Category: NetScaler 11

Horizon View Load Balancing – NetScaler 11

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

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Use this procedure to load balance Horizon View Connection Servers, Horizon View Security Servers, and/or VMware Access Points.

Overview

Servers/Appliances

There are two VMware-provided remote access solutions for Horizon:

Access Points are preferred over Security Servers for the following reasons:

  • No need to pair with internal Connection Servers. This simplifies the configuration.
  • Linux appliance instead of Windows server.
  • Authentication can be offloaded to Access Point. This includes: Smart Cards, RSA, and RADIUS.

If you are using Access Points instead of Security Servers then you’ll have the following machines in a highly available Horizon infrastructure:

  • Two Internal Connection Servers – these need to be load balanced on an internal VIP. Internal users connect to the internal VIP.
  • Two DMZ Access Point appliances – these need to be load balanced on a DMZ VIP. External users connect to the DMZ VIP. Access Points connect to the internal VIP.

With Security Servers instead of Access Points, a typical Horizon Infrastructure will have at least six connection servers:

  • Two Internal Connection Servers – these need to be load balanced on an internal VIP. Internal users connect to the internal VIP.
  • Two DMZ Security Servers – these need to be load balanced on a DMZ VIP. External users connect to the DMZ VIP. Each Security Servers connects directly to a “paired” Connection Servers.
  • The DMZ Security Servers are paired with two additional internal “paired” Connection Servers. There is no need to load balance the internal Paired Connection Servers. However, we do need to monitor them.

Since Security Servers are paired with Connection Servers, you need to configure load balancing monitors to disable the Security Server if the paired Connection Server is not accessible. Since Access Points are not paired with Connection Servers, you don’t need this special monitoring configuration.

Protocols/Ports

Horizon 7 introduces a new Blast Extreme protocol. VMware Technical White Paper Blast Extreme Display Protocol in Horizon 7.

For VMware Access Point, Blast Extreme only needs TCP and UDP 443 only. HTML Access in Horizon 7 also uses Blast Extreme protocol (TCP/UDP 443). If you use VMware Access Point with Blast Extreme exclusively, then the number of ports is minimal, and load balancing configuration is simplified. Here are typical load balancing port requirements for Access Point with Blast Extreme only:

  • TCP 443
  • UDP 443

Note: UDP is disabled by default, but it can be enabled using a Blast GPO setting.

For View Security Servers, and Blast Extreme protocol only, then the following load balancing ports are needed. Note: Access Point supports 443 port sharing, but Security Servers do not.

  • TCP 443
  • TCP 8443
  • UDP 8443

Note: UDP is disabled by default, but it can be enabled using a Blast GPO setting.

For all other configurations that don’t use Blast Extreme (PCoIP, HTML Blast), the following ports must be load balanced:

  • TCP 443
  • TCP 4172
  • UDP 4172
  • TCP 8443

If you are load balancing internal Connection Servers only, and if the Secure Gateways are disabled, then the only port you need to load balance is:

  • TCP 443

VMware requires server persistence to apply across multiple load balanced port numbers. If a user is load balanced to a particular View Connection Server on TCP 443, then the connection on UDP 4172 must go the same View Connection Server. Normally load balancing persistence only applies to a single port number, so whatever sever was selected on 443 won’t be considered for the 4172 connection. But in NetScaler, you can configure a Persistency Group to use a single persistency across multiple load balancing vServers (different port numbers). In F5, you configure Match Across.

Also see Load Balancing with Access Point by Mark Benson at VMware Communities  💡

This topic primarily focuses on NetScaler GUI configuration. Alternatively, you can skip directly to the CLI commands.

Horizon 7 Origin Check

Horizon 7 might not accept your load balanced DNS name unless it’s the same name configured in the Connection Server’s Secure Tunnel configuration. You can change this behavior by disabling Origin Check as detailed at VMware 2144768 Accessing the Horizon View Administrator page displays a blank error window in Horizon 7. Note: this configuration is almost mandatory for Access Points since Secure Tunnel is disabled on the Connection Servers.

Load Balancing Monitors

Users connect to Connection Servers, Security Servers, and Access Point appliances on multiple ports: TCP 443, UDP 443, TCP 8443, UDP 8443, TCP 4172, and UDP 4172. Users will initially connect to TCP port 443 and then be redirected to one of the other ports on the same server/appliance initially used for the TCP 443 connection. If TCP 443 is up but UDP 4172 is down on the same server/appliance then you probably wan’t to take TCP 443 down too. To facilitate this, create a monitor for each of the ports and bind all of the monitors to the TCP 443 service. Then if any of the monitors goes down then TCP 443 is also take down.

Note: TLS 1.0 is disabled in Horizon View 6.2.1 and newer. If your NetScaler supports TLS 1.2 on the back end then this isn’t a problem. Back-end TLS 1.2 was added to NetScaler MPX/SDX in 10.5 build 58. And it was added to NetScaler VPX in 11.0 build 65. For older NetScaler builds, you’ll need to enable TLS 1.0 (and HTML Blast) in Horizon or else the monitors won’t work.

In NetScaler VPX 11.0 build 64, secure HTTP monitors attached to SSL_BRIDGE services try to use TLS 1.2 instead of TLS 1.0. To fix this problem, run set ssl parameter -svctls1112disable enable -montls1112disable enable as detailed at CTX205578 Back-End Connection on TLS 1.1/1.2 from NetScaler to IIS Servers Break.

SSL Monitor

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand Load Balancing, and click Monitors.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Name it Horizon-SSL or similar.
  4. Change the Type drop-down to HTTP-ECV.
  5. On the Standard Parameters tab, in the Destination Port field, enter 443.
  6. Scroll down and check the box next to Secure.
  7. On the Special Parameters tab, in the Send String section, enter GET /broker/xml
  8. In the Receive String section, enter clientlaunch-default
  9. Scroll down and click Create.

PCoIP Monitor

  1. On the right, click Add.
  2. Name it Horizon-PCoIP or similar.
  3. Change the Type drop-down to TCP.
  4. On the Standard Parameters tab, in the Destination Port field, enter 4172.
  5. Scroll down and click Create.

Blast Monitor

  1. On the right, click Add.
  2. Name it Horizon-Blast or similar.
  3. Change the Type drop-down to TCP.
  4. On the Standard Parameters tab, in the Destination Port field, enter 8443.
  5. Scroll down and click Create.

Paired Connection Server Monitor

Note: the steps in this section do not apply to Access Points or internal Connection Servers.

View Security Servers are paired with View Connection Servers. If the paired View Connection Server is down, then we should probably stop sending users to the corresponding View Security Server. Let’s create a monitor that has a specific IP address in it.

  1. Right-click the existing Horizon-SSL monitor and click Add.
  2. Normally a monitor does not have any Destination IP defined, which means it uses the IP address of the service that it is bound to. However, we intend to bind this monitor to the View Security Server but we need it to monitor the paired View Connection Server, which is a different IP address. Type in the IP address of the paired View Connection Server. Then rename the monitor so it includes the View Connection Server name. Click Create.
  3. Since we are embedding an IP address into the monitor, you have to create a separate monitor for each paired Connection Server IP. Create another monitor. Specify the IP of the other paired Connection Server. Click Create.

Load Balancing Servers

Create Server Objects for the DMZ Security Servers, DMZ Access Point appliances and the internal non-paired Connection Servers. Do not create Server Objects for the Paired Connection 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 Access Point, Horizon Connection Server, or Horizon Security Server.
  5. Enter comments to describe the server. Click Create.
  6. Continue adding Access Points, Horizon Connection Servers, and/or Horizon Security Servers.

Load Balancing Services

Overview

Services vs Service Groups:

  • For Security Servers, if the paired Connection Server is down, then we need the Security Server to go down too. One of the monitors bound to the Security Server contains the IP address of the paired Connection Server. Since each Security Server is paired with a different Connection Server, that means each Security Server will have a unique monitoring configuration. This precludes us from adding multiple Security Servers to a single Service Group since you can only have one monitor configuration for the entire Service Group. Instead, create separate Services (multiple port numbers) for each Security Server.
    • Individual services per server are only needed for TCP 443. The other ports can be service groups.
  • For Access Points, there is no special monitoring configuration and thus these appliances could be added to Service Groups (one for each port number).
  • For internal Connection Servers (non-paired), there is no special monitoring configuration and thus these appliances could be added to one Service Group. Internal Connection Servers usually only need TCP 443 load balanced.

For Internal Connection Servers (not the paired servers), load balancing monitoring is very simple:

  • Create a service group for SSL 443.
  • To verify server availability, monitor port TCP 443 on the same server.
  • If tunneling is disabled then internal users connect directly to View Agents and UDP/TCP 4172 and TCP 8443 are not used on Internal Connection Servers. There’s no need to create service groups and monitors for these ports.

Security Servers and Access Point appliances are more complex:

  • For Blast Extreme protocol through Access Points, if UDP is not enabled, then you only need services for TCP 443. If UDP is enabled, then you also need load balancing services for UDP 443.
  • For Blast Extreme protocol through View Security Servers, if UDP is not enabled, then you only need services for TCP 443 and TCP 8443. If UDP is enabled, then you also need load balancing services for UDP 8443.
  • For PCoIP protocol, all traffic initially connects on TCP 443. The Horizon clients then connect to UDP 4172 on the same Security Server or Access Point. If 4172 is down, then 443 should be taken down. Bind monitors for each port to the TCP 443 service. If any of the monitors fails (e.g. 4172 is down), then TCP 443 is taken down and NetScaler will no longer forward traffic to TCP 443 on that particular server/appliance.
  • Each Security Server is paired with an internal Connection Server. If the internal Connection Server is down then the Security Server should be taken down. This requires custom monitors for each Security Server. This is not a problem for Access Points.

Load Balancing Services Configuration Summary

The summaries are split into PCoIP vs Blast Extreme, and View Security Servers vs Access Points. If you are using both PCoIP and Blast Extreme, combine their configurations.

Two Access Points for Blast Extreme: if they are named VAP01 and VAP02, the load balancing service configuration for Blast Extreme in Horizon 7 (no PCoIP) is summarized as follows (scroll down for detailed configuration):

  • Service Group, Protocol = SSL_BRIDGE
    • Members = VAP01 and VAP02
    • Port = 443
    • Monitor = SSL (443)
  • Service Group, Protocol = UDP (this service group is only needed if Blast Extreme UDP is enabled)
    • Members = VAP01 and VAP02
    • Port = 443
    • Monitor = SSL (443) or ping

Two Access Points for PCoIP protocol: if they are named VAP01 and VAP02, the load balancing service configuration for PCoIP is summarized as follows (scroll down for detailed configuration):

  • Service Group, Protocol = SSL_BRIDGE
    • Members = VAP01 and VAP02
    • Port = 443
    • Monitor = SSL (443)
  • Service Group, Protocol = TCP
    • Members = VAP01 and VAP02
    • Port = 4172
    • Monitor = PCoIP (TCP 4172)
  • Service Group, Protocol = UDP
    • Members = VAP01 and VAP02
    • Port = 4172
    • Monitor = PCoIP (TCP 4172)
  • Service Group, Protocol = SSL_BRIDGE
    • Members = VAP01 and VAP02
    • Port = 8443
    • Monitor = Blast (8443)
  • Service Group, Portocol = UDP
    • Members = VAP01 and VAP02
    • Port = 8443
    • Monitor = Blast (8443)

Two Security Servers for Blast Extreme: if they are named VSS01 and VSS02, the load balancing service configuration for Blast Extreme in Horizon 7 (no PCoIP) is summarized as follows (scroll down for detailed configuration):

  • Service Group, Protocol = SSL_BRIDGE
    • Members = VSS01 and VSS02
    • Port = 443
    • Monitor = SSL (443)
  • Service Group, Protocol = SSL_BRIDGE
    • Members = VSS01 and VSS02
    • Port = 8443
    • Monitor = Blast (8443)
  • Service Group, Protocol = UDP (this service group is only needed if Blast Extreme UDP is enabled)
    • Members = VSS01 and VSS02
    • Port = 8443
    • Monitor = SSL (443) or ping

Two View Security Servers with PCoIP: If the View Security Servers are named VSS01 and VSS02, the load balancing service configuration for PCoIP is summarized as follows (scroll down for detailed configuration):

  • Server = VSS01, Protocol = SSL_BRIDGE, Port = 443
    • Monitors = PCoIP (TCP 4172), SSL (443), and Blast (8443)
    • Monitor = SSL (443) for paired View Connection Server VCS01.
  • Server = VSS02, Protocol = SSL_BRIDGE, Port = 443
    • Monitors = PCoIP (TCP 4172), SSL (443), and Blast (8443)
    • Monitor = SSL (443) for paired View Connection Server VCS02.
  • Service Group, Protocol = UDP
    • Members = VSS01 and VSS02
    • Port = 443
    • Monitor = SSL (443) or ping
  • Service Group, Protocol = TCP
    • Members = VSS01 and VSS02
    • Port = 4172
    • Monitor = PCoIP (TCP 4172)
  • Service Group, Protocol = UDP
    • Members = VSS01 and VSS02
    • Port = 4172
    • Monitor = PCoIP (TCP 4172)
  • Service Group, Protocol = SSL_BRIDGE
    • Members = VSS01 and VSS02
    • Port = 8443
    • Monitor = Blast (8443)
  • Service Group, Portocol = UDP
    • Members = VSS01 and VSS02
    • Port = 8443
    • Monitor = Blast (8443)

TCP 443 Load Balancing Services

Here are general instructions for the TCP 443 Horizon load balancing services. These instructions detail the more complicated Security Server configuration, since each Security Server needs to monitor its paired Connection Servers. If you are load balancing Access Point or internal Connection Servers, you could configure a Service Group instead of individual services. See the above configuration summaries for your specific configuration.

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand Load Balancing, and click Services.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Give the Service a descriptive name (e.g. svc-VSS01-SSL).
  4. Change the selection to Existing Server and select the Access Point, Security Server or internal (non-paired) Connection Server you created earlier.
  5. Change the Protocol to SSL_BRIDGE, and click OK.
  6. On the left, in the Monitors section, click where it says 1 Service to Load Balancing Monitor Binding.
  7. Ignore the current monitor and click Add Binding.
  8. Click the arrow next to Click to select.
  9. Select the Horizon-SSL monitor and click Select.
  10. Then click Bind.
  11. If you are load balancing PCoIP through a View Security Server or Access Point, add monitors for PCoIP Secure Gateway (4172) and Blast Secure Gateway (8443) too. If 4172 or 8443 fails, then 443 needs to be marked DOWN.

  12. If this is a Security Server, also add a monitor that has the IP address of the paired Connection Server. If the paired Connection Server is down, then the Security Server needs to marked as DOWN so NetScaler needs to stop sending connections to this Security Server.
  13. The Last Response should indicate Success. If you bound multiple monitors to the Service, then the member will only be UP if all monitors succeed. There’s a refresh button on the top-right. Click Close when done.
  14. Then click Done.
  15. Right-click the first service and click Add.
  16. Change the name to match the second Horizon Server or Access Point.
  17. Select Existing Server and use the Server drop-down to select to the second Horizon Server.
  18. The remaining configuration is identical to the first server. Click OK.
  19. You will need to configure the monitors again. They will be identical to the first server except for the monitoring of the paired View Connection Server. Click Done when done.

Other Ports Load Balancing Services

Here are general instructions for the remaining Horizon services. These instructions use Service Groups but you could just as easily add Services instead. See the above summaries for your specific configuration.

  1. On the left, go to Traffic Mgmt > Load Balancing > Service Groups.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Name it svcgrp-Horizon-UDP443 or similar. UDP 443 is for Blast Extreme in Horizon 7 through Access Points. If View Security Servers, the name should be svcgrp-Horizon-UDP8443.
  4. Change the Protocol to UDP. Click OK.
  5. Click where it says No Service Group Member.
  6. Change the selection to Server Based and then click Click to select.
  7. Select your multiple Security Servers or multiple Access Points and click Select.
  8. If Access Points, enter 443 as the Port. If View Security Servers, enter 8443 as the port. Click Create.
  9. Click OK.
  10. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, add the Monitors section.
  11. Click where it says No Service Group to Monitor Binding.
  12. Click to select.
  13. Select the Horizon-SSL monitor, click Select, and then click Bind.
  14. Click Done.
  15. Add another Service Group for PCoIP on TCP 4172.
    1. Name = svcgrp-Horizon-PCoIPTCP or similar.
    2. Protocol = TCP

    3. Members = multiple Security Servers or multiple Access Points.
    4. Port = 4172.
    5. Monitors = Horizon-PCoIP. You can add the other monitors if desired.
  16. Add another Service Group for PCoIP on UDP 4172.
    1. Name = svcgrp-Horizon-PCoIPUDP or similar.
    2. Protocol = UDP

    3. Members = multiple Security Servers or multiple Access Points
    4. Port = 4172.
    5. Monitors = Horizon-PCoIP. You can add the other monitors if desired.
  17. Add another Service Group for SSL_BRIDGE 8443.
    1. Name = svcgrp-Horizon-TCP8443 or similar.
    2. Protocol = SSL_BRIDGE
    3. Members = multiple Security Servers or multiple Access Points
    4. Port = 8443.
    5. Monitors = Horizon-Blast. You can add the other monitors if desired.
  18. If you haven’t done this already, add another Service Group for UDP 8443 (Blast Extreme in Horizon 7).
    1. Name = svcgrp-Horizon-UDP8443 or similar.
    2. Protocol = UDP
    3. Members = multiple Security Servers or multiple Access Points
    4. Port = 8443.
    5. Monitors = Horizon-Blast. You can add the other monitors if desired.
  19. The five service groups should look something like this:

Load Balancing Virtual Servers

Create separate load balancing vServers for internal and DMZ.

  • Internal VIP load balances the non-paired Internal Connections Servers. Access Point appliances also use this VIP to access the internal Connection Servers.
  • DMZ VIP load balances the Security Servers or Access Point appliances.

The paired View Connection Servers do not need to be load balanced.

For the internal Connection Servers you only need a load balancer for SSL_BRIDGE 443. If tunneling is disabled then you don’t need load balancers for the other ports (UDP/TCP 4172 and SSL_BRIDGE 8443).

However, Security Servers and Access Points listen on more ports so you will need separate load balancers for each port number. Here is a summary of their Virtual Servers, all listening on the same IP address. Depending on the configured protocol, you might not need all of these Virtual Servers.

  • Virtual Server on SSL_BRIDGE 443 – bind both Horizon SSL_BRIDGE 443 Services.
  • Virtual Server on UDP 443 (Horizon 7) – bind the UDP 443 service group.
  • Virtual Server on UDP 4172 – bind the PCoIPUDP service group.
  • Virtual Server on TCP 4172 – bind the PCoIPTCP service group.
  • Virtual Server on SSL_BRIDGE 8443 – bind the SSL_BRIDGE 8443 service group.
  • Virtual Server on UDP 8443 (Horizon 7) – bind the UDP 8443 service group.

Do the following to create the Virtual Servers:

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

  2. On the right click Add.
  3. Name it Horizon-SSL-LB or similar.
  4. Change the Protocol to SSL_BRIDGE.
  5. Specify a new VIP. This one VIP will be used for all of the Virtual Servers.
  6. Enter 443 as the Port.
  7. Click OK.
  8. On the left, in the Services and Service Groups section, click where it says No Load Balancing Virtual Server Service Binding.
  9. Click the arrow next to Click to select.
  10. Select the two View-SSL Services and click Select.
  11. Click Bind.
  12. Click Continue.
  13. Then click Done. Persistency will be configured later.
  14. If this is Horizon 7, and if this is an Access Point, then create another Load Balancing Virtual Server for UDP 443:
    1. Same VIP as the TCP 443 Load Balancer.
    2. Protocol = UDP, Port = 443
    3. Service Group Binding = the UDP 443 Service Group
  15. If this is a Security Server or Access Point, then create another Load Balancing Virtual Server for PCoIP UDP 4172:
    1. Same VIP as the 443 Load Balancer.
    2. Protocol = UDP, Port = 4172
    3. Service Group Binding = the PCoIP UDP Service Group.
  16. If this is a Security Server or Access Point, then create another Load Balancing Virtual Server for PCoIP TCP 4172:
    1. Same VIP as the 443 Load Balancer.
    2. Protocol = TCP, Port = 4172
    3. Service Group Binding = the PCoIP TCP Service Group
  17. If this is a Security Server or Access Point, then create another Load Balancing Virtual Server for SSL_BRIDGE 8443:
    1. Same VIP as the 443 Load Balancer.
    2. Protocol = SSL_BRIDGE, Port = 8443
    3. Service Group Binding = the TCP 8443 SSL_BRIDGE Service Group
  18. If this is a Security Server or Access Point, then create another Load Balancing Virtual Server for UDP 8443:
    1. Same VIP as the 443 Load Balancer.
    2. Protocol = UDP, Port = 8443
    3. Service Group Binding = the UDP 8443 SSL_BRIDGE Service Group
  19. This gives you six Virtual Servers on the same VIP but different protocols and port numbers.

Persistency Group

For Security Servers and Access Points, users will first connect to SSL_BRIDGE 443 and be load balanced. Subsequent connections to the other port numbers must go to the same load balanced server. Create a Persistency Group to facilitate this.

For internal View Connection Servers, then you probably only have one SSL_BRIDGE load balancer for those servers, and thus you could configure persistence directly on that one load balancing vServer instead of creating a Persistency Group. However, since the Security Servers and Access Points have multiple load balancing vServers on different ports, then you need to bind them together into a Persistency Group.

  1. On the left, under Traffic Management, expand Load Balancing and click Persistency Groups.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Give the Persistency Group a name (e.g. Horizon).
  4. Change the Persistence to SOURCEIP.
  5. Enter a timeout that is equal to or greater than the timeout in Horizon View Administrator, which defaults to 10 hours (600 minutes).
  6. In the Virtual Server Name section, click Add.
  7. Move all six Security Server / Access Point Load Balancing Virtual Servers to the right. Click Create.

CLI Commands

Here’s a list of CLI commands for the most basic configuration of two Access Points with Blast Extreme only (no PCoIP):

add server VAP01 10.2.2.187
add server VAP02 10.2.2.24
add lb monitor Horizon-SSL HTTP-ECV -send "GET /broker/xml" -recv clientlaunch-default -secure YES
add serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-SSL SSL_BRIDGE
add serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-UDP443 UDP
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-SSL VAP01 443
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-SSL VAP02 443
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-SSL -monitorName Horizon-SSL
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-UDP443 VAP01 443
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-UDP443 VAP02 443
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-UDP443 -monitorName Horizon-SSL
add lb vserver Horizon-SSL-LB SSL_BRIDGE 10.2.2.204 443
add lb vserver Horizon-UDP443-LB UDP 10.2.2.204 443
bind lb vserver Horizon-SSL-LB svcgrp-Horizon-SSL
bind lb vserver Horizon-UDP443-LB svcgrp-Horizon-UDP443
bind lb group Horizon Horizon-SSL-LB
bind lb group Horizon Horizon-UDP443-LB
set lb group Horizon -persistenceType SOURCEIP -timeout 600

Here’s a list of CLI commands for the more complicated Security Server configuration:

add server VSS01 10.2.2.187
add server VSS02 10.2.2.24
add lb monitor Horizon-PCoIP TCP -destPort 4172
add lb monitor Horizon-Blast TCP -destPort 8443
add lb monitor Horizon-SSL HTTP-ECV -send "GET /broker/xml" -recv clientlaunch-default -secure YES
add lb monitor Horizon-SSL-VCS01 HTTP-ECV -send "GET /broker/xml" -recv clientlaunch-default -destIP 10.2.2.19 -destPort 443 -secure YES
add lb monitor Horizon-SSL-VCS02 HTTP-ECV -send "GET /broker/xml" -recv clientlaunch-default -destIP 10.2.2.20 -destPort 443 -secure YES
add service svc-VSS01-SSL VSS01 SSL_BRIDGE 443
add service svc-VSS02-SSL VSS02 SSL_BRIDGE 443
bind service svc-VSS02-SSL -monitorName Horizon-SSL-VCS02
bind service svc-VSS02-SSL -monitorName Horizon-SSL
bind service svc-VSS02-SSL -monitorName Horizon-Blast
bind service svc-VSS02-SSL -monitorName Horizon-PCoIP
bind service svc-VSS01-SSL -monitorName Horizon-SSL-VCS01
bind service svc-VSS01-SSL -monitorName Horizon-Blast
bind service svc-VSS01-SSL -monitorName Horizon-PCoIP
bind service svc-VSS01-SSL -monitorName Horizon-SSL
add serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-UDP443 UDP
add serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-PCoIPTCP TCP
add serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-PCoIPUDP UDP
add serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-TCP8443 SSL_BRIDGE
add serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-UDP8443 UDP
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-UDP443 VSS01 443
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-UDP443 VSS02 443
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-UDP443 -monitorName Horizon-SSL
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-PCoIPTCP VSS01 4172
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-PCoIPTCP VSS02 4172
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-PCoIPTCP -monitorName Horizon-PCoIP
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-PCoIPUDP VSS01 4172
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-PCoIPUDP VSS02 4172
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-PCoIPUDP -monitorName Horizon-PCoIP
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-TCP8443 VSS01 8443
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-TCP8443 VSS02 8443
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-TCP8443 -monitorName Horizon-Blast
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-UDP8443 VSS01 8443
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-UDP8443 VSS02 8443
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-UDP8443 -monitorName Horizon-Blast
add lb vserver Horizon-SSL-LB SSL_BRIDGE 10.2.2.204 443
add lb vserver Horizon-UDP443-LB UDP 10.2.2.204 443
add lb vserver Horizon-PCoIPUDP-LB UDP 10.2.2.204 4172
add lb vserver Horizon-PCoIPTCP-LB TCP 10.2.2.204 4172
add lb vserver Horizon-8443TCP-LB SSL_BRIDGE 10.2.2.204 8443
add lb vserver Horizon-8443UDP-LB UDP 10.2.2.204 8443
bind lb vserver Horizon-SSL-LB svc-VSS01-SSL
bind lb vserver Horizon-SSL-LB svc-VSS02-SSL
bind lb vserver Horizon-UDP443-LB svcgrp-Horizon-UDP443
bind lb vserver Horizon-PCoIPTCP-LB svcgrp-Horizon-PCoIPTCP
bind lb vserver Horizon-PCoIPUDP-LB svcgrp-Horizon-PCoIPUDP
bind lb vserver Horizon-8443TCP-LB svcgrp-Horizon-TCP8443
bind lb vserver Horizon-8443UDP-LB svcgrp-Horizon-UDP8443
bind lb group Horizon Horizon-SSL-LB
bind lb group Horizon Horizon-UDP443-LB
bind lb group Horizon Horizon-PCoIPUDP-LB
bind lb group Horizon Horizon-PCoIPTCP-LB
bind lb group Horizon Horizon-8443TCP-LB
bind lb group Horizon Horizon-8443UDP-LB
set lb group Horizon -persistenceType SOURCEIP -timeout 600

Horizon View Configuration – Security Servers

This section is not needed for Access Points. For Access Points, the secure gateways should be disabled, not enabled.

  1. On the Security Servers (or Connection Servers), request a certificate that matches the FQDN that resolves to the Load Balancing VIP.
  2. Make sure the private key is exportable.
  3. Set the Friendly Name to vdm and restart the View Security Server services.
  4. In View Administrator, go to View Configuration > Servers.
  5. On the right, switch to the Security Servers tab.
  6. Highlight a server and click Edit.
  7. Change the URLs to the FQDN that resolves to the load balancing VIP.
  8. Change the PCoIP URL to the VIP. For View Security Servers, this is typically a public IP that is NAT’d to the DMZ Load Balancing VIP.

NetScaler 11 System Configuration

Last Modified: Jan 15, 2021 @ 6:23 am

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Navigation

This page contains the following topics:

💡 = Recently Updated

VPX Hardware

NetScaler VPX Release 11.0 Build 65.72 and newer supports new VPX models on ESXi. These new models include: VPX 25, VPX 5G, VPX 25G, etc. See the NetScaler VPX datasheet for more info.  💡

11.0 build 65.72 and newer firmware also supports changing the NIC type to VMXNET3 or SR-IOV. The imported appliance comes with E1000 NICs so you’ll have to remove the existing virtual NICs and add new VMXNET3 NICs.

 

NetScaler for Azure can now be upgraded to 11.0 build 65.31 or newer. It will be possible to upgrade to future releases of NetScaler firmware. More details by Thomas Goodwin at Citrix Discussions.  💡

Customer User Experience Improvement Program

  1. You might be prompted to enable the Customer User Experience Improvement Program. Either click Enable or click Skip.

  2. You can enable or disable Customer Experience Improvement Program by going to System > Settings.
  3. On the right is Change CUXIP Settings.
  4. Make your selection and click OK.
set system parameter -doppler ENABLED

Welcome Wizard

NetScaler has a Welcome! Wizard that lets you set the NSIP, hostname, DNS, licensing, etc. It appears automatically the first time you login.

  1. Click the Subnet IP Address box.
  2. You can either enter a SNIP for one of your interfaces or you can click Do it later.

    add ns ip 172.16.1.11 255.255.255.0 -type SNIP
  3. Click the Host Name, DNS IP Address, and Time Zone box.
  4. Enter a hostname. Your NetScaler Gateway Universal licenses are allocated to this hostname. In a High Availability pair each node can have a different hostname.
  5. Enter one or more DNS Server IP addresses. Use the plus icon on the right to add more servers.
  6. Change the time zone to GMT-05:00-CDT-America/Chicago or similar.
  7. Click Done.

    set ns hostname ns02

add dns nameServer 192.168.123.11

set ns param -timezone "GMT-05:00-CDT-America/Chicago"
  8. Click Yes to save and reboot.
  9. Click the Licenses box.
  10. You can click Add New License to license the appliance now. Or do it later.

    On the far right side of the screen is displayed the Host ID you need when allocating licenses.
    License files are stored in /nsconfig/license.
  11. Then click Continue.

Licensing – VPX Mac Address

To license a NetScaler VPX appliance, you will need its MAC address.

  1. One method is to look in the GUI.
  2. In the right pane, look down for the Host Id field. This is the MAC address you need for license allocation.
  3. Or go to System > Licenses.

  4. On the right, click Manage Licenses.
  5. Click Add New License.
  6. On the far right side of the screen the Host ID is displayed.
  7. Another option is to SSH to the appliance and run shell.
  8. Then run lmutil lmhostid. The MAC address is returned.

Licensing – Citrix.com

  1. Login to citrix.com.
  2. Click Activate and Allocate Licenses.
  3. Check the box next to a Citrix NetScaler license and click Continue.
  4. If this is a NetScaler MPX license then there is no need to enter a host ID for this license so click Continue. If this is a NetScaler VPX license, enter the lmutil lmhostid MAC address into the Host ID field and click Next.

    For a VPX appliance, you can also get the Host ID by looking at the System Information page.
  5. Click Confirm.
  6. Click OK when asked to download the license file.
  7. Click Download.
  8. Click Save and put it somewhere where you can get to it later.
  9. If you purchased NetScaler Gateway Universal Licenses, allocate them. These licenses can come from XenMobile Enterprise, XenApp/XenDesktop Platinum Edition, NetScaler Platinum Edition, or a la carte.
  10. Enter your appliance hostname as the Host ID for all licenses.
  11. Click Confirm.
  12. Click OK when prompted to download your license file.
  13. Click Download.
  14. Click Save.
  15. If you have two appliances in a High Availability pair with different hostnames then you will need to return the NetScaler Gateway Universal licenses and reallocate them to the other hostname.

Install Licenses on Appliance

  1. In the NetScaler Configuration GUI, on the left, expand System and click Licenses.
  2. On the right, click Manage Licenses.
  3. Click Add New License.
  4. If you have a license file, select Upload license files from a local computer and then click Browse.

    License files are stored in /nsconfig/license.
  5. Click Reboot when prompted. Login after the reboot.
  6. After rebooting, the Licenses node should look something like this. Notice that Maximum ICA Users Allowed is set to Unlimited.
  7. Note: the NetScaler SNMP counter allnic_tot_rx_mbits must remain less than the licensed bandwitdh or else packets will drop.

Upgrade Firmware

Citrix CTX127455 – How to Upgrade Software of the NetScaler Appliances in a High Availability Setup

  1. Download firmware. Ask your Citrix Partner or Citrix Support TRM for recommended versions and builds. At the very least, watch the Security Bulletins to determine which versions and builds resolve security issues. You can also subscribe to the Security Bulletins at http://support.citrix.com by clicking the Alerts link on the top right.
  2. Make sure you Save the config before beginning the upgrade.
  3. Transferring the firmware upgrade file to the appliance will be slow unless you license the appliance first. An unlicensed appliance will reduce the maximum speed to 1 Mbps.
  4. When upgrading from 10.5 or older, make sure the NetScaler Gateway Theme is set to Default or Green Bubbles. After the upgrade, you’ll have to create a new Portal Theme and bind it to the Gateway vServers.
  5. Start with the Secondary appliance.
  6. Before upgrading the appliance, consider using WinSCP or similar to back up the /flash/nsconfig directory.
  7. In the NetScaler GUI, with the top left node (System) selected, click, click System Upgrade.
  8. Browse to the build…tgz file. If you haven’t downloaded firmware yet then you can click the Download Firmware link.
  9. Click Upgrade.
  10. The firmware will upload.
  11. You should eventually see a System Upgrade window with text in it. Click Yes when prompted to reboot.
  12. Once the Secondary is done, login and failover the pair.
  13. Then upgrade the firmware on the former Primary.

 

To install firmware by using the command-line interface

  1. To upload the software to the NetScaler Gateway, use a secure FTP client (e.g. WinSCP) to connect to the appliance.
  2. Create a version directory under /var/nsinstall (e.g. /var/nsinstall/11.0.61).
  3. Copy the software from your computer to the /var/nsinstall/<version> (e.g. /var/nsinstall/11.0.61) directory on the appliance.
  4. Open a Secure Shell (SSH) client (e.g. Putty) to open an SSH connection to the appliance.
  5. At a command prompt, type shell.
  6. At a command prompt, type cd /var/nsinstall to change to the nsinstall directory.
  7. To view the contents of the directory, type ls.
  8. To unpack the software, type tar -xvzf build_X_XX.tgz, where build_X_XX.tgz is the name of the build to which you want to upgrade.
  9. To start the installation, at a command prompt, type ./installns.
  10. When the installation is complete, restart NetScaler.
  11. When the NetScaler restarts, at a command prompt type what or show version to verify successful installation.

High Availability

Configure High Availability as soon as possible so almost all configurations are synchronized across the two appliances. The exceptions are mainly network interface configurations.

High Availability will also sync files between the two appliances. See CTX138748 File Synchronization in NetScaler High Availability Setup for more information.

  1. Prepare the secondary appliance:
    1. Configure a NSIP.
    2. Don’t configure a SNIP. You can click Do It Later to skip the wizard.
    3. Configure Hostname and Time Zone. Don’t configure DNS since you’ll get those addresses when you pair it.
    4. License the secondary appliance.
    5. Upgrade firmware on the secondary appliance. The firmware of both nodes must be identical.
  2. On the secondary appliance, go to System > High Availability, double-click the local node, and change High Availability Status to STAY SECONDARY. If you don’t do this then you run the risk of losing your config when you pair the appliances. See Terence Luk Creating a Citrix NetScaler High Availability pair without wiping out an existing configuration for more information.


    set ha node -hastatus STAYSECONDARY
  3. On the primary appliance, on the left, expand System, expand Network and click Interfaces.
  4. On the right, look for any interface that is currently DOWN. You need to disable those disconnected interfaces before enabling High Availability. Right-click the disconnected interface and click Disable. Repeat for the remaining disconnected interfaces.

    show interface
disable interface 1/1
  5. On the left, expand System and click High Availability.
  6. On the right, click Add.
  7. Enter the other NetScaler’s IP address.
  8. Enter the other NetScaler’s login credentials and click Create.

    add ha node 1 192.168.123.14
    Note: this command must be run separately on each appliance.
  9. If you click the refresh icon near the top right, Synchronization State will probably say IN PROGRESS.

    Eventually it will say SUCCESS.
  10. To enable Fail-safe mode, edit Node ID 0 (the local appliance).
  11. Under Fail-safe Mode, check the box next to Maintain one primary node even when both nodes are unhealthy. Scroll down and click OK.
    set ha node -failSafe ON
  12. If you login to the Secondary appliance, you might see a message warning you against making changes. Always apply changes to the Primary appliance.
  13. On the secondary appliance, go to System > High Availability, double-click the local node, and change it from STAY SECONDARY to ENABLED.
  14. From the CLI, run “sh ha node” to see the status. You should see heartbeats on all interfaces. If not, configure VLANs as detailed in the next section.
  15. You can force failover of the primary appliance by opening the Actions menu, and clicking Force Failover.

    force ha failover
    If your firewall (e.g. Cisco ASA) doesn’t like Gratuitous ARP, see CTX112701 – The Firewall Does not Update the Address Resolution Protocol Table

Multiple Interfaces – VLANs

Citrix CTX214033 Networking and VLAN Best Practices for NetScaler discusses many of the same topics detailed in this section.

 

Channels: You should never connect multiple interfaces to a single VLAN unless you are bonding the interfaces using LACP, Manual Channel, or the new Redundant Interface Set feature. See Webinar: Troubleshooting Common Network Related Issues with NetScaler.

NetScaler VPX defaults to two connected interfaces, so if you only have one subnet, disconnect one of those interfaces.

A Redundant Interface Set is configured almost identically to a Manual Channel except that the Channel ID starts with LR instead of LA.

 

Common interface configuration: Here is a common NetScaler networking configuration for a NetScaler that is connected to both internal and DMZ.

Note: If the appliance is connected to both DMZ and internal then be aware that this configuration essentially bypasses (straddles) the DMZ-to-internal firewall. That’s because if a user connects to a public/DMZ VIP, then NetScaler could use an internal SNIP to connect to the internal server. A more secure approach is to have different appliances for internal and DMZ. Or use NetScaler SDX, partitioning, or traffic domains.

  • 0/1 connected to a dedicated management network. NSIP is on this network.
    • 0/1 is not optimized for high throughput so don’t put data traffic on this interface. If you don’t have a dedicated management network, then put your NSIP on one of the other interfaces (1/1, 10/1, etc.) and don’t connect any cables to 0/1.
    • To prevent NetScaler from using this interface for outbound data traffic, don’t put a SNIP on this network, and configure the default gateway to use a different data network. However, if there’s no SNIP, and if default gateway is on a different network,  then there will be asymmetric routing for management traffic since inbound is 0/1 but outbound is LA/1. To work around this problem, enable Mac Based Forwarding. Or create a Policy Based Route.
    • It’s easiest if the switch port for this interface is an Access Port (untagged). If VLAN tagging is required, then NSVLAN must be configured on the NetScaler.
  • 10/1 and 10/2 in a LACP port channel (LA/1) connected to internal VLAN(s). Static routes to internal networks through a router on one of these internal VLANs.
    • If only one internal VLAN, configure the switch ports/channel as an Access Port.
    • If multiple internal VLANs, configure the switch ports/channel as a Trunk Port. Set one of the VLANs as the channel’s Native VLAN so it doesn’t have to be tagged.
    • If the networking team is unwilling to configure a Native VLAN on the Trunk Port, then NetScaler needs special configuration (tagall) to ensure HA heartbeat packets are tagged.
  • 1/1 and 1/2 in a LACP port channel (LA/2) connected to DMZ VLAN(s). Default gateway points to a router on a DMZ VLAN so replies can be sent to Internet clients.
    • If only one internal VLAN, configure the switch ports/channel as an Access Port.
    • If multiple internal VLANs, configure the switch ports/channel as a Trunk Port. Set one of the VLANs as the channel’s Native VLAN so it doesn’t have to be tagged.
    • If the networking team is unwilling to configure a Native VLAN on the Trunk Port, then NetScaler needs special configuration (tagall) to ensure HA heartbeat packets are tagged.

 

SNIPs: You will need one SNIP for each connected subnet. VLAN objects (tagged or untagged) bind the SNIPs to particular interfaces. NetScaler uses the SNIP’s subnet mask to assign IP addresses to particular interfaces.

 

NSIP: The NSIP subnet is special so you won’t be able to bind it to a VLAN. Use the following SNIP/VLAN method for any subnet that does not have the NSIP. The remaining interfaces will be in VLAN 1, which is the VLAN that the NSIP is in. VLAN 1 is only locally significant so it doesn’t matter if the switch is configured with it or not. Just make sure the switch has a native VLAN configured, or configure the interface as access port. If you require trunking of every VLAN, including the NSIP VLAN, then additional configuration is required (NSVLAN or Tagall).

 

To configure multiple connected subnets:

  1. On the left, expand System, and click Settings.
  2. On the right, in the left column, click Configure modes.
  3. Check the box next to MAC Based Forwarding and click OK. This configures the NetScaler to respond on the same interface the request came in on and thus bypasses the routing table. This setting can work around misconfigured routing tables. More info on MAC Based Forwarding can be found at Citrix CTX1329532 FAQ: Citrix NetScaler MAC Based Forwarding (MBF).

    enable mode mbf
  4. Add a subnet IP for every network the NetScaler is connected to, except the dedicated management network. Expand System, expand Network, and click IPs.
  5. On the right, click Add.
  6. Enter the Subnet IP Address for this network. This is the source address the NetScaler will use when communicating with any other service on this network. The Subnet IP can also be referred to as the Interface IP for the network. You will need a separate SNIP for each connected network (VLAN).
  7. Enter the netmask for this network. When you create a VLAN object later, all IPs on this subnet will be bound to an interface.
  8. Ensure the IP Type is set to Subnet IP. Scroll down.

    add ns ip 172.16.1.11 255.255.255.0 -type SNIP
  9. Under Application Access Controls decide if you want to enable GUI management on this SNIP. This is particularly useful for High Availability pairs, because when you point your browser to the SNIP only the primary appliance will respond. However, enabling management access on the SNIP can be a security risk, especially if this is a SNIP for the DMZ network.
  10. Click Create when done. Continue adding SNIPs for each connected network (VLAN).

    set ns ip 172.16.1.11 -mgmtAccess ENABLED -telnet DISABLED -ftp DISABLED
  11. On the left, expand System, expand Network and click VLANs.
  12. On the right, click Add.
  13. Enter a descriptive VLAN ID. The actual VLAN ID only matters if you intend to tag the traffic. If not tagged then any ID will work.
  14. Check the box next to one physical interface or channel (e.g. LA/1) that is connected to the network.
  15. If this is a trunk port, select Tagged if the switch port/channel is expecting the VLAN to be tagged.
  16. If you don’t tag the VLAN, then the NetScaler interface/channel is removed from VLAN 1 and instead put in this VLAN ID.
  17. Switch to the IP Bindings tab.
  18. Check the box next to the Subnet IP for this network. This lets NetScaler know which interface is used for which IP subnet. Click Create when done.

    add vlan 50
bind vlan 50 -ifnum LA/1 -IPAddress 172.16.1.11 255.255.255.0
  19. The default route should use the router in the DMZ, not the internal router. Most likely the default route is set to an internal router. On the left, expand System, expand Network and click Routes.
  20. On the right, click Add.
  21. Internal networks are only accessible through an internal router. Add a static route to the internal networks and set the Gateway to an internal router. Then click Create.

    add route 192.168.0.0 255.255.0.0 192.168.123.1
  22. Before deleting the existing default route, either enable Mac Based Forwarding, or create a Policy Based Route, so that the replies from NSIP can reach your machine. To create a PBR, go to System > Network > PBRs.
  23. The source IP is the NSIP, and next hop is a router on the same network as the NSIP. Destination is not needed.
  24. Then open the Action menu, and click Apply.

    add ns pbr NSIP ALLOW -srcIP = 10.2.2.59 -nextHop 10.2.2.1
apply ns pbrs
  25. Go back to System > Network > Routes. On the right, delete the 0.0.0.0 route. Don’t do this unless the NetScaler has a route to the IP address of the machine you are running the NetScaler Configuration Utility on.

    rm route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 192.168.123.1
  26. Then click Add.
  27. Set the Network to 0.0.0.0 and the Netmask to 0.0.0.0. Enter the IP address of the DMZ router and click Create.

    add route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 172.16.1.1

DNS Servers

  1. To configure DNS servers, expand Traffic Management, expand DNS and click Name Servers.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Enter the IP address of a DNS server and click Create.
  4. Note: The NetScaler must be able ping each of the DNS servers or they will not be marked as UP. The ping originates from the SNIP. If you are unwilling to enable Ping then you will need to load balance your DNS servers on the local NetScaler appliance.

    add dns nameServer 192.168.123.11

NTP Servers

  1. On the left, expand System, and click NTP Servers.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Enter the IP Address of your NTP Server (or pool.ntp.org) and click Create.

    add ntp server pool.ntp.org
  4. Open the Action menu and click NTP Synchronization.
  5. Select ENABLED and click OK.

    enable ntp sync
  6. You can click the System node to view the System Time.
  7. If you need to manually set the time, SSH (Putty) to the NetScaler appliances. Run date to set the time. Run date –help to see the syntax.
  8. Ntpdate –u pool.ntp.org will cause an immediate NTP time update.

 

Citrix Knowledgebase article CTX200286 – NTP Configuration on NetScaler to Avoid Traffic Amplification Attack:

  1. Replace the following line in /etc/ntp.conf file, if it exists: 
    >  restrict default ignore
  2. Add the following lines in file /etc/ntp.conf: 
    # By default, exchange time with everybody, but don't allow configuration:
restrict -4 default kod notrap nomodify nopeer noquery
restrict -6 default kod notrap nomodify nopeer noquery

# Local users may interrogate the ntp server more closely:

restrict 127.0.0.1
restrict ::1
  3. Restart NTP using the following commands: 
    > shell
root@ns# ps -aux |grep "ntp"
root@ns# kill <PID obtained from step above>
root@ns# /usr/sbin/ntpd -g -c /flash/nsconfig/ntp.conf

 

Citrix Knowledgebase Article CTX200355 – Citrix Security Advisory for NTP Vulnerabilities: By default, NTP is disabled on the NetScaler and, as such, is not vulnerable to CVE-2014-9293, CVE-2014-9294, CVE-2014-9295 and CVE-2014-9296. However, in deployments where customers have enabled NTP on the appliance, it is likely that these vulnerabilities will impact NetScaler.

We recommend that customers apply the following remediation:

Open the NetScaler’s ntp.conf file in /etc and add the following lines:

restrict -4 default notrap nopeer nomodify noquery
restrict -6 default notrap nopeer nomodify noquery

In addition to adding the above two lines, all other ‘restrict‘ directives should be reviewed to ensure that they contain both ‘nomodify‘ and ‘noquery‘ and that the file contains no ‘crypto‘ directives.

When this editing is complete, save the file and copy it to the /nsconfig directory. The NTP service must then be restarted for the changes to take effect. As with all changes, Citrix recommends that this is evaluated in a test environment prior to releasing to production.

SYSLOG Server

Citrix CTX120609 NetScaler Log Rotation and Configuration Using Newsyslog

The NetScaler will by default store a few syslogs on the local appliance. You can create a syslog policy to also send the syslog entries to an external server, like Citrix Command Center.

  1. On the left, expand System, expand Auditing, and click Syslog.
  2. On the right, switch to the Servers tab and click Add.
  3. Enter a name for the Syslog server.
  4. Specify the IP Address of the SYSLOG server, 514 as the port, and the Log Levels you’d like to send to it.
  5. Check the box for TCP Logging if you want the client IP. Note: TCP Logging requires significant disk space on the Syslog server.
  6. Select your desired Time Zone and then click Create.

    add audit syslogAction CommandCenter 192.168.123.12 -logLevel ALL -timeZone LOCAL_TIME
  7. On the right, switch to the Policies tab, and then click Add.
  8. Give the policy a descriptive name, select the Syslog server, and then click Create.

    add audit syslogPolicy CommandCenter ns_true CommandCenter
  9. While still on the Policies tab, open the Actions menu and click Global Bindings.
  10. Click the arrow next to Click to select.
  11. Select the Syslog policy you want to bind and click Select.
  12. Click Bind.
  13. Select the Syslog policy you want to bind and click Select.
  14. Then click Bind.
  15. Click Done.

    bind system global CommandCenter -priority 100

SNMP – MIB, Traps, and Alarms

  1. On the left, expand System, and click SNMP.
  2. On the right, click Change SNMP MIB.
  3. Change the fields as desired. Your SNMP tool (e.g. NetScaler Management and Analytics System) will read this information. Click OK.
  4. This configuration needs to be repeated on the other node.

    set snmp mib -contact NSAdmins@corp.com -name ns02 -location Corp
  5. Expand System, expand SNMP, and click Community.
  6. On the right, click Add.
  7. Specify a community string and the Permission and click Create.

    add snmp community public GET
  8. On the left, under SNMP, click Traps.
  9. On the right, click Add.
  10. Specify a trap destination and Community Name and click Create.

    add snmp trap generic 192.168.123.12 -communityName public
add snmp trap specific 192.168.123.12 -communityName public
  11. On the left, under SNMP, click Managers.
  12. On the right, click Add. Note: if you do not add a manager then the NetScaler will accept SNMP queries from all SNMP Managers on the network.
  13. Change the selection to Management Network.
  14. Specify the IP of the Management Host and click Create.

    add snmp manager 192.168.123.12
  15. The Alarms node allows you to enable SNMP Alarms and configure thresholds.
  16. You can open an alarm to set thresholds. For example, CPU-USAGE can be set to 90% alarm and 50% normal with a Critical severity.

    set snmp alarm CPU-USAGE -thresholdValue 90 -normalValue 50 -severity Critical
  17. You can also configure the MEMORY alarm.

    set snmp alarm MEMORY -thresholdValue 90 -normalValue 50 -severity Critical

From http://www.slideshare.net/masonke/net-scaler-tcpperformancetuningintheaolnetwork: In addition to the usual OIDs, we have found these very useful to warn of potential problems.

  • ifTotXo?Sent – .1.3.6.1.4.1.5951.4.1.1.54.1.43
  • ifnicTxStalls – .1.3.6.1.4.1.5951.4.1.1.54.1.45
  • ifErrRxNoBu?s – .1.3.6.1.4.1.5951.4.1.1.54.1.30
  • ifErrTxNoNSB – .1.3.6.1.4.1.5951.4.1.1.54.1.31

Call Home

Citrix Blog Post – Protect Your NetScaler From Disaster With Call Home!: If you have a physical NetScaler (MPX or SDX) with an active support contract, you many optionally enable Call Home to automatically notify Citrix Technical Support of hardware and software failures.

  1. On the left, expand System and click Diagnostics.
  2. On the right, in the left column, in the Technical Support Tools section, click Call Home.
  3. Check the box next to Enable Call Home.
  4. Optionally enter an email address to receive notifications from Citrix Technical Support. Click OK.
  5. If you go back into Call Home, it should indicate if registration succeeded or failed. Successful registration requires an active support contract.

Change nsroot Password

  1. Expand System, expand User Administration and click Users.
  2. On the right, right-click nsroot, and click Change Password.
  3. Specify a new password and click OK.

    set system user nsroot Passw0rd

TCP, HTTP, SSL, and Security Settings

Citrix Knowledgebase articles:

 

  1. On the left, expand System and click Settings.
  2. On the right side of the right pane, click Change TCP parameters.
  3. Check the box for Window scaling (near the top).
  4. Scroll down and check the box for Selective Acknowledgement. Click OK.

    set ns tcpParam -WS ENABLED -SACK ENABLED
  5. On the right, click Change HTTP parameters.
  6. Under Cookie, change the selection to Version1. This causes NetScaler to set Cookie expiration to a relative time instead of an absolute time.

    set ns param -cookieversion 1
  7. Check the box next to Drop invalid HTTP requests.
  8. Scroll down and click OK.

    set ns httpParam -dropInvalReqs ON
  9. You can run the following command to see statistics on the dropped packets: 
    nsconmsg -g http_err_noreuse_ -d stats
  10. See CTX209398 Addressing false positives from CBC and MAC vulnerability scans of SSHD to harden SSHD by editing /nsconfig/sshd_config with the following. Then run kill -HUP `cat /var/run/sshd.pid` to restart SSHD.  💡 
    Ciphers aes128-ctr,aes192-ctr,aes256-ctr
MACs hmac-sha1,hmac-ripemd160
  11. Implement Responder policies to prevent Shellshock attack against back-end web servers. See Citrix CTX200277 NetScaler Defends Against Shellshock Attack. 
    add audit messageaction ShellShock_Log CRITICAL "\"The request was sent from \" +CLIENT.IP.SRC + \" Bash Code Injection Vulnerability\"" -bypassSafetyCheck YES

add responder policy ShellShock_policy "HTTP.REQ.FULL_HEADER.REGEX_MATCH(re/\(\)\s*{/) || HTTP.Req.BODY(1000).REGEX_MATCH(re/\(\)\s*{/) || HTTP.REQ.URL.QUERY.REGEX_MATCH(re/\(\)(\s*|\++){/) || HTTP.REQ.BODY(1000).REGEX_MATCH(re#%28%29[+]*%7B#)" DROP ?logAction ShellShock_Log

bind responder global ShellShock_policy 10 END -type REQ_DEFAULT

The following security configurations are detailed by Jason Samuel at Mitigating DDoS and brute force attacks against a Citrix Netscaler Access Gateway:

  • Maximum logon attempts on NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server
  • Rate Limiting for IP.SRC and HTTP.REQ.URL.
  • nstcp_default_XA_XD_profile TCP profile on the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server.
  • Syslog logging
  • External website monitoring
  • Obfuscate the Server header in the HTTP response
  • Disable management access on SNIPs
  • Change nsroot strong password, use LDAP authentication, audit local accounts
  • Don’t enable Enhanced Authentication Feedback
  • SSL – disable SSLv3, deny SSL renegotiation, enable ECDHE ciphers, disable RC4 ciphers. Also see Anton van Pelt Make your NetScaler SSL VIPs more secure (Updated) .
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Command Center and Insight Center
  • Review IPS/IDS & Firewall logs

Management Authentication

Load balancing of authentication servers is strongly recommended since during an authentication attempt only one LDAP server is chosen. If you instead bind multiple LDAP servers, it would try all of them, and for incorrect passwords, it will lock out the user sooner than expected.

  1. Expand System, expand Authentication, and then click LDAP.
  2. On the right, switch to the Servers tab. Then click Add.
  3. Enter LDAPS-Corp-Mgmt or similar 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. Also, the LDAP policy used for management authentication will be different than the LDAP policy used for NetScaler Gateway.
  4. Change the selection to Server IP. Enter the VIP of the NetScaler load balancing vServer for LDAP.
  5. Change the Security Type to SSL.
  6. Enter 636 as the Port. Scroll down.
  7. In the Connection Settings section, enter your Active Directory DNS domain name in LDAP format as the Base DN.
  8. Enter the credentials of the LDAP bind account in userPrincipalName format.
  9. Check the box next to BindDN Password and enter the password. Scroll down.
  10. 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.
  11. On the right, check the box next to Allow Password Change.
  12. It is best to restrict access to only members of a specific group. In the Search Filter field, enter memberOf=<GroupDN>. See the example below:
    memberOf=CN=NetScaler Administrators,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=NetScaler Administrators,OU=Citrix,DC=corp,DC=local

    Citrix 132802 How to Use the ldapsearch Utility on the NetScaler Gateway Enterprise Edition Appliance to Validate a Search Filter
    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.
    Scroll down to distinguishedName, double-click it and then copy it to the clipboard.

    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.
  13. Scroll down and click Nested Group Extraction to expand it.
  14. If desired, change the selection to Enabled.
  15. Set the Group Name Identifier to samAccountName.
  16. Set Group Search Attribute to –<< New >>– and enter memberOf.
  17. Set Group Search Sub-Attribute to –<< New >>– and enter CN.
  18. Example of LDAP Nested Group Search Filter Syntax

  19. Scroll down and click Create.

    add authentication ldapAction Corp-Mgmt -serverIP 10.2.2.210 -serverPort 636 -ldapBase "dc=corp,dc=local" -ldapBindDn "corp\\ctxsvc" -ldapBindDnPassword Passw0rd -ldapLoginName samaccountname -searchFilter "memberOf=CN=NetScaler Admins,CN=Users,DC=corp,DC=local" -groupAttrName memberOf -subAttributeName CN -secType SSL -passwdChange ENABLED
  20. Switch to the Policies tab and click Add.
  21. Enter the name LDAPS-Corp-Mgmt or similar.
  22. Select the previously created LDAPS-Corp-Mgmt server.
  23. On the bottom, in the Expressions area, type in ns_true.
  24. Click Create.

    add authentication ldapPolicy Corp-Mgmt ns_true Corp-Mgmt
  25. Click Global Bindings in the right pane.
  26. Click where it says Click to select.
  27. Select the newly created LDAP policy, and click Select.
  28. Click Bind.
  29. Click Done.

    bind system global Corp-Mgmt
  30. Under System, expand User Administration and click Groups.
  31. On the right, click Add.
  32. In the Group Name field, enter the case sensitive name of the Active Directory group containing the NetScaler administrators.
  33. In the Command Policies section, click Insert.
  34. Select the superuser policy, and click Insert.
  35. Click Create.

    add system group "NetScaler Admins" -timeout 900
bind system group "NetScaler Admins" -policyName superuser 100
  36. Now you should be able to login to NetScaler using an Active Directory account.

CLI Prompt

  1. When you connect to the NetScaler CLI prompt, by default, the prompt is just a >.
  2. You can run set cli prompt %u@%h to make it the same as a UNIX prompt. See Citrix Docs for the cli prompt syntax.

Backup and Restore

11.0 build 64 has an improved backup and restore mechanism.

  1. Go to System > Backup and Restore.

  2. On the right, click the Backup button.
  3. Give the backup file a name.
  4. For Level, select Full and click Backup.
  5. Once the backup is complete, you can download the file.

To restore:

  1. If you want to restore the system and if the backup file is not currently on the appliance, you click the Backup button. Yes, this seems backwards.
  2. Change the selection to Add.
  3. Browse Local to the previously downloaded backup file.
  4. Then click Backup. This uploads the file to the appliance and adds it to the list of backup files.
  5. Now you can right-click the backup and click Restore.

Next Steps

Return to NetScaler Procedures list

NetScaler Gateway 11 RADIUS Authentication

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

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RADIUS Overview

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

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

Some two-factor products (e.g. SMS Passcode) require you to hide the 2nd password field. Receiver 4.4 and newer supports hiding the 2nd field if you configure a Meta tag in index.html. See CTX205907 Dual-Password Field Shows in First Authentication When Connecting to NetScaler Gateway from Windows Receiver for instructions. 💡

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

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

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

Two-factor Policies Summary

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

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

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

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

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

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

Primary:

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

Secondary:

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

Create Two-factor Policies

Do the following to create the Two-factor policies:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bind Two-factor Policies to Gateway

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

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

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

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

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

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

NetScaler 11 Certificates

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

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💡 = Recently Updated

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

107 Comments

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💡 = Recently Updated

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

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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

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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.

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.

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💡 = 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

32 Comments

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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 Insight Center

Last Modified: Nov 6, 2020 @ 7:12 am

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This article is for Insight Center 11.0 and older. Consider Insight Center 11.1, which works with older NetScaler appliances.

Navigation

💡 = Recently Updated

Planning

Note: HDX Insight only works with Session Reliability on NetScaler 10.5 build 54 or newer. Older builds, including NetScaler 10.1, do not support Session Reliability with HDX Insight. Read the release notes for your NetScaler firmware build to see the latest known issues with AppFlow, Session Reliability, and High Availability.

Requirements for HDX Insight:

  • Your NetScaler appliance must be running Enterprise Edition or Platinum Edition.
  • NetScaler must be 10.1 or newer. Insight Center 11 does work with NetScaler 10.5.
  • HDX Insight works with the following Receivers:
    • Receiver for Windows must be 3.4 or newer.
    • Receiver for Mac must be 11.8 or newer.
    • Receiver for Linux must be 13 or newer.
    • Notice no mobile Receivers. See the Citrix Receiver Feature Matrix for the latest details.
  • ICA traffic must flow through a NetScaler appliance:

 

For ICA round trip time calculations, in a Citrix Policy, enable the following settings:

  • ICA > End User Monitoring > ICA Round Trip Calculation
  • ICA > End User Monitoring > ICA Round Trip Calculation Interval
  • ICA > End User Monitoring > ICA Round Trip Calculation for Idle Connections

Citrix CTX204274 How ICA RTT is calculated on NetScaler Insight: ICA RTT constitutes the actual application delay. ICA_RTT = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +5 +6:  💡

  1. Client OS introduced delay
  2. Client to NS introduced network delay (Wan Latency)
  3. NS introduced delay in processing client to NS traffic (Client Side Device Latency)
  4. NS introduced delay in processing NS to Server (XA/XD) traffic (Server Side Device Latency)
  5. NS to Server network delay (DC Latency)
  6. Server (XA/XD) OS introduced delay (Host Delay)

 

For Web Insight, HTML Injection for NetScaler 10.0 is only available in Platinum Edition. In NetScaler 10.1, HTML Injection is available in all editions.

The version/build of Insight Center must be the same or newer than the version/build of the NetScaler appliances.

Insight Center 11 lets you scale the deployment by building multiple nodes. After building the first Insight Center Server, you can go to Configuration > NetScaler Insight Center > Insight Deployment Method to enter some planning data (e.g. # of concurrent ICA connections) and it will tell you the number of Insight Center nodes you should build. The number of nodes is based on the VM specs shown at the top of the page.

In this example, it recommends two Database Nodes and two Connectors. Agents are only used for HTTP traffic. There’s more information at NetScaler Insight Center Deployment Management at docs.citrix.com.

Import Appliance

You can use either the vSphere Client or the vSphere Web Client to import the appliance. In vSphere Client, open the File menu and click Deploy OVF Template. vSphere Web Client instructions are shown below.

You might see this operating system error when not using the vSphere Web Client. Click Yes and proceed. It seems to work.

  1. Download Insight Center for ESX and then extract the .zip file.
  2. In vSphere Web Client, navigate to the vCenter object. Open the Actions menu and click Deploy OVF Template.
  3. In the Select source page, if you see a message regarding the Client Integration Plug-in, download the installer, run it, and then return to this wizard.
  4. In the Select source page, select Local file and browse to the NetScaler Insight .ovf file. Click Next.
  5. In the Review details page, click Next.
  6. In the Select name and folder page, enter a name for the virtual machine and select an inventory folder. Then click Next.
  7. In the Select a resource page, select a cluster or resource pool and click Next.
  8. In the Select storage page, change it to Thin Provision.
  9. Select a datastore and click Next.
  10. In the Setup networks page, choose a valid port group and click Finish.
  11. In the Ready to Complete page, click Finish.
  12. View the progress of the import in the Recent Tasks pane at the top-right of the window.
  13. After the appliance is imported, power it on.

IP Configuration and Multi-Node

  1. Open the console of the virtual machine and configure an IP address.
  2. Insight Center 11 lets you configure a DNS server.
  3. Enter 6 when done.
  4. When prompted for Insight Deployment Type, enter 1 for NetScaler Insight Server. The first appliance must always be NetScaler Insight Server.
  5. Enter Yes to reboot.
  6. Subsequent nodes can be Database Node, Connector node, etc. If you choose one of the other node types it asks you for the IP address of the NetScaler Insight Server node.
  7. Once you’ve built all of the nodes, in the NetScaler Insight Server webpage, go to NetScaler Insight Center > Insight Deployment Management.
  8. Scroll down and click Get.
  9. It should show you the nodes. Then click Deploy.

  10. After it reboots you’ll see the performance of each node.
  11. Since the database is on a separate node, you might want to enable database caching. Go to System > Change Database Cache Settings.
  12. Check the box next to Enable Database Cache.

Initial Web Configuration

  1. Point your browser to the Insight IP address and login as nsroot/nsroot.
  2. Click Get Started

  3. Enter the IP address and credentials of a NetScaler appliance and click Add.

    Note: if your NetScaler appliances require https for management communication then this won’t work. Click Cancel. On the Configuration tab, click System. On the right, in the left column, click Change System Settings.
    Change the drop-down to https and click OK.
    On the left, click Inventory. On the right, click Add.
    Enter the NSIP and nsroot credentials again. This time it should work.
  4. At the top of the page, if desired, check the box next to Enable Geo data collection for Web and HDX Insight.
  5. With Load Balancing selected in the View list, right-click your StoreFront load balancer and click Enable AppFlow.

  6. Type in true and click OK.
  7. Note: if your StoreFront Load Balancing vServer uses Service Groups, you might need to enable AppFlow logging on the Service Group. In the NetScaler GUI, edit the Service Group. In the Basic Settings section, check the box next to AppFlow Logging.
  8. Back in Insight Center, use the View drop-down to select VPN.
  9. Right-click a NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server and click Enable AppFlow.
  10. In the Select Expression drop-down, select true.
  11. For Export Option select ICA and HTTP and click OK. The HTTP option is for Gateway Insight.
  12. The TCP option is for the second appliance in double-hop ICA. If you need double-hop then you’ll also need to run set appflow param -connectionChaining ENABLED on both appliances. See Enabling Data Collection for NetScaler Gateway Appliances Deployed in Double-Hop Mode at docs.citrix.com for more information.
  13. New in NetScaler 11 is the ability to use SOCKS proxy (Cache Redirection) for ICA traffic without requiring users to use NetScaler Gateway and without making any routing changes. You configure this on the NetScaler appliance. See Enabling Data Collection for Monitoring NetScaler ADCs Deployed in LAN User Mode at docs.citrix.com for more information.
  14. If you want to add more appliances, click the Configuration tab. The Inventory node will be selected by default.
  15. On the right, click Add.

Citrix Blog Post – NetScaler Insight Center – Tips, Troubleshooting and Upgrade

Nsroot Password

  1. On the Configuration tab, expand System, expand User Administration and click Users.
  2. On the right, highlight the nsroot account and click Edit.
  3. Enter a new password.
  4. You can also specify a session timeout. Click OK.

Management Certificate

The certificate to upload must already be in PEM format. If you have a .pfx, you must convert it to PEM (separate certificate and key files). You can use NetScaler to convert the .pfx and then download the converted certificate from the appliance.

  1. On the left, switch to the System node.
  2. In the right pane, in the left column, click Install SSL Certificate.
  3. Browse to the PEM format certificate and key files. If the keyfile is encyrpted, enter the password. Click OK.
  4. Click Yes to reboot the system.

System Configuration

  1. Click the Configuration tab on the top of the page.
  2. On the left, click the System node.
  3. On the right, modify settings (e.g.Time Zone) as desired.

  4. To set the hostname, click Change Host name.

  5. To change the Session Timeout, click Change System Settings.

  6. The ICA Session Timeout can be configured by clicking the link. Two minutes of non-existent traffic must occur before the session is considered idle. Then this idle timer starts. See Managing ICA Sessions at docs.citrix.com for more information

  7. On the left, expand System and click NTP Servers.
  8. On the right, click Add.

  9. After adding NTP servers, click NTP Synchronization.
  10. Check the box next to Enable NTP Sync and click OK.
  11. On the left, expand Auditing and click Syslog Servers.

  12. On the right, click Add.
  13. Enter the syslog server IP address and select Log Levels. Click Create.
  14. In the Action menu you can click Syslog Parameters to change the timezone and date format.

Email Notifications

  1. On the left, expand System, expand Notifications and click Email.
  2. On the right, on the Email Servers tab, click Add.
  3. Enter the SMTP server address and click Create.
  4. On the right, switch to the Email Distribution List tab and click Add.
  5. Enter an address for a destination distribution list and click Create.

Authentication

  1. On the left, expand System¸ expand Authentication and click LDAP.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. This is configured identically to NetScaler. Enter a Load Balancing VIP for LDAP. Change the Security Type to SSL and Port to 636. Scroll down.
  4. Enter the bind account.
  5. Check the box for Enable Change Password.
  6. Click Retrieve Attributes and scroll down.
  7. For Server Logon Attribute select sAMAccountName.
  8. For Group Attribute select memberOf.
  9. For Sub Attribute Name select cn.
  10. To prevent unauthorized users from logging in, configure a Search Filter. Scroll down.
  11. If desired configure Nested Group Extraction.
  12. Click Create.
  13. On the left, expand User Administration and click Groups.
  14. On the right, click Add.
  15. Enter the case sensitive name of your NetScaler Admins group.
  16. Select the admin Permission.
  17. If desired, configure a Session Timeout. Click Create.

  18. On the left, under System, click User Administration.
  19. On the right click User Lockout Configuration.
  20. If desired, check the box next to Enable User Lockout and configure the maximum logon attempts. Click OK.
  21. On the left, under System, click Authentication.
  22. On the right, click Authentication Configuration.
  23. Change the Server Type to LDAP.
  24. Select the LDAP server you created and click OK.

Thresholds

  1. Go to NetScaler Insight Center > Thresholds.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Enter a name.
  4. In the Entity field select a category of alerts. What you choose here determines what’s available in the Rule section.
  5. Check the box to Notify through Email.
  6. In the Rule section, select a rule and enter threshold values. Click Create.

Geo Map

  1. Download the Maxmind database from http://geolite.maxmind.com/download/geoip/database/GeoLiteCity.dat.gz.
  2. Extract the .gz file.
  3. On the Configuration tab, expand NetScaler Insight Center and click Geo Database Files.
  4. On the right, click the Action drop-down and click Upload.
  5. Browse to the extracted GeoLiteCity.dat file and click Upload.
  6. Click the Inventory node.
  7. Click the IP address for a device in the inventory.
  8. Check the box to Enable Geo data collection for Web and HDX Insight.
  9. You can define Geo locations for internal subnets. Go to NetScaler Insight Center > Private IP Block.
  10. On the right, click Add.
  11. Enter a name.
  12. Enter the starting and ending IP address.
  13. Select a Geo Location. Note that these are not necessarily alphabetical.
  14. Click Create.

Director Integration

Integrating Insight Center with Director requires XenApp/XenDesktop to be licensed for Platinum Edition. The integration adds Network tabs to the Trends and Machine Details views.

If using HTTPS to connect to Insight Center then the Insight Center certificate must be valid and trusted by both the Director Server and the Director user’s browser.

To link Citrix Director with NetScaler HDX Insight, on the Director server run C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Director\tools\DirectorConfig.exe /confignetscaler. Do this on both Director servers.

Use Insight Center

HDX Insight

HDX Insight Dashboard displays ICA session details including the following:

  • WAN Latency
  • DC Latency
  • RTT (round trip time)
  • Retransmits
  • Application Launch Duration
  • Client Type/Version
  • Bandwidth
  • Licenses in use

HDX Insight can also display Geo Maps. Configure Insight Center with Private IP Blocks.

More info at HDX Insight Reports and Use Cases: HDX Insight at docs.citrix.com

Gateway Insight

Insight Center 11.0 build 65 adds a new Gateway Insight dashboard.

This feature displays the following details:

  • Gateway connection failures due to failed EPA scans, failed authentication, failed SSON, or failed application launches.
  • Bandwidth and Bytes Consumed for ICA and other applications accessed through Gateway.
  • # of users
  • Session Modes (clientless, VPN, ICA)
  • Client Operating Systems
  • Client Browsers

More details at Gateway Insight at docs.citrix.com.

Security Insight

The new Security Insight dashboard in 11.0 build 65 and newer uses data from Application Firewall to display Threat Index (criticality of attack), Safety Index (how securely NetScaler is configured), and Actionable Information. More info at Security Insight at docs.citrix.com.
localized image

Troubleshooting

Citrix CTX215130 HDX Insight Diagnostics and Troubleshooting Guide: Syslog messages; Error counters; Troubleshooting checklist, Logs

Citrix Blog Post – NetScaler Insight Center – Tips, Troubleshooting and Upgrade

See docs.citrix.com Troubleshooting Tips. Here are sample issues covered in docs.citrix.com:

  • Can’t see records on Insight Center dashboard
  • ICA RTT metrics are incorrect
  • Can’t add NetScaler appliance to inventory
  • Geo maps not displaying

Upgrade Insight Center

  1. Download the latest Upgrade Pack for Insight Center.
  2. Login to Insight Center.
  3. If you are running Insight Center 10.5 or older, on the Configuration tab, go to NetScaler Insight Center > Software Images and upload the file. If running Insight Center 11.0 or newer, you can skip this step.
  4. On the Configuration tab, on the left, click the System node.
  5. On the right, in the right pane, click Upgrade NetScaler Insight Center.
  6. Browse to the build-analytics-11.0.tgz Software Image Upgrade Pack and click OK.
  7. Click Yes to reboot the appliance.

  8. After it reboots, login. The new firmware version will be displayed in the top right corner.