Author: Carl Stalhood

RADIUS Load Balancing – NetScaler 11

Last Modified: Nov 7, 2020 @ 6:35 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.
  8. In the Port field, enter 1812 (RADIUS).
  9. Click Create.

  10. To add more members, in the Service Group Members section, click where it says 1 Service Group Member.
  11. Click Add to add another member. Click Close when done.
  12. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click Monitors.
  13. On the left, in the Monitors section, click where it says No Service Group to Monitor Binding.
  14. Click the arrow next to Click  to select.
  15. Select your new RADIUS monitor, and click OK.
  16. Click Bind.
  17. To verify the member is up, click in the Service Group Members section.

  18. Highlight a member and click Monitor Details.
  19. It should say Radius response code 2 (or 3) received. Click OK.
  20. 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
  21. The Service Group is displayed as UP.
  22. 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 RADIUS-HQ-LB 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 that 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 OK.
  10. Click Bind.
  11. Click Continue.
  12. Configuring RADIUS Load Balancing with Persistence at Citrix Docs recommends Rule Based Load Balancing. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, add the Method section.
  13. Change the Load Balancing Method to TOKEN.
  14. In the Expression field, enter CLIENT.UDP.RADIUS.USERNAME and click OK.
  15. Click Done to finish creating the Virtual Server.
  16. 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
  17. The new Virtual Server should show as Up. If not, click the Refresh icon.
  18. 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
    Notice that the additional datacenter Virtual Servers show up with an IP Address of 0.0.0.0 and port of 0.

  19. After you are done creating a Virtual Server for each datacenter, right-click the primary datacenter’s Virtual Server and click Edit.
  20. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click Protection.
  21. 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
  22. You may now use this Virtual IP in your RADIUS authentication policies for NetScaler Gateway or NetScaler management login.

NetScaler 11 Certificates

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

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Convert .PFX Certificate to PEM Format

You can export a certificate from Windows and import it to NetScaler. However, Windows certificates can’t be imported on NetScaler in their native PFX format and must first be converted to PEM as detailed below:

  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. In NetScaler 11, it is no longer necessary to first convert the .PFX file to PEM format since Traffic Management > SSL > Certificates > Install will convert the .PFX file for you. Note: when the PFX is converted to PEM, the key is not encrypted.
  7. Browse (Local) to the PFX file in both the certificate file and key file fields, enter the PFX password, and then click Install.

  8. If you click the arrow next to the certificate you’ll see that NetScaler created a new file with a .ns extension.
  9. 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.

  10. 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.
  11. In the right column of the right pane, click Import PKCS#12 in the Tools section.
  12. In the Import PKCS12 File dialog box:
    1. In the Output File Name field, enter a name (e.g. Citrix.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.
  13. 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.

  14. Notice that the file contains both the certificate and the RSA Private key.
  15. On the left side of the NetScaler Configuration GUI, expand Traffic Management > SSL, and click Certificates.
  16. On the right, click Install.
  17. 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. In the Private Key File Name field, browse the appliance and select the same .cer file you just created. Both the certificate and the private key are in the same file.
    4. If the private key is encrypted, enter the password.
    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.
  18. 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.

Create Key and Certificate Request

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, and click SSL.
  2. On the right, in the left column, click Create RSA Key.
  3. Give the .key file a descriptive name.
  4. Set the Key Size to 2048 bits
  5. Set the PEM Encoding Algorithm to DES3 and enter a password. This encrypts the key file.
  6. Click OK. You will soon create a certificate using the keys in this file.
  7. On the right, in the right column, click Create Certificate Signing Request (CSR).
  8. In the Request File Name field, enter the name of a new file.
  9. In the Key Filename field, browse to the previously created .key file.
  10. If the key file is encrypted, enter the password.
  11. In the State field, enter your state name without abbreviating.
  12. In the Organization Name field, enter your official Organization Name.
  13. Enter the City name.
  14. Enter IT or similar as the Organization Unit.
  15. 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.
  16. Scroll down and click Create.
  17. At the top of the screen you’ll see a green banner. Click here to view.

  18. You can then copy the contents and send it to your Certificate Authority.
  19. Or, on the right side of the right pane, click Manage Certificates / Keys / CSRs.
  20. Find the .csr file you just created and View it.
  21. Copy the contents of the file and send it to the certificate administrator. Request the signed certificate to be returned in Apache or Base64 format.
  22. After you get the signed certificate, on the left side of the NetScaler Configuration GUI, expand Traffic Management > SSL, and click Certificates.
  23. On the right, click Install.
  24. 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 Local and select the .cer file you received from the Certificate Authority.
    3. In the Private Key File Name field, browse the appliance and select the key file you created earlier.
    4. If the key file is encrypted, enter the password.
    5. Click Install.
  25. The certificate is now added to the list. Notice the Expiry Date. You can now bind this certificate to any SSL Offload, NetScaler Gateway, or Content Switching Virtual Server.
  26. To automatically backup SSL certificates and receive notification when the certificates are about the expire, deploy Citrix Command Center. Also see Citrix CTX213342 How to handle certificate expiry on 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, and click Certificates.
  9. On the right, click Install.
  10. Name it Intermediate or similar.
  11. Browse locally for the Intermediate certificate file.
  12. Click Install. You don’t need a key file.
  13. Highlight the server certificate, open the Action menu and click Link.
  14. The previously imported Intermediate certificate should already be selected. Click OK.

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, right-click 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 NetScaler, 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.
    • If your new management certificate is a wildcard that you need to use for other SSL entities, then you will bind ns-server-certificate to those entities instead of a more descriptive name. You can’t re-upload the wildcard certificate again with a different GUI name.
  • Or manually Bind the 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, and click Certificates.
  3. On the right, highlight ns-server-certificate, and click Update.
  4. Check the box next to Click to update Certificate/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. Putty (SSH) to the appliance.
  11. Run the following command to see the internal services.
    show service –internal | grep –i "ns"
  12. For each internal service, run the following command to disable SSL3. Replace ServiceName with the name of each internal service.
    set ssl service ServiceName -ssl3 disabled
  13. For each internal service, run the following command to remove RC4 ciphers. Replace ServiceName with the name of each internal service.
    unbind ssl service ServiceName -cipherName RC4
  14. Repeat this process on the second appliance.

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 and click Certificates.
  3. On the right, use the Install button to install the certificate if you haven’t already done so.
  4. On the right, highlight the new management certificate, open the Action menu, and click Details.
  5. Verify that the Public Key Size is 2048. Click OK.
  6. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand Load Balancing, and click Services.
  7. On the right, switch to the Internal Services tab.
  8. You will see multiple services. Edit one of them.
  9. Scroll down and click where it says 1 Client Certificate.
  10. Highlight the existing management certificate, and click Unbind.
  11. Click Yes to remove the selected entity.
  12. Click Add Binding.
  13. Click where it says Click to select.
  14. Select the new management certificate, and click Select.
  15. Click Bind, and click Close.
  16. Scroll to the SSL Parameters section, and click the pencil icon.
  17. Uncheck the box next to SSLv3. Make sure TLSv11 and TLSv12 are enabled. Click OK.
  18. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click SSL Ciphers.
  19. On the left, in the SSL Ciphers section, select the Cipher Group that has all RC4 ciphers removed. and click OK.
  20. If you see a warning about No usable ciphers, click OK and ignore it.
  21. 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.

Internet Explorer will not accept the default 512-bit management certificate included on the appliance so make sure you replace the default management certificate or use a different browser.

  1. Connect to the NSIP using https.
  2. On the left, expand System, expand Network, and click IPs.
  3. On the right, highlight your NetScaler IP, and click Edit.
  4. Near the bottom, check the box next to Secure access only, and then click OK.
  5. Citrix CTX204217 How to redirect users from HTTP to HTTPS while accessing NSIP/Management IP. Requires a Responder policy, and a nsapimgr command.  💡
  6. Repeat this on the secondary appliance.
  7. 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.
  3. On the right, highlight 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 you imported a PFX then the certificate and key files are the same file).
  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.

NetScaler Gateway 11 Virtual Server

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

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NetScaler Gateway Universal Licenses

For basic ICA Proxy connectivity to XenApp/XenDesktop, you don’t need to install any NetScaler Gateway 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 Edition of XenMobile, and the Platinum version of NetScaler.

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 SmartAccess, SmartControl, and VPN features.

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.

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 the version info on the top right.

To change the hostname, click the gear icon on the top right.

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. This field has a default value of 5, and administrators frequently forget to change it thus only allowing 5 users to connect.
  6. If desired, check the box for Enable Enhanced Authentication Feedback. Click OK.

    set aaa parameter -enableEnhancedAuthFeedback YES -maxAAAUsers 200
  7. Then edit the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server.
  8. In the Basic Settings section, click the pencil icon near the top right.
  9. Click More.
  10. In the Max Users field, either enter 0 (for unlimited/maximum) or enter a number that is equal to or less than the number of licensed users. Click OK.

    set vpn vserver gateway.corp.com -maxAAAUsers 0

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. 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.

  2. On the left, right-click NetScaler Gateway and click Enable Feature.
  3. On the left, expand NetScaler Gateway and click Virtual Servers.
  4. On the right, click Add.
  5. Name it gateway.corp.com or similar.
  6. Enter a new VIP that will be exposed to the Internet. Note: new to NetScaler 11.0 is the ability to set it to Non Addressable, which means you can place it behind a Content Switching Virtual Server.
  7. Click More.
  8. In the Max Users field enter 0.
  9. In the Max Login Attempts field, enter your desired number. Then enter a timeout in the Failed Login Timeout field.
  10. Check the box next to ICA Only. This option disables SmartAccess and VPN features but does not require any additional licenses.
  11. Check the box next to DTLS and click OK. DTLS enables UDP Audio and Framehawk. Note: DTLS is not yet supported for double-hop ICA.
  12. In the Certificates section, click where it says No Server Certificate.
  13. Click the arrow next to Click to select.
  14. Select a previously created certificate that matches the NetScaler Gateway DNS name, and click Select.
  15. Click Bind.
  16. If you see a warning about No usable ciphers, click OK.
  17. Click Continue.
  18. In the Authentication section, click the plus icon in the top right.
  19. 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.
  20. Select LDAP, select Primary and click Continue.
  21. If you used the authentication dashboard to create the LDAP server then you probably haven’t create the corresponding policy yet. Click the plus icon to create a new policy.
  22. Use the Server drop-down to select the previously created LDAP server.
  23. Give the policy a name. It can match the LDAP Server name.
  24. In the Expression box, enter ns_true or select it from the Saved Policy Expressions drop-down. Click Create.
  25. Click Bind.
  26. 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)
  27. Click Continue.
  28. Scroll down to the Profiles section and click the pencil icon.
  29. In the TCP Profile drop-down select nstcp_default_XA_XD_profile and click OK.
  30. In the Policies section, click the plus icon near the top right.
  31. Select Session, select Request and click Continue.
  32. Click the arrow next to Click to select.
  33. Select one of the Receiver session policies and click Select. It doesn’t matter which order you bind them.
  34. There’s no need to change the priority number. Click Bind.
  35. Repeat these steps to bind the second policy. In the Policies section, click the plus icon near the top right.
  36. Select Session, select Request and click Continue.
  37. Click Add Binding.
  38. Click the arrow next to Click to select.
  39. Select the other Receiver session policy and click Select.
  40. There’s no need to change the priority number. Click Bind.
  41. The two policies are mutually exclusive so there’s no need to adjust priority. Click Close.
  42. On the right, in the Advanced Settings section, click Published Applications.
  43. Click where it says No STA Server.
  44. Add a Controller in the https://<Controller_FQDN> or http://<Controller_FQDN> format, depending on if SSL is enabled on the XenApp Controller or not. This must be a FQDN or IP address. Short names don’t work.
  45. For the Address Type, select IPV4. Click Bind.
  46. To bind another Secure Ticket Authority server, on the left, in the Published Applications section, click where it says 1 STA Server.
  47. Click Add Binding. Enter the URL for the second controller.
  48. The State is probably down. Click Close.
  49. In the Published Applications section, click STA Server.
  50. Now they should be up and there should be a unique Auth ID for each server. Click OK.

    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 X1
  51. 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.digicert.com/help/ to verify the certificate chain.
  3. 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, NetScaler 11.0 build 62 and newer have a built-in X1 theme:

  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, click where it says No Portal Theme.
  4. Click to select.
  5. Select the built-in X1 theme and click Select.
  6. Click Bind.
  7. Click Done.

    bind vpn vserver gateway.corp.com -portaltheme X1
  8. When you access the NetScaler Gateway login page you’ll see the theme.

You can also create 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 it a name and select X1 as the Template Theme.

  4. In the Look and Feel section there are two sub-sections: one for Home Page and one for Other Pages. In each of these sections is an Attribute Legend link that shows you what you can edit.
  5. The Home Page is for Unified Gateway (aka VPN Clientless Access).

  6. If you want to modify the logon page, use the Other Pages sub-section.

  7. Make changes as desired and click OK.
  8. In the Locale section, select a language and click OK.
  9. On the right, in the Advanced Settings section, click Login Page.
  10. Make changes as desired (e.g. Password Field Titles) and click OK.
  11. At the top of the screen, click the link to Click to bind and view configured theme.
  12. Select a Gateway Virtual Server and click Preview.
  13. The logon page is displayed.
  14. You could go to /var/netscaler/logon/themes/StoreFront3/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.
  15. Citrix CTX209526 NetScaler; How to Copy a Portal Theme from the Device running version 11.0 to another Device running 11.0.  💡

Jason Samuel – How to fix Green Bubble theme after upgrading to NetScaler 11 Unified Gateway details the following:

  • Change the NetScaler Unified Gateway logo to match the older Citrix Receiver logo.
  • Restore the older favicon.
  • And other observations regarding the Green Bubbles theme in NetScaler 11.0

SSL Redirect – Down vServer Method

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

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

  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Give it a name of Gateway-HTTP-SSLRedirect or similar.
  4. Set the IP Address so it matches the VIP of the NetScaler Gateway vServer. Click OK.
  5. Do not select any services. This redirect only works if the vServer is Down. Click Continue.
  6. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click Protection.
  7. Enter https://gateway.corp.com or similar into the Redirect URL Click Save.
  8. Then click Done.

    add lb vserver gateway.corp.com-HTTP-SSLRedirect HTTP 10.2.2.200 80 -redirectURL "https://gateway.corp.com"
  9. All SSL Redirect Virtual Servers are supposed to be Down. They don’t work if they are not down. By contrast, the Responder method uses redirect Virtual Servers that are Up.

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, do not set the Plugin type to Windows/Mac OS X.

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.
  4. Click OK.
  5. In the Portal Theme section 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.  💡

Citrix CTX202444 How to Customize NetScaler Gateway 11 logon Page with Links shows how to add links to the NetScaler Gateway 11 logon page.

  1. In WinSCP, go to /netscaler/ns_gui/vpn/js and edit the file gateway_login_form_view.js.
  2. Scroll down to line 40 and insert the code copied from the article. Feel free to change the link.
  3. Scroll down to line 140 and insert the line form.append(link_container);
  4. Since this is an if block, insert the line in both the if section and the else section (line 148). Both should be after the append field_login line and before the append(form) line.
  5. Save the file and verify your results.
  6. If you reboot your appliance then your changes will be lost. To preserve your changes after a reboot, copy the modified file to /var.

  7. Then edit /nsconfig/rc.netscaler and add a cp line to copy the modified file from /var to /netscaler/ns_gui/vpn/js. This is the same procedure as older NetScaler firmware. Feel free to reboot your appliance to confirm that the changes are still applied.

Other Customizations

Citrix CTX215817 NetScaler : How to Customize Footer of NetScaler Gateway Login Page.  💡

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: If you have NetScaler 11 build 62 or newer then enabling DTLS on the Gateway also enables Framehawk. See VDA > Framehawk for Framehawk configuration.

Requirements for UDP Audio:

  • Citrix Receiver 4.2 or newer
  • NetScaler Gateway 10.5.e (enhancement build) or NetScaler 11
  • 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

Unified Gateway

Unified Gateway FAQ at docs.citrix.com

The Unified Gateway wizard in NetScaler 11 relies on Clientless Access and the built-in portal. See Jens Trendelkamp NetScaler Gateway Single Sign-On to Storefront in Clientless Access Mode and Citrix CTX202890 How to Integrate StoreFront into Clientless Access Page from NetScaler When Using CVPN to learn how to enable iFrame in StoreFront so it can be embedded in the Clientless Access portal.

Unified Gateway means Content Switching for NetScaler Gateway. There are two methods of Content Switching:

  • Create a Content Switching Virtual Server that has a Content Switching policy that directs requests to a NetScaler Gateway
  • Create a NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server that has Content Switching policies that direct requests to Load Balancing Virtual Servers.

In either case you can only have one Gateway Virtual Server in the Content Switching configuration.

Content Switching vServer with Gateway as Target

  1. When creating a Gateway Virtual Server, you can change the IP Address Type to Non Addressable. This means you can only access the Gateway through a Content Switching Virtual Server.
  2. On the left, go to Traffic management > Content Switching > Policies.
  3. On the right click Add.
  4. Give the policy a name.
  5. Click the plus icon next to the Action field.
  6. Give the Action a name.
  7. Change the selection to NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server.
  8. Click the arrow to select a Gateway Virtual Server and click Create.
  9. Back in the policy screen, enter an expression. There are several options for selecting traffic that should be directed to the Gateway:
    • Hostname
    • The built-in is_vpn_url expression
    • Any path that starts with /Citrix/.
    http.REQ.HOSTNAME.SET_TEXT_MODE(IGNORECASE).EQ("mygateway.corp.com") && (is_vpn_url || http.REQ.URL.PATH.SET_TEXT_MODE(IGNORECASE).STARTSWITH("/Citrix/"))
  10. Click Create when done.
  11. Add or Edit a Content Switching Virtual Server.
  12. Click where it says No Content Switching Policy Bound.
  13. Click the arrow to select a Content Switching policy and click Bind.

Gateway vServer with Load Balancing vServer as Target

Another option is to bind Content Switching policies to a Gateway Virtual Server:

  1. On the left, go to Traffic Management > NetScaler Gateway > Policies > Content Switching.
  2. On the right, click Add to create a Content Switching Policy with an Action that points to a Load Balancing Virtual Server.
  3. On the left, go to NetScaler Gateway > Virtual Servers.
  4. On the right, edit an existing NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server.
  5. On the right in the Advanced Settings section, click Content Switching Policies.
  6. Click where it says No Content Switching Policies.
  7. Select a Content Switching policy that sends traffic to a Load Balancing Virtual Server and click Bind.
  8. Repeat for additional Content Switching policies that redirect to Load Balancing Virtual Servers. You cannot bind Content Switching policies that redirect to NetScaler Gateway Virtual Servers.

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

Session Policies for StoreFront – NetScaler Gateway 11

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

31 Comments

Navigation

This page details creation of session profiles and policies for NetScaler Gateway 11 where ICA Only (formerly known as Basic Mode) is checked.

Partly based on Citrix Knowledgebase Article CTX139963 – How to Configure NetScaler Gateway with StoreFront

Session Profiles/Policies CLI Commands

The CLI commands are shown below:

add vpn sessionAction "Receiver Self-Service" -transparentInterception OFF -defaultAuthorizationAction ALLOW -SSO ON -icaProxy ON -wihome "https://storefront.corp.com" -ntDomain Corp -clientlessVpnMode OFF -storefronturl "https://storefront.corp.com"

add vpn sessionAction "Receiver for Web" -transparentInterception OFF -defaultAuthorizationAction ALLOW -SSO ON -icaProxy ON -wihome "https://storefront.corp.com/Citrix/StoreWeb" -ntDomain Corp -clientlessVpnMode OFF

add vpn sessionPolicy "Receiver Self-Service" "REQ.HTTP.HEADER User-Agent CONTAINS CitrixReceiver" "Receiver Self-Service"

add vpn sessionPolicy "Receiver for Web" "REQ.HTTP.HEADER User-Agent NOTCONTAINS CitrixReceiver" "Receiver for Web"

Session Profiles

Or use the GUI to create the policies/profiles:

  1. On the left, expand NetScaler Gateway, expand Policies, and click Session.
  2. On the right, switch to the Session Profiles tab, and click Add.
  3. Name the first one ReceiverSelfService or similar. This is for Receiver Self-Service (not in a web browser).
  4. Switch to the Client Experience tab.
  5. Check the Override Global box next to Clientless Access and set it to Allow. Scroll down.
  6. Check the Override Global box next to Plug-in Type and set it to Java.
  7. Check the Override Global box next to Single Sign-on to Web Applications and enable it. Scroll up.
  8. If you need two-factor authentication, 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.
  9. On the Security tab, check the Override Global box next to Default Authorization Action and set it to Allow.
  10. On the Published Applications tab, check the Override Global box next to ICA Proxy and set it to ON.
  11. If you only have one domain, then check the Override Global box next to Single Sign-on Domain and enter the name of your Active Directory domain. StoreFront needs to accept this domain name (Configure Trusted Domains).
  12. If you have multiple domains, then leave Single Sign-on Domain field blank, and ensure the LDAP authentication servers have userPrincipalName in the SSO Name Attribute field.
  13. For Account Services Address, enter the Base URL for StoreFront. NetScaler needs to be able to resolve this DNS name.
  14. Highlight the existing session profile and click Add. This copies the settings from the existing profile into the new one.
  15. Change the name of the second Session Profile to ReceiverForWeb or similar.
  16. On the Client Experience tab, Clientless Access should be set to Allow. Scroll down.
  17. Plug-in Type should still be set to Java.
  18. Single Sign-on to Web Applications should be enabled.
  19. If you need two-factor authentication, the session policy for Receiver for Web needs Credential Index set to PRIMARY. Only the Receiver Self-Service policy needs SECONDARY as detailed earlier.
  20. On the Security tab, the Default Authorization Action should still be Allow.
  21. On the Published Applications tab, for the Web Interface Address field, add the path to your Receiver for Web site (e.g. /Citrix/StoreWeb).
  22. Account Services Address only applies to Receiver Self-Service so you can leave it or clear it.
  23. Everything else should be the same. If you only have one domain, then check the Override Global box next to Single Sign-on Domain and enter the NetBIOS name of your Active Directory domain. If you have multiple domains, then leave this field blank and ensure the LDAP authentication servers have userPrincipalName in the SSO Name Attribute field.
  24. Account Services Address is not needed in this profile but there’s no harm in leaving it.
  25. Click Create.

Session Policies

  1. On the right, switch to the Session Policies tab, and click Add.
  2. Name the Policy ReceiverSelfService or similar.
  3. Change the Request Profile to ReceiverSelfService.
  4. Either type in or use the Expression Editor link to build the following expression: 
    REQ.HTTP.HEADER User-Agent CONTAINS CitrixReceiver

  5. Then click Create.
  6. Add another policy, and name it ReceiverForWeb or similar.
  7. Change the Action to ReceiverForWeb.
  8. In the Expression box, either type in the following or use the Expression Editor. It’s the same as the previous expression, except it’s NOTCONTAINS instead of CONTAINS. 
    REQ.HTTP.HEADER User-Agent NOTCONTAINS CitrixReceiver
  9. Click Create.

Next Step

Create NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server

NetScaler Gateway 11 LDAP Authentication

Last Modified: Nov 6, 2020 @ 7:30 am

78 Comments

Navigation

Verify LDAPS

Use the tool ldp.exe to verify that the Domain Controllers have valid certificates installed and the service account is able to bind to the LDAP tree.

  1. ldp.exe is included with the Remote Server Administration Tools (AD DS Snap-Ins and Command-Line Tools)
  2. Run ldp.exe

  3. Open the Connection menu and click Connect.
  4. Check the box next to SSL. Change the port to 636. Then enter the FQDN of a Domain Controller and click OK.
  5. If it connected successfully, you can then attempt a bind. If the connection was unsuccessful then there’s probably an issue with the certificate installed on the Domain Controller.
  6. Open the Connection menu and click Bind.
  7. Change the Bind type to Simple bind. Then enter the service account credentials. You can use DOMAIN\Username or you can use Username@Domain.com. Click OK.
  8. Look on the right pane to verify a successful bind. If not, fix the credentials and try again.
  9. Once you have successfully binded, you can view the directory tree by opening the View menu and click Tree.
  10. Click the drop-down to view the directory partitions.
  11. Repeat these steps to verify each Domain Controller and any load balanced LDAPS.

LDAP Load Balancing

Before you create an LDAP authentication policy, setup LDAPS load balancing:

You can create multiple load-balancing Virtual Servers to load balance multiple domains. These 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 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. In the Connection Settings section, in the Base DN field, enter your Active Directory DNS domain name in LDAP format.
  9. Enter the credentials of the LDAP bind account in userPrincipalName format. Domain\Username also works.
  10. Check the box next to BindDN Password and enter the password. Scroll down.
  11. 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.
  12. On the right, check the box next to Allow Password Change.
  13. 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.
  14. 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.
  15. Scroll down and click More.
  16. For Nested Group Extraction, if desired, change the selection to Enabled.
  17. Set the Group Name Identifier to samAccountName.
  18. Set the Group Search Attribute to memberOf. Select << New >> first.
  19. Set the Group Search Sub-Attribute to CN. Select << New >> first
  20. For the Group Search Filter field, see CTX123795 Example of LDAP Nested Group Search Filter Syntax.
  21. 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
  22. The status of the LDAP Server should be Up.
  23. The Authentication Dashboard doesn’t allow you to create the LDAP Policy at this time. Instead the LDAP Policy will be created later when you bind the LDAP Server to the NetScaler Gateway vServer.

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

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 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.

Note: NetScaler 11.0 build 64 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

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 SSO 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:

  • 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. This method is not detailed here but the general steps are: In the LDAP policy, specify a Default Authentication Group. Create a AAA group that matches it. Then bind the corresponding Session Policy to that AAA group.
  • 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.

This 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 name. NetScaler will use this attribute to authenticate the user against 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, 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.

StoreFront Load Balancing – NetScaler 11

Last Modified: Nov 6, 2020 @ 7:05 am

53 Comments

Navigation

Monitor

Note: This is a Perl monitor, which uses the NSIP as the source IP.

  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 STOREFRONT.
  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. If the protocol is SSL, then from Netscaler 11 and Storefront 3.0 load balancing broken at discussions.citrix.com: “Uncheck TLS1.2 and then check it again on Service Group, then it work!”
  6. Scroll down and click OK.
  7. Click where it says No Service Group Member.
  8. 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.
  9. Enter 80 or 443 as the port. Then click Create.

  10. To add more members, click where it says 1 Service Group Member and then click Add. Click Close when done.

  11. On the right, under Advanced Settings , click Monitors.
  12. Click where it says says No Service Group to Monitor Binding.
  13. Click the arrow next to Click to select.
  14. Select the StoreFront monitor and click Select.
  15. Then click Bind.
  16. To verify that the monitor is working, on the left, in the Service Group Members section, click the Service Group Members line.
  17. Highlight a member and click Monitor Details.
  18. The Last Reponse should be Success – Probe succeeded. Click Close twice.
  19. On the right, under Advanced Settings, click Settings.
  20. Check the box for Client IP and enter X-Forwarded-For as the Header. Then click OK.
  21. 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
  22. 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, 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 OK.
  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. 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 profile to include the SSL Redirect option or create a new SSL Profile with the SSL Redirect option enabled and bind the SSL Profile to this vServer.
  25. If the default SSL Profile is not enabled then you’ll need to edit the SSL Parameters section here and at the top right, check the box next to SSL Redirect. Otherwise the Receiver for Web page will never display.

    set ssl vserver lbvip-StoreFront-SSL -sslRedirect ENABLED -ssl3 DISABLED
  26. 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 – Down vServer Method

If you created an SSL Offload Virtual Server that only listens on SSL 443, 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 that listens on HTTP 80 and then redirects the user’s browser to reconnect on SSL 443.

This procedure details the Down 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, right-click it and click Add. Doing it this way copies some of the data from the already created Virtual Server.
  3. Change the name to indicate that this new Virtual Server is an SSL Redirect.
  4. Change the Protocol to HTTP on Port 80.
  5. The IP Address should already be filled in. It must match the original SSL Virtual Server.
  6. 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.company.com/Citrix/StoreWeb. Click OK.

  10. Click Done.

    add lb vserver lbvip-storefront-HTTP-SSLRedirect HTTP 10.2.2.201 80 -redirectURL "https://storefront.corp.com"
  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 the redirect to work.

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. In the IP Address field, enter the IP address of a back-end StoreFront server.
  8. Enter 808 as the port. Then click Create.

  9. To add more members,  on the left, in the Service Group Members section, click where it says 1 Service Group Member.
  10. Click Add to add a member. Click Close when done.
  11. On the right, under Advanced Settings, click Monitors.
  12. Click where it says No Service Group to Monitor Binding.
  13. Click the arrow next to Click to select.
  14. Select the tcp monitor, and click Select.
  15. 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
  16. On the left, under Traffic Management > Load Balancing, click Virtual Servers.

  17. On the right click Add.
  18. Name it lbvip-StoreFront-SubRepl or similar.
  19. Change the Protocol to TCP.
  20. Specify the same VIP that you used for SSL Load Balancing of StoreFront.
  21. Enter 808 as the Port.
  22. Click OK.
  23. Click where it says No Load Balancing Virtual Server ServiceGroup Binding.
  24. Click the arrow next to Click to select.
  25. Select your StoreFront Subscription Replication Service Group, and click Select.
  26. Click Bind.
  27. Click Continue.
  28. Then click Done.

    add lb vserver lbvip-StoreFront-FavRepl TCP 10.2.2.201 808 -persistenceType SOURCEIP -timeout 5

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

Related Posts

SSL Virtual Servers – NetScaler 11

Last Modified: Nov 6, 2020 @ 7:10 am

86 Comments

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

Navigation

💡 = Recently Updated

Cipher Group

References:

  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. Go to Traffic Management > SSL > Cipher Groups.
  4. On the right, click Add.
  5. Name it Modern or similar.
  6. In the middle, click Add.
  7. Use the search box to find a particular cipher.
  8. 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.
  9. Click Create when done.

Default SSL Profile

In NetScaler 11.0 build 64 and newer, SSL Profiles are much more functional. You can use SSL Profiles to disable SSLv3, bind ciphers, and bind ECC curves.

Note: the default SSL Profile affects all SSL Virtual Servers unless you create additional SSL Profiles and bind the additional SSL Profiles to individual SSL Virtual Servers.

Citrix CTX201710 Cipher/Protocol Support Matrix of NetScaler Appliances – VPX 11.0 build 64 and older supports fewer ciphers than MPX. This was corrected in 11.0 build 65.

NetScaler 11.0 build 65 adds TLS 1.2 for back-end connections from VPX appliances. However, it does not appear to be possible to enable TLS 1.2 on SSL Profiles on VPX. If you don’t enable the default SSL profiles then you can enable TLS 1.2 on each Service Group or Service. If you are using VPX, don’t enable Default SSL profile as detailed in this section. 💡

NetScaler 11.0 build 64 and older does not do a proper handshake with TLS 1.2 IIS servers. To work around this problem, disable TLS 1.2 on the load balancing services as detailed at CTX205578 Back-End Connection on TLS 1.1/1.2 from NetScaler to IIS Servers Break. Or upgrade to 11.0 build 65.

Also see CTX205576 NetScaler to Back-End SSL Handshake Failure on Disabling SSL 3.0 on Back-End (Physical) Servers. These articles describe both SSL services and SSL_BRIDGE services.

  1. Go to Traffic Management > SSL.
  2. On the right, in the right column, click Change advanced SSL settings.
  3. 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.
  4. If you go back into Advanced SSL Settings, notice that the Default Profile is enabled and there’s no way to disable it.
  5. To change the default SSL profile, on the left, go to System > Profiles.
  6. On the right, switch to the SSL Profile tab.
  7. Highlight the frontend or backend default profile and click Edit. Note: this is the same place where you can create more SSL profiles.
  8. Notice that SSLv3 is disabled by default.
  9. 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.
  10. It’s currently not possible to bind user-defined cipher groups using the GUI but you can easily do this using the CLI. First unbind the DEFAULT cipher group and then bind the Modern cipher group. 
    unbind ssl profile ns_default_ssl_profile_frontend -cipherName DEFAULT
bind ssl profile ns_default_ssl_profile_frontend -cipherName Modern

  11. If you edit one of your SSL Virtual Servers, there’s an SSL Profile section indicating that the default profile is being used. You can change the binding to a different SSL Profile.

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

NetScaler 11.0 build 64 and older do not do a proper handshake with TLS 1.2 IIS servers. To work around this problem, disable TLS 1.2 on the load balancing services as detailed at CTX205578 Back-End Connection on TLS 1.1/1.2 from NetScaler to IIS Servers Break. Also see CTX205576 NetScaler to Back-End SSL Handshake Failure on Disabling SSL 3.0 on Back-End (Physical) Servers. These articles describe both SSL services and SSL_BRIDGE services.

  1. When creating the SSL Virtual Server, 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 the SSL Parameters section isn’t added, on the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click SSL Parameters.
  6. On the left, in the SSL Parameters section, click the pencil icon.
  7. Uncheck the box next to SSLv3. This removes a security vulnerability. Make sure TLSv11 and TLSv12 are enabled. Click OK.

    set ssl vserver MyvServer -ssl3 DISABLED -tls11 ENABLED -tls12 ENABLED
  8. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click SSL Ciphers.
  9. On the left, in the SSL Ciphers section, select the previously created Modern Cipher Group and click OK.

    unbind ssl vserver MyvServer -cipherName ALL
bind ssl vserver MyvServer -cipherName Modern
  10. If you see a warning about No usable ciphers, click OK and ignore it.
  11. 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. On the right, in the Advanced Settings section, click ECC Curve.
  12. On the left, in the ECC Curve section, click where it says No ECC Curve.
  13. Click to select.
  14. Choose ALL and click Select.

    bind ssl vserver MyvServer -eccCurveName ALL
  15. Click Bind.
  16. Consider enabling Strict Transport Security by creating a rewrite policy and binding it to this SSL Virtual Server. See Anton van Pelt Make your NetScaler SSL VIPs more secure (Updated). Also see CTX205221 How Do I Do HSTS on NetScaler?

    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

SSL Tests

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

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.

  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, right-click it and click Add. Doing it this way copies some of the data from the already created Virtual Server.
  3. Change the name to indicate that this new Virtual Server is an SSL Redirect.
  4. Change the Protocol to HTTP on Port 80.
  5. The IP Address should already be filled in. It must match the original SSL Virtual Server. Click OK.
  6. Don’t select any services. This vServer must intentionally be marked down so the redirect will take effect. Click Continue.
  7. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click Protection.
  8. In the Redirect URL field, enter the full URL including https://. For example: https://storefront.company.com/Citrix/StoreWeb. Click OK.

  9. Click Done.
  10. 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 the redirect 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.

  2. Name it AlwaysUp or similar.
  3. Use a loopback IP address (e.g. 127.0.0.1). After the service is created it changes to a NetScaler-owned IP.
  4. Click the More link.
  5. 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
  6. On the left, expand AppExpert and click Responder.
  7. If Responder is not enabled, right-click Responder and click Enable Feature.

    enable ns feature RESPONDER
  8. Under Responder, click Actions.
  9. On the right, click Add.
  10. Give the action a name.
  11. Change the Type to Redirect.
  12. Enter an expression. The following expression can be used by multiple Redirect Virtual Servers. 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
  13. On the left, under Responder, click Policies.
  14. On the right, click Add.
  15. Give the policy a name.
  16. Select the previously created Responder action.
  17. 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
  18. 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.

  19. Bind the Dummy (AlwaysUp) service, and click OK.

  20. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click Policies.
  21. Click the plus icon in the top right of the Policies box.
  22. Select Responder and click Continue.
  23. Select the 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
  24. The primary advantage of this method is that the Redirect Virtual Server is UP.

Domain Controller (LDAPS) Load Balancing – NetScaler 11

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

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.

  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 Continue.
  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).
  7. 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.

  8. To add more members, click where it says 1 Service Group Member, and then click Add. Click Close when done.

  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. Highlight a member, and click Monitor Details.
  16. It should say Probe successful. Click OK.
  17. If the monitor doesn’t work, use ldp.exe to verify the Domain Controller certificate.
  18. Click 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. The Service Group is displayed as UP. If not, click the refresh icon on the top right.
  20. 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 lbvip-LDAPS-Corp-HQ 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 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, right-click 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

Clear Text LDAP

Citrix Command Center does not support Secure LDAP so you will need to do the following:

  1. Create a regular LDAP monitor that does not have the secure box checked.
  2. Create Service Groups of Protocol TCP and Port 389.
  3. Create a Load Balancing Virtual Server of Protocol TCP on port 389. Bind the Service Groups to it.

Next Steps

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

NetScaler SDX 10.5

Last Modified: Nov 6, 2020 @ 7:09 am

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SDX IP Configuration

Default IP for Management Service VM is 192.168.100.1/16 bound to interface 0/1. Use laptop with crossover cable to reconfigure. Point browser to http://192.168.100.1. Default login is nsroot/nsroot.

Default IP for XenServer is 192.168.100.2/16. Default login is root/nsroot. Use the Management Service virtual machine to configure. XenServer and Management Service IPs must be on the same subnet.

  1. When you first login to the SDX Service virtual machine, the Setup Wizard appears. In the Network Configuration page, configure the IP addresses. Management Service IP Address and XenServer IP Address must be different but on the same subnet. Scroll down.
  2. In the System Settings page, select the time zone.
  3. Check the box next to Change Password, enter the new password. Click Continue.
  4. In the Manage Licenses section, allocate licenses normally. Click Continue when done.
  5. Then click Done.

To modify the network configuration of the SDX appliance:

  1. Switch to the Configuration tab.
  2. In the navigation pane, click System.
  3. In the System pane, under Setup Appliance, click Network Configuration.
  4. In the Modify Network Configuration dialog box, specify values for the following parameters:
    • Interface*—The interface through which clients connect to the Management Service. Possible values: 0/1, 0/2. Default: 0/1.
    • XenServer IP Address*—The IP address of the XenServer.
    • Management Service IP Address*—The IP address of the Management Service.
    • Netmask*—The netmask for the subnet in which the SDX appliance is located.
    • Gateway*—The default gateway for the network.
    • DNS Server—The IP address of the DNS server.
  5. Click OK.

 

Another way to login to the Management Service virtual machine is through the serial port. This is actually the XenServer Dom0 console. Once logged in to XenServer, run ssh 169.254.0.10 to access the Management Service virtual machine. Then follow instructions at http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX130496 to change the IP.

The console of the Management Service virtual machine can be reached by running the following command in the XenServer Dom0 shell (SSH or console):

xe vm-list params=name-label,dom-id name-label=”Management Service VM“

Then run /usr/lib/xen/bin/xenconsole <dom-id>.

Service VM Firmware – Upgrade

  1. If the webpage says NetScaler SDX on top then you are connected to the Service VM.
  2. Switch to the Configuration tab.
  3. In the navigation pane, expand Management Service, and then click Software Images.
  4. In the right pane, click Upload.
  5. In the Upload Management Service Software Image dialog box, click Browse, navigate to the folder that contains the build-svm file, and then double-click the build file.
  6. Click Upload.

To upgrade the Management Service:

  1. In the navigation pane, click System.
  2. In the System pane, under System Administration, click Upgrade Management Service.
  3. In the Upgrade Management Service dialog box, in Build File, select the file of the build to which you want to upgrade the Management Service.
  4. If you see a Documentation File field, ignore it.
  5. Click OK.
  6. Click Yes if asked to continue.
  7. If desired, go back to the Software Images node and delete older firmware files.

XenServer – Upgrade

SDX Service VM 10.1 or newer requires XenServer 6.1 to be installed on the SDX appliance. Make sure you use the XenServer 6.1 media that is specific to SDX. It should be named XenServer-6.1.0-install-sdx.iso. Installing XenServer will cause the physical appliance (and all VPX instances) to reboot.

  1. Switch to the Configuration tab.
  2. In the navigation pane, expand Management Service, and then click XenServer Files.
  3. In the right pane, in the ISO Images tab, click Upload.
  4. In the Upload XenServer ISO Image File dialog box, click Browse, navigate to the folder that contains the build file, and then double-click the build file.
  5. Click Upload.

 

To upgrade the XenServer software:

  1. In the Configuration tab navigation pane, click System.
  2. In the details pane, click Upgrade XenServer.
  3. In the Upgrade XenServer section, select the Image file from the list. Then click OK.
  4. Click Yes to confirm that a connection failure will occur.

XenServer Supplemental Pack

A full reboot of the physical appliance will occur.

  1. Download the XenServer 6.1 Supplemental Pack from the same download page containing the SDX Service VM firmware. It’s in the Additional Components section.
  2. On the Configuration page, on the left, expand Management Service and click XenServer Files.
  3. On the right, switch to the Supplemental Packs tab and click Upload.
  4. Browse to the Supplemental Pack and click Upload.
  5. Select the Supplemental Pack and click Install.

  6. Click Yes when prompted to reboot the appliance.


XenServer Hotfixes

A full reboot of the physical appliance will occur.

  1. On the left, expand Management Service and click XenServer Files.
  2. On the right, switch to the Hotfixes tab and click Upload.
  3. Upload XenServer 6.1 Hotfix 44.
  4. Also upload XenServer 6.1 Hotfix 45.
  5. Also upload XenServer 6.1 Hotfix 48.
  6. Highlight one of the hotfixes and click Apply.
  7. Click Yes when asked to apply.
  8. Apply the next hotfix.
  9. Click Yes when asked to apply. Repeat for the remaining hotfixes.
  10. On the left, click the System node.
  11. On the right, in the right column, click Reboot Appliance.
  12. Click Yes when asked to reboot.


Service VM Hostname

  1. On the Configuration tab, click System.
  2. In the right pane, click Change Hostname in the System Settings section.
  3. Enter a new hostname and click OK.

Service VM Time Zone and NTP

  1. Go to Configuration tab and click System on the left.
  2. On the right, under System Settings click Change Time Zone.
  3. Select the time zone. For Central time, look for UTC-0500 and Chicago.

 

To configure an NTP server:

  1. On the Configuration tab, in the navigation pane, expand System, and then click NTP Servers.
  2. To add a new NTP server, in the right pane, click Add.
  3. In the Create NTP Server dialog box, set the following parameters:
    • Server Name/IP Address*—The domain name of the NTP server or the IP address of the NTP server. The name or IP address cannot be changed for an existing NTP server.
    • Preferred—Synchronize with this server first. Applicable if more than one server is configured.
  4. Click Add.
  5. In the right pane click NTP Synchronization.
  6. In theNTP Synchronization dialog box, select Enable NTP Sync. Click OK.

Licensing

To upload a license file to the SDX appliance:

  1. Login to Citrix.com and go to Account.
  2. Click Allocate Licenses, find a NetScaler SDX license, and allocate it. There is no need to specify a hostname. You can use the same license file on multiple SDX appliances.
  3. On the Configuration tab, in the navigation pane, expand System, and then click Licenses.
  4. In the right pane, click Manage Licenses.
  5. In the Manage Licenses page, select Upload License Files and click Upload.
  6. In the Upload License File dialog box, do the following:
    1. Click Browse.
    2. Navigate to the folder that contains the license file you want to upload, and then double-click the license file.
    3. Click Upload.
  7. In the License Files pane, click Apply Licenses.
  8. In the Confirm message box, click Yes.

Service VM Alerting

Syslog:

  1. On the Configuration tab, expand System > Notifications and click Syslog Servers.
  2. In the right pane click the Add button.
  3. Enter a name for the server.
  4. Enter the IP address of the Syslog server.
  5. Select log levels and click Add.

 

Mail Notification

  1. On the Configuration tab, expand System > Notifications and click Email.
  2. In the right pane, on the SMTP Server tab, click Add.
  3. Enter the DNS name of the mail server and click Create.
  4. In the right pane, switch to the Email Distribution List tab and click Add.
  5. Enter a name for the mail profile.
  6. Enter the destination email address and click Create.
  7. The instances will send SNMP traps to the Service VM. To get alerted for these traps, in the Configuration page, in the navigation pane, expand NetScaler, expand Events, and click Event Rules.
  8. On the right, click Add.
  9. Give the rule a name.
  10. Select the Major and Critical severities and move them to the right. Scroll down.
  11. For the other sections, if you don’t configure anything then you will receive alerts for all of the devices, categories, and failure objects. If you configure any of them then only the configured entities will be alerted. Scroll down.
  12. Click Save.
  13. Select an Email Distribution List and click Done.

Service VM nsroot Password and AAA

To change the password of the default user account:

  1. On the Configuration tab, in the navigation pane, expand System, and then click Users.
  2. In the Users pane, click the default user account, and then click Edit.
  3. In the Configure System User dialog box, in Password and Confirm Password, enter the password of your choice. Click OK.

To create a user account:

  1. In the navigation pane, expand System, and then click Users. The Users pane displays a list of existing user accounts, with their permissions.
  2. To create a user account, click Add.
  3. In the Create System User or Modify System User dialog box, set the following parameters:
    • Name*—The user name of the account. The following characters are allowed in the name: letters a through z and A through Z, numbers 0 through 9, period (.), space, and underscore (_). Maximum length: 128. You cannot change the name.
    • Password*—The password for logging on to the appliance.
    • Confirm Password*—The password.
    • Session Timeout
    • Groups —The user’s privileges on the appliance. Possible values:
      • owner—The user can perform all administration tasks related to the Management Service.
      • readonly—The user can only monitor the system and change the password of the account.
  4. Click Create. The user that you created is listed in the Users pane.

 

AAA Authentication:

  1. If you would like to enable LDAP authentication for the Service VM, do that under Configuration > System > Authentication > LDAP.
  2. In the right pane, click Add.
  3. Enter the LDAP settings. Change the port to 636 if using Secure LDAP (recommended). Enter the bind account. Scroll down.
  4. Change the Security Type to SSL. Check the box next to Enable Change Password. Click Create.
  5. Expand System, expand User Administration and click Groups.
  6. Click Add.
  7. Enter the case sensitive name of the Active Directory group.
  8. Select the admin permission.
  9. Configure the Session Timeout. Click Create.

SSL Certificate and Encryption

Replace SDX Service VM Certificate:

Before enabling secure access to the Service VM web console, you probably want to replace the Service VM certificate.

  1. PEM format: The certificate must be in PEM format. The Service VM does not provide any mechanism for converting a PFX file to PEM. You can convert from PFX to PEM by using the Import PKCS#12 task in a NetScaler instance.
  2. On the Configuration tab, expand Management Service and click SSL Certificate Files.
  3. On the right, click Upload.
  4. Browse to the certificate PEM file and click Upload.
  5. On the right, switch to the SSL Keys tab and click Upload.
  6. Browse to the PEM key file. This could be the same file containing the certificate or a separate file. Click Upload.
  7. On the left, click System.
  8. On the right, click Install SSL Certificate.
  9. Select the uploaded certificate and key files. If the key file is encrypted, enter the password. Then click OK. The Service VM will restart so there will be an interruption.
  10. After the Service VM restarts, connect to it using HTTPS. You can’t make this change if you are connected using HTTP.
  11. On the Configuration tab, click System.
  12. On the right, click Change System Settings.
  13. Check the box next to Secure Access Only and click OK. This forces you to use HTTPS to connect to the Service VM.

 

SSL Encrypt Management Service to NetScaler Communication:

From http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX134973: Communication from the Service Virtual Machine to the NetScaler VPX instances is HTTP by default. If you want to configure HTTPS access for the NetScaler VPX instances, then you have to secure the network traffic between the Service Virtual Machine and NetScaler VPX instances. If you do not secure the network traffic from the Service Virtual Machine configuration, then the NetScaler VPX Instance State appears as Out of Service and the Status shows Inventory from instance failed.

  1. Log on to the Service Virtual Machine Graphical User Interface (GUI) management.
  2. On the Configuration tab, click System.
  3. On the right, click Change System Settings.
  4. Change Communication with NetScaler Instance to https, as shown in the following screen shot:
  5. Run the following command on the NetScaler VPX instance, to change the Management Access (-gui) to SECUREONLY:

set ns ip ipaddress -netmask netmask -arp ENABLED -icmp ENABLED -vServer DISABLED -telnet ENABLED -ftp ENABLED -gui SECUREONLY -ssh ENABLED -snmp ENABLED - mgmtAccess ENABLED -restrictAccess DISABLED -dynamicRouting ENABLED -ospf DISABLED -bgp DISABLED -rip DISABLED -hostRoute DISABLED -vrID 0

Or in the NetScaler instance management GUI go to Network > IPs, open the NSIP and then check the box next to Secure access only.

XenServer LACP Channels

To use LACP, configure Channels in the Service VM, which creates them in XenServer. Then when provisioning an instance, connect it to the Channel. If you are instead using static port channels, you can configure them inside a VPX instance.

  1. In the Service VM, on the Configuration tab, expand System and click Channels.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Select a Channel ID.
  4. For Type, select LACP or STATIC. The other two options are for switch independent load balancing.
  5. In the Interfaces tab, click Add.
  6. Move the Channel Member interfaces to the right by clicking the plus icon.
  7. On the Settings tab, you can select Long or Short, depending on switch configuration. Long is the default.
  8. Click Create when done.
  9. Click Yes when asked to proceed.
  10. The channel will then be created on XenServer.

VPX Instances – Provision

To create an admin profile:

Admin profiles specify the user credentials that are used by the Management Service when provisioning the NetScaler instances, and later when communicating with the instances to retrieve configuration data. The user credentials specified in an admin profile are also used by the client when logging on to the NetScaler instances through the CLI or the configuration utility.

The default admin profile for an instance specifies a user name of nsroot, and the password is also nsroot. This profile cannot be modified or deleted. However, you should override the default profile by creating a user-defined admin profile and attaching it to the instance when you provision the instance. The Management Service administrator can delete a user-defined admin profile if it is not attached to any NetScaler instance.

Important: Do not change the password directly on the NetScaler VPX instance. If you do so, the instance becomes unreachable from the Management Service. To change a password, first create a new admin profile, and then modify the NetScaler instance, selecting this profile from the Admin Profile list.

  1. On the Configuration tab, in the navigation pane, expand NetScaler Configuration, and then click Admin Profiles.
  2. In the Admin Profiles pane, click Add.
  3. In the Create Admin Profile dialog box, set the following parameters:
    • Profile Name*—Name of the admin profile. The default profile name is nsroot. You can create user-defined profile names.
    • User Name—User name used to log on to the NetScaler instances. The user name of the default profile is nsroot and cannot be changed.
    • Password*—The password used to log on to the NetScaler instance. Maximum length: 31 characters.
    • Confirm Password*—The password used to log on to the NetScaler instance.
  4. Click Create. The admin profile you created appears in the Admin Profiles pane.

 

To upload a NetScaler VPX .xva file:

You must upload a NetScaler VPX .xva file to the SDX appliance before provisioning the NetScaler VPX instances.

  1. On the Configuration tab, in the navigation pane, expand NetScaler Configuration, and then click Software Images.
  2. On the right, switch to the XVA Files tab and then click Upload.
  3. In the Upload NetScaler Instance XVA dialog box, click Browse and select the XVA image file that you want to upload. Click Upload. The XVA image file appears in the NetScaler XVA Files pane after it is uploaded.

 

To provision a NetScaler instance:

  1. On the Configuration tab, in the navigation pane, expand NetScaler Configuration, and then click Instances.
  2. In the NetScaler Instances pane, click Add.
  3. In the Provision NetScaler Wizard follow the instructions in the wizard.
  4. Click Create. The NetScaler instance you provisioned appears in the NetScaler Instances pane.

The wizard will ask for the following info:

  • Name* – The host name assigned to the NetScaler instance.
  • IP Address* – The NetScaler IP (NSIP) address at which you access a NetScaler instance for management purposes. A NetScaler instance can have only one NSIP. You cannot remove an NSIP address.
  • Netmask* – The subnet mask associated with the NSIP address.
  • Gateway* – The default gateway that you must add on the NetScaler instance if you want access through SSH or the configuration utility from an administrative workstation or laptop that is on a different network.
  • XVA File* – The .xva image file that you need to provision. This file is required only when you add a NetScaler instance.
  • Feature License* – Specifies the license you have procured for the NetScaler. The license could be Standard, Enterprise, and Platinum.
  • Admin Profile* – The profile you want to attach to the NetScaler instance. This profile specifies the user credentials that are used by the Management Service to provision the NetScaler instance and later, to communicate with the instance to retrieve configuration data. The user credentials used in this profile are also used while logging on to the NetScaler instance by using the GUI or the CLI. It is recommended that you change the default password of the admin profile. This is done by creating a new profile with a user-defined password. For more information, see Configuring Admin Profiles.
  • Total Memory (MB)* – The total memory allocated to the NetScaler instance.
  • #SSL Cores* – Number of SSL cores assigned to the NetScaler instance. SSL cores cannot be shared. The instance is restarted if you modify this value.
  • Throughput (Mbps)* – The total throughput allocated to the NetScaler instance. The total used throughput should be less than or equal to the maximum throughput allocated in the SDX license. If the administrator has already allocated full throughput to multiple instances, no further throughput can be assigned to any new instance.
  • Packets per second* – The total number of packets received on the interface every second.
  • CPU – Assign a dedicated core or cores to the instance or the instance shares a core with other instance(s).
  • User Name* – The root user name for the NetScaler instance administrator. This user has superuser access, but does not have access to networking commands to configure VLANs and interfaces. (List of non-accessible commands will be listed here in later versions of this document)
  • Password* – The password for the root user.
  • Shell/Sftp/Scp Access* – The access allowed to the NetScaler instance administrator.
  • Interface Settings – This specifies the network interfaces assigned to a NetScaler instance. You can assign interfaces to an instance. For each interface, if you select Tagged, specify a VLAN ID.
    • Important:The interface ID numbers of interfaces that you add to an instance do not necessarily correspond to the physical interface numbering on the SDX appliance. For example, if the first interface that you associate with instance 1 is SDX interface 1/4, it appears as interface 1/1 when you log on to the instance and view the interface settings, because it is the first interface that you associated with instance 1.
    • If a non-zero VLAN ID is specified for a NetScaler instance interface, all the packets transmitted from the NetScaler instance through that interface will be tagged with the specified VLAN ID. If you want incoming packets meant for the NetScaler instance that you are configuring to be forwarded to the instance through a particular interface, you must tag that interface with the VLAN ID you want and ensure that the incoming packets specify the same VLAN ID.
    • For an interface to receive packets with several VLAN tags, you must specify a VLAN ID of 0 for the interface, and you must specify the required VLAN IDs for the NetScaler instance interface.
  • NSVLAN ID – An integer that uniquely identifies the NSVLAN. Minimum value: 2. Maximum value: 4095.
  • Tagged – Designate all interfaces associated with the NSVLAN as 802.1q tagged interfaces.
  • Interfaces – Bind the selected interfaces to the NSVLAN.

 

Here are screenshots from the wizard:

  1. On the Provision NetScaler page, enter a name for the instance.
  2. Enter the NSIP, mask, and Gateway.
  3. Select the XVA File with your desired firmware build.
  4. Change the Feature License to Platinum.
  5. Select an Admin Profile created earlier.
  6. Enter a Description. Scroll down.
  7. In the Resource Allocation section, change the Total Memory to
  8. For SSL Chips, specify between 1 and 16.
  9. For Throughput, partition your licensed bandwidth. If you are licensed for 8 Gbps, make sure the total of all VPX instances does not exceed that number.
  10. For CPU, select one of the Dedicated options. Then scroll down.
  11. In the Instance Administration section, enter a new local account that will be created on the VPX. This is in addition to the nsroot user. Note, not all functionality is available to this account. Scroll down.
  12. In the Network Settings section, leave 0/1 selected and deselect 0/2.
  13. Click Add to connect the VPX to more interfaces.
  14. If you have Port Channels, select one of the LA interfaces.
  15. Try not configure any VLAN settings here. If you do, XenServer filters the VLANs available to the VPX instance. Changing the VLAN filtering settings later probably requires a reboot. Click Add.
  16. In the Management VLAN Settings section, do not configure anything in this section unless you need to tag the NSIP VLAN. Click Done.
  17. After a couple minutes the instance will be created. Click Close.
  18. In your Instances list, click the IP address to launch the VPX management console. Do the following at a minimum (instructions in the NetScaler System Configuration section):
    1. Create Policy Based Route for the NSIP – System > Settings > Network > PBRs
    2. Add SNIPs for each VLAN – System > Network > IPs
    3. Add VLANs and bind to SNIPs – System > Network > VLANs
    4. Create Static Routes for internal networks – System > Network > Routes
    5. Change default gateway – System > Network > Routes > 0.0.0.0
    6. Create another instance on a different SDX and High Availability pair them together – System > High Availability

 

Applying the Administration Configuration

At the time of provisioning a NetScaler VPX instance, the Management Service creates some policies, instance administration (admin) profile, and other configuration on the VPX instance. If the Management Service fails to apply the admin configuration at this time due to any reason (for example, the Management Service and the NetScaler VPX instance are on different subnetworks and the router is down or if the Management Service and NetScaler VPX instance are on the same subnet but traffic has to pass through an external switch and one of the required links is down), you can explicitly push the admin configuration from the Management Service to the NetScaler VPX instance at any time.

  1. On the Configuration tab, in the navigation pane, click NetScaler.
  2. In the NetScaler Configuration pane, click Apply Admin Configuration.
  3. In the Apply Admin Configuration dialog box, in Instance IP Address, select the IP address of the NetScaler VPX instance on which you want to apply the admin configuration.
  4. Click OK.

VPX Instances – Manage

You may login to the VPX instance and configure everything normally. SDX also offers the ability to manage IP address and SSL certificates from SDX rather than from inside the VPX instance. The SDX Management Service does not have the ability to create certificates so it’s probably best to do that from within the VPX instance.

To view the console of a NetScaler instance:

  1. Connect to the Service VM using https.
  2. Viewing the console might not work unless you replace the Service VM certificate.
  3. In the Service VM, go to Configuration > NetScaler > Instances.
  4. On the right, right-click an instance and click Console.
  5. The instance console then appears.
  6. Another option is to use the Lights Out Module and the xl console command as detailed at Citrix Blog Post SDX Remote Console Access of VIs.

 

To start, stop, delete, or restart a NetScaler instance:

  1. On the Configuration tab, in the navigation pane, expand NetScaler and click Instances.
  2. In the Instances pane, right-click the NetScaler instance on which you want to perform the operation, and then click Start or Shut Down or Delete or Reboot.
  3. In the Confirm message box, click Yes.

 

Creating a Subnet IP Address on a NetScaler Instance:

You can create or delete a SNIP during runtime without restarting the NetScaler instance.

  1. On the Configuration tab, in the navigation pane, click NetScaler.
  2. In the NetScaler Configuration pane, click Create IP.
  3. In the Create NetScaler IP dialog box, specify values for the following parameters.
    • IP Address* – Specify the IP address assigned as the SNIP or the MIP address.
    • Netmask* – Specify the subnet mask associated with the SNIP or MIP address.
    • Type* – Specify the type of IP address. Possible values: SNIP.
    • Save Configuration* – Specify whether the configuration should be saved on the NetScaler. Default value is false.
    • Instance IP Address* – Specify the IP address of the NetScaler instance.
  4. Click Create.

 

To save the configuration on a NetScaler instance:

  1. On the Configuration tab, in the navigation pane, click NetScaler.
  2. In the NetScaler pane, click Save Configuration.
  3. In the Save Configuration dialog box, in Instance IP Address, select the IP addresses of the NetScaler instances whose configuration you want to save.
  4. Click OK.

 

Change NSIP of VPX Instance:

If you change NSIP inside of VPX instead of using the Modify Instance wizard in the Service VM, see article http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX139206 to adjust the XenServer settings.

 

Enable Call Home:

  1. On the Configuration tab, in the navigation pane, click the NetScaler node.
  2. On the right, click Call Home.
  3. Enter an email address to receive communications regarding NetScaler Call Home.
  4. Check the box next to Enable Call Home.
  5. Select the instances to enable Call Home and click OK.

VPX Instance – Firmware Upgrade

Upload NetScaler Firmware Build Files:

To upgrade a VPX instance from the Service VM, first upload the firmware build file.

  1. In the Configuration tab, on the left, expand NetScaler and click Software Images.
  2. On the right, in the Software Images tab click Upload.
  3. Browse to the build…tgz file and click Upload.

 

Upgrading Multiple NetScaler VPX Instances:

You can upgrade multiple instances at the same time.

  1. To prevent any loss of the configuration running on the instance that you want to upgrade, save the configuration on the instance before you upgrade the instance.
  2. On the Configuration tab, in the navigation pane, expand NetScaler and click Instances.
  3. Click an instance to highlight it. Open the Action menu and click Upgrade.
  4. In the Upgrade NetScaler dialog box, in Build File, select the NetScaler upgrade build file of the version you want to upgrade to. Ignore the Documentation File. Click OK.

Service VM Monitoring

  1. To view the audit log, in the navigation pane, expand System, and then click Audit Logs.
  2. To view the task log, in the navigation pane, expand Diagnostics, and then click Task Log.
  3. To view events, on the Dashboard tab, in the System Health Events section on the bottom right, click Show All Events.

Service VM Backups

The SDX appliance automatically keeps three backups of the Service VM configuration that are taken daily at 12:30 am. Only configuration files and logs are backed up. This task does not backup the VPXs. You can go to Management Service > Backup Files to backup or restore the appliance’s configuration. And you can download the backup files.

Session Recording 7.13

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

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Navigation

This article applies to Session Recording 7.6 (including LTSR), 7.8, 7.11, 7.12, and 7.13. For 7.14 and newer, there’s a different article.

💡 = Recently Updated

Planning

George Kuruvilla – An Introduction To Session Recording (XA/XD 7.6 Feature Pack 1) – Installation, Configuration and User Experience

Citrix links:

XenApp/XenDesktop Platinum Edition licensing is required.

Remote Desktop Session Host VDAs added in Session Recording 7.6. Virtual desktops added in Session Recording 7.8.

There is no relation between Session Recording and XenApp/XenDesktop farms. You can have Agents from multiple XenApp/XenDesktop farms recording to a common Session Recording server. Or you can split a XenApp/XenDesktop farm so that different Agents point to different Session Recording servers. An Agent can only point to one Session Recording server (Load Balancing is not supported).

The Session Recording server will need a hard drive to store the recordings. Disk access is primarily writes.

Offloaded content (e.g. HDX Flash, Lync webcam, MMR) is not recorded.

Session Recording server needs a certificate. The certificate must be trusted by Agents and Players. Internal Certificate Authority recommended.

SQL:

  • Supported Versions = SQL 2008 R2 Service Pack 3 through SQL 2016.
  • The SQL database is very small.
  • The database name is CitrixSessionRecording. Can be changed in only 7.13 and newer.
  • Temporary sysadmin permissions are needed to create the database and sysadmin can be revoked after installation.
  • SQL Browser Service must be running.
  • As of Session Recording 7.13, SQL Server High Availability (AlwaysOn Availability Groups, Clustering, Mirroring) is supported. See Install Session Recording with database high availability at Citrix Docs. And see Citrix Blog Post Session Recording 7.13 – New HA and Database Options

Download Session Recording 7.13 from XenApp 7.13 / XenDesktop 7.13, Platinum Edition Components:

Session Recording Server Installs

IIS and Message Queuing

  1. If you are installing this on Windows Server 2008 R2 then see the prerequisites list at Citrix Docs.
  2. You also can use scripts to install Windows roles and features prerequisites that are required for Session Recording to work properly. See Scripts to add Windows roles and features prerequisites at Citrix Docs.
  3. In Server Manager, open the Manage menu, and click Add Roles and Features.
  4. Skip to the Server Roles page.
  5. In the Server Roles page, check the box next to Web Server (IIS), and click Next.
  6. In the Features page, expand .NET Framework 4.5 Features, expand WCF services, and select HTTP Activation.
  7. Expand Message Queuing, and expand Message Queuing Services.
  8. Select Message Queuing Server and HTTP Support. Click Next.
  9. In the Web Server Role > Select role services page, expand Security, and click Windows Authentication.
  10. Expand Application Development, and select ASP.NET 4.5/4.6.

  11. Expand IIS 6 Management Compatibility, and select all four boxes. Click Next through the rest of the wizard.
  12. Use MMC Certificates snap-in or IIS, or similar, to request a machine certificate.
  13. In IIS Manager, right-click the Default Web Site, and click Edit Bindings.
  14. On the right, click Add.
  15. Change the Type to https.
  16. Select the certificate, and click OK.

Server Components

  1. If you are installing this on Windows Server 2008 R2 then see the prerequisites list at Citrix Docs.
  2. The person installing Session Recording needs to be a sysadmin on the remote SQL server.
  3. In the SessionRecording7.13.0\Session Recording Administration folder, run Broker_PowerShellSnapIn_x64.msi.
  4. In the Please read the Citrix Broker PowerShell Snap-In License Agreement page, check the box next to I accept the terms, and click Install.
  5. In the Completed the Citrix Broker PowerShell Snap-In Setup Wizard page, click Finish.
  6. Run SessionRecordingAdministrationx64.msi.
  7. In the Welcome to the Citrix Session Recording Administration Installation Wizard page, click Next.
  8. In the License Agreement page, select I accept the license agreement, and click Next.
  9. In the Select Features page, click Next.
  10. If you are installing Session Recording 7.12 or older, in the Database and Server Configuration page, enter the name of the SQL server, and click Test.

  11. If you are installing Session Recording 7.13 or newer, enter the SQL server name, and enter a Database Name. Only 7.13 and newer lets you specify the Database Name.
  12. Enter the name of the Session Recording server in domain\machine-name format, and click Next.
  13. In the Administrator Logging Configuration page, if installing Session Recording 7.13 or newer, enter a name for the Logging Database, and then click Next.
  14. If installing Session Recording 7.12 or older, just click Next.
  15. In the Citrix Customer Experience Improvement Program page, make a choice, and click Next.

  16. In the Citrix Session Recording Administration has been successfully installed page, click Finish.
  17. In SQL Server Management Studio, notice the new CitrixSessionRecording and CitrixSessionRecordingLogging databases.

Upgrade

If you are upgrading from 7.8 or older, the logging feature won’t be installed.

  1. In Server Manager > Add Roles and Features, on the Features page, expand .NET Framework 4.5 Features, expand WCF Services and select HTTP Activation. Finish the wizard.
  2. In Programs and Features, right-click Citrix Session Recording Administration, and click Change.
  3. In the Application Maintenance page, select Modify and click Next.
  4. In the Select Features page, expand Session Recording Server.
  5. Change the selection for Session Recording Administrator Logging to installed and click Next.
  6. If you see a message about HTTP Activation, install the feature and restart the wizard.
  7. In the Administrator Logging Configuration page, if installing Session Recording 7.13 or newer, enter a name for the Logging Database, and then click Next.
  8. If installing Session Recording 7.12 or older, just click Next.
  9. In the Ready to Modify the Application page, click Next.
  10. In the Citrix Session Recording Administration has been successfully installed page, click Finish.

Session Recording Server Configuration

  1. From Start Menu, run Session Recording Server Properties.
  2. In the Storage tab, specify a path that has disk space to hold the recordings. UNC is supported, but strongly discouraged.
  3. In the Signing page, select (Browse) a certificate to sign the recordings.
  4. In the Playback tab, notice that Session Recording files are encrypted before transmit. Also, it’s possible to view live sessions but live sessions are not encrypted.
  5. In the Notifications tab, you can change the message displayed to users before recording begins.

  6. The CEIP tab lets you enable or disable the Customer Experience Improvement Program.
  7. See https://www.carlstalhood.com/delivery-controller-7-13-and-licensing/#ceip for additional places where CEIP is enabled.
  8. The Logging tab lets you configure Logging.
  9. When you click OK you’ll be prompted to restart the service.
  10. Session Recording relies on Message Queuing. In busy environments, it might be necessary to increase the Message Queuing storage limits. See CTX209252 Error: “Data lost while recording file…” on Citrix SmartAuditor.


David Ott Session Recording Cleanup Script: You may notice that the session recording entries/files don’t go away on their own. Here is how to clean them up. Just create a scheduled task to run the code below once per day (as system – elevated). See David’s blog post for details.

C:\Program Files\Citrix\SessionRecording\Server\Bin\icldb.exe remove /RETENTION:7 /DELETEFILES /F /S /L

Also see CTX134777 How to Remove Dormant Files From a SmartAuditor Database.

Authorization

  1. From the Start Menu, run Session Recording Authorization Console.
  2. In the PolicyAdministrator role, add your Citrix Admins group.
  3. If you use Director to configure Session Recording, add the Director users to the PolicyAdministrator role.
  4. In the Player role, add users that can view the recordings.
  5. By default, nobody can see the Administration Log. Add auditing users to the LoggingReader role.
  6. Session Recording 7.11 has a Session Recording Administrator Logging feature, which opens a webpage to https://SR01.corp.local/SessionRecordingLoggingWebApplication/. Only members of the LoggingReader role can see the data.

Policies

  1. From the Start Menu, run Session Recording Policy Console.
  2. Enter the hostname of the Session Recording server, and click OK.
  3. Only one policy can be enabled at a time. By default, no recording occurs. To enable recording, right-click one of the other two built-in policies and click Activate Policy.
  4. Or you can create your own policy by right-clicking Recording Policies, and clicking Add New Policy.

  5. After the policy is created, right-click it, and click Add Rule.
  6. Decide if you want notification or not, and click Next.
  7. Click OK to acknowledge this message.
  8. Choose the rule criteria. You can select more than one. Session Recording 7.12 and newer have an IP Address or IP Range rule.
  9. Then click the links on the bottom specify the groups, applications, servers, and/or IP range for the rule. Click Next.

  10. Give the rule a name, and click Finish.
  11.  Continue adding rules.
  12. When done creating rules, right-click the policy, and click Activate Policy.
  13. You can also rename the policy you created.

Session Recording Agent

Install the Agent on the VDAs. Platinum Licensing is required.

  1. Install Message Queuing Server with HTTP Support. If RDSH, in Server Manager, open the Manage window, and click Add Roles and Features.

    1. Skip to the Features page.
    2. In the Features page, expand Message Queuing. Expand Message Queuing Services.
    3. Check the box next to Message Queuing Server. Also check HTTP Support.
    4. Click Add Features. Click Next.
    5. In the Web Server Role > Select role services page, don’t change anything, and click Next.
    6. In the Confirm installation selections page, click Install.
    7. If install fails, try PowerShell instead. 
      Install-WindowsFeature msmq-server,msmq-http-support -IncludeAllSubFeature

  2. If virtual desktop (Session Recording 7.8 and newer), go to Programs and Features.

    1. Click Turn Windows features on or off.
    2. Expand Microsoft Message Queue, expand Microsoft Message Queue, and select MSMQ HTTP Support. Click OK.
  3. If the VDA is Windows 7, or Windows 2008 R2, install Microsoft hotfix 2554746 MSMQ service might not send or receive messages after you restart a computer. Or install the Convenience Rollup.
  4. In the SessionRecording7.13.0\Session Recording Agent folder, run SessionRecordingAgentx64.msi.
  5. In the Welcome to the Citrix Session Recording Agent Installation Wizard page, click Next.
  6. In the License Agreement page, select I accept the license agreement and click Next.
  7. In the Session Recording Agent Configuration page, enter the FQDN of the Session Recording Server, and click Test.
  8. Click OK and then click Next.
  9. In the Destination Folder page, click Next.
  10. In the Ready to Install the Application page, click Next.
  11. In the Citrix Session Recording Agent has been successfully installed page, click Finish.
  12. Agent Installation can also be automated. See Automating installations at Citrix Docs.
  13. In the Start Menu is Session Recording Agent Properties.
  14. You can enable or disable session recording on this Agent.
  15. For MCS and PVS VDAs, see the GenRandomQMID.ps1 script at XenApp/XenDesktop 7.13 Known Issues at Citrix Docs.
  16. Session Recording Agent might cause MCS Image Prep to fail. To work around this, set the Citrix Session Recording Agent service to Automatic (Delayed Start). Source = Todd Dunwoodie at Session Recording causes Image preparation finalization Failed error at Citrix Discussions.

Session Recording Player

Install the Player on any Windows 7 through Windows 10 desktop machine. 32-bit color depth is required. Because of the graphics requirements, don’t run the Player as a published application.

  1. In the SessionRecording7.13.0\Session Recording Player folder, run SessionRecordingPlayer.msi.
  2. In the Welcome to the Citrix Session Recording Player Installation Wizard page, click Next.
  3. In the License Agreement page, select I accept the license agreement, and click Next.
  4. In the Destination Folder page, click Next.
  5. In the Ready to Install the Application page, click Next.
  6. In the Citrix Session Recording Player has been successfully installed page, click Finish.
  7. From the Start Menu, run the Session Recording Player.
  8. Open the Tools menu, and click Options.
  9. On the Connections tab, click Add.
  10. Enter the FQDN of the Session Recording server.
  11. On the Cache tab you can adjust the client-side cache size. Click OK.
  12. Use the Search box to find recordings.
  13. Or you can go to Tools > Advanced Search.

  14. Once you find a recording, double-click it to play it.
  15. If you see a message about Citrix Client version incompatibility, see CTX206145 Error: “The Session Recording Player Cannot Play Back This File” to edit the Player’s SsRecPlayer.exe.config file to accept the newer version.
  16. To skip spaces where no action occurred, open the Play menu, and click Fast Review Mode.
  17. You can add bookmarks by right-clicking in the viewer pane. Then you can skip to a bookmark by clicking the bookmark in the Events and Bookmarks
    pane.

Director Integration

  1. On the Director server, run command prompt elevated (as Administrator).
  2. Run C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Director\tools\DirectorConfig.exe /configsessionrecording
  3. Enter the Session Recording FQDN when prompted.
  4. Enter 1 for HTTPS.
  5. Enter 443 as the port.
  6. In Director, when you view users or machines, you can change the Session Recording policy. These policy changes don’t apply until a new session is launched.
  7. If the Session Recording menu says N/A then the Director user needs to be authorized in the Session Recording Authorization Console.

  8. If you use Director to enable or disable recording for a user or machine, rules are added to the active policy on the Session Recording server. They only take effect at next logon.