideal response.
  8. Click Create when done.

    add lb monitor RSA RADIUS -respCode 2-3 -userName ctxsvc -password Passw0rd -radKey Passw0rd -resptimeout 4

Servers

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand Load Balancing, and click Servers.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Enter a descriptive server name; usually it matches the actual server name.
  4. Enter the IP address of the server.
  5. Enter comments to describe the server. Click Create.

    add server RSA01 10.2.2.42
add server RSA02 10.2.2.43
  6. Continue adding RADIUS servers.

Service Groups

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand Load Balancing, and click Service Groups.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. You will create one Service Group per datacenter. Enter a name reflecting the name of the datacenter.
  4. Change the Protocol to RADIUS.
  5. Click OK.
  6. On the left, in the Service Group Members section, click where it says No Service Group Member.
  7. If you did not create server objects, then enter the IP address of a RADIUS Server in this datacenter. If you previously created a server object, then change the selection to Server Based, and select the server object(s).
  8. In the Port field, enter 1812 (RADIUS).
  9. Click Create.
  10. Click OK when done adding members.
  11. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click Monitors.
  12. On the left, in the Monitors section, click where it says No Service Group to Monitor Binding.
  13. Click the arrow next to Click  to select.
  14. Select your new RADIUS monitor, and click Select.
  15. Click Bind.
  16. To verify the member is up, click in the Service Group Members section.

  17. Highlight a member and click Monitor Details.
  18. It should say Radius response code 2 (or 3) received. Click OK.
  19. Click Done to finish creating the Service Group.

    add serviceGroup svcgrp-RSA RADIUS
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-RSA RSA01 1812
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-RSA -monitorName RSA
  20. The Service Group is displayed as UP.
  21. Add additional service groups for Radius servers in each data center.

Virtual Server

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand Load Balancing, and click Virtual Servers.

  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Name it lbvip-RADIUS-HQ or similar. You will create one Virtual Server per datacenter so include the datacenter name.
  4. Change the Protocol drop-down to RADIUS.
  5. Enter a Virtual IP. This VIP cannot conflict with any other IP + Port already being used. You can use an existing VIP if the VIP is not already listening on UDP 1812.
  6. Enter 1812 as the Port. Click OK.
  7. In the Services and Service Groups section, click where it says No Load Balancing Virtual Server ServiceGroup Binding.
  8. Click the arrow next to Click to select.
  9. Select a previously created Service Group and click Select.

  10. Click Bind.
  11. Click Continue.
  12. On the right, in the Advanced Settings section, click Method.
  13. On the left, change the Load Balancing Method to TOKEN.
  14. In the Expression box, enter CLIENT.UDP.RADIUS.USERNAME.
  15. Click OK.
  16. On the right, in the Advanced Settings section, click Persistence.
  17. On the left, change Persistence to RULE.
  18. In the Expression box, enter CLIENT.UDP.RADIUS.USERNAME.
  19. Click OK.
  20. Click Done to finish creating the Virtual Server.
  21. If you are configuring this RADIUS Load Balancer for more than just NetScaler Gateway, you can add another Load Balancer on port 1813 for RADIUS Accounting. Then you need a Persistency Group to tie the two load balancers together. See Configuring RADIUS Load Balancing with Persistence at Citrix Docs. 
    add lb vserver lbvip-RSA RADIUS 10.2.2.210 1812 -persistenceType RULE -lbMethod TOKEN -rule CLIENT.UDP.RADIUS.USERNAME
bind lb vserver lbvip-RSA svcgrp-RSA
  22. The new Virtual Server should show as Up. If not, click the Refresh icon.
  23. Create additional Virtual Servers for each datacenter. These additional Virtual Servers do not need a VIP. so change the IP Address Type to Non Addressable. Only the first Virtual Server will be directly accessible.

    add lb vserver lbvip-RSA-Backup RADIUS 0.0.0.0 0 -persistenceType NONE -cltTimeout 120
  24. Notice that the additional datacenter Virtual Servers have an IP Address of 0.0.0.0 and port of 0.
  25. After you are done creating a Virtual Server for each datacenter, click the ellipsis next to the primary datacenter’s Virtual Server, and click Edit.
  26. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click Protection.
  27. On the left, in the Protection section, change the Backup Virtual Server to one of the other datacenter Virtual Servers. If all of the services in this datacenter are DOWN, the backup Virtual Server will be used instead. You can cascade multiple Virtual Servers using this method. Click OK and Done.

    set lb vserver lbvip-RSA -backupVServer lbvip-RSA-Backup
  28. You may now use this Virtual IP in your RADIUS authentication policies for NetScaler Gateway or NetScaler management login.

NetScaler Gateway 11.1 Virtual Server

Last Modified: Nov 7, 2020 @ 6:34 am

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💡 = Recently Updated

Change Log

NetScaler Gateway Universal Licenses

For basic ICA Proxy connectivity to XenApp/XenDesktop, you don’t need to install any NetScaler Gateway Universal licenses on the NetScaler appliance.

However, if you need SmartAccess features (e.g. EPA scans), or VPN, then you must install NetScaler Gateway Universal licenses. These licenses are included with the Platinum editions of XenApp / XenDesktop, Advanced or Enterprise editions of XenMobile, and the Platinum edition of NetScaler.

  • NetScaler 11.1 build 49 and later come with built-in Gateway Universal licenses: NetScaler Standard Edition = 500 licenses, NetScaler Enterprise Edition = 1000 licenses, and NetScaler Platinum Edition = unlimited licenses.

When you create a NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server, the ICA Only setting determines if you need NetScaler Gateway Universal licenses or not. If the Virtual Server is set to ICA Only, then you don’t need licenses. But if ICA Only is set to false then you need a NetScaler Gateway Universal license for every user that connects to this NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server. Enabling ICA Only disables all non-ICA Proxy features, including: SmartAccess, SmartControl, and VPN.

If you don’t need any non-ICA Proxy features, then you don’t need any Gateway Universal licenses, and you can skip to the next section.

If you are running NetScaler Platinum Edition 11.1 build 49 or later, then you already have unlimited licenses and can skip to the next section.

For other NetScaler editions and older builds, you can install more Gateway Universal licenses. The Gateway Universal licenses are allocated to the case sensitive hostname of each appliance. If you have an HA pair, and if each node has a different hostname, allocate the Gateway Universal licenses to the first hostname, and then reallocate the same licenses to the other hostname.

To see the hostname, click your username on the top right.

To change the hostname:

  1. Click the gear icon on the top right.
  2. Then click the third section.

To upload the allocated Gateway Universal licenses to the appliance, go to System > Licenses. A reboot is required.

After NetScaler Gateway Universal licenses are installed on the appliance, they won’t necessarily be available for usage until you make a configuration change as detailed below:

  1. On the left, expand System, and click Licenses.
  2. On the right, in the Maximum NetScaler Gateway Users Allowed field is the number of licensed users for NetScaler Gateway Virtual Servers that are not set to ICA Only.
  3. On the left, under NetScaler Gateway, click Global Settings.
  4. In the right column of the right pane, click Change authentication AAA settings.
  5. Change the Maximum Number of Users to your licensed limit. In NetScaler 11.1 build 49 and newer, this value should already match the number of licensed users. In older builds, you must manually configure this setting, and if not configured, then it defaults to only 5 concurrent connections.

  6. If desired, check the box for Enable Enhanced Authentication Feedback. Click OK.

    set aaa parameter -enableEnhancedAuthFeedback YES -maxAAAUsers 200

Create Gateway Virtual Server

  1. Create a certificate for the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server. The certificate must match the name users will use to access the Gateway.
  2. For email discovery in Citrix Receiver, the certificate must have subject alternative names (SAN) for discoverReceiver.email.suffix (use your email suffix domain name). If you have multiple email domains then you’ll need a SAN for each one.

  3. On the left, right-click NetScaler Gateway and click Enable Feature.
  4. On the left, expand NetScaler Gateway and click Virtual Servers.
  5. On the right, click Add.
  6. Name it gateway.corp.com or similar.
  7. Enter a new VIP that will be exposed to the Internet. Note: you can also set it to Non Addressable, which means you can place the Gateway behind a Content Switching Virtual Server.
  8. Click More.
  9. Check the box next to ICA Only. This option disables SmartAccess and VPN features but does not require any additional licenses.
  10. Check the box next to DTLS, and click OK.
  11. DTLS enables EDT protocol, UDP Audio, and Framehawk.  💡
  12. EDT requires UDP 443 on client side, and UDP 1494/2598 on server side.
  13. DTLS (including EDT), will not work if Mac Based Forwarding is enabled.  💡
  14. In the Certificates section, click where it says No Server Certificate.
  15. Click the arrow next to Click to select.
  16. Select a previously created certificate that matches the NetScaler Gateway DNS name and click Select.
  17. Click Bind.
  18. If you see a warning about No usable ciphers, click OK.
  19. Click Continue.
  20. In the Basic Authentication section, click the plus icon in the top right.
  21. Note: it’s also possible to disable authentication on Gateway and make StoreFront do it instead as described in Citrix CTX200066 How to Log On to StoreFront When Authentication is Disabled on NetScaler Gateway VIP. However, it’s more secure to require Gateway to authenticate the users before the user can communicate with StoreFront.
  22. Select LDAP, select Primary and click Continue.
  23. If you used the authentication dashboard to create the LDAP server then you probably haven’t created the corresponding policy yet. Click the plus icon to create a new policy.
  24. Use the Server drop-down to select the previously created LDAP server.
  25. Give the policy a name. The policy name can match the Server name.
  26. In the Expression box, enter ns_true, or select it from the Saved Policy Expressions drop-down. Click Create.
  27. Click Bind.
  28. Or for two-factor authentication, you will need to bind two policies to Primary and two polices to Secondary:
    • Primary = LDAP for Browsers (User-Agent does not contain CitrixReceiver)
    • Primary = RADIUS for Receiver Self-Service (User-Agent contains CitrixReceiver)
    • Secondary = RADIUS for Browsers (User-Agent does not contain CitrixReceiver)
    • Secondary = LDAP for Receiver Self-Service (User-Agent contains CitrixReceiver)
  29. Click Continue.
  30. Scroll down to the Profiles section and click the pencil icon.
  31. In the TCP Profile section, do one of the following:
    1. Follow the instructions at Citrix CTX232321 Recommended TCP Profile Settings for Full Tunnel VPN/ICAProxy from NetScaler Gateway 11.1 Onwards. In this case, there’s no need to change the TCP Profile.  💡
    2. In the TCP Profile drop-down, select nstcp_default_XA_XD_profile, and click OK.
  32. In the Policies section, click the plus icon near the top right.
  33. Select Session, select Request and click Continue.
  34. Click the arrow next to Click to select.
  35. Select one of the Receiver session policies and click Select. It doesn’t matter in which order you bind them.
  36. There’s no need to change the priority number. Click Bind.
  37. Repeat these steps to bind the second policy. In the Policies section, click the plus icon near the top right.
  38. Select Session, select Request and click Continue.
  39. Click Add Binding.
  40. Click the arrow next to Click to select.
  41. Select the other Receiver session policy and click Select.
  42. There’s no need to change the priority number. Click Bind.
  43. The two policies are mutually exclusive so there’s no need to adjust priority. Click Close.
  44. On the right, in the Advanced Settings section, click Published Applications.
  45. Click where it says No STA Server.
  46. Add a Delivery Controller in the https://<Controller_FQDN> or http://<Controller_FQDN> format, depending on if SSL is enabled on the Delivery Controller or not. This must be a FQDN or IP address. Short names don’t work.
  47. Click Bind.
  48. To bind another Secure Ticket Authority server, on the left, in the Published Applications section, click where it says 1 STA Server.
  49. Click Add Binding.
  50. Enter the URL for the second Controller and click Bind.
  51. This view shows if the STAs are reachable or not. To refresh the view, close the STA Bindings list and reopen it.

    add vpn vserver gateway.corp.com SSL 10.2.2.200 443 -icaOnly ON -dtls ON -tcpProfileName nstcp_default_XA_XD_profile

bind vpn vserver gateway.corp.com -policy "Receiver Self-Service" -priority 100

bind vpn vserver gateway.corp.com -policy "Receiver for Web" -priority 110

bind vpn vserver gateway.corp.com -policy Corp-Gateway -priority 100

bind vpn vserver gateway.corp.com -staServer "http://xdc01.corp.local"
bind vpn vserver gateway.corp.com -staServer "http://xdc02.corp.local"

bind vpn vserver gateway.corp.com -portaltheme RfWebUI
  52. If you haven’t enabled the Default SSL Profile, then perform other normal SSL configuration including: disable SSLv3, bind a Modern Cipher Group, and enable Strict Transport Security. 
    bind ssl vserver MyvServer -certkeyName MyCert

set ssl vserver MyvServer -ssl3 DISABLED -tls11 ENABLED -tls12 ENABLED

unbind ssl vserver MyvServer -cipherName ALL

bind ssl vserver MyvServer -cipherName Modern

bind ssl vserver MyvServer -eccCurveName ALL

bind vpn vserver MyvServer -policy insert_STS_header -priority 100 -gotoPriorityExpression END -type RESPONSE

Verify SSL Settings

After you’ve created the Gateway Virtual Server, run the following tests:

  1. Citrix CTX200890 – Error: “1110” When Launching Desktop and “SSL Error” While Launching an Application Through NetScaler Gateway: You can use OpenSSL to verify the certificate. Run the command: openssl s_client -connect gateway.corp.com:443. Replace the FQDN with your FQDN. OpenSSL is installed on the NetScaler or you can download and install it on any machine.
  2. Go to https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/ and check the security settings of the website. Citrix Blogs – Scoring an A+ at SSLlabs.com with Citrix NetScaler – 2016 update.

Gateway Portal Theme

Citrix Blog Post Branding your Deployment Part 2: Matching NetScaler to StoreFront explains NetScaler Gateway Portal Themes, how to edit the Portal Theme CSS, and warns about GUI changes overwriting CSS file changes.

If you want the logon page for NetScaler Gateway to look more like StoreFront 3.0 and newer, enable the built-in RfWebUI or X1 theme. RfWebUI is optimized for Unified Gateway (Clientless VPN) since it provides the exact same appearance and user experience as StoreFront 3.x. The Unified Gateway RfWebUI theme can display RDP Links and Web Links (bookmarks) along with the familiar StoreFront apps and desktops. Note: RfWebUI requires StoreFront 3.6 or newer.

  1. Go to NetScaler Gateway > Virtual Servers and edit an existing Virtual Server.

  2. On the right, in the Advanced Settings section, click Portal Themes.
  3. On the left, Change the Portal Theme drop-down to RfWebUI. Click OK.
  4. Click Done.

    bind vpn vserver gateway.corp.com -portaltheme RfWebUI
  5. When you access the NetScaler Gateway login page you’ll see the theme.

Custom Theme

You can also your own theme by starting from one of the built-in themes:

  1. Go to NetScaler Gateway > Portal Themes.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Give the theme a name, and select RfWebUI as the Template Theme. Click OK.
  4. In the Look and Feel section, there are two sub-sections: one for Home Page and one for Common Attributes.
  5. The Home Page is for Unified Gateway (aka VPN Clientless Access). Notice that the Websites Sections can be disabled.
  6. The Help Legend link shows you what the other fields modify.
  7. If you want to modify the logon page, use the Common Attributes sub-section.
  8. The Help Legend link shows you what the fields modify.
  9. Make changes as desired and click OK.
  10. After you click OK, the Language section appears.
  11. In the Language section, select a language and click OK.
  12. On the right, in the Advanced Settings section, click Login Page.
  13. Make changes as desired (e.g. Password Field Titles) and click OK.
  14. At the top of the screen, click the link to Click to Bind and View Configured Theme.
  15. Select a Gateway Virtual Server and click Bind and Preview.
  16. The logon page is displayed.
  17. You could go to /var/netscaler/logon/themes/MyTheme/css and make more changes to custom.css, but this file gets overwritten any time you make a change in the Portal Themes section of the NetScaler GUI.
  18. Citrix CTX209526 NetScaler; How to Copy a Portal Theme from the Device running version 11.0 to another Device running 11.0.

SSL Redirect

Use one of the following procedures to configure a redirect from http to https. Responder method is preferred.

Public DNS SRV Records

For email-based discovery, add a SRV record to each public email suffix DNS zone. Here are sample instructions for a Windows DNS server:

  1. In Server Manager, click Tools > DNS Manager
  2. In the left pane of DNS Manager, select your DNS domain in the forward or reverse lookup zones. Right-click the domain and select Other New Records.
  3. In the Resource Record Type dialog box, select Service Location (SRV) and then click Create Record.
  4. In the New Resource Record dialog box, click in the Service box and enter the host value _citrixreceiver.
  5. Click in the Protocol box and enter the value _tcp.
  6. In the Port number box, enter 443.
  7. In the Host offering this service box, specify the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for your NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server in the form servername.domain (e.g. gateway.company.com)

Block Citrix VPN for iOS

Citrix CTX201129 Configuration for Controlled Access to Different VPN Plugin Through NetScaler Gateway for XenMobile Deployments: do one or both of the following:

  • Create an AppExpert > Responder > Policy with Action = DROP and Expression = HTTP.REQ.HEADER("User-Agent").CONTAINS("CitrixReceiver/NSGiOSplugin"). Either bind the Responder Policy Globally, or bind it to the Gateway vServers.
  • In your Gateway Session Policies, on the Client Experience tab, set the Plug-in Type to Java. If any of them are set to Windows/MAC OS X, then VPN for iOS is allowed.

View ICA Sessions

To view active ICA sessions, click the NetScaler Gateway node on the left, and then click ICA Connections on the right.

show vpn icaconnection

Customize Logon Page

Logon Page Labels

When two factor authentication is configured on NetScaler Gateway, the user is prompted for User name, Password, and Password 2.

The Password field labels can be changed to something more descriptive, such as Active Directory or RSA:

To change the labels, edit a Portal Theme:

  1. Go to NetScaler Gateway > Portal Themes and edit an existing theme. You can’t edit the built-in themes so you’ll have to create one if you haven’t already.
  2. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click Login Page.
  3. In the Login Page section, change the two Password fields to your desired text. Click OK.
  4. If using the RfWebUI theme, the default text size for the form field labels is 17px. However, the Portal Themes editor defaults to 12px. You can change it back to 16px or 18px by editing Form Font Size in the Look and Feel > Common Attributes section.
  5. In the Portal Theme section at the top of the page, you can Click to bind and View Configured Theme to Preview your changes.
  6. On Platinum Edition appliances, you might have to invalidate the loginstaticobjects Content Group (Optimization > Integrated Caching > Content Groups) before the changes appear. This seems to be true even if Integrated Caching is disabled.

 Logon Security Message (Disclaimer, EULA)

You can force users to agree to a EULA before they are allowed to login.

Clicking the Terms & Conditions link allows the user to view the EULA text that you have entered.

Do the following to configure the EULA:

  1. Go to NetScaler Gateway > Resources > EULA.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Give the EULA a name and enter some text. You can even enter HTML code. See the example posted by Chris Doran at Citrix Discussions.
  4. Click Create.
  5. Edit a Gateway Virtual Server.
  6. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click EULA.
  7. Click where it says No EULA.
  8. Click the arrow next to Click to select.
  9. Select the EULA and click Select.
  10. Click Bind.
  11. Mike Roselli at Automatic EULA Acceptance by Cookie Rewrite Guide at Citrix Discussions details Rewrite policies that change the behavior so that users only have to accept the EULA once. It records acceptance in a cookie.
  12. Sam Jacobs Adding an EULA for AAA Login at CUGC explains how to enable the EULA on the AAA logon page.  💡

Theme File Customization

The original themes (Default, Green Bubble, and X1) use files from /netscaler/ns_gui/vpn/js and /var/netscaler/logon/themes. A commonly edited file is /netscaler/ns_gui/vpn/js/gateway_login_form_view.js since this file is responsible for rendering the logon form.

The new RfWebUI theme is different than the original themes, because it pulls files from /var/netscaler/logon/LogonPoint/receiver. This means the customizations for NetScaler 11.0 won’t work with the new RfWebUI theme. When reviewing customization guides for NetScaler 11, be aware that most of them won’t work for the RfWebUI theme.

Citrix CTX202444 How to Customize NetScaler Gateway 11 logon Page with Links shows how to add links to the NetScaler Gateway 11 logon page. This only works in the Default, Green Bubble, and X1 themes (no RfWebUI theme).

Other Customizations

CTP Sam Jacobs at Adding Text, Links and Other Elements to the NetScaler Logon Page – Part 2 at CUGC explains how to add text to the RfWebUI theme logon page. The process for RfWebUI is quite different than the older themes:

  • Text is stored in /var/netscaler/logon/themes/<theme>/strings.<language code>.json
  • Custom CSS is stored in /var/netscaler/logon/themes/<theme>/css/theme.css
  • Sample Logon Page:
    Logon screen with footer.jpg

CTP Sam Jacobs at Adding Text, Links and Other Elements to the NetScaler Logon Page – Part 1 at CUGC explains how to modify custom.css and en.xml to add text below the logon box on the Logon Page. No Rewrite policies or source code modifications needed.

Citrix CTX215817 NetScaler : How to Customize Footer of NetScaler Gateway Login Page. This article does not work with the RfWebUI theme, but it works with the X1 theme.

Mike Roselli at Netscaler 11 Theme Customization – How to Add Links and Verbiage at discussions.citrix.com has sample rewrite policies to customize the NetScaler Gateway logon page with additional HTML.

 

Craig Tolley Customising the NetScaler 11 User Interface – Adding Extra Content: add new sections to login page. These sections pull content from local HTML files.

 

Daniel Ruiz Set up a maintenance page on NetScaler Gateway: configure a Responder policy (see the blog post for sample HTML code). During maintenance, manually bind the Responder policy to the Gateway. Manually remove the policy after maintenance is complete.

 UDP Audio Through Gateway

From John Crawford at Citrix Discussions and Marius Sandbu Enabling Citrix Receiver audio over Netscaler Gateway with DTLS

Note: Enabling DTLS on the Gateway also enables Framehawk and EDT. See Citrix Policy Settings for Framehawk configuration.

Requirements for UDP Audio:

  • Citrix Receiver 4.2 or newer
  • NetScaler Gateway 10.5.e (enhancement build) or NetScaler 11 or newer
  • UDP 443 allowed to NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server
  • UDP 16500-16509 allowed from NetScaler SNIP to VDAs

To enable UDP Audio through Gateway, make changes on both the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server and in Receiver:

  1. Edit the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server. In the Basic Settings section click the edit (pencil) icon.
  2. Click More.
  3. Enable the DTLS option, and click OK.
  4. After enabling DTLS, it probably won’t work until you unbind the Gateway certificate and rebind it.

Client-side configuration

There are two methods of enabling RTP on the client side:

  • Edit default.ica on the StoreFront server
  • Use GPO to modify the client-side config

To edit the default.ica file on the StoreFront server (h/t Vipin Borkar): Edit the file C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Citrix\Store\App_Data\default.ica and add the following lines to the Application section:

EnableRtpAudio=true
EnableUDPThroughGateway=true
AudioBandwidthLimit=1

To use GPO to modify the client-side config:

  1. Copy the receiver.admx (and .adml) policy template into PolicyDefinitions if you haven’t already.
  2. Edit a GPO that applies to Receiver machines. You can also edit the local GPO on a Receiver machine.
  3. Go to Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Citrix Components > Citrix Receiver.
  4. Edit the setting Client audio settings.
  5. Enable the setting.
  6. Set audio quality as desired. Higher quality = higher bandwidth.
  7. Check to Enable Real-Time Transport.
  8. Check to Allow Real-Time Transport through Gateway. Click OK.

Next step

Configure StoreFront to use NetScaler Gateway

StoreFront – Rewrite X-Citrix-Via

When NetScaler Gateway communicates with StoreFront, it adds a header called X-Citrix-Via that contains the FQDN entered in the user’s address bar. StoreFront uses this header to find a matching Gateway object so StoreFront knows how to handle the authentication. In NetScaler 11.0 and newer, you can create a rewrite policy to change this header. This is useful when changing URLs or using DNS aliases for Gateways. See CTX202442 FAQ: Modify HTTP Header X-Citrix-Via on NetScaler for more details.

Here’s a sample rewrite policy for this header:

enable ns feature REWRITE

add rewrite action rwact_storefront replace "HTTP.REQ.HEADER(\"X-Citrix-Via\")" "\"mystorefront.mydomain.com\""

add rewrite policy rwpol_storefront "HTTP.REQ.HEADER(\"X-Citrix-Via\").NE(\"mystorefront.mydomain.com\")" rwact_storefront

bind vpn vserver mygateway-vs -policy rwpol_storefront -priority 100 -type REQUEST

NetScaler Gateway 11.1 – LDAP Authentication

Last Modified: Nov 7, 2020 @ 6:34 am

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LDAP Load Balancing

Before you create an LDAP authentication policy, load balance the Domain Controllers. If you don’t load balance your Domain Controllers, then when users enter an incorrect password, the user account will be prematurely locked out.

If you have multiple domains, create different Load Balancing Virtual Servers for each domain. These multiple Load Balancing Virtual Servers can share the same VIP if their port numbers are different. Or you can use a different VIP for each domain.

LDAP Authentication Server

To create the LDAP Authentication Server, do the following:

  1. On the left, expand Authentication and click Dashboard.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. In the Choose Server Type drop-down, select LDAP.
  4. Enter LDAP-Corp as the name. If you have multiple domains, you’ll need a separate LDAP Server per domain so make sure you include the domain name.
  5. Change the selection to Server IP. Enter the VIP of the load balancing vServer for LDAP.
  6. Change the Security Type to SSL.
  7. Enter 636 as the Port. Scroll down.
  8. Note: it’s also possible to point the LDAP Server IP to a Global Catalog. See Citrix CTX200506 How to Change Password through NetScaler in a Multi-Domain Active Directory Forest Using LDAP Referral for configuration details.  💡
  9. In the Connection Settings section, in the Base DN field, enter your Active Directory DNS domain name in LDAP format.
  10. In the Administrator Bind DN field, enter the credentials of the LDAP bind account in userPrincipalName format. Domain\Username also works.
  11. Enter the Administrator password.
  12. Click Test Connection. NetScaler will attempt to login to the LDAP IP. Scroll down.
  13. In the Other Settings section, use the drop-down next to Server Logon Name Attribute, Group Attribute, and Sub Attribute Name to select the default fields for Active Directory.
  14. On the right, check the box next to Allow Password Change.
  15. Note: there is a checkbox for Validate LDAP Server Certificate. If you want to do this, see Citrix Discussions for instructions for loading the root certificate to /nsconfig/truststore.
  16. If you want to restrict access to only members of a specific group, in the Search Filter field, enter memberOf=<GroupDN>. See the example below:
    memberOf=CN=CitrixRemote,OU=Citrix,DC=corp,DC=local
    You can add :1.2.840.113556.1.4.1941: to the query so it searches through nested groups. Without this users will need to be direct members of the filtered group.
    memberOf:1.2.840.113556.1.4.1941:=CN=CitrixRemote,OU=Citrix,DC=corp,DC=local

    Citrix CTX132802 How to Use the ldapsearch Utility on the NetScaler Gateway Enterprise Edition Appliance to Validate a Search Filter
    1. An easy way to get the full distinguished name of the group is through Active Directory Administrative Center. Double-click the group object and switch to the Extensions page. On the right, switch to the Attribute Editor tab.
    2. Or in Active Directory Users & Computers, enable Advanced view, browse to the object (don’t use Find), double-click the object, and switch to the Attribute Editor tab.
    3. Scroll down to distinguishedName, double-click it and then copy it to the clipboard.

    4. Back on the NetScaler, in the Search Filter field, type in memberOf= and then paste the Distinguished Name right after the equals sign. Don’t worry about spaces.
  17. Scroll down and click More.
  18. For Nested Group Extraction, if desired, change the selection to Enabled.
  19. Set Group Name Identifier to samAccountName.
  20. Set Group Search Attribute to memberOf. Select << New >> first.
  21. Set Group Search Sub-Attribute to CN. Select << New >> first.
  22. For the Group Search Filter field, see CTX123795 Example of LDAP Nested Group Search Filter Syntax.
  23. Scroll down and click Create.

    add authentication ldapAction Corp-Gateway -serverIP 10.2.2.210 -serverPort 636 -ldapBase "dc=corp,dc=local" -ldapBindDn "corp\\ctxsvc" -ldapBindDnPassword Passw0rd -ldapLoginName samaccountname -searchFilter "memberOf=CN=Citrix Remote,CN=Users,DC=corp,DC=local" -groupAttrName memberOf -subAttributeName CN -secType SSL -passwdChange ENABLED
  24. The status of the LDAP Server should be Up.

LDAP Policy Expression

The Authentication Dashboard doesn’t allow you to create the LDAP Policy so you must create it elsewhere.

You can create the LDAP policy now. Or you can wait and create it later when you bind the LDAP Server to the NetScaler Gateway vServer.

To create it now:

  1. Go to NetScaler Gateway > Policies > Authentication > LDAP.
  2. On the right, in the Policies tab, click Add.
  3. Change the Server drop-down to the LDAP Server you created earlier.
  4. Give the LDAP Policy a name (one for each domain).
  5. In the Expression box, enter ns_true.
  6. Click Create.

     add authentication ldapPolicy LDAP-Corp ns_true LDAP-Corp

Gateway Authentication Feedback and Licenses

  1. On the left, under NetScaler Gateway, click Global Settings.
  2. On the right, in the right column, click Change authentication AAA settings.
  3. If you are using Gateway features that require Gateway Universal licenses, then change the Maximum Number of Users to the number of Gateway Universal licenses you have installed on this appliance. This field has a default value of 5, and administrators frequently forget to change it, thus only allowing 5 users to connect.
  4. If desired, check the box for Enable Enhanced Authentication Feedback. This feature provides a message to users if authentication fails. The message users receive include password errors, account disabled or locked, or the user is not found, to name a few. Click OK.

    set aaa parameter -enableEnhancedAuthFeedback YES -maxAAAUsers 200

Next Step

Multiple Domains – UPN Method

To support multiple Active Directory domains on a NetScaler Gateway, you create multiple LDAP authentication policies, one for each Active Directory domain, and bind all of the LDAP policies to the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server. When the user logs into NetScaler Gateway, only the username and password are entered. The NetScaler will then loop through each of the LDAP policies in priority order until it finds one that contains the entered username/password.

What if the same username is present in multiple domains? As NetScaler loops through the LDAP policies, as soon as it finds one with the specified username, it will try to authenticate with that particular LDAP policy. If the password doesn’t match the user account for the attempted domain then a failed logon attempt will be logged in that domain and NetScaler will try the next domain.

Unfortunately, the only way to enter a realm/domain name during user authentication is to require users to login using userPrincipalNames. To use userPrincipalName, set the LDAP Policy/Server with the Server Logon Name Attribute set to userPrincipalName.

You can even do a combination of policies: some with samAccountName and some with userPrincipalName. The samAccountName policies would be searched in priority order and the userPrincipalName policies can be used to override the search order. Bind the userPrincipalName policies higher (lower priority number) than the samAccountName policies.

NetScaler 11.1 supports adding a domain name drop-down list to the logon page. Then use Cookie expressions in the auth policies and session policies. However, this probably doesn’t work for Receivers. See CTX203873 How to Add Drop-Down Menu with Domain Names on Logon Page for NetScaler Gateway 11.0 64.x and later releases for details.
User-added image

Another option for a domain drop-down is nFactor Authentication for Gateway. This also doesn’t work with Receiver Self-service.

After authentication is complete, a Session Policy will be applied that has the StoreFront URL. The NetScaler Gateway will attempt to log into StoreFront using Single Sign-on so the user doesn’t have to login again. When logging into NetScaler Gateway, only two fields are required: username and password. However, when logging in to StoreFront, a third field is required: domain name. So how does NetScaler specify the domain name while logging in to StoreFront?

There are two methods of specifying the domain:

  • AAA Group – Configure multiple session policies with unique Single Sign-on Domains.  Inside the Session Policy is a field called Single Sign-on Domain for specifying the domain name. If there is only one Active Directory domain, then you can use the same Session Policy for all users. However, if there are multiple domains, then you would need multiple Session Policies, one for each Active Directory domain. But as the NetScaler loops through the LDAP policies during authentication, once a successful LDAP policy is found, you need a method of linking an LDAP policy with a Session Policy that has the corresponding SSO Domain. This is typically done using AAA groups. To use this method, see Multiple Domains – AAA Group Method.
  • userPrincipalName – Alternatively, configure the LDAP policy/server to extract the user’s UPN, and then authenticate to StoreFront using UPN. This is the easiest method but some domains don’t have userPrincipalNames configured correctly.

The userPrincipalName method is detailed below:

  1. In each of your NetScaler LDAP policies/servers, in the Other Settings section, in the SSO Name Attribute field, enter userPrincipalName (select –<< New >>– first). Make sure there are no spaces after this attribute name. NetScaler will use this pull this attribute from AD, and use it to Single Sign-on the user to StoreFront.
  2. In StoreFront Console, right-click  the Store, and click Manage Authentication Methods.
  3. On the right, click the gear icon, and then click Configure Trusted Domains.
  4. In the Trusted domains box, select Any domain.
  5. Or add your domains in DNS format. The advantage of entering domain names is that you can select a default domain if internal users forget to enter a domain name during login. The DNS format is required for UPN logins (e.g. SSO from NetScaler Gateway).
  6. On the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server, bind LDAP authentication polices in priority order. It will search them in order until it finds a match.
  7. In your Session Policies/Profiles, in the Published Applications tab, make sure Single Sign-on Domain is not configured. Since NetScaler is using the userPrincipalName there’s no need to specify a domain. If Single Sign-on Domain is configured then Single Sign-on authentication will fail.

Multiple Domains – AAA Groups Method

Another method of specifying the domain name when performing Single Sign-on to StoreFront is to use a unique session policy/profile for each domain. Use AAA Groups to distinguish one domain from another.

  1. Go to NetScaler Gateway > Policies > Authentication > LDAP.
  2. On the right, switch to the Servers tab. Make sure all domains are in the list. Edit one of the domains.
  3. Scroll down to the Other Settings section,
  4. In the Default Authentication Group field, enter a new, unique group name. Each domain has a different group name. Click OK.
  5. Edit another domain and specify a new unique group name. Each domain has a different group name.
  6. Go to NetScaler Gateway > User Administration > AAA Groups.
  7. On the right, click Add.
  8. Name the group so it exactly matches the group name you specified in the LDAP server. Click OK.
  9. On the right, in the Advanced Policies section, add the Policies section.
  10. On the left, in the Policies section, click the Plus icon.
  11. Select Session, and click Continue.
  12. Click the plus icon to create a new policy.
  13. Give it a name that indicates the domain. You will have a separate policy for each domain.
  14. Click the plus icon to create a new profile.
  15. Give the Profile a name that indicates the domain. You will have a separate profile for each domain.
  16. Switch to the Published Applications tab.
  17. Check the Override Global box next to Single Sign-on Domain. Enter the domain name that StoreFront is expecting. Click Create.
  18. Give the policy a ns_true expression, and click Create.
  19. In the Priority field, give it a number that is lower than any other Session Policy that has Single Sign-on Domain configured. Click OK.
  20. Click Done.
  21. Create another AAA Group.
  22. Give it a name for the next domain.
  23. Create another Session Policy for the next domain.
  24. Create another profile for the next domain. On the Published Applications tab, specify the domain name of the next domain.
  25. Bind the new policy with a low Priority number.
  26. When a user logs in, NetScaler loops through LDAP policies until one of them works. NetScaler adds the user to the Default Authentication Group specified in the LDAP Server. NetScaler finds a matching AAA Group and applies the Session Policy that has SSON Domain configured. Since the policy is bound with a low priority number, it overrides any other policy that also has SSON Domain configured.

Domain Controller (LDAPS) Load Balancing – NetScaler 11.1

Last Modified: Nov 6, 2020 @ 7:26 am

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Overview

If you plan to use LDAP (Active Directory) for NetScaler Gateway or NetScaler management authentication, load balance the Domain Controllers that are used for authentication.

An alternative to load balancing is to configure NetScaler Gateway and NetScaler management authentication with multiple authentication policies, each pointing to a single Domain Controller. However, NetScaler will try each authentication policy until it finds one that works. If the user enters a wrong password and if you have three authentication policies pointing to different Domain Controllers in the same domain then three different failure attempts will be recorded thus causing premature account lockout. Use Load Balancing to avoid this behavior.

This page details LDAPS, aka Secure LDAP. This protocol requires certificates to be installed on the Domain Controllers. When a user’s password expires, Active Directory does not allow password changes over clear text LDAP so LDAPS must be used instead. Make sure you have certificates installed on your Domain Controllers. The easiest way to accomplish that is to deploy a Microsoft Certificate Authority. Once that’s done the Domain Controllers will request certificates automatically.

An ldaps monitor can be used to verify that the Domain Controller is functional. The ldaps monitor will login as an account, perform an LDAP query, and look for a successful response. The ldaps monitor uses a service account to login. Make sure the service account’s password does not expire. Domain User permissions are sufficient. Since this monitor is a Perl script, it uses NSIP as the source IP. You can use RNAT to override this as described in CTX217712 How to Force scriptable monitor to use SNIP in Netscaler in 10.5.

If you have Domain Controllers in multiple datacenters, you can create multiple load balancing Virtual Servers and cascade them so that the local Domain Controllers are used first, and if they’re not available, then the Virtual Server fails over to Domain Controllers in remote datacenters.

The Load Balancing Virtual Server for LDAPS can be TCP or SSL_TCP:

  • If the protocol is TCP, then SSL-encrypted LDAP traffic is not terminated on the NetScaler, and is simply forwarded to the LDAP servers. If your LDAP client needs to verify the LDAP server certificate, then this Load Balancing configuration will not work, since each back-end LDAP server will have a different certificate.
  • If your Load Balancing Virtual Server is protocol SSL_TCP, then a certificate must be installed on the NetScaler and bound to the Load Balancing Virtual Server. SSL is terminated at the NetScaler and re-encrypted before sending it to the destination Domain Controller. The primary benefit of NetScaler SSL termination is that your LDAP clients can verify the Virtual Server SSL certificate.

When NetScaler uses a local (same appliance) load balanced Virtual Server for LDAPS authentication, the traffic is sourced from the NetScaler SNIP (Subnet IP). When NetScaler uses a direct connection to a Domain Controller without going through a local Load Balancing Virtual Server, or if NetScaler uses a remote (different appliance) Load Balancing VIP, then the traffic is sourced from the NetScaler NSIP (NetScaler IP). Adjust firewall rules accordingly.

LDAPS Monitor

Note: Perl monitor uses NSIP as the source IP. You can use RNAT to override this as described in CTX217712 How to Force scriptable monitor to use SNIP in Netscaler in 10.5.

  1. In the NetScaler Configuration Utility, expand Traffic Management, expand Load Balancing, and click Monitors.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Name the monitor ldaps-Corp or similar. The ldaps monitor logs into Active Directory, performs an LDAP query, and looks for a successful response. The monitor configuration has domain specific information so if you have multiple Active Directory domains, then you will need multiple ldaps monitors. Include the domain name in the monitor name.
  4. Change the Type to LDAP.
  5. Scroll down and check the box next to Secure.
  6. Scroll back up and switch to the Special Parameters tab.
  7. On the Special Parameters tab, use the Script Name drop-down list to select the nsldap.pl file.
  8. In the Base DN field, enter your domain name in LDAP format (e.g. dc=company,dc=com)
  9. In the Bind DN field, enter the UPN login (e.g. ctxsvc@company.com) of a service account in the domain that can browse all objects. Any normal Domain User should be sufficient. Just make sure the password doesn’t expire.
  10. In the Filter field, enter cn=builtin. This limits the search results.
  11. In the Password field, enter the password for the service account. Make sure there is no semicolon in the password or the script will be unable to parse the parameters.
  12. Click Create.

    add lb monitor LDAP-Corp LDAP -scriptName nsldap.pl -dispatcherIP 127.0.0.1 -dispatcherPort 3013 -password Passw0rd -secure YES -baseDN "dc=corp,dc=local" -bindDN "corp\\ctxsvc" -filter cn=builtin
  13. If you have multiple domains then create additional monitors: one for each domain.

Servers

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand Load Balancing, and click Servers.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Enter a descriptive server name, usually it matches the actual server name.
  4. Enter the IP address of the server.
  5. Enter comments to describe the server. Click Create.

    add server AD01 10.2.2.11
add server AD01 10.2.2.12
  6. Continue adding Domain Controllers.

Service Groups

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand Load Balancing, and click Service Groups.
  2. On the right click Add
    .
  3. You will create one Service Group per datacenter. Enter a name reflecting the name of the data center. Also, you will create a set of service groups per Active Directory domain so include the domain name.
  4. Change the Protocol to SSL_TCP. Scroll down and click OK.

  5. On the left, in the Service Group Members section, click where it says No Service Group Member.
  6. If you did not create server objects, then enter the IP address of a Domain Controller in this datacenter. If you previously created a server object, then change the selection to Server Based, and select the server object. In the Port field, enter 636 (LDAPS).
    1. Note: Any Domain Controller you add to this list must have an SSL certificate installed. The easiest way to install SSL certificates on the Domain Controllers is with Active Directory Certificate Services since it installs the certificates automatically.
  7.  Click Create.
  8. Click OK.
  9. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click Monitors.
  10. On the left, in the Monitors section, click where it says No Service Group to Monitor Binding.
  11. Click the arrow next to Click to select.
  12. Select your new LDAPS monitor and click Select.
  13. Click Bind.
  14. To verify the member is up, click in the Service Group Members section.
  15. Click the ellipsis next to a member and click Monitor Details.
  16. It should say Success – Probe succeeded. Click Close.
  17. If the monitor doesn’t work, use ldp.exe to verify the Domain Controller certificate.
  18. Click Close and Done to finish creating the Service Group.

    add serviceGroup svcgrp-LDAP-Corp SSL_TCP
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-LDAP-Corp AD01 636
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-LDAP-Corp AD02 636
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-LDAP-Corp -monitorName LDAP-Corp
  19. Add additional service groups for Domain Controllers in each data center.

Virtual Server

  1. Create or import a certificate that matches the FQDN that resolves to the new Load Balancing VIP for LDAPS.
  2. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand Load Balancing, and click Virtual Servers.

  3. On the right, click Add.
  4. Name it LDAPS-Corp-HQ-LB or similar. You will create one Virtual Server per datacenter so include the datacenter name. Also, each domain has a separate set of Virtual Servers so include the domain name.
  5. Change the Protocol drop-down to SSL_TCP.
  6. Enter a Virtual IP. This VIP cannot conflict with any other IP + Port already being used. You can use an existing VIP that is not already listening on TCP 636.
  7. Enter 636 as the Port. Click OK.
  8. On the left, in the Service Group section, click where it says No Load Balancing Virtual Server ServiceGroup Binding.
  9. Click the arrow next to Click to select.
  10. Select the previously created Service Group and click Select.
  11. Click Bind.
  12. Click Continue.
  13. On the left, in the Certificates section, click where it says No Server Certificate.
  14. Click the arrow next to Click to select.
  15. Select a certificate that matches the FQDN that will resolve to this VIP. Click Select.
  16. Click Bind.
  17. Click Continue.

    add lb vserver lbvip-LDAP-Corp SSL_TCP 10.2.2.210 636 -persistenceType NONE -cltTimeout 9000

bind lb vserver lbvip-LDAP-Corp svcgrp-LDAP-Corp
  18. If you haven’t enabled the Default SSL Profile, then perform other normal SSL configuration including: disable SSLv3, and bind a Modern Cipher Group. 
    bind ssl vserver MyvServer -certkeyName MyCert

set ssl vserver MyvServer -ssl3 DISABLED -tls11 ENABLED -tls12 ENABLED

unbind ssl vserver MyvServer -cipherName ALL

bind ssl vserver MyvServer -cipherName Modern

bind ssl vserver MyvServer -eccCurveName ALL
  19. Click Done to finish creating the Virtual Server.
  20. The new Virtual Server should show as Up.
  21. Create additional Virtual Servers for each datacenter. These additional Virtual Servers do not need a VIP so change the IP Address Type to Non Addressable. Only the first Virtual Server will be directly accessible.

    add lb vserver lbvip-LDAP-Corp-Backup SSL_TCP 0.0.0.0 0
  22. Notice that the additional datacenter Virtual Servers show up with an IP Address of 0.0.0.0 and port of 0.
  23. After you are done creating a Virtual Server for each datacenter, click the ellipsis next to the primary datacenter’s Virtual Server and click Edit.
  24. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click Protection.
  25. On the left, in the Protection section, change the Backup Virtual Server to one of the other datacenter Virtual Servers. If all of the services in this datacenter are DOWN, the backup Virtual Server will be used instead. You can cascade multiple Virtual Servers using this method. Click OK and Done.

    set lb vserver lbvip-LDAP-Corp -backupVServer lbvip-LDAP-Corp-Backup

Next Steps

You may now use this Virtual IP in your LDAP authentication policies for NetScaler Gateway or NetScaler management login.

StoreFront Load Balancing – NetScaler 11.1

Last Modified: Nov 7, 2020 @ 6:35 am

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Monitor

Note: This is a Perl monitor, which uses the NSIP as the source IP. You can use RNAT to override this as described in CTX217712 How to Force scriptable monitor to use SNIP in Netscaler in 10.5.

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand Load Balancing, and click Monitors.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Name it StoreFront or similar.
  4. Change the Type drop-down to STORERONT.
  5. If you will use SSL to communicate with the StoreFront servers, then scroll down, and check the box next to Secure.
  6. Scroll up, and switch to the Special Parameters tab.
  7. In the Store Name field, enter the name of your store (e.g. MyStore) without spaces.
  8. Click Create.

    add lb monitor StoreFront STOREFRONT -scriptName nssf.pl -dispatcherIP 127.0.0.1 -dispatcherPort 3013 -secure YES -storename Store

Servers

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand Load Balancing, and click Servers.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Enter a descriptive server name, usually it matches the actual server name.
  4. Enter the IP address of the server.
  5. Enter comments to describe the server. Click Create.
  6. Continue adding StoreFront servers.

    add server SF01 10.2.2.57
add server SF02 10.2.2.58

Service Group

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand Load Balancing, and click Service Groups.

  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Give the Service Group a descriptive name (e.g. svcgrp-StoreFront-SSL).
  4. Change the Protocol to HTTP or SSL. If the protocol is SSL, ensure that the StoreFront Monitor has Secure checked.
  5. Scroll down and click OK.

  6. Click where it says No Service Group Member.
  7. If you did not create server objects then enter the IP address of a StoreFront Server. If you previously created a server object then change the selection to Server Based and select the server objects.
  8. Enter 80 or 443 as the port. Then click Create.
  9. Click OK.
  10. On the right, under Advanced Settings , click Monitors.
  11. Click where it says says No Service Group to Monitor Binding.
  12. Click the arrow next to Click to select.
  13. Select your StoreFront monitor and click Select.
  14. Then click Bind.
  15. To verify that the monitor is working, on the left, in the Service Group Members section, click the Service Group Members line.
  16. Click the ellipsis next to a member and click Monitor Details.
  17. The Last Response should be Success – Probe succeeded. Click Close twice.
  18. On the right, under Advanced Settings, click Settings.
  19. On the left, in the Settings section, check the box for Client IP and enter X-Forwarded-For as the Header. Then click OK.
  20. Then click Done.

    add serviceGroup svcgrp-StoreFront-SSL SSL -maxClient 0 -maxReq 0 -cip ENABLED X-Forwarded-For

bind serviceGroup svcgrp-StoreFront-SSL SF01 443
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-StoreFront-SSL SF02 443
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-StoreFront-SSL -monitorName StoreFront
  21. If the Service Group is http and you don’t have certificates installed on your StoreFront servers (aka SSL Offload) then you’ll need to enable loopback in StoreFront.
    1. In StoreFront 3.5 and newer, you enable it in the GUI console.
    2. In StoreFront 3.0, run the following commands on the StoreFront 3.0 servers as detailed at Citrix Blog Post What’s New in StoreFront 3.0. 
      & "C:\Program Files\Citrix\Receiver StoreFront\Scripts\ImportModules.ps1"

Set-DSLoopback -SiteId 1 -VirtualPath /Citrix/StoreWeb -Loopback OnUsingHttp

Load Balancing Virtual Server

  1. Create or install a certificate that will be used by the SSL Offload Virtual Server. This certificate must match the DNS name for the load balanced StoreFront servers. For email discovery in Citrix Receiver, the certificate must either be a wildcard (*.corp.local) or have a subject alternative name for discoverReceiver.domain.com (domain.com = email address suffix)
  2. On the left, under Traffic Management > Load Balancing, click Virtual Servers.

  3. On the right click Add.
  4. Name it lbvip-StoreFront-SSL or similar.
  5. Change the Protocol to SSL.
  6. Specify a new internal VIP.
  7. Enter 443 as the Port.
  8. Click OK.

    add lb vserver lbvip-StoreFront-SSL SSL 10.2.2.221 443 -persistenceType SOURCEIP -timeout 60
  9. On the left, in the Services and Service Groups section, click where it says No Load Balancing Virtual Server ServiceGroup Binding.
  10. Click the arrow next to Click to select.
  11. Select your StoreFront Service Group and click Select.
  12. Click Bind.

    bind lb vserver lbvip-StoreFront-SSL svcgrp-StoreFront-SSL
  13. Click Continue.
  14. Click where it says No Server Certificate.
  15. Click the arrow next to Click to select.
  16. Select the certificate for this StoreFront Load Balancing Virtual Server and click Select.
  17. Click Bind.

    bind ssl vserver lbvip-StoreFront-SSL -certkeyName WildCorpCom
  18. Click Continue.
  19. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click Persistence.
  20. On the left, in the Persistence section, select SOURCEIP. Do NOT use COOKIEINSERT persistence or Android devices will not function correctly.
  21. Set the timeout to match the timeout of Receiver for Web.
  22. The IPv4 Netmask should default to 32 bits.
  23. Click OK.
  24. If the NetScaler communicates with the StoreFront servers using HTTP (aka SSL Offload – 443 on client-side, 80 on server-side), and if you have enabled the Default SSL Profile, then you’ll either need to edit the Default SSL Profile to include the SSL Redirect option, or create a new custom SSL Profile with the SSL Redirect option enabled, and then bind the custom SSL Profile to this vServer.
  25. If the default SSL Profile is not enabled, then you’ll need to edit the SSL Parameters section on the vServer, and at the top right, check the box next to SSL Redirect. Otherwise the Receiver for Web page will never display.
  26. set ssl vserver lbvip-StoreFront-SSL -sslRedirect ENABLED -ssl3 DISABLED
  27. If you haven’t enabled the Default SSL Profile, then perform other normal SSL configuration including: disable SSLv3, bind a Modern Cipher Group, and enable Strict Transport Security. 
    bind ssl vserver lbvip-StoreFront-SSL -certkeyName MyCert

set ssl vserver lbvip-StoreFront-SSL -ssl3 DISABLED -tls11 ENABLED -tls12 ENABLED

unbind ssl vserver lbvip-StoreFront-SSL -cipherName ALL

bind ssl vserver lbvip-StoreFront-SSL -cipherName Modern

bind ssl vserver lbvip-StoreFront-SSL -eccCurveName ALL

bind lb vserver lbvip-StoreFront-SSL -policyName insert_STS_header -priority 100 -gotoPriorityExpression END -type RESPONSE

When connecting to StoreFront through load balancing, if you want to put the server name on the StoreFront webpage so you can identify the server, see Nicolas Ignoto Display server name with Citrix StoreFront 3.
Server name is displayed

SSL Redirect – SSL Load Balancing vServer Method

Users must enter https:// when navigating to the StoreFront website. To make it easier for the users, enable SSL Redirection.

This procedure details the SSL Load Balancing vServer method of performing an SSL redirect. An alternative is to use the Responder method.

  1. On the left, under Traffic Management > Load Balancing, click Virtual Servers.

  2. On the right, find the SSL Virtual Server you’ve already created, click the ellipsis next to it and click Edit.
  3. In the Basic Settings section, click the pencil icon.
  4. Click the More link.
  5. In the Redirect from Port field, enter 80.
  6. In the HTTPS Redirect URL field, enter your StoreFront Load Balancing URL (e.g. https://storefront.corp.com).
  7. Scroll down and click Continue twice.

    set lb vserver lbvip-StoreFront-SSL -redirectFromPort 80 -httpsRedirectUrl https://storefront.corp.com
  8. This method does not add any new vServers to the list so it’s not easy to see if this is configured.

StoreFront Base URL

  1. Create a DNS Host record that resolves to the new VIP.
  2. The DNS name for StoreFront load balancing must be different than the DNS name for NetScaler Gateway. Unless you are following the Single FQDN procedure.

  3. In the Citrix StoreFront console, right-click Server Group and click Change Base URL.
  4. Enter the new Base URL in https://storefront.corp.com format. This must match the certificate that is installed on the load balancer. Click OK.

Subscription Replication Load Balancing

If you have multiple StoreFront clusters (separate datacenters), you might want to replicate subscriptions between them. StoreFront subscription replication uses TCP port 808. To provide High Availability for this service, load balance TCP port 808 on the StoreFront servers. See Configure subscription synchronization at Citrix Docs for more information.

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand Load Balancing, and click Service Groups.

  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Give the Service Group a descriptive name (e.g. svcgrp-StoreFront-SubRepl).
  4. Change the Protocol to TCP.
  5. Scroll down and click OK.
  6. Click where it says No Service Group Member.
  7. Change the selection to Server Based and select the StoreFront servers.
  8. Enter 808 as the port. Then click Create.

  9. Click OK.
  10. On the right, under Advanced Settings, click Monitors.
  11. On the left, in the Monitors section, click where it says No Service Group to Monitor Binding.
  12. Click the arrow next to Click to select.
  13. Select the tcp monitor and click Select.
  14. Then click Bind and click Done.

    add serviceGroup svcgrp-StoreFront-FavRepl TCP
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-StoreFront-FavRepl SF01 808
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-StoreFront-FavRepl SF02 808
  15. On the left, under Traffic Management > Load Balancing, click Virtual Servers.

  16. On the right, click the ellipsis next to the existing StoreFront Load Balancing vServer, and click Add.
  17. Name it lbvip-StoreFront-SubRepl or similar.
  18. Change the Protocol to TCP.
  19. Specify the same VIP that you used for SSL Load Balancing of StoreFront.
  20. Enter 808 as the Port.
  21. Click OK.
  22. Click where it says No Load Balancing Virtual Server ServiceGroup Binding.

  23. Click the arrow next to Click to select.
  24. Select your StoreFront Subscription Replication Service Group and click Select.
  25. Click Bind.
  26. Click Continue.
  27. Then click Done.

    add lb vserver lbvip-StoreFront-FavRepl TCP 10.2.2.201 808 -persistenceType NONE

bind lb vserver lbvip-StoreFront-FavRepl svcgrp-SF-FavRepl

Related Posts

EUC Weekly Digest – July 2, 2016

Last Modified: Sep 2, 2018 @ 7:53 am

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Here are some EUC items I found interesting last week:

Receiver

XenApp/XenDesktop

NetScaler

XenMobile

ShareFile

VMware

Other

SSL Virtual Servers – NetScaler 11.1

Last Modified: Nov 7, 2020 @ 6:34 am

44 Comments

This page contains generic SSL instructions for all SSL Virtual Servers including: Load Balancing, NetScaler Gateway, Content Switching, and AAA.

Navigation

💡 = Recently Updated

Change Log

Cipher Group

References:

To create a custom secure cipher group:

  1. Ryan Butler has a PowerShell script at Github that can automate NetScaler SSL configuration to get an A+.
  2. The easiest way to create a cipher group is from the CLI. See Citrix Blogs Scoring an A+ at SSLlabs.com with Citrix NetScaler – 2016 update for cipher group CLI commands.
  3. The last cipher is only needed for Windows XP machines. It doesn’t actually require SSL3. If you don’t need to support Windows XP, then skip that command. 
    add ssl cipher custom-ssllabs-cipher
bind ssl cipher custom-ssllabs-cipher -cipherName TLS1.2-ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384
bind ssl cipher custom-ssllabs-cipher -cipherName TLS1.2-ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
bind ssl cipher custom-ssllabs-cipher -cipherName TLS1.2-ECDHE-RSA-AES-256-SHA384
bind ssl cipher custom-ssllabs-cipher -cipherName TLS1.2-ECDHE-RSA-AES-128-SHA256
bind ssl cipher custom-ssllabs-cipher -cipherName TLS1-ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA
bind ssl cipher custom-ssllabs-cipher -cipherName TLS1-ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA
bind ssl cipher custom-ssllabs-cipher -cipherName TLS1.2-DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384
bind ssl cipher custom-ssllabs-cipher -cipherName TLS1.2-DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
bind ssl cipher custom-ssllabs-cipher -cipherName TLS1-DHE-RSA-AES-256-CBC-SHA
bind ssl cipher custom-ssllabs-cipher -cipherName TLS1-DHE-RSA-AES-128-CBC-SHA
bind ssl cipher custom-ssllabs-cipher -cipherName TLS1-AES-256-CBC-SHA
bind ssl cipher custom-ssllabs-cipher -cipherName TLS1-AES-128-CBC-SHA
bind ssl cipher custom-ssllabs-cipher -cipherName SSL3-DES-CBC3-SHA
  4. Or you can create the cipher group using the GUI. Go to Traffic Management > SSL > Cipher Groups.
  5. On the right, click Add.
  6. Name it Modern or similar.
  7. In the middle, click Add.
  8. Use the search box to find a particular cipher.
  9. Check the box next to one of the results and click the arrow to move it to the right. See Citrix Blogs Scoring an A+ at SSLlabs.com with Citrix NetScaler – 2016 update for recommended ciphers. The recommended ciphers vary based on the hardware platform and support for older clients.
  10. Use the up and down arrows to order the ciphers. NetScaler prefers the ciphers on top of the list, so the ciphers at the top of the list should be the most secure ciphers.
  11. Click Create when done.

Strict Transport Security Rewrite Policy

To get an A+ at SSLLabs.com, you need to insert the Strict-Transport-Security HTTP header in the responses. NetScaler Rewrite Policy can do this.

  1. Go to AppExpert > Rewrite, right-click Rewrite, and click Enable Feature.
  2. Go to AppExpert > Rewrite > Actions.
  3. On the right, click Add.
  4. Name the action insert_STS_header or similar.
  5. The Type should be INSERT_HTTP_HEADER.
  6. The Header Name should be Strict-Transport-Security.
  7. The Expression should be the following: 
    "max-age=157680000"

  8. Click Create.
  9. On the left, go to AppExpert > Rewrite > Policies.
  10. On the right, click Add.
  11. Name it insert_STS_header or similar.
  12. Select the previously created Action.
  13. In the Expression box, enter HTTP.REQ.IS_VALID.
  14. Click Create.
  15. Now you can bind this Rewrite Response policy to HTTP-based SSL vServers.
  16. When editing an SSL vServer, if the Policies section doesn’t exist on the left, then add it from the Advanced Settings column on the right.
  17. In the Policies section on the left, click the plus icon.
  18. Select Rewrite > Response and click Continue.
  19. Then select the STS Rewrite Policy and click Bind.
enable ns feature rewrite

add rewrite action insert_STS_header insert_http_header Strict-Transport-Security "\"max-age=157680000\""

add rewrite policy insert_STS_header true insert_STS_header

bind lb vserver MyvServer -policyName insert_STS_header -priority 100 -gotoPriorityExpression END -type RESPONSE

Default SSL Profile

You can use SSL Profiles to package several SSL settings together and apply the settings package (Profile) to SSL vServers and SSL Services. These settings include: disable SSLv3, bind ciphers, bind ECC curves, etc.

There are default SSL Profiles, and there are custom SSL Profiles. The default SSL Profiles are disabled by default. Once the default SSL Profiles are enabled, the default setttings apply to all SSL vServers and all SSL Services, unless you bind a custom SSL Profile. Also, once default is enabled, it’s not possible to disable it.

  • Some features of custom SSL Profiles require default SSL Profiles to be enabled. For example, you cannot configure ciphers in a custom SSL Profile unless the default SSL Profiles are enabled.

If you enable the default SSL Profiles, then it’s not possible to configure SNI for backend (services and service groups).

Default SSL Profiles are intended to provide a baseline SSL configuration for all newly created SSL Virtual Servers and SSL Services. You can still create Custom SSL Profiles to override the Default SSL Profiles.

Enabling the default SSL profile will wipe out any SSL configuration on SSL entities (e.g. SSL Virtual Servers) that do not have a custom SSL profile bound. Citrix offers a script that can read your existing SSL entity SSL configuration and convert them to custom SSL Profiles. See Enabling the Default Profiles at Citrix Docs. The default_profile_scriptcan be downloaded from an individual NetScaler ADC firmware download page under Additional Components. The commands output by the script won’t work until the default SSL Profile is enabled.  💡

To enable the Default SSL profiles:

  1. Make sure you are connected to the appliance using http and not https.
  2. Go to Traffic Management > SSL.
  3. On the right, in the right column, click Change advanced SSL settings.
  4. Near the bottom, check the box next to Enable Default Profile. Note: this will change SSL settings on all SSL Virtual Servers to match the default SSL profile. You might want to do this during a maintenance window. Click OK when done.
  5. If you go back into Advanced SSL Settings, notice that the Default Profile is enabled and there’s no way to disable it.
  6. To change the default SSL profile, on the left, go to System > Profiles.
  7. On the right, switch to the SSL Profile tab.
  8. Click the ellipsis next to the frontend or backend default profile and click Edit. Frontend = client-side connections to SSL vServers. Backend = server-side connections (SSL Services and Service Groups).
  9. Or you can create a new custom SSL profile.
  10. Notice that SSLv3 is disabled by default.
  11. If you do any SSL Offload (SSL on the client side, HTTP on the server side) then you’ll need to edit the Basic Settings section and enable SSL Redirect. Or you can create a new SSL Profile with this option enabled. It’s near the bottom of the section. With this option enabled, any 301/302 redirects from the server with HTTP locations are rewritten to HTTPS locations. You might need this option for StoreFront load balancing if doing SSL Offload.
  12. Scroll down to the SSL Ciphers section and click the pencil icon.
  13. Click Remove All and click OK. You must click OK before binding the custom cipher group.
  14. Click the pencil icon again.
  15. Click Add.
  16. Scroll down and select your custom cipher group. Then click the arrow to move it to the right. Then click OK.
  17. Click OK when you see the No usable ciphers message. Then click Done to close the SSL Profile.
  18. If you edit one of your SSL Virtual Servers (e.g. Load Balancing vServer), there’s an SSL Profile section indicating that the default profile is being used. You can change the binding to a different SSL Profile.
  19. SSL Profiles do not include forcing Strict Transport Security. You’ll still need to create the STS Rewrite Policy and bind it to every SSL vServer as detailed in the next section.

Bind Certificate, Bind Cipher Group, Disable SSLv3, Enable STS

Whether you use SSL Profiles or not, you need to bind certificates and STS Rewrite Policy to every SSL vServer.

If you enabled the Default SSL Profiles feature, you can either leave it set to the Default SSL Profile; or you can change it to a Custom SSL Profile. Or you can bind an SSL Profile without enabling the Default SSL Profiles. If you don’t use the SSL Profiles feature, then you’ll need to manually configure ciphers and SSL settings on every SSL vServer.

Do the following on every SSL vServer:

  1. When creating an SSL Virtual Server (e.g. SSL Load Balancing vServer), on the left, in the Certificates section, click where it says No Server Certificate.
  2. Click where it says Click to select.
  3. Select a certificate and click Select.
  4. Click Bind.

    bind ssl vserver MyvServer -certkeyName MyCert
  5. If you want to bind a custom SSL Profile, if Default SSL Profile is enabled, in the SSL Profile section on the left, click the pencil icon.
  6. If the SSL Profile section isn’t on the left, then on the right, in the Advanced Settings section, click SSL Profile
  7. Select your custom SSL Profile and click OK.
  8. If you didn’t bind an SSL Profile, on the left, in the SSL Parameters section, click the pencil icon.
  9. Uncheck the box next to SSLv3. Make sure TLSv11 and TLSv12 are enabled. Click OK.

    set ssl vserver MyvServer -ssl3 DISABLED -tls11 ENABLED -tls12 ENABLED
  10. If you didn’t bind an SSL Profile, scroll down to the SSL Ciphers section and click the pencil icon.
  11. Click Remove All and click OK. You must click OK before binding the custom cipher group.
  12. Click the pencil icon again.
  13. Click Add.
  14. Scroll down and select your custom cipher group. Then click the arrow to move it to the right. Then click OK.
  15. Click OK when you see the No usable ciphers message.

    unbind ssl vserver MyvServer -cipherName ALL
bind ssl vserver MyvServer -cipherName Modern
  16. SSL Virtual Servers created on newer versions of NetScaler will automatically have ECC Curves bound to them. However, if this appliance was upgraded from an older version then the ECC Curves might not be bound. If you are not using SSL Profile, then on the right, in the Advanced Settings section, click ECC Curve.
  17. On the left, in the ECC Curve section, click where it says No ECC Curve.
  18. Click to select.
  19. Choose ALL and click Select.
  20. Click Bind.

    bind ssl vserver MyvServer -eccCurveName ALL
  21. If the Policies section doesn’t exist on the left, then add it from the Advanced Settings column on the right.
  22. In the Policies section on the left, click the plus icon.
  23. Select Rewrite > Response and click Continue.
  24. Select the STS Rewrite Policy and click Bind.

    bind lb vserver MyvServer -policyName insert_STS_header -priority 100 -gotoPriorityExpression END -type RESPONSE

If you experience SSL performance problems on a NetScaler MPX, Citrix CTX207005 Performance Issues with NetScaler MPX SSL recommends creating and binding the following TCP Profile:  💡

add ns tcpProfile tcp_test -WS ENABLED -SACK ENABLED -maxBurst 20 -initialCwnd 8 -bufferSize 4096000 -flavor BIC -dynamicReceiveBuffering DISABLED -sendBuffsize 4096000

SSL Tests

After you’ve created an SSL Virtual Server, run the following tests:

SSL Redirect – SSL Load Balancing vServer Method

New in NetScaler 11.1, you can configure SSL Redirect directly in an SSL Load Balancing vServer (port 443) instead of creating a separate HTTP (port 80) Load Balancing vServer.

Limitations:

  • This is only an option for SSL Load Balancing vServers; it’s not configurable in Gateway vServers or Content Switching vServers.
  • Only one Redirect URL can be specified. Alternatively, the Responder method can handle multiple FQDNs to one VIP (e.g. wildcard certificate) and/or IP address URLs.

To configure an SSL Load Balancing vServer to redirect from HTTP to HTTPS:

  1. Edit the SSL Load Balancing vServer (port 443).
  2. In the Basic Settings section, click the pencil icon.
  3. Click More.
  4. In the Redirect from Port field, enter 80.
  5. In the HTTPS Redirect URL field, enter https://MyFQDN. Click Continue twice.

SSL Redirect – Down vServer Method

If you created an SSL Virtual Server that only listens on SSL 443, then users must enter https:// when navigating to the website. To make it easier for the users, create another load balancing Virtual Server on the same VIP but listens on HTTP 80 and then redirects the user’s browser to reconnect on SSL 443.

The Down Virtual Server Method is easy, but the Redirect Virtual Server must be down in order for the redirect to take effect. Another option is to use Responder policies to perform the redirect.

To create the down Redirect Virtual Server:

  1. On the left, under Traffic Management > Load Balancing, click Virtual Servers.

  2. On the right, find an SSL Virtual Server you’ve already created, click the ellipsis next to it, and click Add. Doing it this way copies some of the data from the already created Virtual Server.
  3. Or if you are redirecting NetScaler Gateway, create a new Load Balancing vServer with the same VIP as the Gateway.
  4. Change the name to indicate that this new Virtual Server is an SSL Redirect.
  5. Change the Protocol to HTTP on Port 80.
  6. The IP Address should already be filled in. It must match the original SSL Virtual Server (or Gateway vServer). Click OK.
  7. Don’t select any services. This vServer must intentionally be marked down so the redirect will take effect. Click Continue.
  8. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click Protection.
  9. In the Redirect URL field, enter the full URL including https://. For example: https://storefront.corp.com/Citrix/StoreWeb. Click OK.

  10. Click Done.
  11. When you view the SSL redirect Virtual Server in the list, it will have a state of DOWN. That’s OK. The Port 80 Virtual Server must be DOWN for this redirect method to work.

SSL Redirect – Responder Method

The Down Virtual Server Method is easy, but the Redirect Virtual Server must be down in order for the redirect to take effect. Another option is to use Responder policies to perform the redirect. This method requires the Redirect Virtual Server to be UP.

  1. Create a dummy Load Balancing service. This dummy service can be bound to multiple Redirect Virtual Servers. Go to Traffic Management > Load Balancing > Services.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Name it AlwaysUp or similar.
  4. Use a loopback IP address (e.g. 127.0.0.1). After the service is created, it changes to a NetScaler-owned IP.
  5. Click the More link.
  6. This dummy service must always be UP so uncheck the box next to Health Monitoring. Click OK and then click Done.

    add server 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1
add service AlwaysUp 127.0.0.1 HTTP 80 -healthMonitor NO
  7. On the left, expand AppExpert and click Responder.
  8. If Responder is not enabled, right-click Responder and click Enable Feature.

    enable ns feature RESPONDER
  9. Under Responder, click Actions.
  10. On the right, click Add.
  11. Give the action a name.
  12. Change the Type to Redirect.
  13. Enter an expression. The following expression can be used by multiple Redirect Virtual Servers since it redirects to https on the same URL the user entered in the browser. Or you can create a Responder Action with a more specific Target. Click Create. 
    "https://" + HTTP.REQ.HOSTNAME.HTTP_URL_SAFE + HTTP.REQ.URL.PATH_AND_QUERY.HTTP_URL_SAFE

    add responder action http_to_ssl_redirect_responderact redirect "\"https://\" + HTTP.REQ.HOSTNAME.HTTP_URL_SAFE + HTTP.REQ.URL.PATH_AND_QUERY.HTTP_URL_SAFE" -responseStatusCode 302
  14. On the left, under Responder, click Policies.
  15. On the right, click Add.
  16. Give the policy a name.
  17. Select the previously created Responder action.
  18. For the expression, enter the following. Then click Create. 
    HTTP.REQ.IS_VALID

    add responder policy http_to_ssl_redirect_responderpol HTTP.REQ.IS_VALID http_to_ssl_redirect_responderact
  19. Create a Load Balancing Virtual Server with Protocol HTTP and Port 80. The VIP should match an existing SSL Virtual Server or NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server.

  20. Bind the AlwaysUp service and click Bind. Then click Continue.

  21. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click Policies.
  22. Click the plus icon in the top right of the Policies box.
  23. Select Responder and click Continue.
  24. Select the http_to_https Redirect Responder policy and click Bind. Then click Done.

    add lb vserver MyvServer-HTTP-SSLRedirect HTTP 10.2.2.201 80

bind lb vserver storefront.corp.com-HTTP-SSLRedirect AlwaysUp

bind lb vserver storefront.corp.com-HTTP-SSLRedirect -policyName http_to_ssl_redirect_responderpol -priority 100 -gotoPriorityExpression END -type REQUEST
  25. The primary advantage of this method is that the Redirect Virtual Server is UP.

NetScaler 11.1 Certificates

Last Modified: Nov 6, 2020 @ 7:23 am

31 Comments

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Convert .PFX Certificate to PEM Format

You can export a certificate from Windows and import it to NetScaler.

  1. On the Windows server that has the certificate, run mmc.exe and add the certificates snap-in.
  2. Right-click the certificate and click Export.
  3. On the Export Private Key page, select Yes, export the private key and click Next.
  4. On the Export File Format page, ensure Personal Information Exchange is selected and click Next.
  5. Save it as a .pfx file. Don’t put any spaces in the filename.
  6. Go to Traffic Management > SSL. If the SSL feature is disabled, right-click it and click Enable Feature.
  7. In NetScaler 11.1, it is no longer necessary to first convert the .PFX file to PEM format since NetScaler will convert it for you automatically. Note: when the PFX is automatically converted to PEM, the key is not encrypted.
  8. Go to Traffic Management > SSL > Certificates.
  9. There are now three different certificate nodes. Server Certificates have private keys. These certificates are intended to be bound to SSL vServers.
  10. Client Certificates also have private keys but they are intended to be bound to Services so NetScaler can perform client-certificate authentication against back-end web servers.
  11. CA Certificates don’t have private keys. These certificates can authenticate client certificates. Or you can link Server Certificates to CA Certificates to create a trust chain.
  12. On the left, click Server Certificates. On the right, click Install.
  13. Browse (Local) to the PFX file.
  14. Enter the PFX password, and then click Install.
  15. If you click the information icon next to the certificate, you’ll see that NetScaler created a new file with a .ns extension.

  16. If you look inside this file by going to Traffic Management > SSL > Manage Certificates / Keys / CSRs, notice that the RSA Private Key is not encrypted, encoded, or password protected.


  17. If you want to encrypt your key file (recommended), use the older method of converting from PFX to PEM. In the NetScaler Configuration GUI, on the left expand Traffic Management and click SSL.
  18. In the right column of the right pane, click Import PKCS#12 in the Tools section.
  19. In the Import PKCS12 File dialog box:
    1. In the Output File Name field, enter a name (e.g. Wildcard.cer) for a new file where the PEM certificate and key will be placed.
    2. In the PKCS12 File field, click Browse and select the previously exported .pfx file.
    3. In the Import Password field, enter the password you specified when you previously exported the .pfx file.
    4. Change the Encoding Format selection to DES3. This causes the new Output file to be encrypted.
    5. Enter a password for the Output file and click OK.
  20. If you browse to the /nsconfig/ssl directory on the NetScaler and view the new .cer file you just created, you’ll see both the certificate and the private key in the same file. You can use the Manage Certificates / Keys / CSRs link to view the files.

  21. Notice that the file contains both the certificate and the RSA Private key.
  22. Also, the Private Key is encrypted.
  23. On the left side of the NetScaler Configuration GUI, expand Traffic Management > SSL, and click Certificates.
  24. On the right, click Install.
  25. In the Install Certificate dialog box:
    1. In the Certificate-Key Pair Name field, enter a friendly name for this certificate.
    2. In the Certificate File Name field, browse the appliance and select the .cer file you just created.
    3. If the private key is encrypted, enter the password.
    4. If desired, check the box next to Notify When Expires.
    5. Click Install. You can now link an intermediate certificate to this SSL certificate and then bind this SSL certificate to SSL  and/or NetScaler Gateway Virtual Servers.
  26. To automatically backup SSL certificates and receive notification when the certificates are about the expire, deploy Citrix Command Center or NetScaler Management and Analytics System. Also see Citrix CTX213342 How to handle certificate expiry on NetScaler.
  27. You can also export the certificate files and use them on a different NetScaler.

Create Key and Certificate Request

If you want to create free Let’s Encrypt certificates, see John Billekens’ PowerShell script detailed at Let’s Encrypt Certificates on a NetScaler.  💡

You can create a key pair and Certificate Signing Request directly on the NetScaler appliance. The Certificate Signing Request can then be signed by an internal or public Certificate Authority.

Most Certificate Authorities let you add Subject Alternative Names when submitting the Certificate Signing Request to the Certificate Authority and thus there’s no reason to include Subject Alternative Names in the Certificate Signing Request. You typically create a Certificate Signing Request with a single DNS name. Then when submitting the Certificate Signing Request to the Certificate Authority you type in additional DNS names. For a Microsoft Certificate Authority, you can enter Subject Alternative Names in the Attributes box of the Web Enrollment wizard. For public Certificate Authorities, you purchase a UCC certificate or purchase a certificate option that lets you type in additional names.

If you instead want to create a Certificate Signing Request on NetScaler that has Subject Alternative Names embedded in it as request attributes, see Citrix Blog Post How to Create a CSR for a SAN Certificate Using OpenSSL on a NetScaler Appliance. These instructions are performed on the NetScaler command line using OpenSSL. Or you can instead create a Subject Alternative Name certificate on Windows.

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand SSL, and click SSL Files.
  2. On the right, switch to the Keys tab.
  3. Click Create RSA Key.
  4. Give the .key file a descriptive name.
  5. Set the Key Size to 2048 bits
  6. Set the PEM Encoding Algorithm to DES3 and enter a password. This encrypts the key file.
  7. Click OK. You will soon create a certificate using the keys in this file.
  8. On the right, switch to the CSRs tab.
  9. Click Create Certificate Signing Request (CSR).
  10. In the Request File Name field, enter the name of a new file.
  11. In the Key Filename field, browse to the previously created .key file.
  12. If the key file is encrypted, enter the password.
  13. Feel free to change the Digest Method to SHA256.
  14. In the Common Name field, enter the FQDN of the SSL enabled-website. If this is a wildcard certificate, enter * for the left part of the FQDN.
  15. In the Organization Name field, enter your official Organization Name.
  16. Enter IT or similar as the Organization Unit.
  17. Enter the City name.
  18. In the State field, enter your state name without abbreviating.
  19. Scroll down and click Create.
  20. Click the ellipsis next to the new .csr file and Download the file.

  21. You can then open the .csr file with Notepad and send the contents to your Certificate Authority. If the CA asks you for the type of web server, select Apache. Save the CA response as a Base64 file.
  22. After you get the signed certificate, on the left side of the NetScaler Configuration GUI, expand Traffic Management > SSL > Certificates and click Server Certificates.
  23. On the right, click Install.
  24. In the Certificate-Key Pair Name field, enter a friendly name for this certificate.
  25. In the Certificate File Name field, browse Local and select the Base64 (Apache) .cer file you received from the Certificate Authority.
  26. In the Private Key File Name field, browse the appliance and select the key file you created earlier.
  27. If the key file is encrypted, enter the password.
  28. If desired, check the box next to Notify When Expires.
  29. Click Install.
  30. The certificate is now added to the list. Notice the Days to Expire. You can now bind this certificate to any SSL Load Balancing, NetScaler Gateway, or SSL Content Switching Virtual Server.
  31. To automatically backup SSL certificates and receive notification when the certificates are about the expire, deploy Citrix Command Center or Citrix NetScaler Management and Analytics. Also see Citrix CTX213342 How to handle certificate expiry on NetScaler.
  32. You can also export the certificate files and use them on a different NetScaler.

Intermediate Certificate

If your Server Certificate is signed by an intermediate Certificate Authority, then you must install the intermediate Certificate Authority’s certificate on the NetScaler. This Intermediate Certificate then must be linked to the Server Certificate.

  1. Sometimes the public Certificate Authority will give you the Intermediate certificate as one of the files in a bundle. If not, log into Windows and double-click the signed certificate.
  2. On the Certification Path tab, double-click the intermediate certificate (e.g. Go Daddy Secure Certificate Authority. It’s the one in the middle).
  3. On the Details tab, click Copy to File.
  4. In the Welcome to the Certificate Export Wizard page, click Next.
  5. In the Export File Format page, select Base-64 encoded and click Next.
  6. Give it a file name and click Next.
  7. In the Completing the Certificate Export Wizard page, click Finish.
  8. In the NetScaler configuration GUI, expand Traffic Management, expand SSL, expand Certificates, and click CA Certificates.
  9. On the right, click Install.
  10. Name it Intermediate or similar.
  11. Browse locally for the Intermediate certificate file.
  12. Click Install.
  13. Go back to Server Certificates.
  14. Click the ellipsis next to the server certificate, and click Link.
  15. The previously imported Intermediate certificate should already be selected. Click OK.

Export Certificate Files from NetScaler

You can easily export certificate files from the NetScaler and import them to a different NetScaler.

  1. Go to Traffic Management > SSL > Certificates > Server Certificates.
  2. Move your mouse over the certificate you want to export, and then click the information icon on the far left.
  3. Note the file names. There could be one or two file names.
  4. Go to Traffic Management > SSL.
  5. On the right, in the right column, click Manage Certificates / Keys / CSRs.
  6. Find the file(s) in the list, right-click it, and click Download.
  7. Also download the files for any linked intermediate certificate.
  8. You can now use the downloaded files to install certificates on a different NetScaler.

Create Certificate with NetScaler as Certificate Authority

If you don’t have an internal Certificate Authority, you can use NetScaler as a Certificate Authority. The NetScaler Certificate Authority can then be used to sign Server Certificates. This is a simple method for creating a new management certificate. The main problem with this method is that the NetScaler root certificate must be manually installed on any machine that connects to the NetScaler.

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management, and click SSL.
  2. On the right, in the left column, click Root-CA Certificate Wizard.
  3. In the Key Filename field, enter root.key or similar. This is a new file.
  4. In the Key Size field, enter at least 2048.
  5. Optionally, to encrypt the key file, change the PEM Encoding Algorithm to DES3, and enter a new password.
  6. Click Create.
  7. In the Request File Name field, enter root.csr or similar. This is a new file.
  8. If the key file is encrypted, enter the password.
  9. Scroll down.
  10. In the State field, enter the non-abbreviated state name.
  11. In the Organization Name field, enter the name of your organization.
  12. Fill in other fields as desired.
  13. In the Common Name field, enter a descriptive name for this Certificate Authority.
  14. Click Create .
  15. In the Certificate File Name field, enter root.cer or similar. This is a new file.
  16. Change the Validity Period to 3650 (10 years) or similar.
  17. If the key file is encrypted, enter the password in the PEM Passphrase field.
  18. Click Create.
  19. In the Certificate-Key Pair Name field, enter a friendly name for this Certificate Authority certificate.
  20. If the key file is encrypted, enter the password in the Password field.
  21. Click Create.
  22. Click Done.
  23. In the right pane, in the left column, click Server Certificate Wizard.
  24. In the Key Filename field, enter mgmt.key or similar. This is a new file.
  25. In the Key Size field, enter at least 2048.
  26. Optionally, to encrypt the key file, change the PEM Encoding Algorithm to DES3, and enter a new password.
  27. Click Create.
  28. In the Request File Name field, enter mgmt.csr or similar. This is a new file.
  29. If the key file is encrypted, enter the password.
  30. Scroll down.
  31. In the State field, enter the non-abbreviated state name.
  32. In the Organization Name field, enter the name of your organization.
  33. Fill in other fields as desired.
  34. In the Common Name field, enter the hostname (FQDN) of the appliance.
  35. Click Create.
  36. In the Certificate File Name field, enter mgmt.cer or similar. This is a new file.
  37. Change the Validity Period to 3650 (10 years) or similar.
  38. Scroll down.
  39. In the CA Certificate File Name field, browse to the root.cer file.
  40. In the CA Key File Name field, browse to the root.key file.
  41. If the key file is encrypted, enter the password.
  42. In the CA Serial File Number field, enter the name of a new file that will contain serial numbers.
  43. Click Create.
  44. In the Certificate-Key Pair Name field, enter a friendly name for this management certificate.
  45. If the key file is encrypted, enter the password in the Password field.
  46. Click Create.
  47.  Click Done.

Default Management Certificate Key Length

In older NetScaler builds, the default management certificate (ns-server-certificate) key size is only 512 bits. To see the key size, click the ellipsis next to ns-server-certificate and then click Details.


If you try to use Internet Explorer to connect to the NSIP using SSL, Internet Explorer will consider 512 bits to be unsafe and probably won’t let you connect. Notice there’s no option to proceed.

You can configure Internet Explorer to accept the 512-bit certificate by running Certutil ‑setreg chain\minRSAPubKeyBitLength 512 on the same machine where Internet Explorer is running.

When you upgrade to 11.1, the management certificate remains at whatever was installed previously. If it was never replaced, then the management certificate is still only 512 bits. To replace the certificate with a new 2048-bit self-signed certificate, simply delete the existing ns-server-certificate certificate files and reboot.

  1. Go to Traffic Management > SSL.
  2. On the right, in the right column, click Manage Certificates / Keys / CSRs.
  3. Highlight any file named ns-* and delete them. This takes several seconds.
  4. Then go to System and reboot.
  5. After a reboot, if you view the Details on the ns-server-certificate, it will be recreated as self-signed with 2048-bit key size.

Replace Management Certificate

You can replace the default management certificate with a new trusted management certificate.

Only one certificate will be loaded on both nodes in a High Availability pair so make sure the management certificate matches the names of both nodes. This is easily doable using a Subject Alternative Name certificate. Here are some names the management certificate should match (note: a wildcard certificate won’t match all of these names):

  • The FQDN for each node NSIP in a High Availability pair. Example: ns01.corp.local and ns02.corp.local
  • The shortnames (left label) for each node NSIP in a High Availability pair. Example: ns01 and ns02
  • The NSIP IP address for each node in a High Availability pair. Example: 192.168.123.14 and 192.168.123.29
  • If you enabled management access on your SNIPs, add names for the SNIPs:
    • FQDN for the SNIP. Example: ns.corp.local
    • Shortname for the SNIP. Example: ns
    • SNIP IP address. Example: 192.168.123.30

If you are creating a Subject Alternative Name certificate, it’s probably easiest to do the following:

  1. Create the certificate using the Certificates snap-in on a Windows box. You can add the Subject Alternative Names in the certificate request wizard. The Subject Alternative Names for the IP addresses must be added as IP address (v4). The other Subject Alternative Names are added as DNS.
  2. Export the certificate and Private Key to a .pfx file.
  3. On the NetScaler, use the Import PKCS#12 tool to convert the .pfx to PEM format. Then follow one of the procedures below to replace the management certificate.

There are two methods of replacing the management certificate:

  • Use the Update Certificate button for ns-server-certificate in the NetScaler GUI. This automatically updates all of the Internal Services bindings too.
    • You cannot rename the certificate in the NetScaler GUI. It remains as ns-server-certificate.
    • ns-server-certificate cannot be bound to Virtual Servers. So make sure it is a dedicated management certificate.
  • Or manually Bind a new certificate to the Internal Services.

Update Certificate Method

The Update Certificate button method is detailed below:

  1. You can’t update the certificate while connected to the NetScaler using https so make sure you connect using http.
  2. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand SSL expand Certificates, and click Server Certificates.
  3. On the right, click the ellipsis next to ns-server-certificate and click Update.
  4. Check the box next to Click to update the certificate and key.
  5. Browse to the new management certificate. It could be on the appliance or it could be on your local machine.
  6. If the PEM certificate is encrypted, enter the password.
  7. Check the box next to No Domain Check. Click OK.
  8. Click Yes to update the certificate.
  9. You can now connect to the NetScaler using https protocol. The certificate should be valid and it should have a 2048 bit key.
  10. Go to Traffic Management > Load Balancing > Services.
  11. On the right, switch to the Internal Services tab.
  12. Click the ellipsis next to one of the services and click Edit.
  13. Scroll down to the SSL Ciphers section. Feel free to change the ciphers to a more secure cipher group. NetScaler 11.1 no longer includes RC4 ciphers in the DEFAULT cipher group, but you might want to rearrange the ciphers.
  14. Repeat this for each of the Internal Services.

Manual Binding Method

The manual Binding to Internal Services method is detailed below:

  1. You can’t update the certificate while connected to the NetScaler using https so make sure you connect using http.
  2. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand SSL, expand Certificates, and click Server Certificates.
  3. On the right, use the Install button to install the new management certificate.
  4. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand Load Balancing, and click Services.
  5. On the right, switch to the Internal Services tab.
  6. You will see multiple services. Edit one of them.
  7. Scroll down and click where it says 1 Server Certificate.
  8. Select the existing management certificate, and click Unbind.
  9. Click Yes to remove the selected entity.
  10. Click Add Binding.
  11. Click where it says Click to select.
  12. Select the new management certificate, and click Select.
  13. Click Bind, and click Close.
  14. Scroll to the SSL Parameters section, and click the pencil icon.
  15. Uncheck the box next to SSLv3. Make sure TLSv11 and TLSv12 are enabled. Click OK.
  16. On the left, in the SSL Ciphers section, click the pencil icon.
  17. Select a more secure Cipher Group. NetScaler 11.1 no longer includes RC4 in the DEFAULT cipher group, but the ciphers could be reordered in a more secure order.
  18. Repeat for the rest of the internal services.

Force Management SSL

By default, administrators can connect to the NSIP using HTTP or SSL. This section details how to disable HTTP.

  1. Connect to the NSIP using https.
  2. On the left, expand System, expand Network, and click IPs.
  3. On the right, select your NetScaler IP, and click Edit.
  4. Near the bottom, check the box next to Secure access only, and then click OK.
  5. If you are connected using http, the page will reload using https.

    set ns ip 10.2.2.126 -gui SECUREONLY
  6. Citrix CTX204217 How to redirect users from HTTP to HTTPS while accessing NSIP/Management IP. Requires a Responder policy, and a nsapimgr command.
  7. Repeat this on the secondary appliance.
  8. Repeat for any SNIPs that have management access enabled.

SSL Certificate – Update

If your certificate is about to expire, do the following:

  1. Create updated certificate files in PEM format. One option is to create a key file and Certificate Signing Request directly on the NetScaler. Another option is to convert a PFX file to a PEM file. Don’t install the certificate yet, but instead, simply have access to the key file and certificate file in PEM format.
  2. In NetScaler, navigate to Traffic Management > SSL > Certificates > Server Certificates.
  3. On the right, click the ellipsis next to the certificate you intend to update, and click Update.
  4. Check the box next to Click to update the Certificate/Key.
  5. Browse to the updated certificate and key files. If the private key is encrypted, specify the password.
  6. Click Yes to update the certificate.
  7. Click OK. This will automatically update every Virtual Server on which this certificate is bound.
  8. Certificates can also be updated in Citrix Command Center or NetScaler Management and Analytics System.

EUC Weekly Digest – June 25, 2016

Last Modified: Sep 2, 2018 @ 7:52 am

2 Comments

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