Author: Carl Stalhood

Navigation

This page contains the following topics:

• Command Center Overview
• If SQL Express, enable TCP/IP
• Create SQL Database
• Install Command Center  💡
• Configure Windows Firewall
• Weak Ciphers
• Welcome Wizard
• Administration Configuration
• Command Center Certificate
• Discover Devices
• Configure Syslog on Devices
• Configure Email Alerting  💡
• Use Command Center

💡 = Recently Updated

Command Center Overview

Command Center can be used to monitor, alert, and report on the following devices:

• NetScaler
• NetScaler VPX
• NetScaler SDX
• NetScaler Gateway Enterprise Edition
• CloudBridge
• CloudBridge VPX
• Citrix Repeater

Command Center is free for all editions of NetScaler so there’s no excuse to not install it.

Citrix whitepaper – Citrix Command Center – Deployment Sizing Guide: database sizing for scalar counters, vector counters, and Syslog.

SQL Express

If using SQL Express to store the Command Center database, do the following to enable TCP/IP:

1. When downloading SQL Server 2012 Express, either select the option With Tools or download SQL Server Management Studio and install it separately.
   
2. When installing SQL Express, feel free to use the default instance instead of a named instance.
   
3. In SQL Server Configuration Manager, expand SQL Server Network Configuration and click the Protocols node.
4. On the right, right-click TCP/IP and enable it. Then double-click TCP/IP.
   
5. On the IP Addresses tab, scroll all the way down and in the IPAll section, remove any TCP Dynamic Ports and instead enter a static TCP Port. 1433 is the typical default port.
   
6. On the left, click SQL Server Services.
7. On the right, right-click SQL Server and click Restart.
   

Create SQL Database and SQL Account

SQL 2005, SQL 2008, and SQL 2012 are supported.

1. In SQL Server Management Studio, go to the Properties of the SQL server and ensure that SQL authentication is enabled.
   
   
2. Create a database and call it CitrixCommandCenter or similar. Configure the Recovery model as desired.
   
   
   
3. Create a SQL Login (SQL Server authentication) for Command Center. Set the default database to the Command Center database.
   
   
4. Add the SQL account to the db_owner database role in the Command Center database.
   

Install Command Center

1. Command Center is supported on Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows Server 2012 R2.
2. On the Command Center server, run the downloaded Command Center 5.2.46.7 CC_Setup_5.2_46_7.exe.  💡
   
3. If the installer refuses to launch without error then you’ll need to uninstall all previously installed Java. Command Center comes with its own Java.
   
4. In the Introduction page, click Next.
   
5. In the License Agreement page, select I accept the terms and click Next.
   
6. In the Choose Install Folder page, click Next.
   
7. In the Choose Installation Type page, select Typical and click Next.
   
8. In the Database Settings page, change the selection to MSSQL and fill in the details. Notice that SQL 2012 and SQL 2014 are now supported. Then click Test Connection.
   
9. Click OK to acknowledge that the connection is successful and then click Next.
   
10. In the Security Settings page, make your selection and click Next.
    
11. In the Pre-Installation Summary page, click Install.
    
12. In the Install Complete page, notice the URL. Click Done.
    

Windows Firewall

Windows Firewall must be configured to allow UDP 162 for SNMP Traps, UDP 514 for SYSLOG, and 8443 for the Command Center management console.

Weak Ciphers

1. Point your browser to https://<Server_Name>:8443. If you see a message about weak ephemeral Diffie-Hellman then you’ll need to follow Citrix CTX202036 Error:”ssl_error_weak_server_ephemeral_dh_key” When Launching Citrix Command Center Website.
   
2. Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Citrix\Citrix Command Center\apache\tomcat\conf\backup and edit the file server.xml. You want the one in the backup folder.
   
3. Near line 102, change the ciphers to the ones listed in the article.
   
4. Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Citrix\Citrix Command Center\conf and edit the file transportProvider.conf.
   
5. Near line 45, change the ciphers to the ones listed in the article.
   
6. Go to Services and restart the Citrix Command Center service.
   

Welcome Wizard

1. Go to https://<Server_Name>:8443 and login as root and public.
   
2. In the Change Command Center User Password section, enter a new root password and click Save.
   
3. In the Add Device section, enter the NSIP of a NetScaler device. For a High Availability pair, only enter the NSIP of the primary device.
4. Click the plus icon next to Device Profile.
   
5. Give the Device Profile a name. The device profile contains the nsroot password so name the profile something that reflects the team that manages the devices.
6. In the Device Login section, enter nsroot as the User Name and the password configured on the NetScaler appliances. Scroll down.
   
7. In the SNMP section, enter a SNMP community name. Command Center will configure this on the appliances. Click Create.
   
8. Back in the Add Device section, click Continue.
   
9. Command Center will then begin discovery for the device. If Discovery fails, see CTX200377 – Command Center is Unable to Discover NetScaler
   
10. After discovery is complete, click Continue.
    
11. Don’t click Done yet.
12. On the right, in the Advanced column, click Mail Server Settings.
    
13. Enter the mail server information and click Save.
    
14. On the right, in the Advanced column, click Disk Management.
    
15. Adjust the grooming settings as desired and click Save.
    
16. Then click Done.
    

Administration Configuration

1. Switch to the Administration tab.
   
2. Click Settings on the left. On the right, click Inventory Settings.
   
3. In the Configure Inventory Settings window, decide if you want to Archive on “Save Config” trap. Click OK when done.
   
4. Click Server Settings.
   
5. Command Center defaults to displaying devices based on their IP address. This can be changed to Host Name. Click OK when done.
   
6. In the Settings node, click Email Server Settings.
   
7. Fill out the mail server information so you can receive email alerts and click OK.
   
8. In the Settings section is Access Settings.
   
9. You can change the Session Timeout.
   
10. On the left, click Database Management. On the right, notice the Purge Settings links. Use those links to control the size of the database.
    
11. In the Database Management node, click Database Monitor Settings.
    
12. Specify a database size threshold. If your database automatically grows, then it’s probably best to configure an absolute database size instead of a size percentage.
13. When the Threshold is reached, you can configure it to automatically purge data.
    
14. You can also receive an email notification when the size limit is reached. Click OK when done.
    
15. On the left, expand Authentication and click LDAP.
16. On the right, click Add.
    
17. Enter the IP Address of load balanced LDAP (or one Domain Controller).
18. Change the Security Type to SSL.
    
19. To support SSL and/or TLS, you need to install the LDAP root certificate on Command Center. Copy the root cert to C:\Program Files (x86)\Citrix\Citrix Command Center\Certs.
    
20. Open an elevated command prompt and cd to C:\Program Files (x86)\Citrix\Citrix Command Center\bin.
21. Run importLDAPSCertificate.bat. The first parameter is the name of the root certificate file. The second parameter is commandcenter, which is the password to the trust store.
    
22. After importing the root cert, restart the Citrix Command Center service.
    
23. Back in Command Center adding an LDAP server, enter a Base DN and Bind DN.
24. Check the box next to Enable Group Extraction. This will cause more fields to appear.
25. Enter the fields shown below. Use the question mark to see examples. Click Create.
    
26. On the left, click the Authentication node. On the right, click Authentication Settings.
    
27. Change the Authentication Server to External.
    
28. Move your LDAP server to the right by clicking the plus icon or the right-arrow icon.
    
29. Ensure Enable fallback local authentication is enabled and click OK..
    
30. On the left, expand Security, and click Groups. On the right, click Add.
    
31. Type in the case sensitive group name.
32. Use the checkboxes to grant your desired permissions and click OK.
    
33. Once the group is added to Command Center, you can right-click it and click Advanced Settings to restrict the entities that are accessible to the user.
    
    
34. The Apply on bound entities also checkbox lets the group see the entities that are bound to the restricted object (e.g. services bound to a Virtual Server).
    
35. On the left, expand Security and click Syslog Servers. On the right, click Add.
    
36. Enter information for your syslog server and click Add.
    
37. On the right, click Syslog Parameters.
    
38. Set your desired parameters and click Modify.
    
39. On the left, under Security, cilck SNMP Agent Configuration. On the right, click Add.
    
40. Enter your SNMP information and click Create.
    

Command Center Certificate

1. Use IIS or the certificates snap-in to create a certificate that matches the FQDN of the Command Center server.
2. Export the certificate including private key to a .pfx file.
3. In the Command Center console, on the Administration tab, click Tools on the left.
4. On the right, click Install Certificate.
   
5. Click Choose File to and browse to the PFX file.
6. Enter the PFX password and click OK.
   
7. Click OK
   
   
8. Restart the Citrix Command Center service.
   

Discover Devices

Command Center to/from appliance communication:

• Command Center uses SNMP and SSH to communicate with an appliance.
• Appliances use SNMP traps to communicate with Command Center.
• After Command Center discovers an appliance, it will configure the appliance with the correct SNMP settings. You can also configure the SNMP Traps on the appliance manually.
• SFTP is used for file transfer.
• Devices can be configured to send Syslog to Command Center.

The Command Center server supports two types of devices:

• Standalone: A standalone device functions independently and is not configured in an HA setup.
• HA pair: This represents a pair of devices configured in an HA setup. The primary device in an HA setup processes the traffic. The secondary device monitors the primary and takes over the functions of the primary device if that device is unable to continue processing traffic.

You can add devices by specifying the host names of the devices, the IP addresses of each device, a range of IP addresses, and NAT HA devices. You can also add devices by importing the device names from a file. Note that when you specify a range, the first three octets of the low and high addresses must be the same. Command Center can discover only 254 devices in an IP address range.

The Command Center discovery process involves the following steps:

1. SNMP ping:The Command Center server sends a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) GET request to a Citrix system-specific object identifier (OID) (for example, 1.3.6.1.4.1.5951.1.1). If the server successfully pings the device, it sets the status of step 2 to SUCCESS and proceeds to step 3. If the GET request fails, the device is not a Citrix device, or it is a Citrix device but SNMP is disabled on it. In either fail case, the Command Center server proceeds to step 2.
2. Find Citrix device: The Command Center server attempts to open an SSH session to the device based on the user credentials configured when adding a map. If the SSH session fails, the device is discarded as a non-Citrix device. If the SSH session succeeds, the server issues a CLI command to check whether the device is a Citrix device. A positive result moves the device to the next step. Otherwise, Command Center discards the device as a non-Citrix device. To check the cause of failure of this step, on the Citrix Networktab, click the >>> icon next to the device, and select Status. You can also view the cause of failure on the Device Status page.
3. Enable SNMP:On the discovered Citrix device, Command Center executes a command to configure an SNMP community based on the details entered when configuring the map or when adding a device. This step may fail for various reasons, such as network issues or if another SNMP manager is already configured on the device. To check the cause of failure, on the Citrix Network tab, click the >>> icon next to the device, and select Status. You can also view the cause of failure on the Device Status page.
4. Add trap destination: Devices communicate with Command Center by sending trap notifications. The Command Center server adds its IP address to the list of trap destinations on the discovered device. This allows Command Center to receive all events/traps generated on the Citrix device. However, this step may fail if the number of trap destinations exceeds the maximum limit of trap destinations on the Citrix device. The limit on Citrix NetScaler devices is 10. If an error occurs you must take corrective measures before you initiate rediscovery of this device. To check the cause of failure, on the Citrix Networktab, click the >>> icon next to the device, and select Status. You can also view the cause of failure on the Device Status page.
5. Collect inventory:The Command Center server collects the basic system information for the discovered devices using SNMP. You can view this information on the Device Properties page. For more information, see “Viewing Device Properties” in the Citrix Command Center Online Help. This step may fail if the SNMP manager configured on the Citrix device is not that of the server. It may also fail because of network issues or because the SNMP ports are not configured properly on the firewall. To check the cause of failure, on the Citrix Network tab, click the >>> icon next to the device, and select Status. You can also view the cause of failure on the Device Status page. If an error occurs you must take corrective measures, and then initiate rediscovery of the device.
6. Download files: The Command Center server initiates a Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) session based on the user credentials defined while configuring the map. Then, it downloads the configuration and license files of the device. For Repeater devices, it downloads only the configuration files. The Command Center server stores these files in the database. This step may fail because of the following reasons:
   • Incorrectly specified user credentials
   • Incorrectly configured SFTP ports in the firewall
   • Network issues

To check the cause of failure, on the Citrix Network tab, click the >>> icon next to the device, and select Status. You can also view the cause of failure on the Device Status page. If an error occurs, you must take corrective measures, and then initiate rediscovery of this device.

Upon successful discovery, the devices appear on the corresponding maps as icons with their IP addresses or device names. If the server is unable to successfully discover the devices, it marks the devices as inaccessible, generates an event, and groups the devices under the Inaccessible Systems node.

To add more devices to Command Center:

1. Click the Citrix Network
2. Under Device Inventory, click NetScaler and on the right click Add.
   
3. Enter the NSIP of the NetScalers, select a device profile and click Continue.
   
4. You can click Discovery Status on the left of the page to check the status of the discovery.
   
5. Click the Refresh button on the top right to update the display. If Discovery fails, see CTX200377 – Command Center is Unable to Discover NetScaler
   
6. Once discovery is complete, you’ll see the devices on the Citrix Network tab in the Device Inventory node. Consult docs.citrix.com (http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/command-center/5-2.html) for more info on what you can do in Command Center.
   

Configure Device Syslog

By default, a discovered device is only configured for SNMP. Additional reporting can be enabled by configuring the devices to send Syslog to Command Center.

1. In Command Center, switch to the Configuration
2. On the left, under Configuration, click Built-in Tasks.
3. On the right, select the NSConfigureSyslogServer task and click Execute.
   
4. In the Devices page, move the devices to the right and click Next.
   
5. In the User Input page, enter the IP address of the Command Center server and enter an Annotation. Click Next.
   
6. In the Summary page, click Finish.
   
7. Click OK to acknowledge that Task execution in progress.
   
8. Review the Execution Log to ensure configuration was completed successfully.
   
9. Or you can configure Syslog directly on the NetScaler appliance. Configure a Syslog action, a Syslog policy, and bind the Syslog policy globally. The Syslog action should point to the Command Center IP address on port UDP 514.
   

Alerts

1. Switch to the Fault tab.
2. On the left, expand SNMP, expand Alarms, and click Triggers. On the right, click Add.
   
3. Give the filter a name. Indicate the alarms for which you wish to receive an email. For example, check the boxes next to Critical and Major. You can restrict the alarms to specific devices.
4. Click Add Action.
   
5. Enter a name for the action.
6. Enter the email information including From and To addresses and the mail server name. You can click Test Email. Click OK when done.
   
7. Click OK when done adding actions.
   
8. If you have scheduled maintenance, you can schedule the triggers to disable and re-enable. Select the trigger and then click Schedule a Filter.  💡
   
9. Uncheck the Enable Filter box and set the time you want the trigger to be disabled.
   
10. Create another trigger schedule to re-enable the filter.
    
11. Click the Scheduled Filters button to view the schedules. For more info see CTX211879 How Do I Suppress Command Center Alarm Related Actions For a Particular Time Period?
    

Use Command Center

See the release notes for new features in Command Center 5.2 build 46.7.  💡

See CTX211875 How Do I Monitor and Manage Changes on NetScaler Using Command Center? for an overview of Audit Templates and Audit Policies.

See docs.citrix.com for information on how to use Command Center to monitor and configure your appliances.

Navigation

• Here are three methods of creating certificates for NetScaler:
  • Import .PFX Certificate to NetScaler
  • Create Key and CSR on the appliance
  • Use NetScaler as Certificate Authority
• If the server certificate is signed by an intermediate authority, import the intermediate certificate and bind it.
• Default Management Certificate Key Length
• Replace the management certificate and then force SSL access for management.
• Update certificates before they expire.

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.
   
   1. Back in the NetScaler Configuration GUI, on the left expand Traffic Management and click SSL. If the SSL feature is disabled, right-click it and click Enable Feature.
      
6. On the right pane, click Import PKCS#12 in the Tools section.
   
7. In the Import PKCS12 File dialog box:
   1. In the Output File Name field, enter a name (e.g. Wildcard.cer) for a new file where the PEM certificate and key will be placed.
   2. In the PKCS12 File field, click Browse and select the previously exported .pfx file.
   3. In the Import Password field, enter the password you specified when you previously exported the .pfx file.
   4. Change the Encoding Format selection to DES3. This causes the new Output file to be encrypted.
   5. Enter a password for the Output file and click OK.
      
8. 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.
   
   
9. Notice that the file contains both the certificate and the RSA Private key.
   
10. On the left side of the NetScaler Configuration GUI, expand Traffic Management > SSL, and click Certificates.
    
11. On the right, click Install.
    
12. 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 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 Offload and/or NetScaler Gateway Virtual Servers.
       
13. 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 new .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 CSR (Certificate Signing Request).
   
8. In the Request File Name field, enter the name of a new .csr 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 OK.
    
17. On the right side of the right pane, click Manage Certificates / Keys / CSRs.
    
18. Find the .csr file you just created, and View it.
    
19. 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.
    
20. After you get the signed certificate, on the left side of the NetScaler Configuration GUI, expand Traffic Management > SSL, and click Certificates.
    
21. On the right, click Install.
    
22. 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 Base64 (Apache) .cer (or .crt, or .cert) 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. If desired, check the box next to Notify when expires.
    6. Click Install.
       
23. The certificate is now added to the list. Notice the Days to Expire. You can now bind this certificate to any SSL Load Balancing, NetScaler Gateway, or SSL Content Switching Virtual Server.
    
24. To automatically backup SSL certificates and receive notification when the certificates are about the expire, deploy Citrix Command Center or Citrix NetScaler Management and Analytics. Also see Citrix CTX213342 How to handle certificate expiry on NetScaler.

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 the Certificate/Key.
   
5. Browse to the new management certificate. It could be on the appliance or it could be on your local machine.
6. Click Yes when asked to update the existing certificate.
   
7. If the PEM certificate is encrypted, enter the password.
8. Check the box next to No Domain Check. Click OK.
   
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. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand Load Balancing, and click Services.
    
11. On the right, switch to the Internal Services tab.
    
12. You will see multiple services. Edit one of them.
    
13. On the right, in the Advanced column, click SSL Ciphers.
    
14. On the left, in the SSL Ciphers section, bind a custom cipher group that has RC4 ciphers removed. Click OK.
    
15. Scroll down to the SSL Parameters section, and click the pencil icon.
    
16. Uncheck the box next to SSLv3. NetScaler VPX 10.5 build 57 and newer lets you enable TLSv11 and TLSv12. Click OK.
    
17. Repeat for the rest of the internal services.
    

Manual Binding Method

The manual Binding to Internal Services method is detailed below:

1. You can’t update the certificate while connected to the NetScaler using https so make sure you connect using http.
2. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand SSL, 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 OK.
    
15. Click Bind.
    
16. Click OK.
    
17. On the right, in the Advanced column, click SSL Ciphers.
    
18. On the left, in the SSL Ciphers section, bind a custom cipher group that has RC4 ciphers removed. Click OK.
    
19. Scroll down to the SSL Parameters section, and click the pencil icon.
    
20. Uncheck the box next to SSLv3. NetScaler VPX 10.5 build 57 and newer lets you enable TLSv11 and TLSv12. Click OK.
    
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. Connecting to the NSIP using SSL also causes Java communication to use SSL (TCP 3008).

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. Repeat this on the secondary appliance.
6. 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 file.
6. Click Yes when asked to update the existing certificate.
   
7. Browse to the updated key file.
8. If the key file is encrypted, enter the password.
9. Check the box next to No Domain Check.
10. Click OK. This will automatically update every Virtual Server on which this certificate is bound.
    
11. Certificates can also be updated in Citrix Command Center or NetScaler Management and Analytics System.

Navigation

This page contains the following topics:

• Java Security
• NetScaler VPX on vSphere Hang Issue
• Licensing:
  • Get NetScaler VPX Mac Address for Licensing
  • Activate licenses at citrix.com
  • Install licenses on appliance
• Upgrade Firmware
• High Availability
• Multiple Interfaces/VLANs (aka two-arm)
• DNS Servers
• NTP Servers
• Syslog Server
• SNMP Configuration
• Call Home
• Change nsroot password
• TCP, HTTP, SSL, and Security settings
• LDAP Authentication for Management
• CLI Prompt

Java Security

Citrix docs.citrix.com has information on configuring browsers for Java

When performing operations on NetScaler that require Java, you might see the message “Java Applet could not be loaded”. To fix it, do the following:

1. Java uses TCP 3008 and TCP 3010 to communicate with the NetScaler NSIP (and/or SNIP). Make sure these ports are open on any firewall between the administrator workstations and the NetScaler management IPS.
2. Go to Control Panel and open the Java applet.
   
3. Switch to the Security
4. Click Edit Site List.
   
5. Click Add.
   
6. Type in a URL to a NetScaler management IP. You must prepend http and/or https. The management IP is NSIP and/or SNIP.
   
7. If you enter an http URL then you will see a warning message. Click Continue.
   
8. Continue adding NetScaler management URLs to the list. Add both http and https so you can use either. Click OK when done.
   
9. Then click OK to close the Java Control Panel applet.
   
10. The Java site exception list is stored in %userprofile%\AppData\LocalLow\Sun\Java\Deployment\security\exception.sites and can be transferred to other users.

VPX – vSphere 5.1 and 5.5 issue

If you are licensed for VPX-1000 or higher, see Citrix Knowledgebase Article CTX139485 (Resource Requirements for Optional Multi-PE Configuration for NetScaler VPX) for correct vCPU and Memory configuration.

From VMware knowledgebase article 2092809: After applying patches to an ESXi 5.1/5.5 host, Citrix NetScaler virtual machine with e1000 vNIC loses network connectivity: After patching your ESXi host to version 5.5 Update 2 (build 2143827) or 5.1 Patch 6 (build 2191751), you experience these symptoms:

• Some Citrix NetScaler virtual machine appliance running the guest Operating System with e1000 vNIC driver loses network connectivity
• Cannot access the console after applying the patches

See VMware’s article for their workaround.

From Citrix Knowledgebase article CTX200278 – NetScaler VPX Loses Network Connectivity on VMware ESXi 5.1.0 2191751 and VMware ESXi 5.5 2143827:

1. Log in to the Citrix NetScaler virtual machine appliance as nsroot
2. Type shell.
3. Type the following command:
   cd /flash/boot
4. Type the following command:
   touch /flash/boot/loader.conf.local
5. Edit (vi) the file conf.local and add the following line to the end of it:
   hw.em.txd=512
6. Save the changes
7. Restart the NetScaler virtual machine appliance

Licensing – VPX Mac Address

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

• One method is to look in the GUI.
  
  • In the right pane, look down for the Host Id This is the MAC address you need for license allocation.
    
• Another option is to SSH to the appliance and run shell.
  • 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.
   
   License files are stored in /nsconfig/license.
4. If you have a license file, select Upload license files from a local computer, and then click Browse.
   
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 bandwidth or 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.
   Note: Citrix sometimes refreshes firmware builds (e.g 10.1 build 130.13 replaces 10.1 build 130.10). If this happens, make sure you install the refreshed version since the original version can no longer be downloaded. If you have an HA pair running 130.10, and if one of the appliances needs to be replaced, you can’t download 130.10 and thus can’t install it on the new secondary, and thus the config won’t replicate when you join the HA pair since the node firmware versions will be different. If you don’t have access to the 130.10 firmware, your only option is to upgrade the primary to 130.13 before joining the new secondary running 130.13.
2. Make sure you Save the config before beginning the upgrade.
   
3. If you configured NetScaler Gateway to use a Custom theme, change the theme back to Default (or Green Bubble). You will have to re-create the customtheme.tar.gz file after you upgrade.
4. 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.
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 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 More and then check the box next to Automatically move files to create space. Click Yes to acknowledge the prompt.
10. Click Upgrade.
    
    
11. The firmware will upload.
    
12. You should eventually see a System Upgrade window with text in it. It will reboot automatically.
    
13. Or if older than 10.5 build 56, click Upgrade Wizard
    
14. In the Introduction page, click Next.
    
15. In the Upload Software page, browse to the build…tgz file and click Next.
    
16. In the Manage Licenses page, click Next.
    
17. In the Clean Up / Reboot page, check both boxes and then click Next.
    
18. If you select the option to automatically move files, you will be asked to delete unused kernels. Click Yes.
    
19. In the Summary page, click Finish. The upgrade will begin. Do not disturb your browser session until you see that it is rebooting. It will run several commands after uploading the files.
    
20. If you are asked to enable Call Home, select Yes, and click Go.
    
21. When you see the message Rebooting… it is then safe to close the window.
    
22. Once the Secondary is done, login and failover the pair.
    
23. 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/10.5.63).
3. Copy the software from your computer to the /var/nsinstall/<version> (e.g. /var/nsinstall/11.5.63) 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.
   
10. Eventually it will say SUCCESS.
    
11. To enable Fail-safe mode, on the right, edit Node ID 0 (the local appliance).
    
12. 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

13. If you login to the Secondary appliance, you might see a message warning you against making changes. Always apply changes to the Primary appliance.
    
14. On the secondary appliance, go to System > High Availability, edit the local node, and change it from STAY SECONDARY to ENABLED.
    
15. 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.
    
16. 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 the 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.

You should never connect multiple interfaces to a single VLAN unless you are bonding the interfaces using LACP, Channel, or the new Redundant Interface Set feature in 10.5.e. 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.

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.
    • If your switches do not allow untagged packets then you will need to use the tagall interface option to tag NetScaler High Availability heartbeat packets. See CTX122921 – Citrix NetScaler Interface Tagging and Flow of High Availability Packets
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 1/1 -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.
28. Make sure NULL Route is set to No.
29. Enter the IP address of the DMZ (or data) 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.

   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 Bind.
    
11. Check the box next to the Syslog policy you want to bind and click Insert.
    
12. Then click OK.
    

    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, select 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:

• How to Configuring the Rate Limiting Feature of a NetScaler Appliance to Mitigate a DDoS Attack
• How to Use NetScaler Appliance to Avoid Layer 7 DDoS Attacks

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 and click OK.
   

   set ns httpParam -dropInvalReqs ON

8. You can run the following command to see statistics on the dropped packets:

   nsconmsg -g http_err_noreuse_ -d stats

9. On the left, under Traffic Management, click SSL.
   
10. On the right, in the right column, click Change advanced SSL settings.
    
11. Change the Deny SSL Renegotiation selection to NONSECURE. Click OK.
    

    set ssl parameter -denySSLReneg NONSECURE

12. 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

13. 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 bound multiple LDAP servers it would try all of them and for incorrect passwords 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 the Group Search Attribute to memberOf.
17. Set the Group Search Sub-Attribute to 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 OK.
    
28. Enter 100 for the priority, and 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. If you logout:
    
37. 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.
   

Next Steps

Return to NetScaler Procedures list