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SSL Virtual Servers – NetScaler 12

August 5, 2017, 10:17 am
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This page contains generic SSL instructions for all SSL-based Virtual Servers, including: Load Balancing, NetScaler Gateway, Content Switching, and AAA.

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Cipher Group

References:

To get an A+ at SSL Labs, create a custom secure cipher group:

  1. 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. Putty (SSH) to the NetScaler and paste the following commands. 
    add ssl cipher custom-ssllabs-cipher
bind ssl cipher custom-ssllabs-cipher -cipherName TLS1.2-ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384
bind ssl cipher custom-ssllabs-cipher -cipherName TLS1.2-ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
bind ssl cipher custom-ssllabs-cipher -cipherName TLS1.2-ECDHE-RSA-AES-256-SHA384
bind ssl cipher custom-ssllabs-cipher -cipherName TLS1.2-ECDHE-RSA-AES-128-SHA256
bind ssl cipher custom-ssllabs-cipher -cipherName TLS1-ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA
bind ssl cipher custom-ssllabs-cipher -cipherName TLS1-ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA
bind ssl cipher custom-ssllabs-cipher -cipherName TLS1.2-DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384
bind ssl cipher custom-ssllabs-cipher -cipherName TLS1.2-DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
bind ssl cipher custom-ssllabs-cipher -cipherName TLS1-DHE-RSA-AES-256-CBC-SHA
bind ssl cipher custom-ssllabs-cipher -cipherName TLS1-DHE-RSA-AES-128-CBC-SHA
bind ssl cipher custom-ssllabs-cipher -cipherName TLS1-AES-256-CBC-SHA
bind ssl cipher custom-ssllabs-cipher -cipherName TLS1-AES-128-CBC-SHA
  2. Or you can create the cipher group using the GUI.
    1. Go to Traffic Management > SSL > Cipher Groups.
      1. On the right, click Add.
      2. Name it SSL Labs or similar.
      3. In the middle, click Add.
      4. Use the search box to find a particular cipher.
      5. Check the box next to one of the results, and click the arrow to move it to the right. See Citrix Blog Post Scoring an A+ at SSLlabs.com with Citrix NetScaler – 2016 update for recommended ciphers.
      6. Use the up and down arrows to order the ciphers. NetScaler prefers the ciphers on top of the list, so the ciphers at the top of the list should be the most secure ciphers.
    2. Click Create when done.

Strict Transport Security – Rewrite Policy Method

To get an A+ at SSLLabs.com, you need to insert the Strict-Transport-Security HTTP header in the responses. NetScaler Rewrite Policy is one method of doing this. Another method is to enable HSTS in an SSL Profile, or enable it in SSL Parameters on a SSL vServer.

To create a Rewrite Policy that inserts the Strict-Transport-Security HTTP header:

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

    7. Click Create.
  3. Create the Rewrite Policy:
    1. On the left, go to AppExpert > Rewrite > Policies.
    2. On the right, click Add.
    3. Name it insert_STS_header or similar.
    4. Select the previously created Action.
    5. In the Expression box, enter HTTP.REQ.IS_VALID.
    6. Click Create.
  4. Now you can bind this Rewrite Response policy to HTTP-based SSL vServers.
    1. When editing an SSL vServer (Gateway vServer, Load Balancing vServer, etc.), if the Policies section doesn’t exist on the left, then add it from the Advanced Settings column on the right.
    2. On the left, in the Policies section, click the plus icon.
    3. Change the Choose Policy drop-down to Rewrite.
    4. Change the Choose Type drop-down to Response, and click Continue.
    5. Click where it says Click to select.
    6. Click the circle next to insert_STS_header, and click Select.
    7. Click Bind.
enable ns feature rewrite

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

add rewrite policy insert_STS_header true insert_STS_header

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

SSL Profiles – Custom and Default

You can use SSL Profiles to package several SSL settings together, and apply the settings package (Profile) to SSL-based Virtual Servers and SSL-based Services. These SSL settings include:

  • Disable SSLv3
  • Bind secure ciphers
  • Bind ECC curves
  • Enable HSTS (Strict Transport Security), etc.

There are default SSL Profiles, and there are custom SSL Profiles. The default SSL Profiles are disabled by default, because they would impact every SSL-based Virtual Server and Service on the appliance. Once default SSL Profiles are enabled, you cannot disable the default SSL Profiles.

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

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

To enable Default SSL profiles

Enabling Default SSL Profiles is irreversible.

  1. Make sure you are connected to the appliance NSIP using http, and not https.
  2. Go to Traffic Management > SSL.
  3. On the right, in the right column, click Change advanced SSL settings.
  4. Near the bottom, check the box next to Enable Default Profile. Note: this will change SSL settings on all SSL Virtual Servers to match the default SSL profile. You might want to do this during a maintenance window.

  5. Click OK to close Change Advanced SSL Settings.
  6. If you go back into Change Advanced SSL Settings, notice that the Default Profile is enabled, and there’s no way to disable it.

To create a custom SSL Profile

  1. On the left, expand System, and click Profiles.
  2. On the right, switch to the SSL Profile tab.
    1. Click Add.
    2. Enter a name.
    3. Change the SSL Profile Type to FrontEnd or BackEnd.
    4. Configure SSL Profile settings as desired (see below for some recommendations).
  3. After the SSL Profile is created, edit any SSL-based Virtual Server.
    1. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click SSL Profile to add the section.
    2. On the left, scroll down to the SSL Profile section, and select an SSL Profile. Click OK to close the SSL Profile section.

Recommended SSL Profile Settings

  1. On the left, expand System, and click Profiles.
  2. On the right, switch to the SSL Profile tab.
  3. Either create a new SSL Profile, or edit the default frontend or backend profile. This section focuses on a FrontEnd profile.
    1. Frontend = client-side connections to SSL Virtual Servers.
    2. Backend = server-side connections (SSL Services and Service Groups).
  4. Click the pencil icon in the Basic Settings section.
    1. Scroll all the way down to the Protocol section.
    2. Notice that SSLv3 is already unchecked.
    3. You can optionally uncheck TLSv1 and TLSv11.
    4. To enable Strict Transport Security (HSTS), scroll up a little, and check the box next to HSTS.
    5. Enter 157680000 in the Max Age box.
    6. Note: enabling HSTS in the Default SSL Profile seems to break Native OTP. Enabling HSTS in a Rewrite policy works fine.
    7. If you do any SSL Offload (SSL on the client side, HTTP on the server side), then you’ll need to enable SSL Redirect. It’s above HSTS. With this option enabled, any 301/302 redirects from the server with HTTP Location headers are rewritten to HTTPS Location headers. You might need this option for StoreFront load balancing if doing SSL Offload (port 80 to the StoreFront servers). Note: this setting might be more appropriate in a custom SSL Profile instead of the default SSL Profile.
    8. Click OK when done modifying the Basic Settings section.
  5. Scroll down to the SSL Ciphers section, and click the pencil icon.
    1. Click Remove All, and click OK. You must click OK before binding the custom cipher group.

    2. Click the pencil icon again.
    3. Click Add.
    4. Scroll down, and select your custom cipher group (e.g. SSL Labs). Click the arrow to move it to the right.
    5. Click OK to close the Custom Ciphers section.

SSL vServers – Bind Certificate, Bind Cipher Group, Disable SSLv3, Enable STS

If you enabled the Default SSL Profiles feature, you can either leave the vServer configured with the Default SSL Profile; or you can change the vServer to use a Custom SSL Profile.

If you don’t use the SSL Profiles feature, then you’ll need to manually configure ciphers and SSL settings on every SSL vServer.

Do the following on every SSL vServer:

  1. When creating an SSL Virtual Server (e.g. SSL Load Balancing vServer), on the left, in the Certificates section, click where it says No Server Certificate.
    1. Click where it says Click to select.
    2. Click the circle next to a certificate ,and click Select.
    3. Click Bind.
      bind ssl vserver MyvServer -certkeyName MyCert
  2. You can bind a Custom SSL Profile:
    1. Find the SSL Profile section on the left, and click the pencil icon.
      1. If you don’t see the SSL Profile section on the left, then add the SSL Profile section from the Advanced Settings column on the right.
    2. Select a Custom SSL Profile, and click OK.
  3. If default SSL Profiles are not enabled:
    1. On the left, in the SSL Parameters section, click the pencil icon.
    2. Uncheck the box next to SSLv3. You can optionally uncheck TLSv1 and TLSv11. Click OK.
      set ssl vserver MyvServer -ssl3 DISABLED -tls12 ENABLED
    3. If you didn’t bind an SSL Profile, scroll down to the SSL Ciphers section, and click the pencil icon.
    4. Click Remove All, and click OK. You must click OK before binding the custom cipher group.
    5. Click the pencil icon again.
    6. Change the selection to Cipher Groups.
    7. Select your custom cipher group. It’s probably at the bottom of the list. Then click OK.
      unbind ssl vserver MyvServer -cipherName ALL
bind ssl vserver MyvServer -cipherName custom-ssllabs-cipher
  4. SSL Virtual Servers created on newer versions of NetScaler will automatically have ECC Curves bound to them. However, if this appliance was upgraded from an older version, then the ECC Curves might not be bound. If you are not using SSL Profile, then on the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click ECC Curve.
    1. On the left, in the ECC Curve section, click where it says No ECC Curve.
    2. Click where it says Click to select.
    3. Click the circle next to ALL, and click Select.
    4. Click Bind.
      bind ssl vserver MyvServer -eccCurveName ALL
  5. If HSTS is not enabled in a bound SSL Profile, you can enable it in SSL Parameters, or you can enable it by binding a Rewrite policy.
  6. To enable HSTS by configuring SSL Parameters:
    1. On the left, find the SSL Parameters section, and click the pencil icon. This section is only present if Default SSL Profiles are not enabled. Don’t configure this if you bound a Custom SSL Profile.
    2. In the right column, check the box next to HSTS.
    3. Enter 157680000 in the Max Age box.
    4. Note: enabling HSTS in the Default SSL Profile seems to break Native OTP. Enabling HSTS in a Rewrite policy works fine.
    5. Click OK to close SSL Parameters.
  7. If enabling HSTS in an SSL Profile or SSL Parameters causes technical issues, then bind a Rewrite policy instead:
    1. If the Policies section doesn’t exist on the left, then add it from the Advanced Settings column on the right.
    2. On the left, find the Policies section, and click the plus icon.
    3. Change the Choose Policy drop-down to Rewrite.
    4. Change the Choose Type drop-down to Response, and click Continue.
    5. Click where it says Click to select.
    6. Click the circle next to the insert_STS_header policy, and click Select.
    7. Click Bind.
      bind lb vserver MyvServer -policyName insert_STS_header -priority 100 -gotoPriorityExpression END -type RESPONSE

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

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

SSL Tests

After you’ve created an SSL Virtual Server and configured SSL settings, run the following test:

SSL Redirect – Methods

There are typically three methods of performing SSL Redirect (http to https) in NetScaler:

  • Load Balancing Virtual Server Method – enable SSL Redirect directly on the Load Balancing Virtual Server. This is the easiest method.
    • This option is not available for Gateway Virtual Servers and Content Switching Virtual Servers.
    • There’s nothing in the GUI to indicate that the SSL Virtual Server is also listening on port 80.
  • Down vServer Method – create a new Load Balancing Virtual Server on Port 80, and configure the Redirect URL for when it is down.
    • The Virtual Server must be DOWN for the Redirect to occur. These Virtual Servers are shown as Red instead of Green.
  • Responder Method – create a new Load Balancing Virtual Server on Port 80, and bind a Responder policy that redirects to https.
    • The Responder policy only works if the Virtual Server is UP, which means it is shown as Green.
    • Some setup tasks are required – create the AlwaysUP service, and create the Responder Policy. But once setup is complete, it only requires slightly more steps than the Down vServer method.

SSL Redirect – SSL Load Balancing vServer Method

You can configure SSL Redirect directly in an SSL Load Balancing vServer (port 443) instead of creating a separate HTTP (port 80) Load Balancing vServer.

Limitations:

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

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

  1. Edit the SSL Load Balancing vServer (port 443).
  2. In the Basic Settings section, click the pencil icon.
  3. Click More.
  4. In the Redirect from Port field, enter 80.
  5. In the HTTPS Redirect URL field, enter https://MyFQDN.
  6. Click Continue twice.
  7. When you view the list of Load Balancing Virtual Servers, there’s no indication that it’s listening on port 80.

SSL Redirect – Down vServer Method

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

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

To create the down Redirect Virtual Server:

  1. On the left, under Traffic Management > Load Balancing, click Virtual Servers.
  2. On the right, right-click an SSL Virtual Server you’ve already created, and click Add. Doing it this way copies some of the data from the already created Virtual Server.
  3. Or, if you are redirecting NetScaler Gateway, create a new Load Balancing vServer with the same VIP as the Gateway.
  4. Change the name of the Virtual Server to indicate that this new Virtual Server is an SSL Redirect.
  5. Change the Protocol to HTTP on Port 80.
  6. The IP Address should already be filled in. It must match the original SSL Virtual Server (or Gateway vServer). Click OK.
  7. Don’t bind any services. This vServer must intentionally be marked down so the redirect will take effect. Click Continue.
  8. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click Protection.
  9. On the left, in the Protection section, in the Redirect URL field, enter the full URL including https://. For example: https://storefront.corp.com/Citrix/StoreWeb.
  10. Click OK to close the Protection section.
  11. Click Done.
  12. When you view the SSL redirect Virtual Server in the list, it will have a state of DOWN. That’s expected. The Port 80 Virtual Server must be DOWN for this redirect method to work.

SSL Redirect – Responder Method

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

Responder Method Setup Tasks

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

      add server 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1
add service AlwaysUp 127.0.0.1 HTTP 80 -healthMonitor NO
  2. Create the Responder Action:
    1. On the left, expand AppExpert, and click Responder.
    2. If Responder feature is not enabled, right-click Responder, and click Enable Feature.
      enable ns feature RESPONDER
    3. Under Responder, click Actions.
    4. On the right, click Add.
    5. Give the action a name.
    6. Change the Type to Redirect. If you leave this set to Respond With then it won’t work.
    7. Enter an expression. The following expression redirects to https on the same URL the user entered in the browser. Or you can create a Responder Action with a more specific Target. Click Create. 
      "https://" + HTTP.REQ.HOSTNAME.HTTP_URL_SAFE + HTTP.REQ.URL.PATH_AND_QUERY.HTTP_URL_SAFE

      add responder action http_to_ssl_redirect_responderact redirect "\"https://\" + HTTP.REQ.HOSTNAME.HTTP_URL_SAFE + HTTP.REQ.URL.PATH_AND_QUERY.HTTP_URL_SAFE" -responseStatusCode 302
  3. Create the Responder Policy:
    1. On the left, under Responder, click Policies.
    2. On the right, click Add.
    3. Give the policy a name.
    4. Select the previously created Responder action.
    5. 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

Enable Redirect using Responder Policy

  1. 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.

  2. Bind the AlwaysUp service.
    1. In the Services and Service Groups section, click where it says No Load Balancing Virtual Server Service Binding.
    2. Click where it says Click to select.
    3. Check the box next to AlwaysUp, and click Select.
    4. Click Bind.
    5. Click Continue to close Services and Service Groups.
  3. Bind the Responder Policy:
    1. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click Policies.
    2. On the left, scroll down to the Policies section, and click the plus icon in the top right of the Policies box.
    3. Change the Choose Policy drop-down to Responder. Click Continue.
    4. Click where it says Click to select.
    5. Click the circle next to the redirect Responder policy, and click Select.
    6. Click Bind.
    7. Then click Done to close the Load Balancing Virtual Server.
      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
  4. The primary advantage of this method is that the Redirect Virtual Server is UP.

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NetScaler 12 Certificates

August 6, 2017, 5:55 am
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Convert .PFX Certificate to PEM Format

You can export a certificate (with private key) from Windows, and import it to NetScaler.

To export a Windows certificate in .pfx format

  1. If Windows 2012 or newer, on the Windows server that has the certificate, you can run certlm.msc to open the Certificates console pointing at Local Computer.
    1. Or, run mmc.exe, manually add the Certificates snap-in, and point it to Local Computer.
  2. Go to Personal > Certificates.
  3. Right-click the certificate, expand All Tasks, and click Export.
  4. On the Welcome to the Certificate Export Wizard page, click Next.
  5. On the Export Private Key page, select Yes, export the private key, and click Next.
  6. On the Export File Format page, click Next.
  7. On the Security page, check the box next to Password, and enter a new temporary password. Click Next.
  8. On the File to Export page, specify a save location and name the .pfx file. Don’t put any spaces in the filename. Click Next.
  9. In the Completing the Certificate Export Wizard page, click Finish.
  10. Click OK when prompted that the export was successful.

To auto-convert a .pfx file (without private key encryption)

NetScaler can auto-convert a .pfx file to PEM format. However, the converted file it creates is not encrypted.

To import the .pfx file:

  1. On the NetScaler, expand Traffic Management, and click SSL.
  2. If the SSL feature is disabled, right-click the SSL node, and click Enable Feature.
  3. Go to Traffic Management > SSL > Certificates > Server Certificates.
  4. There are three different certificate nodes:
    1. Server Certificates have private keys. These certificates are intended to be bound to SSL vServers.
    2. Client Certificates also have private keys, but they are intended to be bound to Services so NetScaler can perform client-certificate authentication against back-end web servers.
    3. CA Certificates don’t have private keys. The CA certificates node contains intermediate certificates that are linked to Server Certificates. CA certificates can also be used for SAML authentication, and to verify client certificates.
  5. On the left, click the Server Certificates node.
  6. On the right, click Install.
  7. Give the certificate a name.
  8. Click the drop-down next to Choose File, select Local, and browse to the .pfx file that you exported earlier.
  9. After browsing to the .pfx file, NetScaler will prompt you to enter the password for the .pfx file.
  10. Then click Install.
  11. 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.
  12. To automatically backup SSL certificates and receive notification when the certificates are about the expire, deploy NetScaler Management and Analytics System. Also see Citrix CTX213342 How to handle certificate expiry on NetScaler.
  13. You can also export the certificate files and use them on a different NetScaler.
  14. If you click the information icon next to the new certificate…
  15. You’ll see that NetScaler created a new file with a .ns extension.
  16. You can look inside this file by going to Traffic Management > SSL > Manage Certificates / Keys / CSRs.
  17. Right-click the new file, and click View.
  18. Notice that the RSA Private Key is not encrypted, encoded, or password protected.

To convert PFX to PEM (with Private Key encryption)

If you want to encrypt your key file (recommended), use the older method of converting from PFX to PEM.

  1. In the NetScaler Configuration GUI, on the left, expand Traffic Management, and click SSL.
  2. In the right column of the right pane, in the Tools section, click Import PKCS#12.
  3. 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 converted PEM certificate and private key will be placed. This new file is created under /nsconfig/ssl on the NetScaler appliance.
    2. In the PKCS12 File field, click Choose File, 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 PEM file to be password protected, and encrypted.
    5. Enter a permanent password for the new PEM file, and click OK.
  4. You can use the Manage Certificates / Keys / CSRs link to view the new PEM file.
    1. Right-click the new file, and click View.
    2. Notice that the Private Key is encrypted.
    3. If you scroll down, notice that the file contains both the certificate, and the RSA Private key.
  5. Now that the PFX file has been converted to a PEM file, the PEM certificate file must be installed before it can be used.
    1. On the left side of the NetScaler Configuration GUI, go to Traffic Management > SSL > Certificates > Server Certificates.
    2. On the right, click Install.
    3. In the Certificate-Key Pair Name field, enter a friendly name for this certificate.
    4. In the Certificate File Name field, click the drop-down next to Choose File, and select Appliance.
    5. Click the circle next to the .cer file you just created, and click Open. The new file is probably at the bottom of the list.
    6. NetScaler will ask you to enter the password for the encrypted private key.
    7. Click Install.
  6. 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.
  7. To automatically backup SSL certificates and receive notification when the certificates are about the expire, deploy NetScaler Management and Analytics System. Also see Citrix CTX213342 How to handle certificate expiry on NetScaler.
  8. You can also export the certificate files and use them on a different NetScaler.

Create Key and Certificate Request

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

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

Most Certificate Authorities let you add Subject Alternative Names when creating (or purchasing) a signed certificate, and thus there’s no reason to include Subject Alternative Names in the CSR created on NetScaler. You typically create a CSR with a single DNS name. Then when submitting the CSR 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.

To create a key pair on NetScaler

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand SSL, and click SSL Files.
  2. On the right, switch to the Keys tab.
  3. Click Create RSA Key.
  4. In the Key Filename box, enter a new filename (e.g. wildcard.key). Key pair files typically have a .key extension.
  5. In the Key Size field, enter 2048 bits.
  6. Set the PEM Encoding Algorithm drop-down to DES3
  7. Enter a password to encrypt the private key.
  8. Click Create.

To create CSR file

  1. On the right, switch to the CSRs tab.
  2. Click Create Certificate Signing Request (CSR).
  3. In the Request File Name field, enter the name of a new file. CSR files typically have .csr or .txt extension.
  4. In the Key Filename field, click Choose File and select the previously created .key file. It’s probably at the bottom of the list.

  5. If the key file is encrypted, enter the password.
  6. You can optionally change the Digest Method to SHA256.
  7. 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. This is the field that normally must match what users enter into their browser address bars.
  8. In the Organization Name field, enter your official Organization Name.
  9. Enter IT, or similar, as the Organization Unit.
  10. Enter the City name.
  11. In the State field, enter your state name without abbreviating.
  12. Scroll down and click Create.
  13. Right-click the new .csr file, and click Download.

Get CSR signed by CA, and install certificate on NetScaler

  1. Open the downloaded .csr file with Notepad, and send the contents to your Certificate Authority.
    1. Chrome requires every certificate to have at least one Subject Alternative Name that matches the FQDN entered in Chrome’s address bar. Public CAs will handle this automatically. But for Internal CAs, you typically must specify the Subject Alternative Names manually when signing the certificate.

    2. If the CA asks you for the type of web server, select Apache, or save the CA response as a Base 64 file.
  2. After you get the signed certificate, on the left side of the NetScaler Configuration GUI, expand Traffic Management > SSL > Certificates, and click Server Certificates.
  3. On the right, click Install.
  4. In the Certificate-Key Pair Name field, enter a friendly name for this certificate.
  5. In the Certificate File Name field, click the drop-down next to Choose File, and select Local.
  6. Browse to the Base64 (Apache) .cer file you received from the Certificate Authority.
  7. In the Key File Name field, click the drop-down next to Choose File, and select Appliance.
  8. Select the key file you created earlier, and click Open. It’s probably at the bottom of the list.
  9. If the key file is encrypted, enter the password.
  10. Click Install.
  11. The certificate is now added to the list.
  12. 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.
  13. To automatically backup SSL certificates and receive notification when the certificates are about the expire, deploy Citrix NetScaler Management and Analytics. Also see Citrix CTX213342 How to handle certificate expiry on NetScaler.
  14. You can also export the certificate files and use them on a different NetScaler.

Intermediate Certificate

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

To get the correct intermediate certificate

  1. Log into Windows, and double-click the signed certificate file.
  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.

To import the intermediate certificate

  1. In the NetScaler configuration GUI, expand Traffic Management, expand SSL, expand Certificates, and click CA Certificates.
  2. On the right, click Install.
  3. Name it Intermediate or similar.
  4. Click the arrow next to Choose File, select Local, and browse the Intermediate certificate file.
  5. Click Install.

Link Intermediate Certificate to Server Certificate

  1. Go back to Traffic Management > SSL > Certificates >Server Certificates.
  2. Right-click the server certificate, and click Link.
  3. The previously imported Intermediate certificate should already be selected. Click OK.
  4. You might be tempted to link the Intermediate certificate to a Root certificate. Don’t do this. Root certificates are installed on client machines, not on NetScaler. NetScaler must never send the root certificate to the client device.

Export Certificate Files from NetScaler

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

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

Default Management Certificate Key Length

To see the key size for the management certificate, right-click the ns-server-certificate (Server Certificate), and then click Details.

If the management certificate key size is less than 2048 bits, simply delete the existing ns-server-certificate certificate files, and reboot. NetScaler will create a new management certificate with 2048-bit keys.

  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 the System node, 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.

High Availability – When a management certificate is installed on one node of a High Availability pair, the certificate is synchronized to the other node, and used for the other node’s NSIP. So make sure the management certificate matches the DNS 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’s NSIP. Example: ns01.corp.local and ns02.corp.local
  • The shortnames (left label) for each node’s NSIP. Example: ns01 and ns02
  • The NSIP IP address of each node. 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

Request Management Certificate

If you are creating a Subject Alternative Name certificate, it’s probably easiest to request a SAN certificate from an internal CA using the MMC Certificates snap-in on a Windows box.:

  1. Open the MMC certificates snap-in by running certlm.msc on a Windows 2012 or newer machine.
  2. Go to Personal, right-click Certificate, expand All Tasks, and click Request New Certificate.
  3. A web server certificate template should let you specify subject information.
  4. In the top half, change the Subject name > Type drop-down to Common Name. Enter a DNS name, and click Add to move it to the right.
  5. In the bottom half, change the Alternative Name > Type drop-down to either DNS or IP address (v4). Type in different names or IPs as detailed earlier, and click Add to move them to the right.

  6. On the Private Key tab, expand Key Options, and make sure Mark private key as exportable is checked.
  7. Then finish Enrolling the certificate.
  8. Export the certificate and Private Key to a .pfx file.

  9. On the NetScaler, if you want to encrypt the private key, then use the Traffic Management > SSL > Import PKCS#12 tool to convert the .pfx to PEM format.

  10. Then follow one of the procedures below to replace the management certificate.

Methods of replacing the Management Certificate

There are two methods of replacing the management certificate:

  • In the NetScaler GUI, right-click ns-server-certificate, and click Update. This automatically updates all of the Internal Services bindings too. This method is intended for dedicated management certificates, not wildcard certificates. Notes:
    • You cannot rename the ns-server-certificate in the NetScaler GUI. It remains as ns-server-certificate.
    • ns-server-certificate cannot be bound to Virtual Servers. So make sure you are replacing it with a dedicated management certificate.
  • Or manually Bind a new management certificate to each of the Internal Services.

Update Certificate Method

The Update Certificate button method is detailed below:

  1. You can’t update the certificate while connected to the NetScaler using https, so make sure you connect using http.
  2. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand SSL, expand Certificates, and click Server Certificates.
  3. On the right, right-click ns-server-certificate, and click Update.
  4. Check the box next to Click to update the certificate and key.
  5. Click Choose File, and browse to the new management certificate. It could be on the appliance, or it could be on your local machine.
  6. If the PEM private key 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.

Manual Binding Method

The manual Binding to Internal Services method is detailed below:

  1. You can’t update the certificate while connected to the NetScaler using https, so make sure you connect using http.
  2. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand SSL, expand Certificates, and click Server Certificates.
  3. On the right, use the Install button to install the new management certificate.

  4. Go to Traffic Management > Load Balancing > Services.
  5. On the right, switch to the Internal Services tab.
  6. Right-click one of the services, and click Edit.
  7. Scroll down, and click where it says 1 Server Certificate.
  8. Click Add Binding.
  9. Click where it says Click to select.
  10. Click the circle next to the new management certificate, and click Select.
  11. Click Bind, and click Close.
  12. Click Close.
  13. If Default SSL Profile is not enabled, then you can modify the SSL Parameters and/or Ciphers on each of these Internal Services.
  14. Repeat for the rest of the internal services. There should be at least 6 services. Additional Internal Services are created for SNIPs with management access enabled, and High Availability.

Force Management SSL

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

  1. Connect to the NSIP using https.
  2. On the left, expand System, expand Network, and click IPs.
  3. On the right, right-click your NetScaler IP, and click Edit.
  4. Near the bottom, check the box next to Secure access only, and then click OK.
  5. If you are connected using http, the page will reload using https.
    set ns ip 10.2.2.126 -gui SECUREONLY
  6. Repeat this procedure on the secondary appliance.
  7. Repeat for any SNIPs that have management access enabled.

Also see:

SSL Certificate – Update

There are two options for updating a certificate:

  • Create or Import a new certificate to NetScaler > Traffic Management > SSL > Certificates > Server Certificates. Then find all of the places the original certificate is bound, and manually replace the original certificate binding with the new certificate. This method is obviously prone to errors.
  • On NetScaler, simply right-click the existing certificate, and click Update. This automatically updates all of the bindings. Much faster and easier.

To update a certificate using the Update method:

  1. Create an updated certificate, and export it as .pfx file (with private key). Don’t install the certificate onto NetScaler yet, but instead, simply have access to the .pfx file.
  2. In NetScaler, navigate to Traffic Management > SSL > Certificates > Server Certificates.
  3. On the right, right-click the certificate you intend to update, and click Update.
  4. Check the box next to Update the certificate and key.
  5. Click Choose File > Local, and browse to the updated .pfx file.
  6. NetScaler will prompt you to specify the .pfx file password.
  7. Click OK. This will automatically update every Virtual Server on which this certificate is bound.
  8. Intermediate certificate – After replacing the certificate, you might have to update the cert link to a new Intermediate certificate.
    1. Right-click the updated certificate, and click Cert Links, to see if it is currently linked to an intermediate certificate.
    2. If not, right-click the updated certificate, and click Link, to link it to an intermediate certificate. If it doesn’t give you an option to link it to, then you’ll first have to install the new intermediate certificate on the NetScaler.

Certificates can also be updated in NetScaler Management and Analytics System.

Certificates can be updated from the CLI by running update ssl certKey MyCert. However, the certificate files must be stored somewhere on the appliance, and already be in PEM format.

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EUC Weekly Digest – August 12, 2017

August 12, 2017, 6:11 am
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Here are some EUC items I found interesting last week. For more immediate updates, follow me at http://twitter.com/cstalhood.

For a list of updates at carlstalhood.com, see the Detailed Change Log.

 

Citrix

XenApp/XenDesktop

VDA

App Layering (Unidesk)

StoreFront

NetScaler

NetScaler MAS

NetScaler SD-WAN

XenMobile

ShareFile

VMware

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Delivery Controller 7.15 LTSR and Licensing

August 12, 2017, 7:00 am
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Navigation

💡 = Recently Updated

Upgrade

If you are performing a new install of XenApp/XenDesktop Controller, then skip to the next section.

You can upgrade directly from any Delivery Controller version 5.6 or newer.

Before upgrading, if you have a standalone Citrix Licensing Server, upgrade it to 11.14.1.1 build 21103.

During the upgrade of Delivery Controller, be aware that a database upgrade is required. Either get a DBA to grant you temporary sysadmin permission, or use Citrix Studio to generate SQL scripts that a DBA must then run in SQL Studio.

  1. Frequent updates/upgrades– XenApp and XenDesktop 7.15 is a Long Term Service Release (LTSR).
    • To stay on Current Release (CR), you’re expected to upgrade to the future 7.16 to receive bug fixes, and new features, which might include new bugs.
    • LTSR means you’re expected to install future Cumulative Updates for 7.15 to receive bug fixes, but no new features.
  2. OS Upgrade – If you are currently have 7.6 LTSR Controllers on Windows Server 2012 R2, and want to migrate to Windows Server 2016 Controllers, then do the following:
    1. In-place upgrade your Windows Server 2012 R2 Controllers to 7.15 LTSR.
    2. Build a couple new Windows Server 2016 VMs with 7.15 LTSR Controller and join them to the existing site/farm.
    3. Edit the ListOfDDCs registry key on each VDA to point to the new Controllers.
    4. Edit StoreFront Console > MyStore > Manage Delivery Controllers, and point to the new Controllers.
    5. Adjust monitoring tools to point to the new Controllers. For example, if using Citrix SCOM, deploy the Citrix SCOM Agents to the new Controllers, and remove from the old Controllers.
    6. If other components are installed on the old Controllers, move those components to the new Controllers.
    7. Remove the Windows Server 2012 R2 Controllers from Citrix Studio (Configuration > Controllers > Remove Controller), which removes them from the database.
    8. Decommission the Windows Server 2012 R2 Controllers.
  3. SCOM Agent – If StoreFront is installed on the Controller, and if the Citrix SCOM Agent for StoreFront is installed, stop the Citrix MPSF Agent service. See CTX220935 Cannot Perform a StoreFront Upgrade if Citrix SCOM Management Pack Agent Service is Running.
  4. Close PowerShell and Consoles. Make sure all Citrix Consoles and PowerShell consoles are closed. StoreFront won’t upgrade if any are running. If StoreFront fails, then the StoreFront configuration is wiped out.
  5. Other Users – Use Task Manager > Users tab to logoff any other user currently logged into the machine.
  6. Snapshot. If StoreFront is installed on the Controller, take a snapshot before attempting the upgrade.
    1. Another option is to export the StoreFront configuration so you can restore it later if something goes wrong.
  7. Download the XenApp/XenDesktop 7.15 LTSR ISO.
  8. Before upgrading, open PowerShell and run the following. 
    asnp citrix*
Get-TrustDBConnection

    1. If you don’t see a returned value, then you’ll need to run additional commands to fix the Trust Database Connection as detailed at Known Issues at Citrix Docs 
      $cs = Get-ConfigDBConnection
Set-TrustDBConnection –DBConnection $cs
  9. Run AutoSelect.exe from the 7.15 LTSR ISO.
  10. On the top left, click Studio and Server Components.
  11. In the Licensing Agreement page, select I have read, understand, and accept the terms, and click Next.
  12. In the Ensure Successful Upgrade page, read the steps, check the box next to I’m ready to continue, and click Next.
  13. In the Firewall page, click Next.
  14. In the Summary page, click Upgrade.
  15. If you see a Running Processes window, close the listed programs, and click Continue.
  16. Click OK when asked to start the upgrade.
  17. In the Smart Tools page, make a selection. If participating, click Connect, login with Citrix Cloud or mycitrix.com credentials, and then click Next. See Citrix Insight Services at Citrix Docs for more information on these options.

  18. In the Finish page, check the box next to Launch Studio, and click Finish.

Studio – Upgrade Database, Catalogs, and Delivery Groups

  1. After Citrix Studio launches, if you have sysadmin permissions on SQL, then click Start the automatic Site upgrade. If you don’t have full permission, then get a DBA to help you, click Manually upgrade this site, and follow the instructions.

  2. If you choose to Manually upgrade this site, then note that there might not be an upgrade for the Logging Database schema, depending on what version you are upgrading from.

  3. After all Controllers and VDAs are upgraded, right-click the Catalogs, and click Upgrade Catalog. Note: 7.9 is the newest minimum functional level. You won’t see an option for 7.15. If your Catalogs are already set to VDA version 7.9, then there’s no need to upgrade the Catalogs or Delivery Groups.


  4. Then do the same for the Delivery Groups. Note: 7.9 is the newest minimum functional level. You won’t see an option for 7.15. If your Delivery Groups are already set to VDA version 7.9, then no upgrade is needed.


Other XenApp/XenDesktop components can also be in-place upgraded:

New Install Preparation

Frequent updates/upgrades– XenApp and XenDesktop 7.15 is a Long Term Service Release (LTSR).

  • To stay on Current Release (CR), you’re expected to upgrade to the future 7.16 to receive bug fixes, and new features, which might include new bugs.
  • LTSR means you’re expected to install future Cumulative Updates for 7.15 to receive bug fixes, but no new features.

Automation – If you want to automate the install of Delivery Controllers, see Dennis Span Citrix Delivery Controller unattended installation with PowerShell and SCCM.

Citrix Licensing – If you are going to use an existing Citrix Licensing Server, upgrade it to 11.14.1.1 build 21103.

Note: multiple license types (but not multiple editions) are supported in a single farm. See CTX223926 How to Configure Multiple License Types within a Single XenApp and XenDesktop Site.

SQL Databases

  • Citrix CTX209080 Database Sizing Tool for XenDesktop 7
  • Citrix article CTX114501 – Supported Databases for XenApp and XenDesktop Components
  • There are typically three databases: one for the Site (aka farm), one for Logging (audit log) and one for Monitoring (Director).
    • The name of the monitoring database must not have any spaces in it. See CTX200325 Database Naming Limitation when Citrix Director Accesses Monitoring Data Using OData APIs
    • If you want Citrix Studio to create the SQL databases automatically, then the person running Studio must be a sysadmin on the SQL instances. No lesser SQL role will work. sysadmin permissions can be granted temporarily and revoked after installation.
    • As an alternative, you can use Citrix Studio to create SQL scripts, and then run those scripts on the SQL server. In that case, the person running the scripts only needs the dbcreator and securityadmin roles.
    • It is possible to create the databases in advance. However, you must use the non-default Latin1_General_100_CI_AS_KS collation.
  • If SQL 2016 Standard Edition or newer, create a Basic Availability Group.
    • Basic Availability Groups (BAG) only need SQL Standard Edition licensing. You need two SQL Standard Edition servers, plus a file share witness.
      • If you have SQL Enterprise Edition, then you can do AlwaysOn Availability Groups (AAG) instead. BAG is a subset of AAG.
    • In SQL Standard Edition, each of the three Citrix databases requires a separate Basic Availability Group.
      • In SQL Enterprise Edition, you can combine all three databases into a single AlwaysOn Availability Group.
    • Each Basic Availability Group has an AAG listener. For three databases, that means three listeners, three DNS names, and three IP addresses. Point XenDesktop to the listeners.
    • To setup SQL Basic Availability Group, see Carl Webster Implementing Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Standard Basic Availability Groups for Use in Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop 7.9.
  • If SQL 2014 or older, Citrix recommends SQL Mirroring because it has the fastest failover.
    • SQL Mirroring requires two SQL Standard Edition servers, and one SQL Express for the witness server.
    • You can setup SQL Mirroring either before installing XenDesktop, or after installing XenDesktop. If after, then see Citrix CTX140319 How to Migrate XenDesktop Database to New SQL Server to manually change XenDesktop’s database connection strings.
    • To setup SQL Mirroring, see Rob Cartwright: Configure SQL Mirroring For Use With XenDesktop, XenApp, and PVS Databases.
    • If you try to stretch the mirror across datacenters, the SQL witness must be placed in a third datacenter that has connectivity to the other two datacenters. However, stretching a single XenApp/XenDesktop site/farm and corresponding SQL mirror across datacenters is not recommended.
  • AlwaysOn Availability Groups and SQL Clustering are also supported. However, these features require the much more expensive SQL Enterprise Edition.

Windows Features

  • Installing Group Policy Management on the Delivery Controller lets you edit GPOs and have access to the Citrix Policies node in the GPO Editor. Or you can install Citrix Studio on a different machine that has GPMC installed.

vSphere

  • Create a role in vSphere Client. Assign a service account to the role at the Datacenter or higher level.

Delivery Controller Install

  1. A typical size for the Controller VMs is 2-4 vCPU and 8+ GB of RAM. If all components (Delivery Controller, StoreFront, Licensing, Director, SQL Express) are installed on one server, then you might want to bump up memory to 10 GB or 12 GB.
  2. From Local Host Cache sizing and scaling at Citrix Docs:
    1. For LHC LocalDB, assign the Controller VMs a single socket with multiple cores.
    2. Add two cores for LHC.
    3. Add at least three more Gigs of RAM and watch the memory consumption.
    4. Since there’s no control over LHC election, ensure all Controllers have the same specs.
  3. Make sure the User Right Log on as a service includes NT SERVICE\ALL SERVICES or add NT SERVICE\CitrixTelemetryService to the User Right.
  4. Download the XenApp/XenDesktop 7.15 ISO.
  5. On two Delivery Controllers, to install the Delivery Controller software, run AutoSelect.exe from the 7.15 ISO.
  6. Click Start next to either XenApp or XenDesktop. The only difference is the product name displayed in the installation wizard.
  7. On the top left, click Delivery Controller.
  8. In the Licensing Agreement page, select I have read, understand, and accept the terms, and click Next.
  9. In the Core Components page, you can install all components on one server, or on separate servers. Splitting them out is only necessary in large environments, or if you have multiple farms, and want to share the Licensing, StoreFront, and Director components across those farms. Click Next.
  10. In the Features page, uncheck the box next to Install Microsoft SQL Server 2014 SP2 Express, and click Next.
  11. In the Firewall page, click Next.
  12. In the Summary page, click Install.
  13. In the Call Home page, make a selection, click Connect, enter your Citrix Cloud or MyCitrix.com credentials, and then click Next.



  14. In the Finish page, click Finish. Studio will automatically launch.
  15. Ensure the two Controller VMs do not run on the same hypervisor host. Create an anti-affinity rule.

Create Site – Create Database

There are several methods of creating the databases for XenApp/XenDesktop:

  • If you have sysadmin permissions to SQL, let Citrix Studio create the databases automatically.
  • If you don’t have sysadmin permissions to SQL, then use Citrix Studio to generate SQL scripts, and send them to a DBA.

Use Studio to Create Database Automatically

  1. Launch Citrix Studio. After it loads, click Deliver applications and desktops to your users.
  2. In the Introduction page, select An empty, unconfigured site. This reduces the number of pages in this Setup wizard. The other pages will be configured later.
  3. Enter a Site Name (aka farm name), and click Next. Only administrators see the farm name.
  4. In the Databases page, if you are building two Controllers, click Select near the bottom of the same page.
    1. Click Add.
    2. Enter the FQDN of the second Controller, and click OK. Note: the Delivery Controller software must already be installed on that second machine.
    3. Then click Save.
  5. If the person running Citrix Studio has sysadmin permissions to the SQL Server, then enter the SQL server name/instance in the three Location fields, and click Next.
  6. If you don’t have sysadmin permission, the jump to the SQL Scripts section below.
  7. On the Licensing page, enter the name of the Citrix License Server, and click Connect. If you installed Licensing with your Delivery Controller, then simply enter localhost.
  8. If the Certificate Authentication appears, select Connect me, and click Confirm.T
  9. Then select your license, and click Next. See CTX223926 How to Configure Multiple License Types within a Single XenApp and XenDesktop Site.
  10. In the Summary page, if your databases are mirrored or in an Availability Group, each database will show high availability servers, and the name of the Mirror server. Click Finish.

  11. It will take some time for the site to be created.

Use Studio to create SQL scripts

  1. If you don’t have sysadmin permissions, change the selection to Generate scripts to manually set up databases on the database server. Change the database names if desired, and click Next.
  2. In the Summary page, click Generate scripts.
  3. A folder will open with six scripts. Edit each of the scripts.
  4. Near the top of each script are two lines to create the database. Uncomment both lines (including the go line). Then save and close the file.

  5. Once all of the scripts are edited, you can send them to your DBA.
    1. On the Principal SQL Server, open the file Site_Principal.sql.

    2. Open the Query menu, and click SQLCMD Mode to enable it.
    3. Then execute the script.
    4. If SQLCMD mode was enabled properly, then the output should look something like this:
    5. If you have a mirrored database, run the second script on the mirror SQL instance. Make sure SQLCMD mode is enabled.
    6. Repeat for the Logging_Principal.sql script.
    7. You’ll have to enable SQLCMD Mode for each script you open.


    8. Repeat for the Monitoring_Principal.sql script.
    9. Once again enable SQLCMD Mode.


    10. The person running Citrix Studio must be added to the SQL Server as a SQL Login, and granted the public server role, so that account can enumerate the databases.

  6. Back in Citrix Studio, click the Continue database configuration and Site setup button.
  7. In the Databases page, enter the SQL server name, and instance name, and click Next.

  8. On the Licensing page, enter the name of the Citrix License Server, and click Connect. If you installed Licensing with your Delivery Controller, then simply enter localhost.
  9. If the Certificate Authentication appears, select Connect me, and click Confirm.T
  10. Then select your license, and click Next. See CTX223926 How to Configure Multiple License Types within a Single XenApp and XenDesktop Site.
  11. In the Summary page, if your databases are mirrored, each database will show high availability servers, and the name of the Mirror server. Click Finish.

  12. It will take some time for the site to be created.

Verify Database Mirroring

If your database is mirrored, when you run asnp citrix.* and then run get-brokerdbconnection, you’ll see the Failover Partner in the database connection string.

Second Controller

When building the first Delivery Controller, the scripts might have already included the second Delivery Controller. Thus no special SQL permissions are needed. If the second Delivery Controller has not already been added to the SQL databases, then there are several methods of adding a second Controller to the databases for XenApp/XenDesktop:

  • If you have sysadmin permissions to SQL, let Citrix Studio modify the databases automatically.
  • If you don’t have sysadmin permissions to SQL then use Citrix Studio to generate SQL scripts and send them to a DBA.

To use Citrix Studio to create the SQL Scripts:

  1. On the first Delivery Controller, if StoreFront is installed on the Controller, then delete the default StoreFront store (/Citrix/Store), and recreate it with your desired Store name (e.g. /Citrix/CompanyStore).
  2. On the second Delivery Controller, install XenDesktop as detailed earlier.
  3. After running Studio, click Connect this Delivery Controller to an existing Site.
  4. Enter the name of the first Delivery Controller, and click OK.
  5. If you don’t have full SQL permissions (sysadmin), click No when asked if you want to update the database automatically.
  6. Click Generate scripts.
  7. A folder will open with six scripts. If not mirroring, then the top three scripts need to be sent to a DBA. If mirroring, send all six.
  8. On the SQL Server, open one of the .sql files.

  9. Open the Query menu, and click SQLCMD Mode.
  10. Then execute the XenDesktop script.
  11. If SQLCMD mode was enabled properly, then the output should look something like this:
  12. Repeat for the remaining script files.
  13. Back in Citrix Studio, click OK.
  14. In Citrix Studio, under Configuration > Controllers, you should see both controllers.
  15. You can also test the site again if desired.

Studio – Slow Launch

From B.J.M. Groenhout at Citrix Discussions: The following adjustments can be made if Desktop Studio (and other Citrix management Consoles) will start slowly:

  • Within Internet Explorer, go to Tools – Internet Options – Tab Advanced – Section Security, and uncheck the option Check for publisher’s certificate revocation

After adjustment Desktop Studio (MMC) will be started immediately. Without adjustment it may take some time before Desktop Studio (MMC) is started.

Registry setting (can be deployed using Group Policy Preferences):

  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WinTrust\Trust Providers\Software Publishing
    • “State“=dword:00023e00

Concurrent Logon Hard Limit

From Samuel Legrand XenApp 7.14 – (Really) Manage a DR! – Citrix Policies has a setting called Concurrent Logon Tolerance. However, it is not a hard limit, meaning once the limits are reached, it continues to let users connect. You can configure the Controllers to make it a hard limit by setting the following registry value:

  • HKLM\Software\Policies\Citrix\DesktopServer
    • LogonToleranceIsHardLimit (DWORD) = 1

Local Host Cache

If you have 10,000 or fewer VDAs per zone (up to 40,000 VDAs per multi-zone site/farm), you can enable Local Host Cache (LHC) instead of Connection Leasing. LHC allows new sessions to be started even if SQL database is unavailable. VDA limits for LHC are higher in 7.15 than previous versions of XenApp/XenDesktop.

From Local Host Cache sizing and scaling at Citrix Docs:

  1. For LHC LocalDB, assign the Controller VMs a single socket with multiple cores.
  2. Add two cores for LHC.
  3. Add at least three more Gigs of RAM and watch the memory consumption.
  4. Since there’s no control over LHC election, ensure all Controllers have the same specs.
  5. The Docs article has scripts for monitoring LHC performance.

From XenApp 7.12, LHC and a reboot at Citrix Discussions:

  • If the rebooted DDC is the elected one, a different DDC will take over (causing registration storm) and when the DDC gets back, it will take over brokering causing second registration storm. Site will sort itself out and all will work.
  • If the rebooted DDC is not the elected one, it will not impact any functionality.
  • If you turn the DDC down when site is working, and start it during outage, LHC will not trigger on that machine. This DDC will not impact the LHC unless it would become the elected one. In that scenario it will take control, however not start LHC and resources would not be available.

For Windows Server 2008 R2 Controllers, PowerShell 3, or newer, is required. See LHC XD 7.12 and W2K8SR2 SP1 at Citrix Discussions.

If you did a fresh install of 7.15, then Local Host Cache should be enabled by default. You can run Get-BrokerSite to confirm. (run asnp citrix.* first).

If not enabled, you can run some PowerShell commands to enable Local Host Cache:

asnp citrix.*
Set-BrokerSite -ConnectionLeasingEnabled $false
Set-BrokerSite -LocalHostCacheEnabled $true

George Spiers Local Host Cache XenApp & XenDesktop 7.12 shows the Event Log entries when LHC is enabled.

Database Maintenance

Enable Read-Committed Snapshot

The XenDesktop Database can become heavily utilized under load in a large environment. Therefore Citrix recommends enabling the Read_Committed_Snapshot option on the XenDesktop databases to remove contention on the database from read queries. This can improve the interactivity of Studio and Director. It should be noted that this option may increase the load on the tempdb files. See Citrix article CTX137161 How to Enable Read-Committed Snapshot in XenDesktop for configuration instructions.

Change Database Connection Strings

Sometimes the database connection strings need to be modified:

  • When moving the SQL databases to a different SQL server
  • For AlwaysOn Availability Groups, to add MultiSubnetFailover to the SQL connection strings
  • For SQL mirroring, to add Failover Partner to the SQL connection strings

From Citrix Docs Update database connection strings when using SQL Server high availability solutions: Citrix offers several PowerShell scripts that update XenApp and XenDesktop database connection strings when you are using SQL Server high availability database solutions such as AlwaysOn and mirroring. The scripts, which use the XenApp and XenDesktop PowerShell API, are:

  • DBConnectionStringFuncs.ps1: The core script that does the actual work. This script contains common functions that the other scripts use.
  • Change_XD_Failover_Partner_v1.ps1: Updates (adds, changes, or removes) the failover partner. This script prompts for the failover partner location (FQDN) for each database. (Providing a blank failover partner removes the failover partner. You can also use the ClearPartner option to remove a partner.) Do not set the failover partner to the same location as the principal database server.
  • Change_XD_To_ConnectionString.ps1: Uses the provided connection strings to update the connection strings to the databases. This script ensures that certain Citrix services are up and running, and then updates those services in the correct order on all Controllers in the site. Enclose connection string information for each database in quotes.
  • Change_XD_To_MultiSubnetFailover.ps1: Toggles the addition and removal of MultiSubnetFailover=true. If you use AlwaysOn Availability Groups, Microsoft recommends that the connection string include MultiSubnetFailover=true. This option speeds up recovery when a high availability event occurs, and is recommended for both single and multi-subnet environments. Run this script once to add the option. Run the script again to remove it.
  • Change_XD_To_Null.ps1: Resets all the connection strings on the localhost because something has gone wrong. By resetting the connection strings to null, this script places the Controller into an “initial” state. If you run Studio after running this script, you’ll be asked if you want to create a site or join an existing site. This is useful if something has gone wrong and a reset is needed. After the reset, you can try again to set the connection strings.

CTX140319 How to Migrate XenDesktop Database to New SQL Server has the correctly ordered list of PowerShell commands to change the database connection strings. Make sure PowerShell is running as administrator before running these commands.

Here are the DB Connections that must be changed. This list might be longer than the article. When using the article, make sure you include all of the DB Connections shown below. You can get the full list of database commands by running Get-Command Set-*DBConnection. When changing the DB connections, AdminDBConnection must be the last to be set to NULL, and the first to be configured with the new connection string.

Set-ConfigDBConnection -DBConnection $null
Set-AppLibDBConnection –DBConnection $null    #7.8 and newer
Set-OrchDBConnection –DBConnection $null      #7.11 and newer
Set-TrustDBConnection –DBConnection $null     #7.11 and newer
Set-AcctDBConnection -DBConnection $null
Set-AnalyticsDBConnection -DBConnection $null
Set-HypDBConnection -DBConnection $null
Set-ProvDBConnection -DBConnection $null
Set-BrokerDBConnection -DBConnection $null
Set-EnvTestDBConnection -DBConnection $null
Set-SfDBConnection -DBConnection $null
Set-MonitorDBConnection -DataStore Monitor -DBConnection $null   #Monitoring Database
Set-MonitorDBConnection -DBConnection $null                      #Site Database
Set-LogDBConnection -DataStore Logging -DBConnection $null       #Logging Database
Set-LogDBConnection -DBConnection $null                          #Site Database
Set-AdminDBConnection -DBConnection $null -force

Director Grooming

If XenDesktop is not Platinum Edition, then all historical Director data is groomed at 30 days.

For XenDesktop/XenApp Platinum Edition, by default, most of the historical Director data is groomed at 90 days. This can be adjusted up to 367 days by running a PowerShell cmdlet.

  1. On a Delivery Controller, run PowerShell elevated (as administrator), and run asnp Citrix.*
  2. Run Get-MonitorConfiguration to see the current grooming settings.
  3. Run Set-MonitorConfiguration to change the grooming settings.

View Logging Database

To view the contents of the Logging Database, in Studio, click the Logging node. On the right is Create Custom Report. See Citrix article CTX138132 Viewing Configuration Logging Data Not Shown for more info.

The Logging Database can be queried using Get-LogLowLevelOperation. See Stefan Beckmann Get user who set maintenance mode for a server or client for an example script that uses this PowerShell cmdlet.

Maintain Logging Database

Citrix CTX215069 Troubleshooting and managing Oversized Configuration Logging database: The article’s queries can be used to determine the number of configuration operation types performed by XenDesktop Administrator, and to analyze the content of the Configuration Logging database when it is considered oversized. A grooming query is also provided to delete data older than a specified date.

Export/Import Configuration

Ryan Butler has a PowerShell script that can export configuration from one XenDesktop farm and import it to another.

Studio Administrators

Full Administrators

  1. In the Studio, under Configuration, click the Administrators node. The first time you access the node you’ll see a Welcome page. Feel free to check the box to Don’t show this again, and then click Close.
  2. On the Administrators tab, right-click, and click Create Administrator.
  3. In the Administrator and Scope page, Browse to a group (e.g. Citrix Admins) that will have permissions to Studio and Director. These groups typically have access to all objects, so select the All scope. Alternatively, you can create a Scope to limit the objects. Click Next.
  4. On the Role page, select a role, and then click Next. For example:
    • Full Administrator for the Citrix Admins group
    • Help Desk Administrator for the Help Desk group
    • Machine Catalog Administrator for the desktop team
  5. In the Summary page, click Finish.

Help Desk

  1. In the Studio, under Configuration, click the Administrators node. On the Administrators tab, right-click, and click Create Administrator.
  2. In the Administrator and Scope page, Browse to a Help Desk group that will have permissions to Studio and Director. Select the All scope. And click Next.
  3. On the Role page, select the Help Desk Administrator role, and then click Next.
  4. In the Summary page, click Finish.
  5. When administrators in the Help Desk role log into Director, all they see is this.

    To jazz it up a little, add the Help Desk group to the read-only role.
  6. Right-click the Help Desk Administrator, and click Edit Administrator.
  7. Click Add.
  8. In the Scope page, select a scope, and click Next.
  9. In the Role page, select Read Only Administrator, and click Next.
  10. In the Summary page, click Finish.
  11. Then click OK. Now Director will display the dashboard.

Customer Experience Improvement Program

XenApp/XenDesktop 7.15 enables CEIP by default. If desired, you can disable it in Citrix Studio:

  1. On the left, go to the Configuration node.
  2. On the right, switch to the Product Support tab.
  3. Click End.
  4. Click Yes.

Each XenApp/XenDesktop component has a separate configuration for disabling Customer Experience Improvement Program:

vCenter Connection

XenDesktop uses an Active Directory service account to log into vCenter. This account needs specific permissions in vCenter. To facilitate assigning these permissions, create a new vCenter role and assign it to the XenDesktop service account. The permissions should be applied at the datacenter or higher level.

Hosting Resources

A Hosting Resource = vCenter + Cluster (Resource Pool) + Storage + Network. When you create a machine catalog, you select a previously defined Hosting Resource, and the Cluster, Storage, and Network defined in the Hosting Resource object are automatically selected. If you need some desktops on a different Cluster+Storage+Network then you’ll need to define more Hosting Resources in Studio.

  1. In Studio, expand Configuration and click Hosting. Right-click it, and click Add Connection and Resources.
  2. In the Connection page, for Connection type, select VMware vSphere.
  3. Notice there’s a Learn about user permissions blue link to an article that describes the necessary permissions.
  4. Enter https://vcenter01.corp.local/sdk as the vCenter URL. The URL must contain the FQDN of the vCenter server.
  5. Enter credentials of a service account that can log into vCenter.
  6. In the Connection name field, give the connection a name. Typically, this matches the name of the vCenter server.
  7. If you are not using Machine Creation Services, and instead only need the vCenter connection for machine power management, change the Create virtual machines using selection to Other Tools. If you intend to use MCS, leave it set to Studio Tools.
  8. Click Next.
  9. If you see a message about the vCenter certificate, check the box next to Trust certificate, and click OK.
  10. Note: this vCenter certificate thumbprint is stored in the XenDesktop database, and is not updated when the vCenter certificate changes. See CTX217415 Cannot connect to the VCenter server due to a certificate error for instructions on manually updating the database with the new certificate thumbprint.
  11. In the Storage Management page, click Browse, and select a vSphere cluster. Note: as detailed at CTX223662, make sure there’s no comma in the datacenter name.
  12. Select Use storage shared by hypervisors.
  13. If you have sufficient disk space on each ESXi host, also select Optimize temporary data on available local storage. From Mark Syms at XA 7.9 MCS with RAM Caching at Citrix Discussions: “If you use just MCS caching to local storage then the VM is not agile at all and cannot be moved even when powered off as it has a virtual disk permanently associated with a single host.”
  14. From Martin Rowan at XA 7.9 MCS with RAM Caching at Citrix Discussions: for the temporary cache disk, “Don’t format it, the raw disk is what MCS caching uses.”
  15. Click Next.
  16. In the Storage Selection page, OS and Personal vDisk must be selected on at least one datastore. For maximum flexibility, only select one datastore. To select additional datastores, run this wizard again to create a separate Hosting Resource.
  17. If you selected the temporary data on local storage option, on the bottom, click Select, and choose the datastores you want to use for disk caching. By default, all local datastores are selected. Click Next when done.
  18. In the Network page, enter a name for the hosting resource. Since each hosting resource is a combination of vCenter, Cluster, Network, and Datastores, include those names in this field (e.g. vCenter01-Cluster01-Network01-Datastore01).
  19. Select a network and click Next.
  20. In the Summary page, click Finish.
  21. If you have multiple datastores for your VDAs, run the wizard again.
  22. You can use the existing vCenter connection.
  23. This time, select a different datastore.
  24. Give it a name that indicates the chosen datastore.
  25. When you create a Catalog, select the Hosting Resource for the datastore where you want the VDAs to be placed. Create additional Catalogs for each datastore. You can then combine the Catalogs into a single Delivery Group.
  26. Later in the Catalog wizard, you’re given an option to enable caching and select a cache size. This is similar to Provisioning Services option “Cache in RAM with overflow to disk”.
  27. If you rename Storage, Network, or Datacenters, see Citrix CTX225019 XA/XD 7.13: Renaming Storage, Network or Datacenters When Used With MCS or PVS. Either run Update-HypHypervisorConnection -LiteralPath "XDHyp:\Connections\MyConnection", or right-click the Hosting Resource and click Edit Storage. You can cancel the wizard.  💡

Citrix Licensing Server

Upgrade

XenApp/XenDesktop 7.15 comes with 11.14.1.1 build 21103.

If you have a standalone Licensing Server, upgrade it to Citrix Licensing 11.14.1.1 build 21103, if it isn’t already.

  1. Go to the downloaded Citrix Licensing 11.14.1.1 build 21103, and run CitrixLicensing.exe.

  2. If you see the Subscription Advantage Renewal page, make a selection, and click Next.
  3. In the Upgrade page, click Upgrade.
  4. Click Finish.
  5. If you go to Programs and Features, it should now show version 14.1.0.21103.
  6. If you login to the license server web console, on the Administration tab…
  7. It shows it as version 11.14.1.1 build 21103.
  8. You can also view the version in the registry at HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Citrix\LicenseServer\Install.

License Server CEIP

11.14.1.1 build 19005 and newer enables CEIP by default. This can be disabled in the Citrix Licensing Manager (https://localhost:8083) by clicking the gear icon.

Scroll down to Share usage statistics with Citrix and make a selection.

Citrix License Management Service

Version 11.14.0.1 and newer include the Citrix License Management Service. This service helps you avoid prohibited practices:

  • Duplication of licenses outside a Disaster Recovery (DR) environment
  • Use of legacy licenses for new product versions
  • Use of rescinded licenses

Citrix License Server Monitoring

Citrix Licensing 11.13.1 and newer has historical usage reporting:

  1. Run Citrix Licensing Manager from the Start Menu. Or use a browser to connect to https://MyLicenseServer:8083
  2. Use the drop-down menus to select a license type, select dates, and export to a .csv file.
  3. The Update Licenses tab lets you check for renewals and download them.
  4. On the top right is a gear icon where you can set the historical retention period and configure SA license auto-renewal.

Jonathan Medd Monitor Citrix License Usage With PowerShell.

Lal Mohan – Citrix License Usage Monitoring Using Powershell

Jaroslaw Sobel – Monitoring Citrix Licenses usage – Graphs using WMI, Powershell and RRDtool. This script generates a graph similar to the following:

Remote Desktop Licensing Server

Install Remote Desktop Licensing Server

Do the following on your XenDesktop Controllers:

  1. In Server Manager, open the Manage menu, and click Add Roles and Features.
  2. In the Installation Type page, select Role-based or feature-based installation.
  3. Click Next until you get to the Server Roles page. Check the box next to Remote Desktop Services, and click Next.
  4. Click Next until you get to the Role Services page. Check the box next to Remote Desktop Licensing, and click Next.
  5. Click Add Features if prompted.
  6. Then finish the wizard to install the role service.

Activate Remote Desktop Licensing

  1. After RD Licensing is installed, in Server Manager, open the Tool menu, expand Terminal Services (or Remote Desktop Services), and click Remote Desktop Licensing Manager.
  2. The tool should find the local server. If it does not, right-click All servers, click Connect, and type in the name of the local server.
  3. Once the local server can be seen in the list, right-click the server and click Activate Server.
  4. In the Welcome to the Activate Server Wizard page, click Next.
  5. In the Connection Method page, click Next.
  6. In the Company Information page, enter the required information, and click Next.
  7. All of the fields on the Company Information page are optional, so you do not have to enter anything. Click Next.
  8. In the Completing the Activate Server Wizard page, uncheck the box next to Start Install Licenses Wizard now, and click Finish. Since the session hosts will be configured to pull Per User licenses, there is no need to install licenses on the RD Licensing Server.
  9. In RD Licensing Manager, right-click the server, and click Review Configuration.
  10. Ensure you have green check marks. If the person installing Remote Desktop Licensing does not have permissions to add the server to the Terminal Server License Servers group in Active Directory, ask a domain admin to do it manually. If you have the proper permissions, click Add to Group.
  11. Click Continue when prompted that you must have Domain Admins privileges.
  12. Click OK when prompted that the computer account has been added.
  13. Click OK to close the window.

Smart Check

Citrix Cloud offers a Smart Check service that can scan your XenApp/XenDesktop infrastructure for known issues.

To run Smart Check:

  1. Go to https://citrix.cloud.com, and login.
  2. After logging in, under My Services, find Smart Tools, and click Manage.
  3. Click Smart Check.
  4. If you enabled Smart Tools during the installation of XenDesktop 7.15, then the site should already be there. Click Complete Setup.
  5. If you didn’t enable Smart Check during XenDesktop installation, then on the top right, click Add Site.
    1. In step 1, click Download Agent.
    2. Step 2 indicates it is waiting for you to install the Agent.
    3. On a Delivery Controller, run the downloaded CitrixLifecycleManagementAgent.exe.
    4. Check the box next to I accept the terms in the License Agreement, and click  Install.
    5. In the Completed the Citrix Smart Tools Agent Setup Wizard page, click Finish.
    6. Step 2 now shows that the Agent was installed successfully. Click Next.
  6. Enter credentials for your XenDesktop farm, and click Add Site, or click Done.
  7. Eventually you’ll see a Get Started link.
  8. Or, if the site is already added to your list of sites, click View Report next to the site.
  9. StoreFront, Provisioning Services, and Licensing Server cannot be automatically detected. You can add a Custom Check that targets those machines. See Perform health checks on Storefront, Licensing, and Provisioning Servers at Citrix Docs.
  10. At the top right, if you click Perform Check, you can run one of the checks.
  11. If you click Configure.
  12. You can schedule the checks to automatically run periodically.
  13. To view the alerts, click one of the alert badges in the component category. Also see Smart Check alerts reference at Citrix Docs.
  14. Expand a component, and click an alert.
  15. On the right, there’s an option to Hide Alert.

  16. To view the hidden alerts, at the top right, click the menu icon, and click Show Hidden Alerts.
  17. The hidden alert is grayed out. If you click the alert, you can restore it.

Citrix Scout

XenDesktop 7.15 includes a new Citrix Scout that can be launched from the Start Menu.

The tool can run a manual collection, run a trace, or schedule periodic collection. The results are uploaded to Citrix Smart Tools.


Links with more information:

XenApp/XenDesktop Health Check

Sacha Tomet Finally 1.0 – but never finalized!: XenApp & XenDesktop 7.x Health Check script has now Version 1.0.

Andrew Morgan – New Free Tool: Citrix Director Notification Service: The Citrix Director Notification service sits on an edge server as a service (or local to the delivery controller) and periodically checks the health of:

  • Citrix Licensing.
  • Database Connections.
  • Broker Service.
  • Core Services.
  • Hypervisor Connections.

And if any of these items fall out of bounds, an SMTP alert is sent to the mailbox of your choice for action. The tool will also send “All Clear” emails when these items are resolved, ensuring you are aware when the service has resumed a healthy state.

Matt Bodholdt XenDesktop 7.x Controller Service Status Script at CUGC – PowerShell script that checks the following:

  • Lists Controllers with boot time
  • Licensing status
  • Service status on each Controller
  • DB Connections
  • Controller Available Memory
  • Hypervisor Connections Status

Related Pages

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Virtual Delivery Agent (VDA) 7.15 LTSR

August 12, 2017, 11:08 am
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Hardware

Hypervisor Host Hardware

  • Citrix Blog Post Citrix Scalability — The Rule of 5 and 10: Simply take the number of physical cores in a hypervisor host, multiply it by 5 or 10, and the result will be your Single Server Scalability. Use 5 if you’re looking for the number of XenDesktop VMs you can host on a box, and use 10 if you’re looking for the number of XenApp user sessions you can host on a box.

Virtual Machine Hardware

  1. For virtual desktops, give the virtual machine: 2+ vCPU and 2+ GB of RAM
  2. For Windows 2008 R2 RDSH, give the virtual machine 4 vCPU and 12-24 GB of RAM
  3. For Windows 2012 R2 RDSH, give the virtual machine 8 vCPU, and 24-48 GB of RAM
  4. If using RAM caching (MCSIO or PvS), add more RAM for the cache
  5. Remove the floppy drive
  6. Remove any serial or LPT ports
  7. If vSphere:
    1. To reduce disk space, reserve memory. Memory reservations reduce or eliminate the virtual machine .vswp file.
    2. The NIC should be VMXNET3.
  8. If this VDA will boot from Provisioning Services:
    1. For vSphere, the NIC must be VMXNET3.
    2. For vSphere, configure the CD-ROM to boot from IDE instead of SATA. SATA comes with VM hardware version 10. SATA won’t work with PvS.
  9. For Windows 10 – see CTX224843 Windows 10 compatibility with Citrix XenDesktop
  10. Install the latest version of hypervisor drivers (e.g. VMware Tools).
    1. If Windows 7 on vSphere, don’t install the VMware SVGA driver. For more details, see Citrix CTX201804 Intermittent Connection Failures/Black Screen Issues When Connecting from Multi-Monitor Client Machines to Windows 7 VDA with VDA 7.x on vSphere/ESXi.
  11. The vSphere Activity Monitoring Feature with NSX Guest Introspection feature uses a TDI driver (vnetflt.sys), which might cause a “Connection Interrupted” message when users log off of Citrix. See VMware 2121307 Windows virtual machines using the vShield Endpoint TDI Manager or NSX Network Introspection Driver (vnetflt.sys) driver fails with a blue diagnostic screen and XenDesktop 7.12 logoff: Connection interrupted at Citrix Discussions.

If vSphere, disable NIC Hotplug

  1. Users could use the systray icon to Eject the Ethernet Controller. Obviously this is bad.
  2. To disable this functionality, power off the virtual machine.
  3. Once powered off, right-click the virtual machine, and click Edit Settings.
  4. On the VM Options tab, expand Advanced, and then click Edit Configuration.
  5. On the bottom left, enter devices.hotplug. On the right, enter false. Then click Add.
  6. Then click OK a couple times to close the windows.
  7. The VM can then be powered on.

Windows Preparation

  1. Computer Group Policy – Make sure the Master VM is in the same OU as the Linked Clones so the Master VM will get the computer-level GPO settings in its registry. Run gpupdate on the master after moving the VM to the correct OU. When Clones are created from the Master, the computer-level GPO settings will already be applied, thus eliminating a timing issue.
  2. If RDSH (Server OS), disable IE Enhanced Security Configuration in Server Manager > Local Server.
  3. Optionally, go to Action Center (Windows 8.1 or 2012 R2) or Control Panel > Security and Maintenance (Windows 10/2016) to disable User Account Control, and enable SmartScreen.
    1. In Windows 10 1703 and newer, search the Settings app for Change User Account Control settings.
    2. SmartScreen is configured in Windows Defender Security Center > App & browser control.
  4. Run Windows Update.

  5. Add your Citrix Administrators group to the local Administrators group on the VDA. Computer Management.
  6. The Remote Desktop Services “Prompt for Password” policy prevents Single Sign-on to the Virtual Delivery Agent. Check registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services. If fPromptForPassword = 1 then you need to fix group policy. The following GPO setting will prevent Single Sign-on from working.
    Computer Configuration | Policies | Administrative Templates | Windows Components | Remote Desktop Services | Remote Desktop Session Host | Security | Always prompt for password upon connection
    Or set the registry value HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Citrix\PorticaAutoLogon (DWORD) = 0x10.
  7. For Windows 7/2008 R2 VDAs that will use Personal vDisk, or AppDisk, or any other layering technology, install Microsoft hotfix 2614892 A computer stops responding because of a deadlock situation in the Mountmgr.sys driver. This hotfix solved a Personal vDisk Image update issue detailed at Citrix Discussions.
  8. If this VDA is Windows Server 2008 R2, see http://www.carlstalhood.com/windows-server-2008-r2-post-sp1-hotfixes/.
  9. To remove the built-in apps in Windows 10, see Robin Hobo How to remove built-in apps in Windows 10 Enterprise.
  10. For Remote Assistance in Citrix Director, configure the GPO setting Computer Configuration | Policies | Administrative Templates | System | Remote Assistance | Offer Remote Assistance. See Jason Samuel – How to setup Citrix Director Shadowing with Remote Assistance using Group Policy for more details.
  11. If you intend to use Citrix’s SCOM Management Packs for XenApp/XenDesktop, make sure WinRM is enabled on the VDA by running winrm quickconfig. Or you can enable WinRM using Group Policy.

Install Virtual Delivery Agent 7.15 LTSR

  1. For virtual desktops, make sure you are logged into the console. The VDA won’t install if you are connected using RDP.
  2. Make sure .NET Framework 4.5.2 or newer is installed.

CLI Install:

Command Line Install Options are detailed at Install using the command line at Citrix Docs.

The Citrix Telemetry Service seems to cause problems. You can use the Command Line Installer to exclude Telemetry Service as detailed at VDA upgrade cmdlet at Citrix Discussions.

XenDesktopVDASetup.exe /quiet /noreboot /masterimage /Enable_HDX_PORTS /enable_framehawk_port /Enable_REAL_TIME_TRANSPORT /optimize /controllers "xdc01.corp.local xdc02.corp.local" /Exclude "Citrix Telemetry Service"

GUI Install:

  1. Mount the downloaded XenDesktop 7.15 LTSR ISO, and and run AutoSelect.exe.
  2. Alternatively, you can download the standalone VDA package and run that instead. Go the main XenDesktop 7.15 download page. Expand the section labelled Components that are on the product ISO but also packaged separately to download the Standalone VDA installers. 7.15 has a VDA installer called Desktop OS Core Services that is designed for Remote PC deployments.
  3. Click Start next to either XenApp or XenDesktop. The only difference is the product name displayed in the installation wizard.
  4. On the top right, click Virtual Delivery Agent for Windows Desktop OS, or Windows Server OS, depending on which type of VDA you are building.

  5. In the Environment page, select Create a Master Image, and click Next.

  6. For virtual desktops, in the HDX 3D Pro page, click Next.
  7. In the Core Components page, if you don’t need Citrix Receiver installed on your VDA, then uncheck the box. Receiver is usually only needed for double-hop connections (connect to first VDA, and then from there, connect to second VDA). Click Next.
  8. In the Additional Components page, uncheck Citrix AppDisk/Personal vDisk. This feature has been deprecated and is being replaced by Citrix App Layering (Unidesk). Click Next.

  9. In the Delivery Controller page, select Do it manually. Enter the FQDN of each Controller. Click Test connection. And then make sure you click Add. Click Next when done.
  10. In the Features page, check boxes. Only the top box is checked by default. If you want to use the other features, check the boxes. If this is a virtual desktop, you can leave Personal vDisk unchecked now and enable it later. Then click Next.
  11. In the Firewall page, click Next.
  12. In the Summary page, click Install.

  13. If RDSH, click Close when you are prompted to restart.
  14. After the machine reboots twice, login and installation should continue.
  15. If you see a Locate ‘XenDesktop LTSR’ installation media window, click Cancel.
    1. Mount the XenApp_and_XenDesktop_7_15.iso.
    2. Run AutoSelect.exe.
    3. Click the Virtual Desktop Agent box to resume installation.
  16. Installation will continue automatically.
  17. Note: NT SERVICE\CitrixTelemetryService needs permission to login as a service.
  18. In the Smart Tools page, click Connect, enter your MyCitrix.com credentials, and then click Next.

  19. In the Finish page, click Finish to restart the machine again.

  20. According to CTX225819 When Launching an Application Published from Windows Server 2016, a Black Screen Appears for Several Seconds Before Application is Visible, HKLM\SOFTWARE\Citrix\Citrix Virtual Desktop Agent\DisableLogonUISuppression (DWORD) should be set to 0.

Citrix Desktop Helper Service

Citrix Blog Post Augment Your XenDesktop Deployment with the Desktop Helper Service: this installable service adds the following functionality to your VDAs:

  • The “Shutdown Inactive Desktops” feature allows Citrix administrators to enable a timer that shuts down a virtual desktop after it has been registered for a configured amount of minutes without a user connection.
  • Delaying the Citrix Desktop Service start by a configurable amount of time allows the desktop to finish performing on-boot tasks before a user is brokered to it.
  • The “Force Group Policy Update” feature give administrators the ability to force a group policy update after a configured amount of time.

If these features are desirable, download the tool from the blog post and install it.

Configurable Registry keys are located at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Citrix\DesktopHelper. Each value is detailed in the accompanying Word document.

Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP)

Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) is enabled by default. To disable it, create the registry value HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Citrix\Telemetry\CEIP\Enabled (DWORD), and set it to 0 (zero). Also see CEIP at Citrix Insight Services at Citrix Docs.

See http://www.carlstalhood.com/delivery-controller-7-15-ltsr-and-licensing/#ceip for additional places where CEIP is enabled.

Connection Quality Indicator

The Connection Quality Indicator tells the user the quality of the connection. For example:

Position of the indicator is configurable by the user. Thresholds are configurable through group policy.

Download it from CTX220774 Connection Quality Indicator and install it. The article is very detailed.

Group Policy templates are located at C:\Program Files (x86)\Citrix\Connection Quality Indicator\Configuration. Copy the files and folder to <Sysvol>\Policies\PolicyDefinitions, or C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions.

Find the settings under Computer Config | Policies | Administrative Templates | Citrix Components | Virtual Desktop Agent | CQI

Notification display settings lets you customize the user notifications, or disable them.

Connection Threshold Settings lets you set the notification thresholds.

Adaptive Transport

XenApp/XenDesktop 7.15 includes Adaptive Transport, which uses EDT protocol, which uses UDP Ports 1494/2598 for HDX connections to the VDA. The UDP ports should already be open in the Windows Firewall.

Adaptive Transport is disabled by default, but can be enabled in the Citrix Policy setting HDX Adaptive Transport.

Slow Logons

Citrix Discussions Xenapp 7.9: Wait for local session manager: “I have a Xenapp 7.9 environment on Windows 2012 R2. When logging in through Citrix I got message “Wait for local session manager” for 20-30 seconds. When logging in to the server with RDS, I do not have to wait for this.”

“Add the following 2 registry keys to your 7.9 VDA server – then try connecting to it using ICA to see if the issue still occurs:

Add reg keys in “HKLM\SOFTWARE\Citrix\GroupPolicy”
Dword: “CacheGpoExpireInHours” – Value = 5-24 (# of Hours) ***start with value of 5***
Dword: “GpoCacheEnabled” – Value = 1

Restart the machine after adding these registry keys and attempt an ICA connection (at least twice) to see if that helps the Login delay.”

 

Mark DePalma at XenApp slow logon times, user get black screen for 20 seconds at Citrix Discussions says that pushing Tile Refresh to a background task speeds up logons.

  1. Regedit: 
    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
 
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\DisableUPMResetCache]
@="DisableUPMResetCache"
"Version"="1,1,1,1"
"StubPath"="REG ADD HKCU\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\ImmersiveShell\\StateStore /v ResetCache /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f"
"Locale"="*"
  2. UPM Exclusions: 
    Directory - '!ctx_localappdata!\Microsoft\Windows\Caches'
Registry - 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\DisableUPMResetCache'

 

Marvin Neys at XenApp slow logon times, user get black screen for 20 seconds at Citrix Discussions says that deleting HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UFH\SHC at logoff reduces logon times from 40 seconds to 6 seconds.

Remove-Item HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UFH\SHC

 

For additional logon delay troubleshooting, see Alexander Ollischer XenApp/XenDesktop – “Please Wait For Local Session Manager” message when logging into RDS. He found some Windows Updates that caused a logon delay.

 

XenApp recalculates WMI filters on every reconnect. CTX212610 Session Reconnect 30 sec Delay – DisableGPCalculation – WMI Filters indicates that recalculation can be disabled by setting HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Citrix\Reconnect\DisableGPCalculation (DWORD) to 1.

 

CTX212439 Desktop Session Stuck in Pre-Logon State with Message “Please wait for the Local Session Manager”:

  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\Kerberos\Parameters\MaxTokenSize (DWORD) = 48000
  • Delete HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\RCM\GracePeriod\L$RTMTIMEBOMB

Controller Registration Port

Some environments will not accept the default port 80 for Virtual Delivery Agent registration, even though registration is authenticated and encrypted on port 80. To change the port, do the following on the Virtual Delivery Agent:

  1. Open Programs and Features. If Windows 10 1703 or newer, open Apps and Features.
  2. Find Citrix Virtual Delivery Agent, and click Change or Modify (Windows 10 1703 and newer).

  3. Click Customize Virtual Delivery Agent Settings.
  4. Edit the Delivery Controllers, and click Next.
  5. On the Protocol and Port page, change the port number, and click Next.
  6. In the Summary page, click Reconfigure.
  7. In the Finish Reconfiguration page, click Finish to restart the machine.
  8. You must also change the VDA registration port on the Delivery Controllers by running BrokerService.exe /VDAPort.

Controller Registration – Verify

  1. If you restart the Virtual Delivery Agent machine, or restart the Citrix Desktop Service…
  2. In Windows Logs Application log, you should see an event 1012 from Citrix Desktop Service saying that it successfully registered with a controller. If you don’t see this then you’ll need to fix the ListOfDDCs registry key. See VDA registration with Controllers at Citrix Docs.
  3. You can also run Citrix’s Health Assistant on the VDA.
  4. See CTX220772 Technical Primer: VDA Registration for a very detailed explanation of the VDA Registration process.

Citrix PDF Printer 7.11.0 for Receiver for HTML5/Chrome

  1. To allow printing from Receiver for HTML5/Chrome, install Citrix PDF Printer. Get it from the Receiver for HTML5 download page in the Additional Components section. Note: this PDF Printer is only used by Receiver for HTML5 and Receiver for Chrome.
  2. Go to the extracted CitrixPDFPrinter_7.11.0 and run CitrixPDFPrinter64.msi.
  3. In the Please read the Citrix PDF printer License Agreement page, check the box next to I accept the terms, and click Install.
  4. In the Completed the Citrix PDF Universal Driver Setup Wizard page, click Finish.
  5. In Programs and Features (or Apps & Features), it is shown as version 7.11.0.11.

  6. Configure a Citrix Policy to enable the PDF printer. The setting is called Auto-create PDF Universal Printer in the user half of a Citrix Policy GPO.

Citrix File Access 2.0.3 for Receiver for Chrome

  1. If you support Receiver for Chrome (Chromebook) and want to open files on Google Drive using published applications, install Citrix File Access on the VDAs. Get it from the Receiver for Chrome download page, in the Additional Components section.
  2. Go to the extracted Citrix_File_Access_2.0.3, and run FileAccess.msi.
  3. In the Please read the File Access License Agreement page, check the box next to I accept the terms, and click Install.
  4. In the Completed the File Access Setup Wizard page, click Finish.
  5. File Access is listed in Programs and Features (or Apps & Features) as version 2.0.3.33.

  6. File Access has a default list of supported file extensions. The list can be expanded by editing the registry on the VDA. See CTX219983 Receiver for Chrome Error: Invalid command line arguments: Unable to open the file as it has an unsupported extension.
  7. To open a file from Google Drive, right-click and and open the file using Citrix Receiver.

Framehawk Configuration

To enable Framehawk, see http://www.carlstalhood.com/citrix-policy-settings/#framehawkconfig

Remote Desktop Licensing Configuration

On 2012 R2 and newer RDSH, the only way to configure Remote Desktop Licensing is using group policy (local or domain). This procedure also works for 2008 R2 RDSH. This procedure is not needed on virtual desktops.

  1. For local group policy, run gpedit.msc. Alternatively, you can configure this in a domain GPO.
  2. Go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Remote Desktop Services > Remote Desktop Session Host > Licensing.
  3. Double-click Use the specified Remote Desktop license servers. Change it to Enabled, and enter the names of the RDS Licensing Servers (typically installed on XenDesktop Controllers). Click OK.
  4. Double-click Set the Remote Desktop licensing mode. Change it to Enabled and select Per User. Click OK.
  5. Optionally, you can install the Remote Desktop Licensing Diagnoser Tool. In the Server Manager > Add Roles and Features Wizard, on the Features page, expand Remote Server Administration Tools, expand Role Administration Tools, expand Remote Desktop Services Tools, and select Remote Desktop Licensing Diagnoser Tool. Then Finish the wizard.
  6. If it won’t install from Server Manager, you can install it from PowerShell by running Install-WindowsFeature rsat-rds-licensing-diagnosis-ui.
  7. In Server Manager, open the Tools menu, expand Remote Desktop Services (or Terminal Services), and click Remote Desktop Licensing Diagnoser.

  8. The Diagnoser should find the license server, and indicate the licensing mode. If you’re configured for Per User licenses, then it’s OK if there are no licenses installed on the Remote Desktop License Server.

Several people in Citrix Discussions reported the following issue: If you see a message about RD Licensing Grace Period has expired even though RD Licensing is properly configured, see Eric Verdumen No remote Desktop Licence Server availible on RD Session Host server 2012. The solution was to delete the REG_BINARY in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\RCM\GracePeriod only leaving the default. You must take ownership and give admin users full control to be able to delete this value.

C: Drive Permissions

This section is more important for shared VDAs like RDSH (Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012 R2, and Windows Server 2016).

The default permissions allow users to store files on the C: drive in places other than their profile.

  1. Open the Properties dialog box for C:.
  2. On the Security tab, click Advanced.
  3. If UAC is enabled, click Change permissions.
  4. Highlight the line containing Users and Create Folders, and click Remove.
  5. Highlight the line containing Users and Create files (or Special), and click Remove. Click OK.
  6. Click Yes to confirm the permissions change.
  7. If you see any of these Error Applying Security windows, click Continue. This window should appear multiple times.
  8. Click OK to close the C: drive properties.

Pagefile

If this image will be converted to a Provisioning Services vDisk, then you must ensure the pagefile is smaller than the cache disk. For example, if you allocate 20 GB of RAM to your Remote Desktop Session Host, and if the cache disk is only 15 GB, then Windows will have a default pagefile size of 20 GB, and Provisioning Services will be unable to move it to the cache disk. This causes Provisioning Services to cache to server instead of caching to your local cache disk (or RAM).

  1. Open System. In 2012 R2 and newer, you can right-click the Start button, and click System. Note: in Windows 10 1703 and newer, this method no longer opens the correct tool.
  2. Another option is to open File Explorer, right-click This PC, and click Properties. This works in Windows 10 1703.
  3. Click Advanced system settings.
  4. On the Advanced tab, click the top Settings button.
  5. On the Advanced tab, click Change.
  6. Uncheck the box next to Automatically manage paging file size for all drives. Then either turn off the pagefile, or set the pagefile to be smaller than the cache disk. Don’t leave it set to System managed size. Click OK several times.

Direct Access Users

When Citrix Virtual Delivery Agent is installed on a machine, non-administrators can no longer RDP to the machine. A new local group called Direct Access Users is created on each Virtual Delivery Agent. Add your non-administrator RDP users to this local group so they can RDP directly to the machine.

Windows Profiles v3/v4/v5/v6

Roaming Profiles are compatible only between the following client and server operating system pairs. The profile version is also listed.

  • v6 = Windows 10 (1607 and 1703) and Windows Server 2016
  • v5 = Windows 10 (1511 and older)
  • v4 = Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2
  • v3 = Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012
  • v2 = Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2
  • v2 = Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008

For Windows 2012 R2, install Microsoft hotfix 2890783, and set the UseProfilePathExtensionVersion registry value to 1.

Registry

Black Screen when launch Published Apps on Windows Server 2016  💡

From CTX225819 When Launching an Application Published from Windows Server 2016, a Black Screen Appears for Several Seconds Before Application is Visible: Citrix and Microsoft have worked together together to deliver code fixes for both Windows Server 2016 and XenApp. Microsoft is targeting their KB4034661 patch for the third week of August 2017. This fix requires a registry edit to enable.

  • Key = HKLM\SOFTWARE\Citrix\Citrix Virtual Desktop Agent
    • Value = DisableLogonUISuppression (DWORD) = 0

Published Explorer

From Citrix CTX128009 Explorer.exe Fails to Launch: When publishing the seamless explorer.exe application, the session initially begins to connect as expected. After the loading, the dialog box disappears, and the Explorer application fails to appear. On the VDA, use the following registry change to set the length of time a client session waits before disconnecting the session:

  • Key = HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Citrix\wfshell\TWI
    • Value = LogoffCheckerStartupDelayInSeconds (DWORD) = 10 (Hexadecimal)

Screen Saver

From Citrix CTX205214 Screensaver Not Working in XenDesktop: By default, Screen Saver doesn’t work on Desktop OS. To enable it, on the VDA, configure the following registry value:

  • Key = HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Citrix\Graphics
    • Value = SetDisplayRequiredMode (DWORD) = 0

Logon Disclaimer Window Size

From XenApp 7.8 – Session Launch Security/Warning Login Banner at Citrix Discussions: If your logon disclaimer window has scroll bars, set the following registry values:

  • Key = HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432node\Citrix\CtxHook\AppInit_DLLS\Multiple Monitor Hook
    • Value = LogonUIWidth (DWORD) = 300
    • Value = LogonUIHeight (DWORD) = 200

Login Timeout

From Citrix CTX203760 VDI Session Launches Then Disappears: XenDesktop, by default, only allows 180 seconds to complete a logon operation. The timeout can be increased by setting the following:

  • Key = HKLM\SOFTWARE\Citrix\PortICA
    • Value = AutoLogonTimeout ( DWORD) = decimal 240 or higher (up to 3600).

Also see Citrix Discussions Machines in “Registered” State, but VM closes after “Welcome” screen.

HDX Flash

From Citrix Knowledgebase article CTX139939 – Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 – Citrix Known Issues: The registry key value IEBrowserMaximumMajorVersion is queried by the HDX Flash service to check for maximum Internet Explorer version that HDX Flash supports. For Flash Redirection to work with Internet Explorer 11 set the registry key value IEBrowserMaximumMajorVersion to 11 on the machine where HDX flash service is running. In case of XenDesktop it would be the machine where VDA is installed.

  • Key = HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Citrix\HdxMediaStreamForFlash\Server\PseudoServer
    • Value = IEBrowserMaximumMajorVersion (DWORD) = 11 (Decimal)

From Citrix Discussions: Add the DWORD FlashPlayerVersionComparisonMask=0 on the VDA under HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Citrix\HdxMediaStreamForFlash\Server\PseudoServer.  This disables the Flash major version checking between the VDA and Client Device.

Receiver for HTML5/Chrome Enhanced Clipboard

From About Citrix Receiver for Chrome 1.9 at Citrix Docs: To enable enhanced clipboard support, create a REG_SZ registry value HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Citrix\wfshell\Virtual Clipboard\Additional Formats\HTML Format\Name=”HTML Format”. Create any missing registry keys. This applies to both virtual desktops and Remote Desktop Session Hosts.

Receiver for HTML5/Chrome Upload Folder

The Receiver for HTML5 (or Chrome) lets upload files.

By default, the user is prompted to select a upload location. If you use the Upload feature multiple times, the last selected folder is not remembered.

Citrix CTX217351 How to Customize File Upload and Download Using Receiver for HTML5 and Receiver for Chrome. You can specify a default uploads location by editing HKLM\Software\Citrix\FileTransfer\UploadFolderLocation on the VDA. Environment variables are supported. When this value is configured, users are no longer prompted to select an upload location. The change takes effect at next logon.

Note: HTML5/Chrome Receiver also adds a Save to My Device location to facilitate downloads.

4K Monitors

From Citrix Knowledgebase article CTX218217 Unable to span across multiple monitors after upgrade to 7.11 VDA, Black/Blank screen appears on the monitors while connecting to ICA session: .

  1. For VDA 7.11 and newer, calculate the video memory that is required for monitors using the following formula:
    SumOfAllMons (Width * Height) * 4 / 0.3, where width and height are resolution of the monitor. Note: There is no hard and fast rule that will work for all cases.
    Example: Consider the resolution of monitor 1 is 1920*1200 and monitor 2 is 1366*768. Then SumOfAllMons will be (1920*1200 + 1366*768)
  2. CTX115637 Citrix Session Graphics Memory Reference describes how multi-monitor resolution is determined.
  3. Open the registry (regedit) and navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\vbdenum
  4. Increase the value of “MaxVideoMemoryBytes” REG_DWORD value to the above calculated memory.
  5. Reboot the VDA.

Citrix Policies also control graphics performance.

COM Port Threads

CTX212090 COM Port Intermittently Inaccessible During ICA Sessions: increase the default value of “MaxThreads” under the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\picaser\Parameters from 20 to a value greater than the number of COM port connections you want to support. For example, if a XenApp server supports 100 sessions and each session opens two COM ports, the value of “MaxThreads” should be greater than 200.

Legacy Client Drive Mapping

Citrix CTX127968 How to Enable Legacy Client Drive Mapping Format on XenApp: Citrix Client Drive Mapping no longer uses drive letters and instead they appear as local disks. This is similar to RDP drive mapping.

The old drive letter method can be enabled by setting the registry value:

  • Key = HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Citrix\UncLinks (create the key)
    • Value = UNCEnabled (DWORD) = 0

When you reconnect, the client drives will be mapped as drive letters (starts with V: and goes backwards).

Print Driver for Non-Windows Clients

This section applies to Windows 8.1/2012 and newer VDAs.

From CTX139020 Configuring Virtual Machines for Mac Client Printer Mapping with Windows 8.x. By default, Non-Windows clients cannot map printers due to a missing print driver on the VDA machine.

  1. Requirements:
    • Internet Access
    • Windows Update service enabled
  2. Click Start, and run Devices and Printers.
    1. In Windows 10 1703, open Printers & scanners, then scroll down, and click Devices and printers.

  3. In the Printers section, highlight a local printer (e.g. Microsoft XPS Document Writer). Then in the toolbar, click Print server properties.

  4. Switch to the Drivers tab. Click Change Driver Settings.
  5. Then click Add.
  6. In the Welcome to the Add Printer Driver Wizard page, click Next.
  7. In the Processor Selection page, click Next.
  8. In the Printer Driver Selection page, click Windows Update. The driver we need won’t be in the list until you click this button. Internet access is required.
  9. Once Windows Update is complete, highlight HP on the left, and then select HP Color LaserJet 2800 Series PS (Microsoft) on the right. Click Next.
  10. In the Completing the Add Printer Driver Wizard page, click Finish.
  11. Repeat these instructions to install the following additional drivers:
    • HP LaserJet Series II
    • HP Color LaserJet 4500 PCL 5

SSL for VDA

If you intend to use HTML5 Receiver internally, install certificates on the VDAs so the WebSockets (and ICA) connection will be encrypted. Internal HTML5 Receivers will not accept clear text WebSockets. External users don’t have this problem since they are SSL-proxied through NetScaler Gateway. Notes:

  • Each Virtual Delivery Agent needs a machine certificate that matches the machine name. This is feasible for a small number of persistent VDAs. For non-persistent VDAs, you’ll need some automatic means for creating machine certificates every time they reboot.
  • As detailed in the following procedure, use PowerShell on the Controller to enable SSL for the Delivery Group. This forces SSL for every VDA in the Delivery Group, which means every VDA in the Delivery Group must have SSL certificates installed.

The following instructions for manually enabling SSL on VDA can be found at Configure TLS on a VDA using the PowerShell script at Citrix Docs.

  1. On the VDA machine, run mmc.exe.
  2. Add the Certificates snap-in.
  3. Point it to Local Computer.
  4. Request a certificate from your internal Certificate Authority. You can use either the Computer template or the Web Server template.
    1. You can also use group policy to enable Certificate Auto-Enrollment for the VDA computers.
  5. Browse to the XenApp/XenDesktop 7.15 LTSR ISO. In the Support\Tools\SslSupport folder, shift+right-click the Enable-VdaSSL.ps1 script and click Copy as path.
  6. Run PowerShell as administrator (elevated).
  7. Run the command Set-ExecutionPolicy unrestricted. Enter Y to approve.
  8. In the PowerShell prompt, type in an ampersand (&), and a space.
  9. Right-click the PowerShell prompt to paste in the path copied earlier.
  10. At the end of the path, type in -Enable
  11. If there’s only one certificate on this machine, press Enter.
  12. If there are multiple certificates, you’ll need to specify the thumbprint of the certificate you want to use. Open the Certificates snap-in, open the properties of the machine certificate you want to use, and copy the Thumbprint from the Details tab.
    In the PowerShell prompt, at the end of the command, enter ‑CertificateThumbPrint, add a space, and type quotes (").
    Right-click the PowerShell prompt to paste the thumbprint.
    Type quotes (") at the end of the thumbprint. Then remove all spaces from the thumbprint. The thumbprint needs to be wrapped in quotes.
  13. If this VDA machine has a different service already listening on 443 (e.g. IIS), then the VDA needs to use a different port for SSL connections. At the end of the command in the PowerShell prompt, enter -SSLPort 444 or any other unused port.
  14. Press <Enter> to run the Enable-VdaSSL.ps1 script.
  15. Press <Y> twice to configure the ACLs and Firewall.
  16. You might have to reboot before the settings take effect.
  17. Login to a Controller, and run PowerShell as Administrator (elevated).
  18. Run the command asnp Citrix.*
  19. Enter the command: 
    Get-BrokerAccessPolicyRule -DesktopGroupName '<delivery-group-name>' | Set-BrokerAccessPolicyRule ‑HdxSslEnabled $true

    where <delivery-group-name> is the name of the Delivery Group containing the VDAs.

  20. You can run Get-BrokerAccessPolicyRule -DesktopGroupName '<delivery-group-name>' to verify that HDX SSL is enabled.
  21. Also run the following command: 
    Set-BrokerSite –DnsResolutionEnabled $true

You should now be able to connect to the VDA using the HTML5 Receiver from internal machines.

The Citrix blog post How To Secure ICA Connections in XenApp and XenDesktop 7.6 using SSL has a method for automatically provisioning certificates for pooled virtual desktops by enabling certificate auto-enrollment and setting up a task that runs after the certificate has been enrolled.

  • From Russ Hargrove at A note on VDA certificates in 7.14 at Citrix Discussions: Citrix installs a new “Citrix XenApp/XenDesktop HDX Service” certificate in the Personal store which breaks the automation of the Enable-VdaSSL.ps1 script. To fix the problem, modify the task scheduler powershell script to:  💡 
    Enable-VdaSSL.ps1 -Enable -CertificateThumbPrint (Get-ChildItem -path cert:\LocalMachine\My | Where-Object -FilterScript {$_.Subject -eq ""} | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Thumbprint) -Confirm:$False
  • For certificate auto-enrollment on non-persistent Remote Desktop Session Hosts (aka Server OS VDAs), see Non-Persistent Server SSL to VDA by Alfredo Magallon Arbizu at CUGC.

Anonymous Accounts

If you intend to publish apps anonymously then follow this section.

  1. Anonymous accounts are created locally on the VDAs. When XenDesktop creates Anon accounts it gives them an idle time as specified at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Citrix\AnonymousUserIdleTime. The default is 10 minutes. Adjust as desired.
  2. You can pre-create the Anon accounts on the VDA by running “C:\Program Files\Citrix\ICAConfigTool\CreateAnonymousUsersApp.exe”. If you don’t run this tool then Virtual Delivery Agent will create them automatically when users log in.
  3. You can see the local Anon accounts by opening Computer Management, expanding System Tools, expanding Local Users and Groups and clicking Users.
  4. If you open one of the accounts, on the Sessions tab, notice that idle timeout defaults to 10 minutes. Feel free to change it.

Group Policy for Anonymous Users

Since Anonymous users are local accounts on each Virtual Delivery Agent, domain-based GPOs will not apply. To work around this limitation, you’ll need to edit the local group policy on each Virtual Delivery Agent.

  1. On the Virtual Delivery Agent, run mmc.exe.
  2. Open the File menu, and click Add/Remove Snap-in.
  3. Highlight Group Policy Object Editor, and click Add to move it to the right.
  4. In the Welcome to the Group Policy Wizard page, click Browse.
  5. On the Users tab, select Non-Administrators.
  6. Click Finish.
  7. Now you can configure group policy to lockdown sessions for anonymous users. Since this is a local group policy, you’ll need to repeat the group policy configuration on every Virtual Delivery Agent image. Also, Group Policy Preferences is not available in local group policy.

Antivirus

Install antivirus using your normal procedure. Instructions vary for each Antivirus product.

Microsoft’s virus scanning recommendations (e.g. exclude group policy files) – http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822158.

Citrix’s Recommended Antivirus Exclusions

Citrix Blog Post Citrix Recommended Antivirus Exclusions: the goal here is to provide you with a consolidated list of recommended antivirus exclusions for your Citrix virtualization environment focused on the key processes, folders, and files that we have seen cause issues in the field:

  • Set real-time scanning to scan local drives only and not network drives
  • Disable scan on boot
  • Remove any unnecessary antivirus related entries from the Run key
  • Exclude the pagefile(s) from being scanned
  • Exclude Windows event logs from being scanned
  • Exclude IIS log files from being scanned

See the Blog Post for exclusions for each Citrix component/product including: StoreFront, VDA, Controller, and Provisioning Services. The Blog Post also has links to additional KB articles on antivirus.

Symantec

Symantec links:

Trend Micro

Trend Micro Slow login on Citrix environment after installing OfficeScan (OSCE): The following registries can be used to troubleshoot the issue. These registries will allow a delay on the startup procedure of OSCE until the system has launched successfully. This avoids deadlock situations during login.

Citrix CTX136680 – Slow Server Performance After Trend Micro Installation. Citrix session hosts experience slow response and performance more noticeable while users try to log in to the servers. At some point the performance of the servers is affected, resulting in issues with users logging on and requiring the server to be restarted. This issue is more noticeable on mid to large session host infrastructures.

Trend Micro has provided a registry fix for this type of issue. Create the following registry on all the affected servers. Add new DWORD Value as:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\TmFilterParameters] “DisableCtProcCheck”=dword:00000001

Trend Micro Links:

Sophos

Best Practice for running Sophos on virtual systems: we’ve amassed the following practical information about how you can optimize our software to work with this technology.

Sophos Anti-Virus for Windows XP+: Installation and configuration considerations for Sophos Anti-Virus on a Remote Desktop Services server: It maybe desirable to disable the Sophos AutoUpdate shield icon

Sophos Anti-Virus for Windows 2000+: incorporating current versions in a disk image, including for use with cloned virtual machines: This procedure will make sure that the produced target/cloned computers:

  • Get their distinct identity with Enterprise Console, under which they can be subsequently managed.
  • Have the desired version of Sophos Anti-Virus already installed and configured on the created image.

Windows Defender Antivirus

Deployment guide for Windows Defender Antivirus in a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) environment

Optimize Performance

VDA Optimizer

Installation of the VDA might have already done this but there’s no harm in doing it again. This tool is only available if you installed VDA in Master Image mode.

  1. On the master VDA, go to C:\Program Files\Citrix\PvsVm\TargetOSOptimizer, and run TargetOSOptimizer.exe.
  2. Then click OK. Notice that it disables Windows Update.

Windows 10 / Windows 2012 R2 / Windows 2016 and newer

Optimization Notes:

RDSH 2008 R2

Citrix CTX131577 XenApp 6.x (Windows 2008 R2) – Optimization Guide is a document with several registry modifications that are supposed to improve server performance. Ignore the XenApp 6 content and instead focus on the Windows content.

Norskale has Windows 2008 R2 Remote Desktop and XenApp 6 Tuning Tips Update.

Windows 7

Microsoft has compiled a list of links to various optimization guides. It’s a common practice to optimize a Windows 7 virtual machine (VM) template (or image) specifically for VDI use. Usually such customizations include the following.

  • Minimize the footprint, e.g. disable some features and services that are not required when the OS is used in “stateless” or “non-persistent” fashion. This is especially true for disk-intensive workloads since disk I/O is a common bottleneck for VDI deployment. (Especially if there are multiple VMs with the same I/O patterns that are timely aligned).
  • Lock down user interface (e.g. optimize for specific task workers).

With that said the certain practices are quite debatable and vary between actual real-world deployments. Exact choices whether to disable this or that particular component depend on customer requirements and VDI usage patterns. E.g. in personalized virtual desktop scenario there’s much less things to disable since the machine is not completely “stateless”. Some customers rely heavily on particular UI functions and other can relatively easily trade them off for the sake of performance or standardization (thus enhance supportability and potentially security). This is one of the primary reasons why Microsoft doesn’t publish any “VDI Tuning” guide officially.

Though there are a number of such papers and even tools published either by the community or third parties. This Wiki page is aimed to serve as a consolidated and comprehensive list of such resources.

Daniel Ruiz XenDesktop Windows 7 Optimization and GPO’s Settings

Microsoft Whitepaper Performance Optimization Guidelines for Windows 7 Desktop Virtualization

Seal and Shut Down

If this VDA will be a master image in a Machine Creation Services or Provisioning Services catalog, after the master is fully prepared (including applications), do the following:

  1. Go to the properties of the C: drive, and run Disk Cleanup.
  2. If Disk Cleanup is missing, you can run cleanmgr.exe instead.
  3. Windows 10 1703 and newer has a new method for cleaning up temporary files.
    1. Right-click the Start button, and click System.
    2. Click Storage on the left, and click This PC (C:) on the right.
    3. Click Temporary Files.
    4. Check boxes, and click Remove files.
  4. On the Tools tab, click Optimize to defrag the drive.
    `
  5. Run slmgr.vbs /dlv and make sure it is licensed with KMS and has at least one rearm remaining. It is not necessary to manually rearm licensing. XenDesktop will do it automatically.
  6. Run Delprof2 to clean up local profiles. Get it from http://helgeklein.com/download/.
  7. Machine Creation Services and Provisioning Services require DHCP.
  8. Session hosts (RDSH) commonly have DHCP reservations.
  9. Login Base Image Script Framework (BIS-F) automates many sealing tasks. The script is configurable using Group Policy.
  10. Shut down the master image. You can now use Studio (Machine Creation Services) or Provisioning Services to create a catalog of linked clones.

Troubleshooting – Graphics

If Windows 7 on vSphere, don’t install the VMware SVGA driver. For more details, see CTX201804 Intermittent Connection Failures/Black Screen Issues When Connecting from Multi-Monitor Client Machines to Windows 7 VDA with VDA 7.x on vSphere/ESXi.

For Citrix Policies that control graphics codecs, see http://www.carlstalhood.com/citrix-policy-settings/#graphics

Citrix Blog post – Optimising the performance of HDX 3D Pro – Lessons from the field

From Citrix Knowledgebase article CTX218217 Unable to span across multiple monitors after upgrade to 7.11 VDA, Black/Blank screen appears on the monitors while connecting to ICA session:

  1. For VDA 7.11 and newer, calculate the video memory that is required for monitors using the following formula :
    SumOfAllMons (Width * Height) * 4 / 0.3, where width and height are resolution of the monitor. Note: There is no hard and fast rule that will work for all cases.
    Example: Consider the resolution of monitor 1 is 1920*1200 and monitor 2 is 1366*768. Then SumOfAllMons will be (1920*1200 + 1366*768)
  2. CTX115637 Citrix Session Graphics Memory Reference describes how multi-monitor resolution is determined.
  3. Open the registry (regedit) and navigate to:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\vbdenum
  4. Increase the value of “MaxVideoMemoryBytes” REG_DWORD value to the above calculated memory.
  5. Reboot the VDA

From Citrix Discussions: To exclude applications from Citrix 3D rendering, create a REG_DWORD registry value “app.exe” with value 0 or a registry value “*” with value 0.

  • XD 7.1 and XD 7.5:
    • x86: reg add hklm\software\citrix\vd3d\compatibility /v * /t REG_DWORD /f /d 0
    • x64: reg add hklm\software\Wow6432Node\citrix\vd3d\compatibility /v * /t REG_DWORD /f /d 0
  • XD 7.6/7.7/7.8/7.9/7.11 both x86 and x64:
    • reg add hklm\software\citrix\vd3d\compatibility /v * /t REG_DWORD /f /d 0

Wildcards are not supported. The asterisk * here has a special meaning “all apps” but is not a traditional wildcard. To blacklist multiple apps e.g. both appa.exe and appb.exe must be done by creating a registry value for each app individually.

This is most problematic in Remote PC since most physical PCs have GPUs. I recently had to blacklist Internet Explorer to prevent lockup issues when switching back to physical.

Uninstall VDA

Uninstall the VDA from Programs and Features.

Then see CTX209255 VDA Cleanup Utility.

To run the VDA Cleanup Tool silently:

  1. Execute VDACleanupUtility.exe /silent /noreboot to suppress reboot.
  2. Once the VDACleanupUtility has finished executing, setup Auto logon for the current user.
  3. Reboot.
  4. After reboot, tool will launch automatically to continue Cleanup.

Another option is to delete CitrixVdaCleanup value under HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce. Then after reboot, run VDACleanupUtility.exe /silent /reboot to indicate that it’s running after the reboot.

Related Pages

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Director 7.15

August 12, 2017, 12:18 pm
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Navigation

💡 = Recently Updated

Director Licensing – Platinum Edition

See the XenApp and XenDesktop Feature Matrix. Scroll down to Director Platinum Edition for the list of Director features that require Platinum Edition licensing.

  • Up to a year’s worth of performance data that provides a comprehensive view of capacity trends
  • Proactive notification and alerting including SNMP integration
  • SCOM alerts
  • Desktop and server OS usage reporting
  • Create customized reports
  • Reboot warnings
  • Octoblu integration
  • NetScaler MAS integration
  • Override control over roaming sessions

See CTX224793 Director Version Matrix – Install or Upgrade compatibility of Director with Delivery Controller, VDA for a list of which Director feature came with each version, and the licensing Edition needed for each feature.  💡 

Director 7.15 on Standalone Server

If you are installing Director 7.15 on a standalone server, see Citrix CTX142260 Installing or Upgrading to Citrix Director 7.6.200.

To install and configure Director using a script, see Dennis Span Citrix Director unattended installation with PowerShell.  💡

To install Director manually:

  1. If you intend to install Director on a standalone server, start with running AutoSelect.exe from the XenApp/XenDesktop 7.15 ISO.
  2. In the Extend Deployment section, on the bottom left, click Citrix Director.
  3. In the Licensing Agreement page, select I have read, understand, and accept the terms, and click Next.
  4. In the Core Components page, click Next.
  5. In the Delivery Controller page, it will ask you for the location of one Controller in the farm. Only enter one Controller per farm. If you have multiple Director servers, each Director server can point to a different Controller in the farm. From Citrix Docs: Director automatically discovers all other Controllers in the same Site and falls back to those other Controllers if the Controller you specified fails. Click Test Connection, and then click Add.
  6. In the Features page, click Next.
  7. In the Firewall page, click Next.
  8. In the Summary page, click Install.
  9. In the Finish page, click Finish.
  10. In IIS Manager, go to Default Web Site > Director > Application Settings, find Service.AutoDiscoveryAddresses, and make sure it points to one Controller in the farm, and not to localhost. From Citrix Docs: Director automatically discovers all other Controllers in the same Site and falls back to those other Controllers if the Controller you specified fails.

  11. If you built multiple Director servers, use NetScaler to load balance them.
  12. If you are upgrading Director, run C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Director\tools\DirectorConfig.exe /upgrade to complete the upgrade process.
  13. For info on the new monitoring features in Director 7.15 and older, see Use Director below.

Director Default Webpage

From CTX223907 How to Make Director the Default Page within IIS: If Director is installed on a standalone server, do the following to set /Director as the default path.

  1. Open Notepad elevated (as administrator) and paste the following text: 
    <script type="text/javascript">
<!--
window.location="https://director.corp.com/Director";
// -->
</script>
  2. Adjust the window.location line to match your FQDN.
  3. Select File > Save As and browse to the IIS folder, by default C:\inetpub\wwwroot is the IIS folder.
  4. Select the Save as type to All types.
  5. Type a file name with an html extension, and select Save.
  6. Open IIS Manager.
  7. Select the SERVERNAME node (top-level) and double-click Default Document, as shown in the following screen shot:
  8. On the right, click Add…,
  9. Enter the file name of the .html file provided in Step 5.
  10. Ensure the .html file is located at the top of the list, as shown in the following screen shot:

Director Spinning Circle

If after login to Director the spinning circle doesn’t go away:

Do the following to fix it:

  1. Edit the file C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Director\web.config using an elevated text editor.
  2. Search for <serviceHostingEnvironment (line 273).
  3. Add the following attribute: 
    multipleSiteBindingsEnabled="true"

Also see CTX202564 Citrix Director Becomes Unresponsive after Submitting the Credentials when IIS X-Frame-Options is enabled

Director Tweaks

Prepopulate the domain field

From http://www.xenblog.dk/?p=33: On the Controllers having the Director role installed, locate and edit the ‘LogOn.aspx’ file. By default you can find it at C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Director\Logon.aspx

In line 450 you will have the following. To find the line, search for ID=”Domain”. Note: onblur and onfocus attributes were added in newer versions of Director.

<asp:TextBox ID="Domain" runat="server" CssClass="text-box" onfocus="showIndicator(this);" onblur="hideIndicator(this);"></asp:TextBox>

In the ID=”Domain” element, insert a Text attribute and set it to your domain name. Don’t change or add any other attributes. Save the file.

<asp:TextBox ID="Domain" runat="server" Text="Corp" CssClass="text-box" onfocus="showIndicator(this);" onblur="hideIndicator(this);"></asp:TextBox>

This will prepopulate the domain field text box with your domain name and still allow the user to change it, if that should be required. Note: this only seems to work if Single Sign-on is disabled.

Session timeout

By default the idle time session limit of the Director is 245 min. If you wish to change the timeout, here is how to do it.

  1. Log on to the Director Server as an administrator
  2. Open the ‘IIS Manager’
  3. Browse to ‘SitesDefault Web SiteDirector’ in the left hand pane.
  4. Open ‘Session State’ in the right hand pane
  5. Change the ‘Time-out (in minutes)’ value under ‘Cookie Settings’
  6. Click ‘Apply’ in the Actions list

SSL Check

From http://euc.consulting/blog/citrix-desktop-director-2-1: If you are not securing Director with an SSL certificate you will get this error at the logon screen.

To stop this:

  1. Log on to the Director Server as an administrator
  2. Open the ‘IIS Manager’
  3. Browse to ‘SitesDefault Web SiteDirector’ in the left hand pane.
  4. Open ‘Application Settings’ in the right hand pane
  5. Set UI.EnableSslCheck to false.

Disable Activity Manager

From Disable the visibility of running applications in the Activity Manager in Advanced Configuration at Citrix Docs: By default, the Activity Manager in Director displays a list of all the running applications and the Windows description in the title bars of any open applications for the user’s session. This information can be viewed by all administrators that have access to the Activity Manager feature in Director. For Delegated Administrator roles, this includes Full administrator, Delivery Group administrator, and Help Desk Administrator.

To protect the privacy of users and the applications they are running, you can disable the Applications tab from listing running applications.

  • On the VDA, modify the registry key located at HKLM\Software\Citrix\Director\TaskManagerDataDisplayed. By default, the key is set to 1. Change the value to 0, which means the information will not be displayed in the Activity Manager.
  • On the server with Director installed, modify the setting that controls the visibility of running applications. By default, the value is true, which allows visibility of running applications in the Applications Change the value to false, which disables visibility. This option affects only the Activity Manager in Director, not the VDA. Modify the value of the following setting:
    UI.TaskManager.EnableApplications = false

Large Active Directory / Multiple Forests

From CTX133013 Desktop Director User Account Search Process is Slow or Fails: By default, all the Global Catalogs for the Active Directory Forest are searched using Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). In a large Active Directory environment, this query can take some time or even time out.

If multiple forests, see Citrix Blog Post Using Citrix Director in a MultiForest Environment.

  1. In Information Server (IIS) Management, under the Desktop Director site, select Application Settings and add a new value called Connector.ActiveDirectory.ForestSearch. Set it to False. This disables searching any domain except the user’s domain and the server’s domain.
  2. To search more domains, add the searchable domain or domains in the Connector.ActiveDirectory.Domains field.

Site Groups

From Citrix Blog Post Citrix Director 7.6 Deep-Dive Part 4: Troubleshooting Machines:

If there are a large number of machines, the Director administrator can now configure site groups to perform machine search so that they can narrow down searching for the machine inside a site group. The site groups can be created on the Director server by running the configuration tool via command line by running the command:

C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Director\tools\DirectorConfig.exe /createsitegroups

Then provide a site group name and IP address of the delivery controller of the site to create the site group.

Director Configuration Script

Johan Greefkes at Script for configuring Director at Citrix Discussions was kind enough to provide a script that does the following:

  • Sets the XenDesktop Controllers that Director communicates with
  • Disables SSL Check
  • Sets Logon.aspx file to default to a domain name
  • Adds a footer that displays the name of the Director server

Director – Saved Filters

From Scott Osborne and Jarian Gibson at Citrix Discussions: In Director, you can create a filter and save it.

The saved filter is then accessible from the Filters menu structure.

The saved filters are stored on each Director server at C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\Director\UserData. Each user has their own saved filters. The saved filters are not replicated across Director servers.

You can instead configure multiple Director servers to store the filters on a shared UNC path: (h/t CTP Jarian Gibson)

  1. Create and share a folder (e.g. DirectorData).
  2. The Director server computer accounts need Modify permission to the share.
  3. On each Director server, run IIS Manager.
  4. Go to Sites > Default Web Site > Director. In the middle, double-click Application Settings.
  5. Change the Service.UserSettingsPath setting to the UNC path of the new share.
  6. Repeat this on other load balanced Director servers.

Director and HDX Insight

You can connect Director to NetScaler Management & Analytics System (NetScaler MAS) or Citrix Insight Center to add Network tabs to Director’s Trends and Machine Details views. Citrix Blog Post Configure Director with NetScaler Management & Analytics System (MAS).

Director and Self-Service Password Reset (SSPR)

If you have XenApp/XenDesktop Platinum Edition, it’s possible to install SSPR on the Director server. See George Spiers Citrix Self-Service Password Reset for a detailed implementation guide.

However this might break Director, and all you will see is a spinning circle.

To fix it, in IIS Manager (inetmgr), edit the bindings of the Default Web Site, and Remove the HTTP 8080 binding. Or implement the multisitebinding fix.

More info at Citrix Discussions Installing SSPR 1.0 appears to have broken Director 7.11 on same server.

Director Grooming

If XenDesktop is not Platinum Edition, then all historical Director data is groomed at 30 days.

For XenDesktop/XenApp Platinum Edition, by default, most of the historical Director data is groomed at 90 days. This can be adjusted up to 367 days by running a PowerShell cmdlet.

  1. On a XenDesktop Delivery Controller, run PowerShell and run asnp Citrix.*

  2. Run Get-MonitorConfiguration to see the current grooming settings.
  3. Run Set-MonitorConfiguration to change the grooming settings.

Director Single Sign-on

You can configure Director to support Integrated Windows Authentication (Single Sign-on). Note: there seem to be issues when not connecting from the local machine or when connecting through a load balancer.

  1. Run IIS Manager. You can launch it from Server Manager (Tools menu), or from the Start Menu, or by running inetmgr.
  2. On the left, expand Sites, expand Default Web Site, and click Director.
  3. In the middle, double-click Authentication in the IIS section.
  4. Right-click Windows Authentication, and Enable it.
  5. Right-click Anonymous Authentication, and Disable it.
  6. Pass-through auth won’t work from another computer until you set the http SPN for the Director server. See Director 7.7 Windows Authentication not working with NS LB at Citrix Discussions.
  7. If Director is not installed on a Controller then you’ll need to configure Kerberos delegation.
  8. If you are load balancing Director then additional config is required. See Director 7.7 Windows Authentication not working with NS LB at Citrix Discussions for more info.
    1. Create an AD service account that will be used as the Director’s ApplicationPoolIdentity.
    2. Create SPN and link it to the service account. 
      setspn -S http/loadbalanced_URL domain\user
    3. Trust the user account for delegation to any service (Kerberos only) (trust the Director servers for delegation is not necessary in this case). You have to create the SPN before you can do this step.
    4. In IIS manager, on the Application Pools (Director), specify the Identity as user we have created in step 1.
    5. In IIS manager, select Default Web Site and open the Configuration Editor.
    6. Use the drop-down to navigate to the following section:
      system.webServer/security/authentication/windowsAuthentication
    7. Set useAppPoolCredentials = True and useKernelMode = False. Click Apply on the top right.

  9. When you connect to Director you will be automatically logged in. You can change the login account by first logging off.
  10. Then change the drop-down to User credentials.

Director – Multiple XenDesktop Sites

  1. Run IIS Manager. You can launch it from Server Manager (Tools menu) or from the Start Menu, or by running inetmgr.
  2. On the left, expand Sites, expand Default Web Site, and click Director.
  3. In the middle pane, double-click Application Settings.
  4. Find the entry for Service.AutoDiscoveryAddresses, and double-click it.
  5. If Director is installed on a Controller, localhost should already be entered.
  6. Add a comma, and the NetBIOS name of one of the controllers in the 2nd XenDesktop Site (farm). Only enter one Controller name. If you have multiple Director servers, you can point each Director server to a different Controller in the 2nd XenDesktop Site (farm). From Citrix Docs: Director automatically discovers all other Controllers in the same Site and falls back to those other Controllers if the Controller you specified fails.

Director Process Monitoring

Director 7.11 and newer have Process Monitoring, which is detailed in Citrix Blog Post Citrix Director: CPU, Memory Usage and Process Information.

Process Monitoring is disabled by default. To enable it, configure the Enable process monitoring setting in a Citrix Policy. For Citrix Policies in a GPO, find this setting in the computer half of the GPO. Note: this setting could significantly increase the size of the Monitoring database.

Director Alerts and Notifications

Director supports alert conditions and email notifications. This feature requires XenApp/XenDesktop to be licensed with Platinum Edition. See Citrix Blog Post Configuring & Managing Alerts and Notifications Using Director for more information.

Director 7.11 and newer have CPU, Memory, and ICT RTT alerts. Citrix Blog Post 7 New Categories in Director for Proactive Notifications & Alerts

To configure alerts:

  1. While logged into Director, at the top of the page, click the Alerts button.
  2. Switch to the Email Server Configuration tab.
  3. Enter your SMTP information, and click Send Test Message. Then click Save.

  4. Switch to the Citrix Alerts Policy tab.
  5. There are four high-level categories of alerts: Site Policy, Delivery Group Policy, Server OS Policy, and User Policy. Click whichever one you want to configure.
  6. Then click Create.
  7. Give the alert a name.
  8. On the bottom left, select a condition, and enter thresholds.
  9. On the bottom right, in the Notifications preferences section, click Add.
  10. Enter an email address, and click Add.
  11. Click Save when done. Feel free to create more alerts and notifications.
  12. For Server OS and User Policy, there are new ICA RTT alerts. See Citrix Blog Post 7 New Categories in Director for Proactive Notifications & Alerts for details on the new alerts in 7.11 and newer.
  13. In Director 7.12 and newer, you can configure alerts to generate an SNMP trap. This is configured in PowerShell as described at Configure alerts policies with SNMP traps at Citrix Docs. 
    Set-MonitorNotificationSnmpServerConfiguration        #see Docs for parameter details
Set-MonitorNotificationPolicy -IsSnmpEnabled $true -Uid <Policy ID>
  14. Citrix has an experimental Desktop Notification Tool. See Citrix Blog Post Desktop Notification Tool For Citrix XenDesktop.
    ablogpic2

Director Alerts can be configured with a WebHook that allows Octoblu to perform actions when a Director Alert occurs. See Configure alerts policies with Octoblu webhooks at Citrix Docs for details.

Set-MonitorNotificationPolicy –Uid 5 –Webhook <Webhook URL>

Director – SCOM Integration

Director 7.8 and newer can display alerts from System Center Operations Manager 2012 R2. This feature requires XenApp/XenDesktop Platinum Edition.

  1. See Configure SCOM integration at Citrix Docs for detailed configuration instructions. Also see Marius Sandbu Integrating Citrix XenDesktop 7.7 and System Center Operations Manager.
  2. If Director server or System Center Operations Manager server is 2008 R2, then login to the 2008 R2 server, open PowerShell and run Enable-PSRemoting. Yes to everything. This is not needed on Windows Server 2012 R2 servers.
  3. On Director server, run C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Director\tools\DirectorConfig.exe /configscom
  4. FYI, the DirectorConfig.exe /configscom command enables the following features on the Director server: /FeatureName:IIS-NetFxExtensibility45 /FeatureName:IIS-ASPNET45 /FeatureName:WCF-HTTP-Activation45
  5. FYI, the System Center Operations Manager server is listed in IIS Manager at Default Web Site > Director > Application Settings (middle pane) > Connector.SCOM.ManagementServer.
  6. On the System Center Operations Manager server, edit Remote Management Users local group, and add Citrix Admins, and other Director users.
  7. In System Center Operations Manager Console, go to Administration > User Roles, and edit Operations Manager Operators. Add the Citrix Admins, and other Director users.
  8. See Citrix Blog Post SCOM Alerts in Citrix Director for information on how to view System Center Operations Manager alerts in Director.

Director – Custom Reports

In Director 7.12 and newer, in the Trends view, there’s a Custom Reports tab that guides you through creating a custom OData Query. This tab only appears if you have XenApp/XenDesktop Platinum Edition.

The Monitoring database contains more data than is exposed in Director. To view this data, the Monitoring service has an OData Data Feed that can be queried.

Use Director

The newer Director features usually require Delivery Controllers and VDAs to be at the same version or newer than Director. Director depends on the Monitoring Service that is built into the Delivery Controller. The Monitoring Service gathers data from the VDAs.

See Monitor deployments at Citrix Docs.

See the various Troubleshoot topics at Citrix Docs.

In Director 7.14 and newer, see CTX223928 How to use Director to monitor storage performance.

Citrix Blog Post Citrix Director Now Provides Disk Usage Information!:  💡

  • IOPS and disk latency data is enabled by default.
  • IOPS and disk latency is pushed to the database from each VDA at 1 hour interval.
  • Approximately 276 KB of disk space is required to store the CPU, memory, IOPS and disk latency data for one VDA over a period of one year.

In Director 7.14 and newer, see CTX223925 How to use Director to monitor NVIDIA GPU usage.

In Director 7.14 and newer, see CTX223927 How to use Director to troubleshoot application launch errors. This feature is configured in Citrix Policy Settings located in the Computer half at Virtual Delivery Agent Settings > Monitoring.

Citrix Director 7.13 and newer have an Application Instances tab on the Filters page that lets you filter published application sessions based on Session Idle Time (RDS sessions only), Application Name, and all other existing fields, like machine name, and so on. Requires Director 7.13, Controller 7.13, VDA 7.13, and Platinum Edition licensing. See Citrix Blog Post Monitoring Idle Applications and Sessions in Citrix Director. See Troubleshoot applications at Citrix Docs.

If idle time column shows n/a, then you need to wait 10-15 minutes.

In Director 7.13 and newer, the Session Details panel can show if Enlightened Data Transport (EDT, aka HDX on UDP) is enabled in the user’s session. See Citrix Blog Post HDX Adaptive Transport Protocol Monitoring via Director.

George Spiers has a comprehensive guide of all Director 7.12 features at http://www.jgspiers.com/citrix-director/.

Director 7.12 and newer have Connection Failure Details, which is detailed in Citrix Blog Post Director 7.12: Easier Troubleshooting of Machine & Connection Failures. Also see CTX223812 Citrix Director Failure Codes.  💡

Director 7.11 and newer have Process Monitoring, which is detailed in Citrix Blog Post Citrix Director: CPU, Memory Usage and Process Information.

Director 7.9 and newer have Logon Duration improvements.

Citrix Blog Post Interactive Session of Logon Duration in Citrix Director – Explained: Interactive Session Duration = Desktop Ready Event Timestamp (EventId 1000 on VDA) – User Profile Loaded Event Timestamp (EventId 2 on VDA). More details in the Blog Post.

Citrix Blog Post Director 7.6 Failure Reasons Demystified lists possible failure reasons behind an Unregistered alert, and the true meaning of failure reasons such as Connection Refused and Communication Error. It details each failure reason, defines the meanings of these failures, and lists action items that serve as a starting point for troubleshooting the specific scenario. The list is based on Director 7.6.300.

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EUC Weekly Digest – August 19, 2017

August 19, 2017, 9:20 am
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Here are some EUC items I found interesting last week. For more immediate updates, follow me at http://twitter.com/cstalhood.

 

For a list of updates at carlstalhood.com, see the Detailed Change Log.

XenApp/XenDesktop

VDA

App Layering (Unidesk)

Receiver

NetScaler

XenMobile

XenServer

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NetScaler Gateway 12 – ICA Proxy (StoreFront)

August 19, 2017, 1:25 pm
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Session Profiles

Partly based on Citrix Knowledgebase Article CTX139963 – How to Configure NetScaler Gateway Session Policies for StoreFront

To create Session Profiles/Policies for ICA Proxy (StoreFront):

  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.
    1. Name the first one Receiver Self Service or similar. This is for Receiver Self-Service (not in a web browser).
    2. Switch to the Client Experience tab.
    3. On the Client Experience tab, check the Override Global box next to Clientless Access, and set it to Off. Scroll down.
    4. Check the Override Global box next to Plug-in Type, and set it to Java.
    5. Check the Override Global box next to Single Sign-on to Web Applications and enable it. Scroll up.
      • If you need two-factor authentication (RADIUS), 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. Only change this in the Receiver Self-Service profile; leave the session profile for Web Browsers set to PRIMARY.
    6. Scroll up. On the Security tab, check the Override Global box next to Default Authorization Action, and set it to Allow.
    7. On the Published Applications tab, check the Override Global box next to ICA Proxy, and set it to ON.
    8. Check the Override Global box next to Web Interface Address, and enter the load balanced URL (FQDN) to the StoreFront servers. You can use an IP address instead of FQDN. Don’t add any path to the end of the URL.
    9. 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. Enter the same domain name that’s configured in StoreFront Configure Trusted Domains.
    10. For Account Services Address, enter the Base URL for StoreFront. NetScaler needs to be able to resolve this FQDN DNS name.
    11. Click Create.
  3. Right-click the just-added session profile, and click Add. This copies the settings from the existing profile into the new one.
    1. Change the name of the second Session Profile to Receiver For Web or similar.
    2. On the Client Experience tab, Clientless Access should be set to Off. Scroll down.
    3. Plug-in Type should still be set to Java.
    4. Single Sign-on to Web Applications should be enabled.
      • If you need two-factor authentication, the session profile for Receiver for Web needs Credential Index set to PRIMARY. Only the Receiver Self-Service policy needs SECONDARY as detailed earlier.
    5. On the Security tab, the Default Authorization Action should still be Allow.
    6. On the Published Applications page, for the Web Interface Address field, add the path to your Receiver for Web site (e.g. /Citrix/StoreWeb).
    7. 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 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.
    8. Account Services Address is not needed in this profile but there’s no harm in leaving it.
    9. Click Create.
  4. On the right, switch to the Session Policies tab, and click Add.
    1. Name the Policy Receiver Self Service or similar.
    2. Change the Profile to Receiver Self Service.
    3. Click the blue link to Switch to Default Syntax.
    4. In the Expression box, type in the following expression: 
      HTTP.REQ.HEADER("User-Agent").CONTAINS("CitrixReceiver")
    5. Then click Create.
  5. Right-click on the just-added Session Policy, and click Add.
    1. Change the name to Receiver For Web or similar.
    2. Change the Action to Receiver For Web.
    3. In the Expression box, either type in the following, or use the Expression Editor. It’s the same as the Receiver Self-Service expression, except it has .NOT on the end. 
      HTTP.REQ.HEADER("User-Agent").CONTAINS("CitrixReceiver").NOT
    4. Click Create.

The CLI commands for these Session Policies/Profiles are shown below:

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

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

add vpn sessionPolicy "Receiver for Web" "HTTP.REQ.HEADER(\"User-Agent\").CONTAINS(\"CitrixReceiver\").NOT" "Receiver for Web"

NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server

This section assumes LDAP authentication, with optional RADIUS for two-factor.

  • You can configure StoreFrontAuth as an alternative to LDAP. StoreFrontAuth delegates authentication to StoreFront servers, instead of performing authentication on NetScaler.
  • For other forms of authentication, see the NetScaler 12 Authentication section in the NetScaler 12 menu page.

To create the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server for ICA Proxy and StoreFront:

  1. Create a Server Certificate for the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server. The certificate must match the name users will enter to access the NetScaler 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 Subject Alternative Name for each suffix.
  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 (typically through NAT).
  7. Click More.
    1. If you don’t have enough NetScaler Gateway Universal licenses installed for all of your Gateway users, then check the box next to ICA Only. This option disables SmartAccess and VPN features but does not require any additional licenses.  Note: most NetScaler Editions come with built-in Universal Licenses.
    2. 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.
    3. Check the box next to DTLS.
      • DTLS enables EDT protocol, UDP Audio, and Framehawk.
      • EDT requires UDP 443 on client side, and UDP 1494/2598 on the server side.
    4. Click OK to close the Basic Settings section.
  8. In the Certificates section, click where it says No Server Certificate.
    1. Click where it says Click to select.
    2. Click the circle next to a previously created certificate that matches the NetScaler Gateway DNS name, and click Select.
    3. Click Bind.
  9. Click Continue to close the Certificates section.
  10. In the Basic Authentication section, click the plus icon in the top right. Note: NetScaler Gateway 12 seems to only support Basic Authentication policies, and not Advanced Authentication policies. For Advanced Authentication Policies, you’ll instead need to configure nFactor.
    1. Change the Choose Policy drop-down to LDAP,
    2. Leave the Choose Type drop-down set to  Primary, and click Continue.
    3. If you’ve already created an LDAP Policy, then click where it says Click to select, and select the policy.

    4. If you used the Authentication Dashboard to create an LDAP Server, then you probably haven’t created the corresponding LDAP Policy yet. Click the plus icon to create a new policy.
      1. Use the Server drop-down to select the previously created LDAP Server.
      2. Give the policy a name. The Policy name can match the Server name.
      3. In the Expression box, enter ns_true (a Basic or Classic expression), or select it from the Saved Policy Expressions drop-down. Click Create.
    5. Click Bind.
    6. Or for two-factor authentication, you will need to bind two Basic authentication policies to Primary and two Basic authentication 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)
  11. Click Continue to close the Basic Authentication section.
  12. In the Advanced Authentication section, click Continue.
  13. Scroll down to the Profiles section, and click the pencil icon.
  14. In the TCP Profile drop-down, select nstcp_default_XA_XD_profile, and click OK to close the Profiles section.
  15. To bind the Session Policies, scroll down to the Policies section, and click the plus icon near the top right.
    1. Select Session, select Request, and click Continue.
    2. Click where it says Click to select.
    3. Click the circle next to one of the Receiver Session Policies, and click Select. It doesn’t matter in which order you bind them.
    4. There’s no need to change the priority number. Click Bind.
  16. Repeat these steps to bind the second policy. In the Policies section, click the plus icon near the top right.
    1. Select Session, select Request, and click Continue.
    2. Click Add Binding.
    3. Click where it says Click to select.
    4. Click the circle next to the other Receiver session policy, and click Select.
    5. There’s no need to change the priority number. Click Bind.
    6. The two policies are mutually exclusive so there’s no need to adjust priority. Click Close.
  17. To bind STAs, on the right, in the Advanced Settings section, click Published Applications.
  18. On the left, in the Published Applications section, click where it says No STA Server.
    1. Enter a Delivery Controller in the https://<Controller_FQDN> or http://<Controller_FQDN> format, depending on if SSL is enabled on the Delivery Controller or not. This must be a FQDN or IP address. Short names don’t work.
    2. Click Bind.
  19. To bind another Secure Ticket Authority server, on the left, in the Published Applications section, click where it says 1 STA Server.
    1. In the VPN Virtual Server STA Server Binding section, click Add Binding.
    2. Enter the URL for the second Controller, and click Bind.
    3. This view shows if the STAs are reachable or not. To refresh the view, close the STA Server Bindings list, and reopen it.
  20. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click Portal Themes.
  21. On the left, in the Portal Theme section, change the drop-down to RfWebUI. You can also click the plus icon to create a theme.
  22. Click OK to close the Portal Theme section.
  23. If you haven’t enabled the Default SSL Profile, then perform other normal SSL configuration including: disable SSLv3, bind an A+ Cipher Group, and enable Strict Transport Security.
  24. Click Done when done.
  25. Configure SSL Redirect for the NetScaler Gateway DNS name and VIP.
  26. Configure StoreFront to use NetScaler Gateway.

The CLI commands to create a NetScaler Gateway vServer for ICA Proxy are shown below:

add vpn vserver gateway.corp.com SSL 10.2.2.200 443 -icaOnly ON -dtls ON -tcpProfileName nstcp_default_XA_XD_profile
bind vpn vserver gateway.corp.com -policy "Receiver Self-Service" -priority 100
bind vpn vserver gateway.corp.com -policy "Receiver for Web" -priority 110
bind vpn vserver gateway.corp.com -policy Corp-Gateway -priority 100
bind vpn vserver gateway.corp.com -staServer "http://xdc01.corp.local"
bind vpn vserver gateway.corp.com -staServer "http://xdc02.corp.local"
bind vpn vserver gateway.corp.com -portaltheme RfWebUI

Verify SSL Settings

After you’ve created the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server, run the following tests to verify SSL:

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

View ICA Connections

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

show vpn icaconnection

Related Pages

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Domain Controller (LDAPS) Load Balancing – NetScaler 12

August 20, 2017, 7:44 am
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Overview

If you plan to use LDAP (Active Directory) for NetScaler Gateway, or NetScaler management authentication, then load balance the Domain Controllers that are used for authentication. A single LDAP Policy/Server points to the load balanced VIP.

Premature lockout – An alternative to load balancing is to bind multiple LDAP Policies, with each Policy pointing to a single Domain Controller in the same domain. 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.

LDAPS and certificates – 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 in Enterprise Mode, which allows the Domain Controllers to request certificates automatically.

Monitor -An ldaps monitor can be used to verify that the Domain Controller is functional.

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

Multiple datacenters – 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.

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

  • 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 (e.g. Linux machine) 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.
  • SSL_TCP – 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.

Source IP – 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 (scriptable) monitor uses NSIP as the source IP. You can use RNAT to override this as described in CTX217712 How to Force scriptable monitor to use SNIP in Netscaler in 10.5.

  1. In the NetScaler Configuration Utility, expand Traffic Management, expand Load Balancing, and click Monitors.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Name the monitor ldaps-Corp or similar. The ldaps monitor logs into Active Directory, performs an LDAP query, and looks for a successful response. The monitor configuration has domain-specific information, so if you have multiple Active Directory domains, then you will need a separate ldaps monitor for each domain. Include the domain name in the monitor name.
  4. Change the Type drop-down to LDAP.
  5. Scroll down the Standard Parameters tab, and check the box next to Secure. This checkbox instructs the monitor to connect to the Domain Controllers using LDAPS instead of LDAP.
  6. Scroll back up, and switch to the Special Parameters tab.
  7. Configure the following on the Special Parameters tab:
    • Use the Script Name drop-down list to select the nsldap.pl file.
    • In the Base DN field, enter your domain name in LDAP format (e.g. dc=company,dc=com).
    • 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.
    • In the Filter field, enter cn=builtin. This limits the search results so it’s not returning the entire domain.
    • 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.
  8. 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
  9. 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 the following in the Create Server section.
    • In the Name field, enter a descriptive server name. Usually it matches the actual server name.
    • In the IPAddress field, enter the IP address of the server. Note: you can alternatively change the selection to Domain Name and enter a FQDN. This requires the NetScaler the be able to resolve the FQDN.
    • Enter comments to describe the server.
  4. Click Create.
    add server AD01 10.2.2.11
add server AD01 10.2.2.12
  5. Continue adding Domain Controllers. You usually want at least two per domain.

Service Groups

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand Load Balancing, and click Service Groups.
  2. On the right, click Add
    .
  3. In the Basic Settings section, do the following:
    • In the Name field: 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.
    • Change the Protocol drop-down to SSL_TCP.
  4. Scroll down, and click OK to close the Basic Settings section.

  5. On the left, in the Service Group Members section, click where it says No Service Group Member.
    1. If you did not create server objects, then leave the selection set to IP Based, and enter the IP address of a Domain Controller in this datacenter.
    2. If you previously created server objects, then change the selection to Server Based, and select the server objects.
    3. In the Port field, enter 636 (LDAPS). This assumes the Domain Controllers have certificates installed.
    4. Click Create.
  6. Click OK to close the Service Group Members section.
  7. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click Monitors.
  8. On the left, in the Monitors section, click where it says No Service Group to Monitor Binding.
    1. Click where it says Click to select.
    2. Click the circle next to the LDAPS monitor you created earlier, and click Select.
    3. Click Bind.
  9. To verify the members are up, click in the Service Group Members section.
    1. Right-click a member, and click Monitor Details.
    2. The Last Response field should say Success – Probe succeeded. Click Close.
      • If the monitor doesn’t work, use ldp.exe to verify the Domain Controller certificate.
  10. Click Close and Done to finish creating the Service Group.
    add serviceGroup svcgrp-LDAP-Corp SSL_TCP
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-LDAP-Corp AD01 636
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-LDAP-Corp AD02 636
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-LDAP-Corp -monitorName LDAP-Corp
  11. Add additional service groups for Domain Controllers for each domain in each data center.

Load Balancing 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. In the Basic Settings section, do the following:
    • Name it LDAPS-Corp-HQ-LB or similar. You will create one Virtual Server per datacenter, so include the datacenter name. Also, each domain has a separate set of Virtual Servers, so include the domain name.
    • Change the Protocol drop-down to SSL_TCP.
    • 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.
    • Enter 636 as the Port.
  5. Click OK to close the Basic Settings section.
  6. On the left, in the Service Group section, click where it says No Load Balancing Virtual Server ServiceGroup Binding.
    1. Click where it says Click to select.
    2. Click the circle next to a previously created Service Group, and click Select.
    3. Click Bind.
  7. Click Continue to close the Services and Service Groups section.
  8. On the left, in the Certificates section, click where it says No Server Certificate.
    1. Click where it says Click to select.
    2. Click the circle next to a certificate that matches the FQDN that resolves to this VIP. Click Select.
    3. Click Bind.
  9. Click Continue to close the Certificates section.
    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
  10. There’s no need to configure Persistence for LDAP.
  11. If you haven’t enabled the Default SSL Profile, then perform other normal SSL configuration including: disable SSLv3, and bind an A+ Cipher Group.
  12. Click Done to finish creating the Virtual Server.
  13. The new Virtual Server should show as UP.

Backup Virtual Server

You can optionally configure this Load Balancing Virtual Server to failover to a different Load Balancing Virtual Server. This allows you to load balance Domain Controllers in this datacenter, and if down, failover to the other datacenter.

  1. Create additional Load Balancing Virtual Servers for each datacenter.
    • These additional Virtual Servers do not need a VIP, so change the IP Address Type to Non Addressable. Only the first Virtual Server will be directly accessible.
      add lb vserver lbvip-LDAP-Corp-Backup SSL_TCP 0.0.0.0 0
    • Notice that the additional datacenter Virtual Servers show up with an IP Address of 0.0.0.0 and port of 0.
  2. After you are done creating a Virtual Server for each datacenter, right-click the primary datacenter’s Virtual Server, and click Edit.
  3. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click Protection.
  4. On the left, in the Protection section, change the Backup Virtual Server to one of the other datacenter Virtual Servers. If all of the services in this datacenter are DOWN, the backup Virtual Server will be used instead. You can cascade multiple Virtual Servers using this method. Click OK and Done.
    set lb vserver lbvip-LDAP-Corp -backupVServer lbvip-LDAP-Corp-Backup

Next Steps

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

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NetScaler Gateway 12 – LDAP Authentication

August 20, 2017, 10:23 am
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LDAP Load Balancing

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

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

LDAP Authentication Server

You can configure StoreFrontAuth as an alternative to LDAP. StoreFrontAuth delegates authentication to StoreFront servers, instead of performing authentication on NetScaler.

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. Change the Choose Server Type drop-down to LDAP.
  4. In the Name field, enter LDAP-Corp 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.
  5. Change the selection to Server IP. Enter the VIP of the load balancing vServer for LDAP.
  6. Change the Security Type drop-down 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. In the Administrator Bind DN field, enter the credentials of the LDAP bind account in userPrincipalName format. Domain\Username also works.
  10. Enter the Administrator Password.
  11. Click Test Connection. NetScaler will attempt to login to the LDAP IP. Scroll down.
  12. 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.
  13. On the right side of the Other Settings section, check the box next to Allow Password Change.
    • 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 NetScaler Gateway access to only members of a specific AD 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 Search Filter 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 Users and Computers.
    2. Open the View menu, and enable Advanced Features. The Attribute Editor is only present if this feature is enabled.
    3. Browse to the group object, right-click it, and click Properties. Note: you cannot use Find. Instead, you must navigate through the tree to find the object.
    4. Switch to the Extensions page. On the right, switch to the Attribute Editor tab. This tab is only visible if Advanced Features are enabled, and you didn’t use the Find feature.
    5. Scroll down to distinguishedName, double-click it, and then copy it to the clipboard.
    6. 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. Configuring Nested Group Extraction allows the Nested Groups to be used for AAA Groups.
    1. Set Group Name Identifier to samAccountName.
    2. Set Group Search Attribute to memberOf. Select << New >> first.
    3. Set Group Search Sub-Attribute to CN. Select << New >> first.
    4. For the Group Search Filter field, see CTX123795 Example of LDAP Nested Group Search Filter Syntax.
  17. Scroll down, and click Create.
    add authentication ldapAction Corp-Gateway -serverIP 10.2.2.11 -serverPort 636 -ldapBase "dc=corp,dc=local" -ldapBindDn "corp\\ctxsvc" -ldapBindDnPassword Passw0rd -ldapLoginName samaccountname -searchFilter "memberOf:1.2.840.113556.1.4.1941:=CN=Citrix Remote,CN=Users,DC=corp,DC=local" -groupAttrName memberOf -subAttributeName CN -secType SSL -passwdChange ENABLED
  18. The status of the LDAP Server should be Up.

LDAP Policy Expression

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

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

To create it now:

  1. You can use the menu Search box to find one of the nodes that lets you create Basic Authentication Policies.
    1. Or, navigate to NetScaler Gateway > Policies > Authentication > LDAP.
  2. On the right, in the Policies tab, click Add.
  3. Change the Server drop-down to the LDAP Server you created earlier.
  4. Give the LDAP Policy a name (one for each domain).
  5. In the Expression box, enter ns_true.
    • NetScaler Gateway 12 does not support Advanced Authentication policies directly on the Gateway vServer. If you prefer Advanced Authentication Policies, then you’ll instead need to configure nFactor.
  6. Click Create.
     add authentication ldapPolicy LDAP-Corp ns_true LDAP-Corp
  7. If you see a message about deprecation, click OK and ignore it.

Gateway Authentication Feedback

  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 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. This setting might not be advisable in a secure environment.
  4. Click OK.
    set aaa parameter -enableEnhancedAuthFeedback YES

Next Step

Multiple Domains – UPN Method

Cascade – 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

There are two methods of specifying the domain:

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

The userPrincipalName method is detailed below:

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

Multiple Domains – AAA Groups Method

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

  1. Go to NetScaler Gateway > Policies > Authentication > LDAP.
  2. On the right, switch to the Servers tab.
  3. Make sure all domains are in the list. Edit one of the domains.
  4. Scroll down to the Other Settings section,
  5. In the Default Authentication Group field, enter a new, unique group name. Each domain must a different group name. This group is only locally significant and does not need to be added to AD. Click OK.
  6. Edit another domain, and specify a new unique group name. Each domain has a different group name.
  7. Go to NetScaler Gateway > User Administration > AAA Groups.
  8. On the right, click Add.
  9. Name the group so it exactly matches the group name you specified in the LDAP server. Click OK.
  10. On the right, in the Advanced Settings section, add the Policies section.
  11. On the left, in the Policies section, click the Plus icon.
    1. Select Session, and click Continue.
    2. Click the plus icon to create a new policy.
    3. Give the Policy a name that indicates the domain. You will have a separate policy for each domain.
    4. Click the plus icon to create a new profile.
    5. Give the Profile a name that indicates the domain. You will have a separate profile for each domain.
    6. Switch to the Published Applications tab.
    7. Check the Override Global box next to Single Sign-on Domain. Enter the domain name that StoreFront is expecting. Click Create.
    8. Give the policy a ns_true expression, and click Create.
    9. In the Priority field, give it a number that is lower than any other Session Policy that has Single Sign-on Domain configured. Click OK.
    10. Click Done.
  12. Create another AAA Group.
  13. Give it a name that matches the Default Authorization Group configured for the next domain.
  14. Create another Session Policy for the next domain.
  15. Create another profile for the next domain. On the Published Applications tab, specify the domain name of the next domain.
  16. Bind the new policy with a low Priority number.
  17. When a user logs in, NetScaler loops through LDAP policies until one of them works. NetScaler adds the user to the Default Authentication Group specified in the LDAP Server. NetScaler finds a matching AAA Group and applies the Session Policy that has SSON Domain configured. Since the policy is bound with a low priority number, it overrides any other policy that also has SSON Domain configured.
↧

NetScaler Gateway 12 Tweaks

August 22, 2017, 5:19 pm
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💡 = Recently Updated

NetScaler Gateway Feature Licensing

Here is a listing of some NetScaler Gateway features and the licenses they require:

Feature NetScaler Editions Universal Licenses?
StoreFront Load Balancing Standard/Enterprise/Platinum
Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) Enterprise/Platinum
ICA Proxy and StoreFront Proxy All
Two-factor Auth (RADIUS) All
StoreFrontAuth (nFactor) Enterprise/Platinum
nFactor Authentication Enterprise/Platinum
Native OTP Authentication (nFactor) Enterprise/Platinum
HDX Insight (AppFlow) Enterprise/Platinum
SmartAccess All Yes
SmartControl Platinum Yes
RDP Proxy Enterprise/Platinum Yes
SSL VPN All Yes
PCoIP Proxy Enterprise/Platinum Yes
Unified Gateway Enterprise/Platinum Yes
Citrix SCOM MP for NetScaler Platinum

All Editions = NetScaler Gateway Enterprise VPX, NetScaler Standard, NetScaler Enterprise, and NetScaler Platinum.

  • NetScaler Gateway Enterprise VPX is the cheap VPX appliance that only does NetScaler Gateway. It doesn’t even do Load Balancing.
  • NetScaler Enterprise Edition is the minimum edition for many Gateway features, and thus is recommended for all Gateway purchases.

Gateway Universal Licenses – many NetScaler Gateway features require NetScaler Gateway Universal licenses for each concurrent connection to the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server. See the above table for which features require these licenses.

When you create a NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server, in the Basic Settings section, the ICA Only setting determines if you need NetScaler Gateway Universal licenses or not. If the Virtual Server is set to ICA Only is true, then features requiring Universal Licenses are disabled. 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.

Most editions of NetScaler include Universal licenses:

  • NetScaler Gateway Enterprise VPX does not come with any Gateway Universal Licenses
  • NetScaler Standard Edition comes with 500 Gateway Universal Licenses
  • NetScaler Enterprise Edition comes with 1,000 Gateway Universal Licenses
  • NetScaler Platinum Edition comes with unlimited Gateway Universal Licenses

If your NetScaler Edition does not include a sufficient number of Universal Licenses for your user load, then you can acquire these licenses through other means:

  • XenApp/XenDesktop Platinum Edition includes Gateway Universal licenses for each licensed user
  • XenMobile App Edition and XenMobile Enterprise Edition include Gateway Universal licenses for each licensed user
  • “a la carte” NetScaler Gateway Universal Licenses – these are very inexpensive

You can install more Gateway Universal licenses on the NetScaler appliance. 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, then allocate the Gateway Universal licenses to the first hostname, and then reallocate the same licenses to the other hostname.

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

To change the hostname:

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

Go to mycitrix.com, and allocate your purchased Gateway Universal licenses to the hostname of the appliance.

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

To see the number of installed Gateway Universal licenses:

  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.

RFWebUI Portal Theme

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

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

  1. Go to NetScaler Gateway > Virtual Servers, and edit an existing Virtual Server.
  2. If you see the Portal Themes section on the left:
    • Then click the pencil icon.
  3. If you don’t see Portal Themes on the left:
    • On the right, in the Advanced Settings section, click Portal Themes.
  4. On the left, change the Portal Theme drop-down to RfWebUI. Click OK.
  5. Click Done.
    bind vpn vserver gateway.corp.com -portaltheme RfWebUI
  6. When you access the NetScaler Gateway login page you’ll see the theme.

Custom Portal Theme

You can 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 the theme a name, select RfWebUI as the Template Theme, and click OK.
  4. In the Look and Feel section, there are two sub-sections: one for Home Page Attributes, and one for Common Attributes.
  5. The Home Page Attributes section is for Unified Gateway (aka VPN Clientless Access). Notice that the Websites Sections can be disabled.
  6. The Help Legend link at the top of the section shows you what the other fields modify.

  7. If you want to modify some attributes of the logon page, use the Common Attributes sub-section. The labels are changed later.
  8. The Help Legend link at the top of the Common Attributes section shows you what the fields modify.
  9. Make changes as desired, and click OK at the bottom of the page.
  10. After you click OK, the Language section appears.
  11. In the Language section, select a language, and click OK.
  12. On the right, in the Advanced Settings section, click Login Page.
  13. Make changes as desired (e.g. Password Field Titles), and click OK.
  14. At the top of the screen, click the link to Click to Bind and View Configured Theme.
  15. Select a Gateway Virtual Server, and click Bind and Preview. Notice that you can also bind Portal Themes to AAA vServers.
  16. The logon page is displayed.
  17. You could go to /var/netscaler/logon/themes/MyTheme/css and make more changes to custom.css, but this file gets overwritten any time you make a change in the Portal Themes section of the NetScaler GUI.
  18. Citrix CTX209526 NetScaler; How to Copy a Portal Theme from the Device running version 11.0 to another Device running 11.0.

Public DNS SRV Records

When a user launches Receiver, instead of typing in the Gateway FQDN, the user can enter an email address. Receiver uses the email suffix to lookup the Gateway FQDN. It does this by looking for an SRV record named _citrixreceiver._tcp in the email suffix’s domain (e.g. _citrixreceiver._tcp.corp.com). If you have multiple email suffixes, then you need to add the SRV record to each email suffix DNS zone.

Note: to eliminate certificate and/or trust prompts, the Gateway certificate must match _discoverReceiver.email.suffix (e.g _discoverReceiver.corp.com). If you have multiple email suffixes, then you need the certificate to match every email suffix.

To enable 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.
  2. In the left pane of DNS Manager, right-click your DNS domain, and click 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, do the following:
    1. In the Service box, enter the host value _citrixreceiver.
    2. In the Protocol box, enter the value _tcp.
    3. In the Port number box, enter 443.
    4. 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).
  5. Click OK to close the New Resource Record dialog box.
  6. Click Done to close the Resource Record Type dialog box.

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. If you see the Login Page section on the left:
    • Click the pencil icon in the Login Page section.
  3. If you don’t see the Login Page section on the left:
    • On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click Login Page to add it to the left.
  4. On the left, in the Login Page section, change the two Password fields to your desired text.
  5. Click OK to close the Login Page section.
  6. If you are using the RfWebUI theme, the default text size for the form field labels is 17px. However, the Portal Themes editor defaults to 12px. You can change it back to 16px or 18px by doing the following:
    1. In the Look and Feel section, click the pencil icon.
    2. Scroll down to the Common Attributes section.
    3. Change the Form Font Size drop-down to 16px or 18px.
    4. Click OK to close the Look and Feel section.
  7. In the Portal Theme section at the top of the page, you can Click to Bind and View Configured Theme to Preview your changes.
  8. You might have to invalidate the loginstaticobjects Integrated Caching 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. Scroll down, and click Create.
  5. Edit a Gateway Virtual Server.
  6. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click EULA.
  7. On the left, in the EULA section, click where it says No EULA.
  8. Click where it says Click to select.
  9. Click the radio button next to the previously created EULA, and click Select.
  10. Click Bind.
  11. Mike Roselli at Automatic EULA Acceptance by Cookie Rewrite Guide at Citrix Discussions details Rewrite policies that change the behavior so that users only have to accept the EULA once. It records acceptance in a cookie.
  12. Sam Jacobs Adding an EULA for AAA Login at CUGC explains how to enable the EULA on the AAA logon page.

Theme File Customization

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

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

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

Other Customizations

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

 UDP Audio Through Gateway

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

Note: Enabling DTLS on the Gateway also enables the Gateway to support EDT (Adaptive Transport) and Framehawk.

Requirements for UDP Audio:

  • Citrix Receiver 4.2 or newer
  • UDP 443 allowed to NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server
  • UDP 16500-16509 allowed from NetScaler SNIP to the VDAs

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

  1. Edit a NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server.
  2. In the Basic Settings section, click the pencil icon.
  3. Click More.
  4. Enable the DTLS option, and click OK.
  5. After enabling DTLS, it probably won’t work until you unbind the Gateway certificate, and rebind it.
    1. On the left, click where it says 1 Server Certificate.
    2. Click Add Binding.
    3. Click where it says Click to select.
    4. Click the radio button next to the same certificate that’s already bound. Click Select.
    5. Click Bind.
    6. Click Close.
    7. Click Continue to close the Certificate section.

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 | User Experience.
  4. On the right, edit the setting Client audio settings.
  5. Do the following in the Client audio settings dialog box.
    1. Enable the setting.
    2. Set audio quality as desired. Higher quality = higher bandwidth.
    3. Check to Enable Real-Time Transport.
    4. Check to Allow Real-Time Transport through Gateway.
  6. Click OK to close the Client audio settings dialog box.
  7. Look in the client-side registry at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Citrix\ICA Client\Engine\Lockdown Profiles\All Regions\Lockdown\Virtual Channels\Audio to make sure the registry keys applied.
  8. When you launch the first session after enabling Real-Time Transport, you might be prompted to enable it through the client-side firewall.

To view the current UDP Audio sessions:

  1. In the NetScaler GUI, click the NetScaler Gateway node.
  2. On the right, click DTLS ICA Connections.
  3. This will show you all users that have UDP Audio connections through NetScaler Gateway. Note: this is different than EDT. To see EDT (UDP) HDX connections, click ICA Connections instead.

Block Citrix VPN for iOS

From Citrix CTX201129 Configuration for Controlled Access to Different VPN Plugin Through NetScaler Gateway for XenMobile Deployments: do one or both of the following to block the Citrix VPN client connection from iOS devices:

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

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
↧

RADIUS Load Balancing – NetScaler 12

August 23, 2017, 7:46 am
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RADIUS Load Balancing Overview

One method of two-factor authentication to NetScaler Gateway is the RADIUS protocol with a two-factor authentication product (tokens) that has RADIUS enabled.

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

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

RADIUS Monitor and Static Credentials – When load balancing RADIUS, you’ll want a monitor that verifies that the RADIUS server is functional. The RADIUS monitor will login to the RADIUS server and look for a response. The credentials in the load balancing monitor must have a static password.

  • If you don’t mind failed login attempts in your RADIUS logs, you can specify fake credentials in your load balancing monitor. The monitor would be configured to expect a login failure response, which means that at least a RADIUS service is responding to the monitor. Not as accurate as a successful login response, but better than ping.
  • The only other monitoring option is Ping. No credentials needed for this option. Adjust the firewall to allow ping to the RADIUS servers.

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

RADIUS Monitor

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

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

Henny Louwers – Configure RSA RADIUS monitoring on NetScaler:

  1. In the NetScaler Configuration Utility, on the left, under Traffic Management > Load Balancing, click Monitors.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Name the monitor RSA or similar.
  4. Change the Type drop-down to RADIUS.
  5. On the Standard Parameters tab, you might have to increase the Response Time-out to 4.
  6. On the Special Parameters tab, do the following:
    1. Enter valid RADIUS credentials. Make sure these credentials do not change or expire. For RSA, in the Password field, enter the fixed passcode.
    2. Also enter the RADIUS key (secret) configured on the RADIUS server for the NetScaler as RADIUS client.
    3. For Response Codes, add both 2 and 3. 2 means success, while 3 indicates some kind of failure. Either result means that the RADIUS server is responding, and thus is probably functional. But 2 is the ideal response.
  7. Click Create when done.
    add lb monitor RSA RADIUS -respCode 2-3 -userName ctxsvc -password Passw0rd -radKey Passw0rd -resptimeout 4

Servers

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand Load Balancing, and click Servers.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Enter a descriptive server name; usually it matches the actual server name.
  4. Enter the IP address of the RADIUS server.
  5. Enter comments to describe the server. Click Create.
    add server RSA01 10.2.2.42
add server RSA02 10.2.2.43
  6. Continue adding RADIUS servers.

Service Groups

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand Load Balancing, and click Service Groups.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. You will create one Service Group per datacenter. Enter a name reflecting the name of the datacenter.
  4. Change the Protocol to RADIUS.
  5. Scroll down, and click OK, to close the Basic Settings section.
  6. On the left, in the Service Group Members section, click where it says No Service Group Member.
    1. If you did not create server objects, then enter the IP address of a RADIUS Server in this datacenter. If you previously created a server object, then change the selection to Server Based, and select the server object(s).
    2. In the Port field, enter 1812 (RADIUS).
    3. Click Create.
  7. Click OK when done adding members.
  8. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click Monitors.
    1. On the left, in the Monitors section, click where it says No Service Group to Monitor Binding.
    2. Click where it says Click to select.
    3. Click the radio button next to your new RADIUS monitor, and click Select.
    4. Click Bind.
  9. To verify the members are up, click in the Service Group Members section.
    1. Right-click a member, and click Monitor Details.
    2. It should say Radius response code 2 (or 3) received. Click Close twice.
  10. Scroll down, and click Done to finish creating the Service Group.
    add serviceGroup svcgrp-RSA RADIUS
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-RSA RSA01 1812
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-RSA RSA02 1812
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-RSA -monitorName RSA
  11. Add additional service groups for RADIUS servers in each data center.

Virtual Server

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand Load Balancing, and click Virtual Servers.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. In the Basic Settings section, do the following:
    1. Name it lbvip-RADIUS-HQ or similar. You will create one Virtual Server per datacenter so include the datacenter name.
    2. Change the Protocol drop-down to RADIUS.
    3. Enter a Virtual IP. This VIP cannot conflict with any other IP + Port already being used. You can use an existing VIP if the VIP is not already listening on UDP 1812.
    4. Enter 1812 as the Port.
  4. Click OK to close the Basic Settings section.
  5. In the Services and Service Groups section, click where it says No Load Balancing Virtual Server ServiceGroup Binding.
    1. Click where it says Click to select.
    2. Click the radio button next to a previously created Service Group, and click Select.
    3. Click Bind.
  6. Click Continue.
  7. On the right, in the Advanced Settings section, click Method.
  8. On the left, in the Method section, do the following:
    1. Change the Load Balancing Method to TOKEN.
    2. In the Expression box, enter CLIENT.UDP.RADIUS.USERNAME.
  9. Click OK to close the Method section.
  10. On the right, in the Advanced Settings section, click Persistence.
  11. On the left, in the Persistence section, do the following:
    1. Change Persistence to RULE.
    2. In the Expression box, enter CLIENT.UDP.RADIUS.USERNAME.
  12. Click OK to close the Persistence section.
  13. Scroll down and click Done to finish creating the Virtual Server.
  14. If you are configuring this RADIUS Load Balancer for more than just NetScaler Gateway, you can add another Load Balancer on port 1813 for RADIUS Accounting. Then you need a Persistency Group to tie the two load balancers together. See Configuring RADIUS Load Balancing with Persistence at Citrix Docs. 
    add lb vserver lbvip-RSA RADIUS 10.2.2.210 1812 -persistenceType RULE -lbMethod TOKEN -rule CLIENT.UDP.RADIUS.USERNAME
bind lb vserver lbvip-RSA svcgrp-RSA
  15. The new Virtual Server should show as Up. If not, click the Refresh icon.

Active/Passive Load Balancing

  1. Create additional Virtual Servers for each datacenter.
    1. These additional Virtual Servers do not need a VIP. so change the IP Address Type to Non Addressable. Only the first Virtual Server will be directly accessible.
      add lb vserver lbvip-RSA-Backup RADIUS 0.0.0.0 0 -persistenceType NONE -cltTimeout 120
    2. Notice that the additional datacenter Virtual Servers have an IP Address of 0.0.0.0 and port of 0.
  2. After you are done creating a Virtual Server for each datacenter, right-click the primary datacenter’s Virtual Server, and click Edit.
  3. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click Protection.
  4. On the left, in the Protection section, change the Backup Virtual Server to one of the other datacenter Virtual Servers. If all of the services in this datacenter are DOWN, the backup Virtual Server will be used instead. You can cascade multiple Virtual Servers using this method. Click OK and Done.
    set lb vserver lbvip-RSA -backupVServer lbvip-RSA-Backup
  5. You may now use this Virtual IP in your RADIUS authentication policies for NetScaler Gateway or NetScaler management login.
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NetScaler Gateway 12 RADIUS Authentication

August 23, 2017, 9:34 am
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RADIUS Overview

One method of two-factor authentication to NetScaler Gateway is the RADIUS protocol with a two-factor authentication product (tokens) that has RADIUS enabled.

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

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

Links:

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

Two-factor Policies Summary

NetScaler has two methods of multi-factor:

  • NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server has bind points for Primary and Secondary authentication. This functionality is available in all NetScaler Editions and is detailed in this post.
  • nFactor Authentication supports unlimited factors, but requires NetScaler Enterprise Edition or NetScaler Platinum Edition.

See the NetScaler 12 page for additional authentication mechanisms supported by NetScaler 12. Some require nFactor.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Primary:

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

Secondary:

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

Create Two-factor Policies

Create an LDAP Server/Action

See the LDAP post for instructions. Only the server/action is needed. The Policies will be created later.

Create a RADIUS Sever/Action

  1. On the left, expand Authentication, and click Dashboard.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Change Choose Server Type to RADIUS.
  4. Give the server a name.
  5. Specify the IP address of the RADIUS load balancing Virtual Server.
  6. Enter the secret key specified when you added the NetScalers as RADIUS clients on the RADIUS server. Click Test Connection.
  7. Scroll down, and click Create.
    add authentication radiusAction RSA -serverIP 10.2.2.210 -serverPort 1812 -radKey Passw0rd

Create Authentication Policies for LDAP and RADIUS

  1. Since you can’t create authentication policies from the authentication dashboard, go to NetScaler Gateway > Policies > Authentication > RADIUS.
  2. On the right, in the Policies tab, click Add.
  3. Name it RSA-ReceiverSelfService or similar.
  4. Select the RADIUS server created earlier.
  5. Enter an expression. You will need two policies with different expressions. The expression for Receiver Self-Service is REQ.HTTP.HEADER User-Agent CONTAINS CitrixReceiver. Note: NetScaler 12 does not natively support Advanced Authentication Policies so you’ll have to create them as Basic Policies (classic expressions).
  6. Click Create.
  7. If you see a warning about deprecation, click OK, and ignore it.
  8. Create another RADIUS policy to match the ones shown below. Both RADIUS policies are configured with the same RADIUS server. The only difference between them is the expression (CONTAINS vs NOTCONTAINS):
    Name Expression Server
    RSA-ReceiverSelfService REQ.HTTP.HEADER User-Agent CONTAINS CitrixReceiver RSA
    RSA-ReceiverForWeb REQ.HTTP.HEADER User-Agent NOTCONTAINS CitrixReceiver RSA

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

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

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

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

add authentication ldapPolicy Corp-Gateway-ReceiverSelfService "REQ.HTTP.HEADER User-Agent CONTAINS CitrixReceiver" Corp-Gateway

Bind Two-factor Policies to Gateway

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

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

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

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

bind vpn vserver gateway.corp.com -policy Corp-Gateway-ReceiverSelfService -priority 110 -secondary
  2. The Session Policy/Profile for Receiver Self-Service needs to be adjusted to indicate which authentication field contains the Active Directory password. On the Client Experience tab is Credential Index. This needs to be changed to SECONDARY. Leave the session policy for Web Browsers set to Primary.
    set vpn sessionAction "Receiver Self-Service" -ssoCredential SECONDARY
  3. On the StoreFront server, when creating the NetScaler Gateway object, on the Authentication Settings page, change the Logon type to Domain and security token. This instructs Receiver to properly handle two-factor authentication. If you change this setting after Receiver has already performed discovery, then users might have to remove the Account from Receiver and re-add it.
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Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) – NetScaler 12

August 25, 2017, 9:35 am
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GSLB Planning

GSLB is nothing more than DNS. GSLB is not in the data path. GSLB receives a DNS query, and GSLB sends back an IP address, which is exactly how a DNS server works. The user then connects to the returned IP, which doesn’t even need to be on a NetScaler.

GSLB can do some things that DNS servers can’t do:

  • Don’t give out an IP address unless it is UP (monitoring)
    • If the active IP address is down, then give out the passive IP address (active/passive)
  • Give out the IP address that is closest to the user (proximity load balancing)
  • Give out different IPs for internal users vs external users (DNS View)

GSLB is only useful if you have a single DNS name that could resolve to two or more IP addresses. If there’s only one IP address, then use normal DNS instead.

Citrix Blog Post Global Server Load Balancing: Part 1 explains how DNS queries work and how GSLB fits in.

Citrix has a good DNS and GSLB Primer.

When configuring GSLB, don’t forget to ask “where is the data?”. For XenApp/XenDesktop, DFS multi-master replication of user profiles is not supported, so configure “home” sites for users. More information at Citrix Blog Post XenDesktop, GSLB & DR – Everything you think you know is probably wrong!

GSLB Configuration Overview

GSLB Configuration can be split between one-time steps for GSLB infrastructure, and repeatable steps for each GSLB-enabled DNS name.

One-time GSLB Infrastructure configuration

  1. Create ADNS listener on each NetScaler pair – DNS clients send DNS queries to the ADNS listeners. GSLB resolves a DNS query into an IP address, and returns the IP address in the DNS response.
  2. Create GSLB Sites (aka MEP Listener) – GSLB Sites usually correspond to different datacenters. GSLB Sites are also the IP address endpoints for NetScaler’s proprietary Metric Exchange Protocol (MEP), which is used by GSLB to transmit proximity, persistence, and monitoring information.
  3. Import Static Proximity Database – NetScaler includes a database that can be used to determine the geographical location of an IP address. Or you can subscribe to a geolocation service, and import its database.
  4. Delegate DNS sub-zone to NetScaler ADNS – in the original DNS zone, create a new sub-zone (e.g. gslb.company.com), and delegate the sub-zone to all ADNS listeners.

Repeatable GSLB Configuration for each DNS name:

  1. Create one or more GSLB Services per DNS name, and per IP address response – each GSLB Service corresponds to a single IP address that can be returned in response to a DNS Query.
    • Optionally, bind a Monitor to each GSLB Service. Monitors determine if the GSLB Service is up or not.
  2. Create a GSLB Virtual Server per DNS name
    • Bind a DNS name to the GSLB Virtual Server.
    • For active/active – bind multiple GSLB Services to the GSLB Virtual Server, configure a load balancing method (e.g. proximity), and configure site persistence.
    • For active/passive – bind the active GSLB Service. Create another GSLB Virtual Server with passive GSLB Service, and configure as Backup Virtual Server.
  3. Create CNAME records for each delegated DNS name – in the main DNS zone, create a CNAME that maps the original DNS name to the delegated sub-zone. For example, CNAME citrix.company.com to citrix.gslb.company.com.

You will create separate GSLB Services, separate GSLB Virtual Servers, and separate CNAMEs for each DNS name. If you have a bunch of DNS names that you want to GSLB-enable, then you’ll repeat these steps for each GSLB-enabled DNS name.

Each datacenter has a separate ADNS listener IP address. DNS is delegated to all GSLB ADNS Listener IPs, and any one of them can respond to the DNS query. Thus, all NetScaler pairs participating in GSLB should have the same Per-DNS name configuration.

One NetScaler appliance for both public DNS/GSLB and internal DNS/GSLB?

GSLB can be enabled both publically and internally. For public GSLB, configure it on DMZ NetScaler appliances, and expose the DNS listener to the Internet. For internal GSLB, configure it on separate internal NetScaler appliances/instances, and create an internal DNS listener.

Each NetScaler appliance only has one DNS table, so if you try to use the same NetScaler for both public DNS and internal DNS, then be aware that external users can query for internal GSLB-enabled DNS names.

  • As described by Phil Bossman in the comments, you can use a Responder policy to prevent external users from reading internal DNS names. 
    add policy patset GSLB_INTERNAL
bind policy patset GSLB_INTERNAL internalHostname.gslb.domain.com -index 1
add responder action DNS_Empty_Response respondwith DNS.NEW_RESPONSE
add responder policy GSLB_DNS_Empty_Response "(!(CLIENT.IP.SRC.IN_SUBNET(10.0.0.0/8)||CLIENT.IP.SRC.IN_SUBNET(192.0.0.0/16)||CLIENT.IP.SRC.IN_SUBNET(172.0.0.0/12)) && DNS.REQ.QUESTION.DOMAIN.CONTAINS_ANY(\"GSLB_INTERNAL\"))" DNS_Empty_Response
bind responder global GSLB_DNS_Empty_Response 100 END -type DNS_REQ_DEFAULT

One appliance resolving a single DNS name differently for internal and public

Let’s say you have a single DNS name citrix.company.com. When somebody external resolves the name, it should resolve to a public IP. When somebody internal resolves the name, it should resolve to an internal IP.

For internal GSLB and external GSLB of the same DNS name on the same NetScaler appliance, you can use DNS Policies and DNS Views to return different IP addresses depending on where users are connecting from. See Citrix CTX130163 How to Configure a GSLB Setup for Internal and External Users Using the Same Host Name.

If the Internet circuit in the remote datacenter goes down, then this should affect public DNS, since you don’t want to give out a public IP that isn’t reachable. But do you also want an Internet outage to affect internal DNS? Probably not. In that case, you would need different GSLB monitoring configurations for internal DNS and external DNS. However, if you have only a single GSLB Virtual Server with DNS Views, then you can’t configure different monitoring configurations for each DNS View.

To work around this limitation, create two separate GSLB Virtual Servers with different monitoring configurations. Internal DNS uses a CNAME record to reach the GSLB Virtual Server configured for internal monitoring:

  • External citrix.company.com:
    • Configure NetScaler GSLB for citrix.company.com.
    • On public DNS, delegate citrix.company.com to the NetScaler DMZ ADNS services.
  • Internal citrix.company.com:
    • Configure NetScaler GSLB for citrixinternal.company.com or something like that.
    • On internal DNS, create CNAME for citrix.company.com to citrixinternal.company.com
    • On internal DNS, delegate citrixinternal.company.com to NetScaler internal ADNS services.

Remote Internet Monitoring

For public DNS/GSLB, you don’t want to give out a remote public IP address if that remote public IP address is not reachable. That means the local NetScaler will need to somehow determine if the remote datacenter has Internet connectivity or not. Here are some methods of verifying the remote Internet connection:

  • Route GSLB Metric Exchange Protocol (MEP) across the Internet. If MEP goes down, then all IP addresses associated with the remote GSLB Site are assumed to be down, and thus the local NetScaler will stop giving out those remote IP addresses.
  • Bind explicit monitors to each GSLB Service, and ensure the monitoring is routed across the Internet.

GSLB IP Addresses

GSLB is separate from data traffic. The GSLB IP addresses are separate from the IP addresses needed for data.

Some GSLB-specific IP Addresses are needed on each NetScaler pair:

  • ADNS Listener IP: A NetScaler IP that listens for DNS queries.
    • The ADNS listener IP is typically an existing SNIP on the appliance.
    • For external DNS, create a public IP for the ADNS Listener IP, and open UDP 53, so Internet-based DNS servers can access it.
    • A single NetScaler appliance can have multiple ADNS listeners – typically one ADNS listener for public, and another ADNS listener for internal.
  • GSLB Site IP / MEP listener IP: A NetScaler IP that will be used for NetScaler-to-NetScaler GSLB communication. This communication is called MEP or Metric Exchange Protocol. MEP transmits the following between GSLB-enabled NetScaler pairs: load balancing metrics, proximity, persistence, and monitoring.
    • GSLB Sites – On NetScaler, you create GSLB Sites. GSLB Sites are the endpoints for the MEP communication. Each NetScaler pair is configured with the MEP endpoints for the local appliance pair, and all remote appliance pairs.
    • TCP Ports – MEP uses port TCP 3009 or TCP 3011 between the NetScaler pairs. TCP 3009 is encrypted.
    • The ADNS IP address can be used as the MEP endpoint IP.
    • MEP endpoint can be any IP – The MEP endpoint IP address can be any IP address and does not need to be a SNIP or ADNS.
    • One MEP IP per appliance – there can only be one MEP endpoint IP address on each NetScaler pair.
    • Route MEP across Internet? – If you route MEP across the Internet, and if the MEP connection is interrupted, then Internet at one of the locations is probably not working. This is an easy way to determine if remote Internet is up or not. If you don’t route MEP across the Internet, then you’ll need to configure every remote-site GSLB Service with a monitor to ensure that the remote Internet is up.
      • Public IPs for MEP Enpoints – if you route MEP across the Internet, then you’ll need public IPs for each publically-accessible MEP endpoint IP address.
      • Public Port for MEP: Open port TCP 3009 between the MEP Public IPs. Make sure only the MEP IPs can access this port on the other NetScaler. Do not allow any other device on the Internet to access this port. Port 3009 is encrypted.
    • GSLB Sync Ports: To use GSLB Configuration Sync, open ports TCP 22 and TCP 3008 (secure) from the NSIP (management IP) to the remote public MEP IP. The GSLB Sync command runs a script in BSD shell and thus NSIP is always the Source IP.
  • Public IP Summary: In summary, for public GSLB, if MEP and ADNS are listening on the same IP, then you need one new public IP that is NAT’d to the DMZ IP that is used for ADNS and MEP (GSLB Site IP).
    • Each datacenter has a separate public IP.
    • DNS is delegated to all public ADNS IP listeners.

GSLB Wizard

NetScaler 12 has a GSLB Wizard at Traffic Management > GSLB.

However, the wizard is quite finicky (buggy?), and doesn’t really save any time or steps, so it won’t be documented here.

ADNS Listener

  1. At System > Network > IPs, identify a NetScaler-owned IP that you will use as the ADNS listener. This is typically a SNIP.
  2. Create a public IP for the ADNS Service IP, and configure firewall rules.
  3. On the left, expand Traffic Management > Load Balancing, and click Services.
  4. On the right, click Add.
  5. In the Basic Settings section, do the following:
    1. Name the service ADNS or similar.
    2. In the IP Address field, enter an appliance SNIP.
    3. In the Protocol drop-down, select ADNS.
  6. Click OK.
  7. Scroll down, and click Done to close the Load Balancing Service properties.
  8. On the left of the console, expand System, expand Network, and then click IPs.
  9. On the right, you’ll see the SNIP is now marked as the ADNS svc IP.
  10. Repeat the ADNS configuration on the other appliance pair in the other datacenter.
  11. Your NetScaler appliances are now DNS servers.

DNS Security

  1. NetScaler includes DNS Security Options, at Security > DNS Security, which can protect your ADNS service.
  2. To protect ADNS, set the Profile to All DNS Endpoints.

Metric Exchange Protocol

This section details MEP configuration between two GSLB Sites. See Citrix Docs for larger Parent-Child Topology Deployment Using the MEP Protocol.

GSLB Sites

  1. The local GSLB Site IP can be any IP. Or you can use the same SNIP, and same public IP, used for ADNS.
  2. Open the firewall rules for Metric Exchange Protocol.
  3. On the left, expand Traffic Management, right-click GSLB, and enable the feature.
  4. Expand GSLB, and click Sites.
  5. On the right, click Add.
  6. In the Create GSLB Site page, do the following:
    1. We’re adding the local site first. Enter a descriptive name for the local site.
    2. In the Site Type drop-down, select LOCAL.
    3. In the Site IP Address field, enter an IP that this appliance will listen for MEP traffic. This is typically a DMZ SNIP.
    4. For Internet-routed GSLB MEP, in the Public IP Address field, enter the public IP that is NAT’d to the GSLB Site IP.
    5. For internal GSLB MEP, there is no need to enter anything in the Public IP field.
  7. Scroll down, and click Create, to close the Create GSLB Site page.
  8. Go back to System > Network > IPs, and verify that the IP is now marked as a GSLB site IP.
  9. If you want to use the GSLB Sync Config feature, then you’ll need to edit the GSLB site IP, and enable Management Access.
    1. Scroll down, and enable Management Access. SSH is all you need.
  10. Go to the other appliance pair, and also create the Local GSLB site using its GSLB site IP, and its public IP that is NAT’d to the GSLB site IP.
    1. In System > Network > IPs on the remote appliance, there should now be a GSLB site IP. If GSLB Sync is desired, enable management access on that IP and ensure SSH is enabled.
  11. Now on each appliance, add another GSLB Site, which will be the Remote GSLB site.
  12. In the Create GSLB Site page, do the following:
    1. Enter a descriptive name for the remote site.
    2. Select REMOTE as the Type.
    3. Enter the other appliance’s actual GSLB Site IP as configured on the appliance. This IP does not need to be reachable.
    4. In the Public IP Address field, enter the public IP that is NAT’d to the GSLB Site IP on the other appliance. For MEP, TCP 3009 must be open from the local GSLB Site IP, to the remote public Site IP. For GSLB sync, TCP 22, and TCP 3008, must be open from the local NSIP, to the remote public Site IP.
  13. Click Create.
  14. Repeat on the other appliance.

RPC

MEP defaults to unencrypted on TCP 3011. To fix that:

  1. On the left, expand System, expand Network, and click RPC.
  2. On the right, right-click the new RPC address (the other site’s GSLB Site IP), and click Edit.
  3. On the bottom, check the box next to Secure.
    • If your local GSLB Site IP is not a SNIP, then you’ll need to change the RPC Node to use the local GSLB Site IP as the source IP. In the Source IP Address field, enter the local GSLB Site IP.
  4. Click OK when done.
  5. Do the same thing on the other appliance.
  6. If you go back to GSLB > Sites, you should see it as active.

If your MEP connection between GSLB Sites flaps, it might be useful to introduce a delay before remote GSLB Services are marked as Down.

  1. You can do this at Traffic Management > GSLB > Dashboard.
  2. On the right, click Change GSLB settings.
  3. In the GSLB Service State Delay Time (secs) field, enter a delay before the GSLB Services are marked as down when MEP goes down.
    set gslb parameter -GSLBSvcStateDelayTime 15

Static Proximity Geo Location Database

If you want to use DNS Policies, or Static Proximity GSLB Load Balancing, or Responders based on user’s location, import a geo location database.

NetScaler has a built-in database at /var/netscaler/inbuilt_db/ that you can use. Or you can download a database. Common free databases are:

For IP2Location, see the blog post Add IP2Location Database as NetScaler’s Location File for instructions on how to import.

Import the Built-in Geo database:

  1. In the NetScaler GUI, on the left, expand Traffic Management, expand GSLB, expand Database and Entries, and click Static Databases.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Change the Import From selection to File.
  4. Click Choose File.
  5. Browse to /var/netscaler/inbuilt_db/, and open Citrix_NetScaler_InBuilt_GeoIP_DB.csv. To browse to the directory, select var, and then click Open. Repeat for each directory until you reach /var/netscaler/inbuilt_db.
  6. In the Location Format field, if using the built-in database, select netscaler, and click Create.
  7. When you open a GSLB Service, the public IP will be translated to a location.

Private IP Blocks

Geo Location databases only contain entries for Public IPs. For Private IPs, do the following:

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand GSLB, expand Database and Entries, and click Custom Entries.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Enter a range of IP addresses for a particular location.
  4. Enter a Location Name in Geo Location format, which is typically six location words separated by periods. You can look in the static proximity database for examples.
  5. Click Create.
  6. Continue creating Custom Entries for other private IP blocks.

Use Geo Locations

You can use the Geo locations in a DNS Policy, static proximity GSLB Load Balancing, or Responders:

GSLB Services

GSLB Services represent the IP addresses that are returned in DNS Responses. The IP addresses represented by GSLB Services do not need to be on a NetScaler, but NetScaler-owned IP addresses (e.g. load balancing VIPs) have additional GSLB Site Persistence options (e.g. cookie-based persistence).

  • Each potential IP address in a DNS response is a separate GSLB Service.
  • GSLB Services are associated with GSLB Sites.
  • GSLB Service configuration is identical for active/active and active/passive. GSLB Virtual Server define active/active or active/passive, not GSLB Services.

GSLB should be configured identically on all NetScaler pairs that are responding to DNS queries. Since you have no control over which NetScaler will receive the DNS query, you must ensure that both NetScaler pairs are giving out the same DNS responses.

To create a GSLB Service:

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management > GSLB, and click Services.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. The service name should be similar to the DNS name that you are trying to GSLB. Include the site name in the service name.
  4. Select one of the GSLB Sites. The IP address you’re configuring in this GSLB Service should be geographically located in the selected GSLB Site.
  5. On the bottom part, if the IP address is owned by this NetScaler, then select Virtual Servers, and select a Virtual Server that is already defined on this appliance. It should automatically fill in the other fields. This option is only available when creating a GSLB Service in the Local GSLB Site.
    1. If the IP address is not owned by this NetScaler, then change the selection to New Server, and enter the remote IP address in the Server IP field.
    2. The Server IP field is the IP address that NetScaler will monitor for reachability.
    3. If the remote IP is owned by a different NetScaler that is reachable by MEP, then enter the actual VIP configured on that remote NetScaler. The Server IP does not need to match what is returned to the DNS Query.
  6. In the Public IP field, enter the IP address that will be returned to the DNS Query. If you leave Public IP blank, then NetScaler will copy the Server IP to the Public IP field. For Public GSLB, the Public IP field is usually a Public IP address. For internal GSLB, the Public IP field is usually an internal IP, and probably matches the Server IP.
  7. Scroll up, and make sure the Service Type is SSL. It’s annoying that NetScaler doesn’t set this drop-down correctly.
  8. Scroll down, and click OK, to close the Basic Settings section.
  9. GSLB Service Monitoring – on the right, in the Advanced Settings column, you can click Monitors to bind a monitor to this GSLB Service. Review the following notes before you bind a monitor.
    • Local NetScaler VIP – If the GSLB Service IP is a VIP on the local appliance, then GSLB will simply use the state of the local traffic Virtual Server (Load Balancing, Content Switching, or Gateway). There’s no need to bind a monitor to the GSLB Service.
    • Remote NetScaler VIP – If the GSLB Service IP is a VIP on a remote appliance, then GSLB will use MEP to ask the other appliance for the state of the remote traffic Virtual Server. In both cases. There’s no need to bind a monitor to the GSLB Service.
    • GSLB Monitor overrides other Monitoring methods – If you bind a monitor to the GSLB Service, then MEP and local Virtual Server state are ignored (overridden).
    • Here are some reasons for binding a monitor to the GSLB Service:
      • IP is not on a NetScaler – If the GSLB Service IP is not hosted on a NetScaler, then only GSLB Service monitors can determine if the Service IP is up or not.
      • Monitor remote Internet – For Public DNS, if MEP is not routed through the Internet, then you need some method of determining if the remote Internet circuit is up or not. In that case, you’ll need to bind monitors directly to the GSLB Service. The route of the Monitor should go across the Internet. Or you can ping the Internet router in the remote datacenter to make sure it’s reachable.
      • Traffic Domains – If the GSLB Service IP is in a non-default Traffic Domain, then you will need to attach a monitor, since GSLB cannot determine the state of Virtual Servers in non-default Traffic Domains.
  10. Active/Active Site Persistence – If you intend to do GSLB active/active, and if you need site persistence, then you can configure your GSLB Services to use Connection Proxy or HTTP Redirect. See Citrix Blog Post Troubleshooting GSLB Persistence with Fiddler for more details. This only works with GSLB Service IPs that match Virtual Server VIPs on NetScaler appliances reachable through MEP.
  11. Scroll down, and click Done, to finish creating the GSLB Service.
  12. Create additional GSLB Services for each IP address that will be returned to a DNS query.

Manually Synchronize GSLB Configuration

Copy the GSLB Service Configuration to the remote NetScaler pair. You can either repeat the GUI steps listed above. Or you can do the following:

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand GSLB, and click Dashboard.
  2. On the right, click View GSLB Configuration.
  3. This shows you all of the CLI commands for GSLB. Look for add gslb service commands. You can copy them, and run them (SSH) on other NetScaler pairs that are participating in GSLB.

GSLB Virtual Server

The GSLB Virtual Server is the entity that the DNS name is bound to. GSLB Virtual Server then gives out the IP address of one of the GSLB Services that is bound to it.

For Active/Passive GSLB:

  1. Create a GSLB Virtual Server for the Passive IP address.
    1. Bind the Passive GSLB Service to the Passive GSLB Virtual Server.
  2. Create another GSLB Virtual Server for the Active IP address.
    1. Bind the Active GSLB Service to the Active GSLB Virtual Server.
    2. Configure Backup Virtual Server pointing to the Passive GSLB Virtual Server.
    3. Bind a DNS name to the Active GSLB Virtual Server.
  3. Repeat the GSLB Virtual Server configuration on other NetScaler pairs participating in GSLB.
  4. Delegate the DNS name to NetScaler ADNS.

For Active/Active GSLB:

  1. Create one GSLB Virtual Server.
    1. Bind two or more GSLB Services to the Virtual Server.
    2. Configure the GSLB Virtual Server Load Balancing Method – e.g. Proximity
    3. Configure Site Persistence:
      1. Source IP persistence is configured on the GSLB Virtual Server.
      2. Cookie Persistence is configured on the GSLB Services.
    4. Bind a DNS name to the GSLB Virtual Server.
  2. Repeat the GSLB Virtual Server configuration on other NetScaler pairs participating in GSLB.
  3. Delegate the DNS name to NetScaler ADNS.

Configure Active/Passive GSLB

Passive Virtual Server

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand GLSB, and click Virtual Servers.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. In the Basic Settings section, do the following:
    1. Give the Passive GSLB Virtual Server a descriptive name.
    2. Set the Service Type to SSL to match the GSLB Services that you will bind to this Virtual Server.
  4. Click OK to close the Basic Settings section.
  5. On the left, click where it says No GSLB Virtual Server to GSLBService Binding.
    1. Click where it says Click to select.
    2. Check the box next to an existing Passive GSLB Service, and click Select.
    3. Click Bind.
  6. Click OK to close the GSLB Virtual Server GSLB Service Binding section.
  7. Click OK to close the GSLB Virtual Server Domain Binding section. The DNS name is bound to the Active Virtual Server, not the Passive Virtual Sever.
  8. Click OK to close the ADNS Service section.
  9. Click Done to finish creating the Passive GLSB Virtual Server.

Active Virtual Server

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand GLSB, and click Virtual Servers.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. In the Basic Settings section, do the following:
    1. Give the Active GSLB Virtual Server a descriptive name.
    2. Set the Service Type to SSL to match the GSLB Services that you will bind to this Virtual Server.
  4. Click OK to close the Basic Settings section.
  5. On the left, click where it says No GSLB Virtual Server to GSLBService Binding.
    1. Click where it says Click to select.
    2. Check the box next to an existing Active GSLB Service, and click Select.
    3. Click Bind.
  6. Click OK to close the GSLB Virtual Server GSLB Service Binding section.
  7. On the left, click where it says No GSLB Virtual Server Domain Binding.
  8. In the Domain Binding page, do the following:
    1. Enter the FQDN that GSLB will resolve.
    2. Click Bind.
  9. Click OK to close the GSLB Virtual Server Domain Binding section.
  10. Click OK to close the ADNS Service section.
  11. On the right, in the Advanced Settings section, click Backup Virtual Server to add it to the left.
  12. On the left, in the Backup Virtual Server section, select the Passive GSLB Virtual Server, and click OK.
  13. Click Done when done creating the Active GSLB Virtual Server.
  14. On the left, if you expand Traffic Management > DNS, expand Records, and click Address Records…
  15. You’ll see a new DNS record for the GSLB domain you just configured. Notice it is marked as GSLB DOMAIN, and has a default TTL of 5 seconds. You can also see which GSLB Virtual Server it is bound to.
  16. Configure identical GSLB Virtual Servers on the other NetScaler appliance pair. Both NetScaler pairs must be configured identically. You can use Traffic Management > GSLB > Dashboard > View GSLB Configuration to copy the add/set/bind gslb vserver commands from this appliance to other NetScaler appliances.

Configure Active/Active GSLB

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand GLSB, and click Virtual Servers.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. In the Basic Settings section, do the following:
    1. Give the GSLB Virtual Server a descriptive name.
    2. Set the Service Type to SSL to match the GSLB Sevices you intend to bind.
    3. You can optionally check the box for Send all “active” service IPs in response (MIR). By default, GSLB only gives out one IP address per DNS query. This checkbox always returns all IPs, but the IPs are ordered based on the GSLB Load Balancing Method and/or GSLB Persistence.
    4. A new DNS feature called ECS will contain the actual DNS client IP. This dramatically improves the accuracy of determining a user’s location. Without this setting, GSLB can only see the IP address of the user’s configured DNS server instead of the real client IP. Check the box next to Respond with ECS option to enable ECS for site persistence.
      set gslb vserver <gslb_vserver> -ECS ENABLED
  4. Click OK to close the Basic Settings section.
  5. On the left, click where it says No GSLB Virtual Server to GSLBService Binding.
    1. Click where it says Click to select.
    2. Check the boxes next to multiple existing GSLB Services, and click Select.
    3. Click Bind.
  6. Click OK to close the GSLB Virtual Server GSLB Service Binding section.
  7. On the left, click where it says No GSLB Virtual Server Domain Binding.
    1. Enter the FQDN that this GSLB Virtual Server will resolve.
    2. Click Bind.
  8. Click OK to close the GSLB Virtual Server Domain Binding section.
  9. Click OK to close the ADNS Service section.
  10. On the left, in the Method section, click the pencil icon.
    1. Change the Choose Method drop-down to Static Proximity or similar. This assumes the Geo Location database has already been installed on the appliance.
    2. Click OK to close the Method section.
  11. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click Persistence to add it to the left.
    1. Change the Persistence drop-down to Source IP.
    2. Enter a Persistence Id.
      1. This ID must match on every NetScaler pair participating in GSLB.
      2. Each active/active GSLB Virtual Server should have a different Persistence ID.
    3. In the Time-out field, enter the Persistence Time-out. This is typically the same or longer than the webpage timeout.
    4. Click OK to close the Persistence section.
  12. Click Done to finish creating the GSLB Virtual Server.
  13. On the left, if you expand Traffic Management > DNS, expand Records, and click Address Records…
  14. You’ll see a new DNS record for the GSLB domain you just configured. Notice it is marked as GSLB DOMAIN, and has a default TTL of 5 seconds. You can also see which GSLB Virtual Server it is bound to.
  15. Configure an identical GSLB Virtual Server on the other NetScaler appliance pair. Both NetScaler pairs must be configured identically. You can use Traffic Management > GSLB > Dashboard > View GSLB Configuration to copy the add/set/bind gslb vserver commands from this appliance to other NetScaler appliances.


GSLB Configuration Synchronization Script

Manual GSLB Synchronization

  1. The script requires SSH to be enabled on your GSLB Site IPs.

  2. Ports TCP 3008, TCP 3010, and TCP 22 must be opened from the local NSIP to the remote GSLB Site IP.
  3. To manually run the script that syncs GSLB configuration from one GSLB Site to another, on the left, expand Traffic Management, expand GSLB, and click Dashboard.
  4. On the right, click Auto Synchronization GSLB.
  5. Use the check boxes on the top, if desired. It’s usually a good idea to Preview the changes before applying them.
  6. Then click Run to begin synchronization.
  7. Click Close.
  8. You can Run it again without previewing it. It seems to take several seconds to complete.

Automatic GSLB Synchronization

  1. There is an automatic GSLB Configuration Sync feature, which automatically syncs the GSLB config every 15 seconds. To enable it on the master appliance, go to Traffic Management > GSLB > Dashboard. On the right, click Change GSLB settings.
  2. Check the box next to Automatic Config Sync. Only enable this on the one appliance where you are configuring GSLB, and want that GSLB config synced to other appliance.
  3. The automatic sync log can be found at /var/netscaler/gslb/periodic_sync.log.

Some notes regarding GSLB Sync:

  • When syncing GSLB Services, it tries to create Load Balancing Server objects on the remote appliance. If the GSLB Service IP matches an existing Load Balancing Server object, then the GSLB sync will fail. Check the Sync logs for details. You’ll have to delete the conflicting Load Balancing Server object before GSLB Sync works correctly.
  • GSLB Sync runs as a script on the BSD shell and thus always uses the NSIP as the source IP.
  • GSLB Sync connects to the remote GSLB Site IP on TCP 3008 (if RPC is Secure) and TCP 22.

Test GSLB

  1. You can test GSLB DNS name resolution from the GUI by going to Traffic Management > GSLB > Dashboard, and on the right, click Test GSLB.

  2. Select a GSLB Domain Name.
  3. Select an ADNS Service IP to test it from, and click Test.
  4. The test performs a dig against the ADNS IP. Verify that the response contains the IP address you expected.
  5. Another method of testing GSLB is to simply point nslookup to the ADNS services, and submit a DNS query for one of the DNS names bound to a GSLB vServer. Run the query multiple times to make sure you’re getting the response you expect.
  6. The NetScaler ADNS services at both GSLB sites should be giving the same response.
  7. To simulate a failure, if the GSLB Service IP is a NetScaler Traffic Management or Gateway IP, you can disable the Traffic Management or Gateway Virtual Server.
  8. Then the responses should change. Verify on both ADNS services.
  9. Re-enable the traffic Virtual Server, and the responses should return to normal.

DNS Delegation

If you are enabling GSLB for the domain gateway.corp.com, you’ll need to create a delegation at the server that is hosting the corp.com DNS zone. For public GSLB, you need to edit the public DNS zone for corp.com.

DNS Delegation instructions will vary depending on what product host’s the public DNS zone. This section details Microsoft DNS, but it should be similar in BIND or web-based DNS products.

There are two ways to delegate GSLB-enabled DNS names to NetScaler ADNS:

  • Delegate the individual record. For example, delegate gateway.corp.com to the two NetScaler ADNS services (gslb1.corp.com and gslb2.corp.com).
  • Delegate an entire subzone. For example, delegate the subzone gslb.corp.com to the two NetScaler ADNS services. Then create a CNAME record in the parent DNS zone for gateway.corp.com that is aliased to gateway.gslb.corp.com. When DNS queries make it to NetScaler, they will be for gateway.gslb.corp.com and thus gateway.gslb.corp.com needs to be bound to the GSLB Virtual Server instead of gateway.corp.com. For additional delegations, simply create more CNAME records.

Delegate an individual DNS record

  1. Run DNS Manager.
  2. First, create Host Records pointing to the ADNS services running on the NetScaler pairs in each data center. These host records for ADNS are used for all GSLB delegations no matter how many GSLB delegations you need to create. These are sometimes called glue records.
  3. The first Host record is gslb1, (or similar) and should point to the ADNS service (Public IP) on one of the NetScaler appliances.
  4. The second Host record is gslb2, and should point to the ADNS Service (public IP) on the other NetScaler appliance.
  5. If you currently have a host record for the service that you are delegating to GSLB (gateway.corp.com), delete it.
  6. Right-click the parent DNS zone, and click New Delegation.
  7. In the Welcome to the New Delegation Wizard page, click Next.
  8. In the Delegated Domain Name page, enter the left part of the DNS record that you are delegating (e.g. gateway for gateway.corp.com). Click Next.
  9. In the Name Servers page, click Add.
  10. This is where you specify gslb1.corp.com and gslb2.corp.com as delegated name servers. Enter gslb1.corp.com, and click Resolve. Then click OK. If you see a message about the server not being authoritative for the zone, ignore the message. Note: you only add one name server at a time.
  11. Then click Add to add the other GSLB ADNS server.
  12. Once both ADNS servers are added to the list, click Next.
  13. In the Completing the New Delegation Wizard page, click Finish.
  14. The delegation is shown in the DNS Manager console.
  15. If you run nslookup against your Microsoft DNS server, it will respond with Non-authoritative answer. That’s because it got the response from NetScaler, and not from itself.

Delegate a Sub-zone

  1. Run DNS Manager.
  2. First, create Host Records pointing to the ADNS services running on the NetScaler pairs in each data center. These are sometimes called glue records.
  3. The first Host record is gslb1 (or similar), and should point to the ADNS service (Public IP) on one of the NetScaler appliances.
  4. The second Host record is gslb2, and should point to the ADNS Service (public IP) on the other NetScaler appliance.
  5. Right-click the parent DNS zone, and click New Delegation.
  6. In the Welcome to the New Delegation Wizard page, click Next.
  7. In the Delegated Domain Name page, enter the left part of the DNS sub-zone that you are delegating (e.g. gslb for gslb.corp.com). Click Next.
  8. In the Name Servers page, click Add.
  9. This is where you specify gslb1.corp.com and gslb2.corp.com. Enter gslb1.corp.com, and click Resolve. Then click OK. If you see a message about the server not being authoritative for the zone, ignore the message. Note: you only add one name server at a time.
  10. Then click Add to add the other GSLB ADNS server.
  11. Once both ADNS servers are added to the list, click Next.
  12. In the Completing the New Delegation Wizard page, click Finish.
  13. The sub-zone delegation is shown in the DNS Manager console.

Each GSLB-enabled DNS name must be CNAMED to GSLB:

  1. In NetScaler, go to Traffic Management > GSLB > Virtual Servers, and edit your GSLB Virtual Server.
  2. On the left, click in the GSLB Virtual Server Domain Binding section.
  3. Click Add Binding.
  4. Add a domain binding for the CNAMED DNS name. For example, if the original DNS name is gateway.corp.com, then enter gateway.gslb.corp.com. gslb.corp.com matches the sub-zone that you delegated to NetScaler. Click OK.
  5. Repeat the Domain Binding on the other NetScaler appliances.
  6. In DNS Manager, if you currently have a host record for the service that you are delegating to GSLB (gateway.corp.com), delete it.
  7. Right-click the DNS zone, and click New Alias (CNAME).
  8. In the Alias name field, enter the left part of the original DNS name. For gateway.corp.com, enter gateway.
  9. In the Fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for target host field, enter the CNAMED DNS name that is delegated to NetScaler. For example, if you delegated gslb.corp.com to NetScaler, then enter gateway.gslb.corp.com. The GSLB Virtual Server must be configured to match this longer DNS name.
  10. Click OK.
  11. If you run nslookup for the delegated DNS name, it will first CNAME to the longer name, and then respond with the IP address returned by NetScaler GSLB.
  12. You can repeat these steps to delegate (CNAME) additional DNS names to NetScaler GSLB.
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EUC Weekly Digest – August 26, 2017

August 26, 2017, 5:41 am
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Here are some EUC items I found interesting last week. For more immediate updates, follow me at http://twitter.com/cstalhood.

For a list of updates at carlstalhood.com, see the Detailed Change Log.

 

XenApp/XenDesktop

App Layering (Unidesk)

HDX

WEM/Profile Management

StoreFront

Receiver

NetScaler

NetScaler Gateway

XenMobile

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Search

SmartAccess / SmartControl – NetScaler Gateway 12

August 28, 2017, 1:09 pm
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Navigation

💡 = Recently Updated

SmartAccess / SmartControl

SmartAccess and SmartControl let you change ICA connection behavior (e.g. disable client device mappings, hide icons) based on how users connect to NetScaler Gateway. Decisions are based on NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server name, Session Policy name, and Endpoint Analysis scan success or failure.

SmartAccess vs SmartControl:

  • SmartAccess lets you control visibility of published icons, while SmartControl does not.
  • SmartControl is configured exclusively on NetScaler, while SmartAccess requires configuration on both NetScaler, and inside Citrix Studio.
  • SmartControl requires NetScaler Platinum Edition licensing, while SmartAccess is available in all NetScaler Editions.
    • Both features require NetScaler Gateway Universal licenses for every concurrent connection.

Prerequisites

Both SmartAccess and SmartControl have the same prerequisites. You can configure SmartAccess in XenApp/XenDesktop at any time, but it won’t work, until you do the following:

  1. NetScaler appliance license: See Feature Licensing in the Gateway Tweaks post. In summary:
    • SmartAccess is available in all editions of NetScaler appliances.
    • SmartControl is available only in NetScaler Platinum Edition.
  2. NetScaler Gateway Universal Licenses – On the NetScaler, go to System > Licenses, and make sure you have NetScaler Gateway Universal Licenses allocated to the appliance.
    1. Most NetScaler Editions (except NetScaler Gateway Enterprise VPX) come with built-in Gateway Universal licenses: NetScaler Standard Edition = 500 licenses, NetScaler Enterprise Edition = 1,000 licenses, and NetScaler Platinum Edition = unlimited licenses.
    2. Additional NetScaler Gateway Universal licenses can be acquired through other means. See Feature Licensing in the Gateway Tweaks post for details.
    3. The Universal licenses are allocated to the hostname of the appliance (click the gear icon to change it), not the MAC address. In a High Availability pair, if each node has a different hostname, then you can allocate the licenses to one hostname, then reallocate to the other hostname. See Feature Licensing in the Gateway Tweaks post for details.

  3. NetScaler Gateway must have ICA Only unchecked.
    1. On the NetScaler, go to NetScaler Gateway > Virtual Servers, and edit your Gateway Virtual Server.
    2. In the Basic Settings section, click the pencil icon.
    3. Click More.
    4. Uncheck the box next to ICA Only, and click OK. This tells NetScaler Gateway to start using Universal licenses, and enables the SmartAccess and SmartControl features.
  4. Enable Trust XML on the XenDesktop Site/Farm:
    1. On a XenApp/XenDesktop Controller, run PowerShell as Administrator.
    2. Run asnp citrix.* to load the snapins.
    3. Run Set-BrokerSite -TrustRequestsSentToTheXmlServicePort $true to enable Trust XML.
  5. Configure Callback URL in StoreFront:
    1. In StoreFront Console, right-click the Stores node, and click Manage NetScaler Gateways.
    2. Edit a Gateway.
    3. On the Authentication Settings page, make sure a Callback URL is configured. The Callback URL must resolve to a NetScaler Gateway VIP on the same appliance that authenticated the user. The Callback Gateway’s certificate must match the FQDN entered here. If you are configuring Single FQDN for internal and external, then the Callback FQDN must be different than the Single FQDN.

Once the prerequisites are in place, do the following as detailed below:

Endpoint Analysis

Endpoint Analysis (EPA) scans are completely optional. You can configure SmartControl and SmartAccess without implementing any Endpoint Analysis.

Endpoint Analysis is supported on Windows and Mac devices, and only from a web browser (not from native Receiver). Other devices, like iOS and Android, do not support Endpoint Analysis. If you want to allow mobile device connectivity, then make sure you have an access mechanism (e.g. ICA Proxy) that works if the Endpoint Analysis scan fails.

EPA Policies

There are two methods of Endpoint Analysis: pre-authentication and post-authentication. For pre-authentication, configure an Endpoint Analysis expression in a Preauthentication Policy. For post-authentication, configure the Endpoint Analysis expression on one or more Session Policies.

  • With a Preauthentication Policy, if the Endpoint Analysis scan fails, then users can’t login.
  • With a Postauthentication Policy, Endpoint Analysis doesn’t run until after the user logs in. Typically, you create multiple Session Policies. One or more Session Policies have Endpoint Analysis expressions. Leave one policy without an Endpoint Analysis expression so there’s a fallback in case the client device doesn’t support Endpoint Analysis (e.g. mobile devices). The name of the Session Policy is then used later in Citrix Policies and Citrix Delivery Groups.
    • Inside the Session Profile is a field for Client Security expression, which supports an EPA expression. This field is for VPN only, and does not affect SmartAccess.

Preauthentication Policies and Profiles are configured at NetScaler Gateway > Policies > Preauthentication.

  1. On the right, switch to the Preauthentication Profiles tab, and create a Preauthentication Profile to allow access.

  2. Switch to the Preauthentication Policies tab, and create a Preauthentication Policy with an EPA expression. Select the Request Action that allows access.

  3. The right side of the Expression box has links to create EPA expressions, as detailed below.

Post-authentication Policies and Profiles are configured at NetScaler Gateway > Policies > Session.

  1. When creating a Session Policy, the right side of the Expression box has links to create EPA expressions, as detailed below. Note: In NetScaler 12 build 51, the OPSWAT EPA Editor link does not work correctly. But you can use the OPSWAT EPA Editor on a Preauthentication Policy, and then copy the expression to a Session Policy.
  2. Classic Syntax vs Default Syntax – EPA expressions can only be added to Classic Syntax Policies. If you click Switch to Default Syntax, then the OPSWAT EPA Editor disappears.
  3. If you edit a Session Profile, on the Security tab…
  4. Under Advanced Settings, you will see a Client Security Check String box that lets you enter an EPA Expression. This field applies to VPN only, and does not affect SmartAccess.

EPA Expressions

NetScaler has two Endpoint Analysis engines: the original Client Security engine, and the newer OPSWAT EPA engine.

  • Both EPA expression types require the Session Policy to be Classic Syntax. If you see any messages about Classic Syntax being deprecated, ignore those messages.

To configure OPSWAT EPA expressions:

  1. When creating a Preauthentication Policy or Session Policy, click the OPSWAT EPA Editor link.
  2. Use the drop-down menus to select the scan criteria.
  3. You will see some fields with a plus icon that lets you configure more details for the scan.
    • Note: the text in these policy expressions is case sensitive.
  4. Then click Done.

Additional OPSWAT EPA Info – See the following links for more Advanced EPA information:

To configure the original Client Security expressions:

  1. When creating a Preauthentication Policy or Session Policy, click the Expression Editor link.
  2. Change the Expression Type to Client Security.
  3. Use the Component drop-down to select a component. A common configuration is to check for domain membership as detailed at CTX128040 How to Configure a Registry-Based Scan Expression to Look for Domain Membership.

Once the Preauthentication and/or Session Policies are created, bind them to your NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server:

  1. Edit a NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server.
  2. Scroll down to the Policies section, and click the plus icon.
  3. Select either Preauthentication or Session, and select the policy you already created. Then click Bind.
  4. Session Policies with EPA Expressions are typically higher in the list (lower priority number) than non-EPA Session Policies.

EPA Troubleshooting

From Citrix CTX209148 Understanding/Configuring EPA Verbose Logging Feature:

  1. Go to NetScaler Gateway > Global Settings.
  2. On the right, click Change Global Settings.
  3. On the Security tab, click Advanced Settings.
  4. Scroll down, check the box next to Enable Client Security Logging, and click OK.
  5. When the scan fails, the user is presented with a Case ID.
  6. You can then grep /var/log/ns.log for the Case ID. Or search your syslog.

For client-side logging, on the client machine, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Citrix\Secure Access Client.

  • Make a DWORD value named “EnableEPALogging“, and set the value to 1.
  • After attempting the scan again, you’ll find the file %localappdata%\Citrix\AGEE\epaHelper_epa_plugin.txt with details for each scan expression.

NetscalerAssasin EPA OPSWAT Packet flow and Troubleshooting shows a Wireshark trace of an EPA scan.

SmartAccess

Links:

Make sure the prerequisites are completed. This includes:

  • ICA Only unchecked on NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server
  • Gateway Universal licenses installed
  • Callback URL configured at StoreFront
  • Trust XML enabled on Delivery Controllers

SmartAccess is configured in two places:

  • Delivery Group > Access Policy page
  • Citrix Policy (user half only) > filters > Access control

In both cases, you enter the name of a matching Gateway Virtual Server, and the name of a matching Session Policy (or Preauthentication Policy).

  • Set AG farm name or Site or Farm name to the name of the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server.
  • Set Access condition or Filter to the name of the NetScaler Gateway Session Policy (or Preauthentication Policy).
  • You can use * as a wildcard in either field.
  • The matching NetScaler Gateway Session Policy typically has an EPA Expression configured in the Policy Rule. That way the Session Policy only applies to connections that match the EPA Expression.

Icon visibility – Access Control at the Delivery Group controls visibility of icons published from that Delivery Group.

  • Access Control on a Delivery Group is Allow only. Icons are hidden from non-matching connections.
  • You can uncheck Connections through NetScaler Gateway to hide the published icons from all NetScaler Gateway connections.
  • It’s not possible to hide individual published applications. You can hide all applications from a single Delivery Group, or none of them. If you need more granularity, then you’ll have to split the applications onto different Delivery Groups.
  • App Groups do not have an Access Control option. It’s Delivery Groups only.

Citrix Policy Settings – Access Control filter on a Citrix Policy determines if the Policy settings apply or not.

  • Access Control filter applies to User Settings only. It’s not configurable for Computer Settings.
  • You typically configure the Unfiltered Citrix Policy to block all client device mappings. Then you configure a higher priority Citrix Policy with Access Control filter to re-enable client device mappings for endpoint machines that match the Session Policy and EPA Expression.

When connected to a session, Director shows SmartAccess Filters on the Session Details page. Notice the Farm Name (Gateway Virtual Server name) and Filter Name (Session Policy name)

SmartControl

The SmartControl feature lets you configure some of the SmartAccess functionality directly on the appliance. See Configuring SmartControl at Citrix Docs for detailed instructions.

  • Note: SmartControl requires NetScaler Platinum Edition. If you don’t have Platinum Edition, you can instead configure SmartAccess.
  • SmartControl cannot hide published icons. If you need that functionality, configure SmartAccess, either as a replacement for SmartControl, or as an addition to SmartControl.

To configure SmartControl:

  1. Make sure the Prerequisites are completed. This includes: ICA Only unchecked, Gateway Universal licenses installed, Callback URL configured at StoreFront, and Trust XML enabled on Delivery Controllers.
  2. If you are using a Preauthentication Policy to run an Endpoint Analysis scan:
    1. Edit the Preauthentication Profile.
    2. Configure the Default EPA Group with a new group name. You’ll use this group name later.
  3. If you are instead using a Session Policy to run the post-authentication Endpoint Analysis scan:
    1. Edit the Session Profile
    2. On the Security tab, use the Smartgroup field to define a new group name for users that pass the scan. You’ll use this group name later.
  4. On the left, expand NetScaler Gateway, expand Policies, and click ICA.
  5. On the right, switch to the Access Profiles tab, and click Add.
    1. Configure the restrictions as desired, and click Create.
  6. Switch to the ICA Action tab, and click Add.
    1. Give the ICA Action a name.
    2. Select the ICA Access Profile.
    3. Click Create.
  7. Switch to the ICA Policies tab, and click Add.
  8. In the Create ICA Policy page, do the following:
    1. Give the ICA Policy a name.
    2. Select the previously created ICA Action.
    3. Enter an expression. You can use HTTP.REQ.USER.IS_MEMBER_OF(“MyGroup”).NOT where MyGroup is the name of the SmartGroup you configured in the session profile or preauth scan.
  9. Click Create when done.
  10. Edit your Gateway Virtual Server.
    1. Scroll down to the Policies section, and click the plus icon.
    2. Change the Choose Type drop-down to ICA, and click Continue.
    3. Select the SmartControl policy you created earlier, and click Bind.

Related Pages

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NetScaler Gateway 12 – RDP Proxy

August 28, 2017, 4:50 pm
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RDP Proxy Overview

NetScaler supports RDP Proxy through NetScaler Gateway. No VPN required. RDP can connect through NetScaler Gateway on port 443.

There are several ways of launching RDP sessions through NetScaler Gateway RDP Proxy:

  • Bookmarks on the Clientless Access portal page.
    • Bookmarks can be defined by the administrator.
    • Or users can add their own RDP bookmarks.
  • After logging in, change the URL in the browser to /rdpproxy/MyRDPServer. MyRDPServer can be IP or DNS.
  • In the RfWebUI Portal Theme, the Bookmark link lets users enter an RDP address, and click Go.

Links:

Requirements

Here are some requirements for RDP Proxy:

  • NetScaler Enterprise Edition or Platinum Edition.
  • NetScaler Gateway Universal Licenses for each user.
    • Most NetScaler Editions come with built-in Gateway Universal licenses: NetScaler Standard Edition = 500 licenses, NetScaler Enterprise Edition = 1000 licenses, and NetScaler Platinum Edition = unlimited licenses. See Feature Licensing in the Gateway Tweaks post.
  • TCP 443 opened to the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server.
  • TCP 3389 opened from the NetScaler SNIP to the RDP Servers.

Configuration

Enable RDP Proxy Feature

  1. Go to System > Settings, and click Configure Advanced Features.
  2. In the left column, near the bottom, check the box for RDP Proxy, and click OK.

Create RDP Proxy Profile

  1. Expand NetScaler Gateway, expand Policies, and click RDP.
  2. On the right, switch to the Client Profiles tab, and click Add.
    1. Give the RDP Client Profile a name, and configure it as desired. Scroll down.
    2. It is no longer necessary to configure a Pre shared key or RDP Host. Just click Create.
  3. It is no longer necessary to create a RDP Server Profile.

Create RDP Bookmarks

  1. If you want to put RDP bookmarks on the Clientless Access portal page, on the left, expand NetScaler Gateway, expand Resources, and click Bookmarks.
  2. Alternatively, Simon Gottschlag Publish RDP Proxy Link via StoreFront shows how NetScaler Rewrite can insert an RDP Proxy link into a StoreFront web page.
  3. On the right, click Add.
    1. Give the Bookmark a name.
    2. For the URL, enter rdp://MyRDPServer using IP or DNS (FQDN).
    3. Check the box next to Use NetScaler Gateway As a Reverse Proxy,
  4. Click Create.
  5. Create more bookmarks as desired.

Edit a Session Profile

  1. Create or edit a Session Profile.
  2. On the Security tab, set Default Authorization Action to ALLOW. Or you can use Authorization policies to control access.
  3. On the Remote Desktop tab, check Override Global, and select the RDP Client Profile you created earlier.
  4. If you want to use Bookmarks, on the Client Experience tab, set Clientless Access to On.
  5. On the Published Applications tab, make sure ICA Proxy is OFF.
  6. Click OK when done.

Edit NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server

  1. Edit or Create your Gateway Virtual Server.
  2. In the Basic Settings section, click the pencil icon to edit it, and click More to show more settings.
    1. It is no longer necessary to bind a RDP Server Profile. Instead, RDP is proxied through 443 on the Gateway.
    2. Scroll down. Make sure ICA Only is not checked. This means you’ll need NetScaler Gateway Universal licenses for each user that connects through this Gateway.
    3. Click OK to close the Basic Settings section.
  3. Bind a certificate.
  4. Bind authentication policies.
  5. In the Policies section, bind the Session Policy that has the RDP Client Profile configured.


  6. You can bind RDP Bookmarks to either the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server, or to a AAA group. To bind to the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server, on the right, in the Advanced Settings section, click Published Applications.
  7. On the left, in the Published Applications section, click where it says No Url.
  8. Bind your Bookmarks.

  9. While editing your Gateway vServer, you can also enable the RfWebUI Portal Theme.

Configure DNS

  1. If you want to connect to RDP servers using DNS, make sure DNS servers are configured on the appliance (Traffic Management > DNS > Name Servers).
  2. If you want to use the short names instead of FQDNs, add a DNS Suffix (Traffic Management > DNS > DNS Suffix).

Use RDP Proxy

  1. Connect to your Gateway and login.
  2. If you configured Bookmarks, if RfWebUI theme, on the Apps tab, click Web and SaaS Apps.
    1. If X1 theme, the bookmarks are on the Web Apps page.
  3. If RfWebUI theme, you can click Details to mark the Bookmark as a Favorite.

  4. Or you can change the address bar to /rdpproxy/MyRDPServer. You can enter an IP address (e.g. rdpproxy/192.168.1.50) or a DNS name (/rdpproxy/myserver).
  5. If you edit the downloaded .rdp file, notice that it’s connecting on port 443.
  6. Then open the downloaded .rdp file.
  7. You can view the currently connected RDP users by going to NetScaler Gateway > Policies > RDP, and on the right, is the Connections tab.

Personal Bookmarks

  1. If using the RfWebUI theme, another way to launch RDP sessions is to click the Bookmark link, enter a destination DNS/IP, check the box next to RDP Link, and click Go.
  2. You can also give the Bookmark a name and Save it.
  3. Then access the saved bookmark from Apps > Personal Bookmarks.

  4. Personal bookmarks are stored in /var/vpn/bookmark on the appliance. You might want to back these up and replicate them to other Gateway appliances participating in GSLB. See NetScaler 11.1 Personal Bookmarks at Citrix Discussions.
  5. The X1 theme has an Add button on the Web Apps page.
  6. But there is no Go button. Instead, you save the Bookmark and launch it from the list.
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NetScaler Gateway 12 – SSL VPN

August 29, 2017, 12:41 pm
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Overview

Here’s an overview of the NetScaler Gateway connection process:

  1. Users use SSL/TLS to connect to a NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server (VIP).
  2. NetScaler Gateway prompts the user for authentication.
  3. Once the user is authenticated, NetScaler Gateway uses Session Policies/Profiles to determine what happens next.

NetScaler Gateway 12 supports six different connection methods:

  • ICA Proxy to XenApp/XenDesktop and StoreFront – the client is built into Citrix Receiver
  • SSL VPN – requires installation of NetScaler Gateway plug-in (VPN client)
  • Clientless – browser only, no VPN client, uses rewrite
  • Secure Browse – from MDX-wrapped mobile applications (XenMobile), uses rewrite
  • RDP Proxy – only RDP client is needed
  • PCoIP Proxy – only VMware Horizon Client is needed

You can configure NetScaler Gateway Session Policies/Profiles to only use one of the connection methods. Or NetScaler Gateway can be configured to let users choose between ICA Proxy, Clientless, and SSL VPN connection methods. Here’s a sample Client Choices screen using the RfWebUI theme:

  • The Clientless Access option opens a portal page that has icons from Citrix StoreFront (ICA Proxy), icons for RDP Proxy, icons for PCoIP Proxy, and links to websites.
    • The website links can be proxied through NetScaler. Proxy methods include: clientless rewrite, SSL VPN, and traditional load balancing.
    • NetScaler Gateway can optionally Single Sign-on to the websites.
  •  The Virtual App and Desktop Access option only displays icons from Citrix StoreFront (ICA Proxy). For other types of icons, you’ll need Clientless Access.
  • The Connect with NetScaler Gateway Plug-in option launches the VPN tunnel. After the tunnel is established, a portal page is displayed. This can be the Clientless Access portal, or a user defined website URL (e.g. intranet).

Session Policies/Profiles have several settings that control the behavior seen after authentication:

  • ICA Proxy – ON or OFF
    • If ON, then ICA Proxy is the only connection method allowed, overriding the other connection methods.
    • ICA Proxy does not launch the VPN client. It only needs Citrix Receiver.
    • ICA Proxy shows the Webpage that’s configured in the Web Interface Address field of the Session Profile. This is typically the StoreFront Receiver for Web page, but technically it can be any internal website.
    • If OFF, that doesn’t mean ICA Proxy doesn’t work. You can still send ICA traffic to the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server, and the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server will still proxy it to internal VDAs.
    • Setting it to OFF allows the other connection methods to function. For example, Clientless Access can show both NetScaler Gateway Bookmarks and StoreFront published apps. If VPN is launched, then the portal page shown to the user after the tunnel is established can contain the StoreFront published applications.
  • Clientless Access – On, Off, Disabled
    • If On, then Clientless is the only connection method allowed, assuming ICA Proxy is not set to ON. After the user logs in, the user is presented with a portal page that contains a list of Gateway bookmarks and/or StoreFront published icons. The VPN Client is not launched.
    • The Home Page setting in the Session Profile allows you to display an internal website instead of displaying the NetScaler Gateway Portal Page.
    • Bookmarks are configured at NetScaler Gateway > Resources > Bookmarks. You can bind the Bookmarks (Urls) to the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server, or to AAA Groups.
    • Only Bookmarks configured for Clientless Access will work without a VPN. The internal websites are rewritten so they are proxied through NetScaler Gateway. For example, if the internal website is http://intranet.corp.local, then Gateway rewrites them to https://gateway.corp.com/cvpn/http/internal.corp.local. This causes the web browser to send the HTTP Request to NetScaler Gateway, which then forwards the HTTP Request to the internal web server. No VPN needed.
  • Plug-in Type – Windows/MAC OS X
    • If both Clientless and ICA Proxy are set to Off, then the VPN Client will be downloaded and launched.
    • Once the VPN tunnel is established, the webpage configured in the Home Page setting is displayed. Or the NetScaler Gateway Portal Page (Clientless Access) is displayed if no Home Page is configured. The Bookmarks in the Portal Page can link to internal websites that are only accessible through a VPN tunnel. Or Bookmarks can be configured for Clientless Access.
    • Additional Gateway objects control VPN behavior including: DNS Suffix, Intranet Applications, Intranet IPs, and Authorization Policies.
  • Client Choices – checked or unchecked
    • If Client Choices is checked, then it displays a page containing up to three buttons allowing the user to choose between VPN, Clientless, or StoreFront. The Network Access with the NetScaler Gateway Plug-in (VPN) button is always displayed. The Clientless Access button is displayed if Clientless Access is set to On or Off (not Disabled). The Virtual App and Desktop Access button is displayed if a Web Interface Address is configured.

Here are some characteristics of Session Policies:

  • NetScaler Gateway > Global Settings > Change Global Settings has the same settings as a Session Profile. However, all Session Policies/Profiles override the settings configured in Global Settings. That’s the whole point of the Override Global checkboxes in the Session Profiles.
  • Session Policy Expression – If the Session Policy Expression is true, then the settings contained in the Session Profile are applied.
    • Action = Session Profile – The Session Profile is also sometimes called the Action. That’s because all NetScaler policies follow a standard structure – if the expression evaluates to True, then perform the Action. For Session Policies in particular, the policy Action = Session Profile.
    • EPA – The Session Policy Expression in Classic Syntax could include an Endpoint Analysis (EPA) expression.
  • Default Syntax Expressions vs Classic Syntax Policy Expressions – NetScaler 12 supports Default (Advanced) Syntax Expressions on Session Policies, in addition to the older Classic Syntax.
    • No syntax mixing – All Session Policies bound anywhere must be either Default or Classic. You cannot mix the two types.
    • EPA is Classic only – EPA Scans are only supported in Classic Expressions.
    • AD Group in Default Syntax – Default Syntax allows expressions for AD Group Membership like HTTP.REQ.USER.IS_MEMBER_OF("MyADGroup"). This could eliminate AAA Groups in some circumstances.
  • Policy Bind Points – Session Policies can be bound to three different bind points – NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server, AAA Groups, and AAA User.
    • When bound to a NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server, the Session policy/profile applies to all users that log into that Virtual Server.
    • When bound to a AAA Group, the Session policy/profile only applies to members of the AAA group (Active Directory group or local group)
    • When bound to a AAA User, the Session policy/profile only applies to the AAA user (Active Directory user or local user)
  • Profile Conflicts – Multiple Session Policies/Profiles could apply to a single session. In this case, the Profile settings are merged. But if there’s a conflict (e.g. one Session Profile enables Clientless access, but another Session Profile disables Clientless access), then which one wins?
    • Priority number – When you bind a Session Policy to a bind point, you specify a priority number. This priority number usually defaults to 100.
    • Lowest priority number wins – The Session Policy binding that has the lowest priority number, wins. Session Policies bound with a priority of 80 will win over Session Policies bound with a priority of 100. Remember, for settings that don’t conflict, the two Profiles merge, but for settings that do conflict, the lower priority number policy/profile settings win.
    • Priority and multiple bind points – the bind point location doesn’t matter. If you bind a Session Policy to a AAA Group with a priority of 100, and you also bind a Session Policy to the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server with a priority of 80, then the conflicting settings in the Session Policy bound to the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server will win because it has the lower priority number. You might think that AAA-bound policies always override Virtual Server-bound policies, but that is not the case.
  • Global Settings vs Virtual Server Settings – When you bind a Session Policy to a NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server, the settings in the Session Profile only apply to connections through that particular NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server.
    • Settings in NetScaler Gateway > Global Settings > Change Global Settings apply to every Gateway Virtual Server.
    • Settings in AAA Group > Policies > Session Policy/Profile apply to every Gateway Virtual Server.
    • If you want a particular Gateway Virtual Server to override AAA or Global, your only choice is to bind a Session Policy to the Gateway Virtual Server with a lower priority number than the AAA Bind Points.

AAA Groups are a critical component of NetScaler Gateway VPN configuration:

  • Group extraction – Make sure the LDAP Policy/Server is configured to extract to the user’s Active Directory Groups.
  • Create AAA Groups on the NetScaler that match exactly (case sensitive) with the user’s Active Directory Group Name.
    • Default Syntax and AD Groups – An alternative to AAA Groups is to use HTTP.REQ.USER.IS_MEMBER_OF("MyADGroup") Default Syntax expressions. However, Default Syntax does not support Endpoint Analysis. And Default Syntax only applies to Session Policies and Authorization Policies, so you might still need AAA Groups for Bookmarks, Intranet Applications, and Intranet IPs.
  • You can bind policies and other Gateway objects to the AAA Group, and these bindings only affect that particular AAA Group. These bindings include:
  • If the user belongs to multiple AAA Groups, then policies are applied as follows:
    • Session Policies – the settings are merged, unless there’s a conflict. If a conflict, then the policy with the lowest priority number wins.
    • Bookmarks, Intranet Applications, and Authorization Policies are merged.
    • Intranet IPs (IP Pool) are probably random allocation. It’s probably best to make sure a user only belongs to one AAA Group that assigns Intranet IPs.
  • You can also create local AAA Groups that are unrelated to Active Directory groups. There are several ways of getting users into these local AAA groups:
    • Create local AAA Users and assign them to the AAA Group
    • Configure Session Policy/Profile with a Client Security Check String (EPA Scan). If the scan succeeds, users are placed into local Authorization AAA Groups. If the scan fails, then users are placed into a local Quarantine AAA Group, and removed from all other AAA Groups.
    • When users are authenticated with a particular authentication server, the authentication server can be configured to place users into a Default Authentication Group. This lets you apply different Session Policy/Profiles (and other Gateway objects) depending on how the user authenticated.

NetScaler Gateway supports Client Security Expressions (Endpoint Analysis expressions) at three different locations:

  • Preauthentication Policy Expression
    • If the EPA Scan succeeds, then the user is allowed to login.
    • If the EPA Scan fails, then the user is not allowed to login.
    • Preauthentication Policies are bound to NetScaler Gateway Virtual Servers only, and thus applies to all users of that Virtual Server.
  • Session Policy Expression –
    • This type of EPA Scan is configured in the Session Policy Expression, not the Session Profile.
    • If the EPA Scan succeeds, then the settings in the Session Profile are applied to the session.
    • If the EPA Scan fails, then the Session Profile is ignored. Other Session Policies expressions are still evaluated. Remember, Session Policy/Profiles merge, so all applicable Session Policies must be considered.
    • A limitation of this EPA method is that nothing negative happens. Instead, you typically design higher priority number (lower priority) Session Policies with restrictive settings so that if the EPA Scans fail, then users still get something. For example, you can configure your highest priority number Session Policy/Profile with StoreFront (ICA Proxy) only. In the lower priority number Session Policies/Profiles, VPN might be enabled, but only if the EPA scan succeeds. More restrictive Session Profiles usually uncheck Client Choices, and enable Clientless Access or ICA Proxy.
    • This method of EPA Scans is used in SmartAccess and SmartControl configurations.
    • EPA expressions are not supported in Default Syntax, so you’ll need to use Classic Syntax instead.
  • Session Profile > Security tab > Advanced Settings > Client Security Check String
    • If the EPA Scan succeeds, add the user to the listed Authorization AAA Groups.
    • If the EPA Scan fails, add the user to the selected Quarantine Group, and remove the user from all other AAA Groups.
    • If Quarantine Group is not defined, then prevent SSL VPN. Other methods of connecting (Clientless, StoreFront), still work.
  • Assigning EPA scans to Session Policies and Session Profiles is also known as Post-Authentication EPA Scans.
  • If Endpoint Analysis is configured anywhere, then an Endpoint Analysis plug-in is downloaded to the Windows or Mac client.

Prerequisites

Gateway Universal Licenses

Except for ICA Proxy, all NetScaler Gateway connection methods require a NetScaler Gateway Universal License for each concurrent session. Go to System > Licenses and make sure NetScaler Gateway User licenses are installed. Most NetScaler Editions come with built-in licenses.

DNS Name Servers

DNS usually needs to function across the VPN tunnel. Go to Traffic Management > DNS > Name Servers to add DNS servers.

AAA Groups

  1. Edit your LDAP Policy/Server, and make sure Group Extraction is configured. Configure the Group Attribute and the Sub Attribute Name. This causes NetScaler to extract the user’s AD groups when the user logs in using LDAP.
  2. Go to NetScaler Gateway > User Administration > AAA Groups.
  3. On the right, click Add.
  4. Enter a case sensitive group name that matches the group name in Active Directory. Click OK.
  5. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, you can see the types of objects that can be bound to AAA Groups. These objects are detailed later in this post.

Create Session Profile

To enable SSL VPN: first create the Session Profile. Then create a Session Policy.

You can create multiple Session Policies/Profiles with different settings. Then you can bind these Session Policies to AAA groups and/or NetScaler Gateway Virtual Servers. The Session Profiles are merged, and if conflicts, lower priority bind points win.

To enable SSL VPN in a Session Profile:

  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 profile VPN or similar.
  4. In Session Profiles, every field has an Override Global checkbox to the right of it. If you check this box next to a particular field, then you can configure that field, and the field in this session profile will override settings configured globally (NetScaler Gateway > Global Settings > Change Global Settings), or in a lower priority (higher priority number) session policy.

Network Configuration tab

  1. In the Session Profile, switch to the Network Configuration tab.
  2. You will find a setting that lets you select a DNS Virtual Server. Or if you don’t select anything, then the tunnel will use the DNS servers configured under Traffic Management > DNS > Name Servers.

Client Experience Tab

  1. In the Session Profile, switch to the Client Experience tab. This tab contains most of the NetScaler Gateway VPN settings.
  2. Override Plug-in Type, and set it to Windows/Mac OS X.
  3. On the Client Experience tab, override Split Tunnel and make your choice. Setting it to OFF will force all traffic to use the tunnel. Setting it to ON will require you to create Intranet Applications so the NetScaler Gateway Plug-in will know which traffic goes through the tunnel, and which traffic goes directly out the client NIC (e.g. to the Internet). REVERSE means all traffic goes through the tunnel except for the addresses defined in Intranet Applications.
  4. On the Client Experience tab, there are timers that can be configured. Global Settings contains default timers, so you might want to configure this Session Profile to override the defaults and increase the timeouts. See Configuring Time-Out Settings at Citrix Docs for details.
    1. Client Idle Time-out is a NetScaler Gateway Plug-in timer that disconnects the session if there is no user activity (mouse, keyboard) on the client machine.
    2. Session Time-out is a NetScaler timer that disconnects the session if there is no network activity for this duration.
    3. In addition to these two timers, on the Network Configuration tab, under Advanced Settings…
    4. There’s a Forced Timeout setting.

  5. By default, once the VPN tunnel is established, a portal page appears containing Gateway Bookmarks, and StoreFront published icons. An example of the portal page in the RfWebUI theme is shown below:
    1. The X1 theme is shown below:
  6. On the Client Experience tab, the Home Page field lets you override the the default portal page, and instead display a different webpage (e.g. Intranet). This homepage is displayed after the VPN tunnel is established (or immediately if connecting using Clientless Access).
  7. NetScaler Gateway can automatically start the VPN tunnel whenever the user is remote. On the Client Experience tab, click the plus icon next to AlwaysON Profile Name.
    1. Give the profile name. Hover over the question marks to see what each of them does.
    2. Then click Create.
    3. More info at AlwaysON at Citrix Docs.
  8. Additional VPN settings can be found by clicking Advanced Settings near the bottom of the Client Experience tab.
  9. Under Client Experience > Advanced Settings, on the General tab, there are settings to run a login script at login, enable/disable Split DNS, and enable Local LAN Access. Use the question marks to see what they do.
  10. Note: if Split Tunnel is OFF, and if Split DNS is set to REMOTE, NetScaler only returns one IP address to DNS queries. This behavior can be changed by following Citrix CTX200243 DNS Query Responds with Only One IP to Client PC When Connected Through NetScaler Gateway Full VPN.
  11. Under Client Experience > Advanced Settings, on the General tab, is a checkbox for Client Choices. This lets the user decide if they want VPN, Clientless, or ICA Proxy (StoreFront). Without Client Choices, one of the connection methods will occur automatically, depending on what’s enabled.
  12. An example of Client Choices is shown below:
    1. On the main Client Experience tab, if you enabled Client Choices, you can set Clientless Access to Off to add Clientless to the list of available connection methods in the Client Choices screen. Note: this used to be Allow in NetScaler 11.1 and older.
  13. The Client Experience > Advanced Settings section has additional tabs. A commonly configured tab is Proxy, which allows you to enable a proxy server for VPN users.

Security Tab

  1. Back in the main Session Profile, switch to the Security tab.
  2. Set the default authorization to Allow or Deny. If Deny (recommended), you will need to create authorization policies to allow traffic across the tunnel. You can later create different authorization policies for different groups of users.

Published Applications Tab

  1. On the Published Applications tab, set ICA Proxy to Off. This ensures VPN is used instead of ICA Proxy.
  2. Configure the Web Interface Address to embed StoreFront into the default Clientless Access portal page.
    • Note: for X1 theme, additional iFrame configuration is required on the StoreFront side as detailed below. RfWebUI theme does not need any StoreFront changes.
    • From Michael Krasnove: if you configured the Session Policy to direct users to StoreFront, but aren’t using RfWebUI, then placing the following code in c:\inetpub\wwwroot\Citrix\StoreWeb\custom\script.js will cause StoreFront to end the VPN tunnel when the user logs off of StoreFront. 
      var LOGOFF_REDIRECT_URL = 'https://YourGatewayFQDN.com/cgi/logout';
 
// Prevent the default "logoff" screen from being displayed
CTXS.Controllers.LogoffController.prototype._handleLogoffResult = $.noop;
 
CTXS.Extensions.afterWebLogoffComplete = function () {
 window.location.href = LOGOFF_REDIRECT_URL;
};
  3. See the ICA Proxy post for more information on integrating StoreFront with NetScaler Gateway.

Other Tabs

  1. The Remote Desktop tab is detailed in the RDP Proxy post.
  2. The PCoIP tab is detailed in the PCoIP Proxy post.
  3. Click Create when you’re done creating the Session Profile.

Create Session Policy

Once the Session Profile is created, you need a Session Policy linked to it. The Session Policy contains an expression, where if true, then the Session Profile is applied.

If multiple Session Policies apply to a particular connection, then the settings in the policies are merged. For conflicting settings, the Session Policy with the highest priority (lowest priority number) wins. Session Policies bound to AAA groups only override Session Policies bound to NetScaler Gateway Virtual Servers if the AAA group bind point has a lower priority number. In other words, priority numbers are evaluated globally no matter where the Session Policy is bound. You can run the command nsconmsg –d current –g pol_hits to see which Session Policies are applying to a particular connection. See CTX214588 Understanding Session Policy Priority on Different Bind Points.

You can also include Endpoint Analysis expressions in a Session Policy, so that the Session Policy only applies to machines that pass the Endpoint Analysis scan. However, EPA Scans are only supported with Classic Syntax policy expressions, and not with Default Syntax.

To create a Session Policy that is linked to a Session Profile:

  1. On the left, go to NetScaler Gateway > Policies > Session.
  2. In the right pane, switch to the Session Policies tab, and click Add.
  3. Give the policy a descriptive name.
  4. Change the Profile drop-down to the VPN Profile you just created.
  5. The Expression box has an option for switching to Default Syntax.
    1. If Default Syntax, enter true in the Expression box so it always evaluates to true. If Classic Syntax, it would be ns_true instead of true.
    2. If Default Syntax, you can enter HTTP.REQ.USER.IS_MEMBER_OF("MyADGroup") to restrict the Session Profile to members of a specific AD group. In Classic Syntax, this isn’t possible in an expression, and instead you must assign the Session Policy to a AAA Group.
  6. If Classic Syntax, you can add Endpoint Analysis scans to the Expression box. If the Endpoint Analysis scan succeeds, then the session policy is applied. If the Endpoint Analysis scan fails, then this session policy is skipped, and the next one is evaluated. This is how you can allow VPN if EPA scan succeeds, but all failed EPA scans will get a different session policy that only has ICA Proxy enabled.
    1. To add an Endpoint Analysis scan, use one of the Editor links on the right.
    2. Configure OPSWAT scans in the OPSWAT EPA Editor.
    3. Configure Client Security Expressions in the Expression Editor.
    4. You can combine multiple Endpoint Analysis scan expressions using Booleans (&&, ||, !).
  7. Click Create when done.

Bind Session Policy

Most of the NetScaler Gateway configuration objects can be bound to a NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server, AAA Groups, or both. This section details binding of Session Policies, but the other NetScaler Gateway objects (e.g. Authorization Policies) can be bound using similar instructions.

  • Objects bound directly to the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server are evaluated for every user of that Gateway Virtual Server.
  • Objects bound to a AAA Group are only evaluated for members of that AAA Group.
    • Polices bound to AAA Groups usually have lower priority numbers than policies bound to Gateway Virtual Servers, so the AAA binding can override the Gateway binding.
    • However, objects/policies bound to a AAA Group are applied to every Gateway Virtual Server on the same appliance. To override AAA bindings at a specific Gateway, you can bind lower priority number policies to the Gateway Virtual Server.

Bind the new Session Policy to a NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server, or a AAA group.

To bind to a NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server

  1. Edit a NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server (or create a new one).
  2. To make sure ICA Only is unchecked:
    1. Click the pencil icon for the Basic Settings section.
    2. Click More.
    3. Make sure ICA Only is unchecked, and click OK to close the Basic Settings section.
    4. Note: with this box unchecked, Gateway Universal licenses are now required for all users connecting through this Gateway Virtual Server.
  3. While editing the Gateway Virtual Server, consider changing the Portal Theme to RfWebUI. This changes the default portal page to look identical to StoreFront.
  4. Scroll down to the Policies section, and click the Plus icon.
  5. In the Choose Type page, ensure the Choose Policy drop-down is set to Session.
  6. Ensure the Choose Type drop-down is set to Request, and click Continue.
  7. Click where it says Click to select.
    1. If you already have Session Policies bound to this Gateway Virtual Server, then you might have to click Add Binding first.
  8. Click the radio button next to the previously created Session Policy, and click Select.
  9. Note: you cannot mix Classic Syntax Policies and Default Syntax Policies.
  10. In the Priority field, adjust the priority number. If you want this Session Policy to override other Session Policies, then set the priority number to a low value. See CTX214588 Understanding Session Policy Priority on Different Bind Points.
  11. Click Bind.
  12. If you already have Session Policies bound to the Gateway Virtual Server, then the list of Policies is displayed. If you don’t see this list, on the left, in the Policies section, click the line that says Session Policies.
  13. From this list, you can right-click the policies to Edit Binding (priority number), or Edit Profile.

Bind to AAA Group

  1. To bind to a AAA Group, go to NetScaler Gateway > User Administration > AAA Groups.
  2. On the right, add a AAA group with the same name (case sensitive) as the Active Directory group name. This assumes your LDAP policies/server are configured for group extraction (Group Attribute, and Sub Attribute).
  3. Edit the AAA Group.
  4. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, add the Policies section.
  5. Click the plus icon to bind one or more Session Policies.
  6. If you want these Session Policies to override the Session Policies bound to the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server, then make sure the Session Policies bound to the AAA Group have lower priority numbers. See CTX214588 Understanding Session Policy Priority on Different Bind Points.


NetScaler Gateway Plug-in Installation

Here is what the user sees when launching the VPN session for the first time. This assumes the user is an administrator of the local machine.



And then the default portal page is displayed. If using the RfWebUI theme, it might prompt you to install Receiver.

Only administrators can install the NetScaler Gateway Plug-in. You can download the Gateway plug-in from the NetScaler appliance at /var/netscaler/gui/vpns/scripts/vista and push it to corporate-managed machines. Or you can download VPN clients from Citrix.com. The VPN client version must match the NetScaler firmware version.

While a VPN tunnel is established, you can open the Gateway Plug-in to see status. If the Gateway Plug-in is merged with Receiver, right-click Receiver, click Advanced Preferences, click NetScaler Gateway Settings, and click Open.

Or, if the Gateway Plug-in icon is separated from Receiver, then right-click the Gateway Plug-in icon, and click Open.

The hamburger menu on the left lets you see more info about the VPN tunnel.

If the Gateway VPN session isn’t established, you can open the Gateway plug-in, and login. No browser needed.

The Configuration page lets you enable Logging. Then the Logging page lets you collect the logs. See Citrix CTX138155 How to Collect Client VPN Logs for NetScaler Gateway.

VPN Client (NetScaler Gateway Plug-in) Session Profile Settings

Separate Icons for Receiver and Gateway

  1. By default, if Receiver, and NetScaler Gateway Plug-in, are installed on the same machine, then the icons are merged. To see the NetScaler Gateway Plug-in Settings, you right-click Receiver, open Advanced Preferences, and then click NetScaler Gateway Settings. This makes it difficult to log off.

  2. You can configure the Session Profile to prevent the NetScaler Gateway Plug-in from merging with Receiver. Edit your VPN Session Policy/Profile. On the Client Experience tab…
  3. Scroll down, and check the box next to Advanced Settings.
  4. At the bottom of the General tab, check the box next to Show VPN Plugin-in icon with Receiver.
  5. This setting causes the two icons to be displayed separately thus making it easier to access the NetScaler Gateway Plug-in settings, including Logoff.

Cleanup

  1. When the user logs off of VPN, a Cleanup page is displayed. This can be enabled or disabled in a Session Profile on the Client Experience tab.

  2. The cleanup options can be forced in a Session Profile on the Client Experience tab…
  3. Under Advanced Settings > Client Cleanup.

VPN Client Upgrades

  1. Whenever NetScaler firmware is upgraded, all users will be prompted to upgrade their VPN clients. You can edit a Session Policy/Profile, and on the Client Experience tab…
  2. Use the Upgrade drop-downs to disable the automatic upgrade.
  3. The Plugin Upgrade settings are also configurable in the Gateway Virtual Server…
  4. In the Basic Settings > More section.


Authorization Policies

If your Session Profile has Security tab > Default Authorization Action set to Deny (recommended), then create Authorization Policies to allow access across the tunnel.

  1. On the left, under NetScaler Gateway, expand Policies, and click Authorization.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Name the Authorization Policy.
  4. Select Allow or Deny.
  5. For the Expression, NetScaler Gateway 12 supports both Classic Syntax and Default Syntax.
    • Default Syntax gives you much greater flexibility in matching the traffic that should be allowed or denied. Hit Control+Space on your keyboard to begin building a Default Syntax expression. You typically want to identify traffic based on Destination IP Address, Destination Port Number, HTTP Request URL, HTTP Host Header, etc. Common expressions include:
      • CLIENT.IP.DST.IN_SUBNET()
      • CLIENT.TCP.DSTPORT.EQ()
      • You can also use HTTP.REQ.USER.IS_MEMBER_OF("MyADGroup") in your expressions.
    • Note: you cannot mix both Classic Syntax and Default Syntax. You must unbind every Classic Syntax Authorization Policy before you can bind Default Syntax Authorization Policies.
  6. Click Create when done.
  7. Authorization Policies are usually bound to AAA groups. This allows different groups to have different access across the tunnel.
    1. Or, you can use HTTP.REQ.USER.IS_MEMBER_OF("MyADGroup") in your Default Syntax expressions.
  8. Edit a AAA Group at NetScaler Gateway > User Administration > AAA Groups.
  9. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, add the Authorization Policies section.
  10. Then click where it says No Authorization Policy to bind policies.

Intranet Applications

If you enabled Split Tunnel, then you’ll need to create Intranet Applications to specify which traffic goes through the tunnel.

  1. On the left, under NetScaler Gateway, expand Resources, and click Intranet Applications.
  2. On the right, click Add.
    1. Enter a name for the Internal subnet.
    2. Change the Interception Mode to TRANSPARENT.
    3. Enter an IP subnet. Only packets destined for this network go across the tunnel.
      1. You typically specify a summary address for all internal subnets (e.g. 10.0.0.0/8).
      2. Alternatively, you can define minimal Intranet Application destinations as a security mechanism (assuming Split Tunnel is enabled), but Authorization Policies are more appropriate for that task.
  3. Click Create.
  4. Create additional Intranet applications for each internal subnet.
  5. Intranet Applications are usually bound to the Gateway Virtual Server, but you can also bind them to AAA Groups.
  6. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, add the Intranet Applications section.
  7. On the left, click No Intranet Application to bind Intranet Applications.

DNS Suffix

Specify a DNS Suffix for Split DNS to function with single label DNS names. NetScaler Gateway adds these DNS suffixes to DNS queries across the VPN tunnel.

  1. On the left, under NetScaler Gateway, expand Resources, and click DNS Suffix.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Enter the DNS Suffix, and click Create. You can add multiple suffixes.

Bookmarks

Bookmarks are the links that are displayed in the default portal interface. They can point to websites, or RDP addresses. PCoIP bookmarks come from VMware Horizon Connection Server. ICA bookmarks come from Citrix StoreFront.

  1. Under NetScaler Gateway, expand Resources, and click Bookmarks.
  2. On the right, click Add.
    1. Give the bookmark a name, and display text.
    2. Enter a website or RDP address.
    3. Optionally browse to an Icon file.
    4. You typically need to check Use NetScaler Gateway As a Reverse Proxy, especially for Clientless Access (rewrite without VPN) to an internal website.
    5. The other fields are for Single Sign-on through Unified Gateway.
  3. Click Create.
  4. Bookmarks (aka Published Applications > Url) are usually bound to AAA groups so different groups can have different bookmarks. But it’s also possible to bind Bookmarks to NetScaler Gateway Virtual Servers.
  5. If NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server, add the Published Applications section to bind Bookmarks (Url).
  6. For AAA Group, it’s the Bookmarks section.
  7. On the left, find the Published Applications section, and click No Url to bind Bookmarks.

VPN Client IP Pools (Intranet IPs)

By default, NetScaler Gateway VPN clients use NetScaler SNIP as their source IP when communicating with internal resources. To support IP Phones or endpoint management, you must instead assign IP addresses to VPN clients.

Any IP pool you add to NetScaler must be reachable from the internal network. Configure a static route on the upstream router. The reply traffic to VPN Client IPs should be routed through a NetScaler SNIP. Or the NetScaler can participate in OSPF.

When a client is assigned a client IP, this IP address persists across multiple sessions until the appliance reboots, or until the appliance runs out of IPs in the pool.

  1. Edit a NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server, or a AAA group.
  2. On the right, in the Advanced Settings section, click the plus icon next to Intranet IP Addresses.
  3. On the left, click where it says No Intranet IP.
  4. Enter a subnet and netmask. Click Bind.
  5. In a Session Profile, on the Network Configuration tab, check the box next to Advanced Settings.
  6. Use the Intranet IP drop-down to configure the behavior when there are more VPN clients than available IPs in the address pool.
    1. If you set it to NOSPILLOVER, then users can only have one VPN session, as described in CTX218066 How to Limit One Session Per User on NetScaler Gateway?.


  7. To see the Client IP address, on the client side, after the tunnel is established, right-click the NetScaler Gateway Plug-in, and click Open.
  8. See the Internal network address.
  9. To see the client IP on the NetScaler, go to NetScaler Gateway, and on the right is Active user sessions.
  10. Select one of the views, and click Continue.
  11. The right column contains the Intranet IP.

StoreFront in Gateway X1 Portal

If you enabled the RfWebUI theme, then no StoreFront configuration is necessary.

But if you want to embed StoreFront in the other Gateway themes (X1, Default, Green Bubble), then follow these instructions.

  1. On StoreFront, edit the file C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\Citrix\StoreWeb\web.config.
    1. On the bottom, there are three sections containing X-Frame-Options. Change all three of them from deny to allow.
    2. Also change frame-ancestors from none to self.
  2. In NetScaler, go to NetScaler Gateway > Global Settings, and click Configure Domains for Clientless Access.
  3. Change the selection to Allow Domains, enter your StoreFront FQDN, and click the plus icon.
  4. Click OK.
  5. In a Session Policy/Profile:
    1. On the Client Experience tab, make sure Single Sign-on to Web Applications is enabled.
    2. On the Published Applications tab, configure the Web Interface Address to point to the StoreFront Receiver for Web page.
    3. Configure the Single Sign-on domain to match what’s configured in StoreFront.
  6. The Applications page of the 3-page portal (e.g. X1 theme) should automatically show the StoreFront published icons.

Quarantine Group

NetScaler Gateway can be configured so that if Endpoint Analysis scans fail, then the user is placed into a Quarantine Group. You can bind session policies, authorization policies, etc. to this quarantine group. Policies bound to other AAA groups are ignored.

  1. Go to NetScaler Gateway > User Administration > AAA Groups.
    1. Add a new local group for your Quarantined Users. This group is local, and does not need to exist in Active Directory.
    2. Bind session policies, authorization policies, etc. to your quarantine AAA group. These policies typically allow limited access to the internal network so users can remediate. Or, it might simply display a webpage telling users how to become compliant.
    3. The Session Policy bound to the Quarantine Group is usually different than the Session Policies bound to other AAA groups. You can use the variation in Session Policy names for SmartAccess.
      1. One option is to configure the Delivery Groups > Access Policy so that icons are shown for Session Policies bound to non-quarantine AAA Groups, but not for the Session Policy that is bound to the Quarantine Group.
      2. Another option is to configure Citrix Policies > Access Control to disable functionality for the Quarantine Group Session Policy, but not for other AAA Group Session Policies.
  2. Create or edit a Session Profile to include a Client Security Expression that checks for compliance.
    1. In the Session Profile, on the Security tab, check the box next to Advanced Settings.
    2. Scroll down, and check the box to the right of Client Security Check String.
    3. Use the Editor links to add an Endpoint Analysis expression.
    4. Just below the Client Security Check String, select the previously created Quarantine Group. If the Client Security Check String EPA Scan fails, then the failed users are added to the Quarantine Group and removed from all other AAA Groups.
  3. Click Create when done creating or editing the Session Profile.
  4. Create a Session Policy for the Session Profile that contains the Client Security Check String.
    1. Enter ns_true as the expression.
    2. Then click Create.
  5. Edit your Gateway Virtual Server, and bind the Session Policy/Profile that has the Client Security Check String configured.


  6. To troubleshoot Quarantine policies, use the command nsconmsg –d current –g pol_hits.
  7. NetScaler MAS Gateway Insight shows users that failed EPA scans, and their quarantine status.

Related Pages

↧

Citrix Director Load Balancing – NetScaler 12

August 29, 2017, 1:47 pm
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Monitor

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand Load Balancing, and click Monitors.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Name it Director or similar.
  4. Change the Type drop-down to HTTP.
  5. If you will use SSL to communicate with the Director servers, then on the Standard Parameters tab, scroll down, and check the box next to Secure.
  6. Scroll up, and switch to the Special Parameters tab.
  7. In the HTTP Request field, enter GET /Director/LogOn.aspx?cc=true
    1. If Single Sign-on is enabled on Director, then you might have to add 302 as a Response Code.
  8. Scroll down, and click Create.

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 Director server.
  5. Enter comments to describe the server. Click Create.
  6. Continue adding Director servers.

Service Group

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand Load Balancing, and click Service Groups.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Give the Service Group a descriptive name (e.g. svcgrp-Director-SSL).
  4. Change the Protocol to HTTP or SSL, depending on if IIS on the Director server is enabled for https or not.
    1. . If the protocol is SSL, ensure the Monitor for Director has Secure enabled, as detailed earlier.
  5. Scroll down, and click OK.

  6. Click where it says No Service Group Member.
    1. Change the selection to Server Based, and select the Director server objects.

    2. Enter 80 or 443 as the port. Then click Create.
  7. Click OK to close the Service Group Members section.
  8. On the right, under Advanced Settings, click Monitors.
  9. On the left, in the Monitors section, click where it says No Service Group to Monitor Binding.
    1. Click where it says to Click to select.
    2. Click the radio button next to the Director monitor, and click Select.
    3. Then click Bind.
  10. To verify that the monitor is working, on the left, in the Service Group Members section, click the Service Group Members line.
  11. Right-click a member, and click Monitor Details.
  12. The Last Response should be Success – HTTP response code 200 received. Click Close twice.
  13. Then click Done.

Responder

Create a Responder policy to redirect users from the root page to /Director.

  1. Go to AppExpert > Responder, and enable the feature if it isn’t already enabled.
  2. Go to AppExpert > Responder > Actions.
  3. On the right, click Add.
    1. Give the Action a name (e.g. Director_Redirect).
    2. Change the Type to Redirect.
    3. In the Expression box, enter "/Director", including the quotes.
  4. Click Create.
  5. Go to AppExpert > Responder > Policies.
  6. On the right, click Add.
    1. Give the Policy a name (e.g. Director_Redirect).
    2. Select the previously created Action.
    3. In the Expression box, enter HTTP.REQ.URL.PATH.EQ("/")
  7. Click Create.

Load Balancing Virtual Server

  1. Create or install a certificate that will be used by the SSL Virtual Server. This certificate must match the DNS name for the load balanced Director servers.
  2. On the left, under Traffic Management > Load Balancing, click Virtual Servers.
  3. On the right, click Add.
  4. Do the following in the Basic Settings section:
    1. Name it lbvip-Director-SSL or similar.
    2. Change the Protocol to SSL.
    3. Specify a new internal VIP.
    4. Enter 443 as the Port.
  5. Click OK to close the Basic Settings section.
  6. On the left, in the Services and Service section, click where it says No Load Balancing Virtual Server ServiceGroup Binding.
    1. Click where it says Click to select.
    2. Click the radio button next to your Director Service Group, and click Select.
    3. Click Bind.
  7. Click Continue to close the Services and Service Groups section.
  8. Click where it says No Server Certificate.
    1. Click where it says Click to select.
    2. Click the radio button next to the certificate for this Director Load Balancing Virtual Server, and click Select.
    3. Click Bind.
  9. Click Continue to close the Certificate section.
  10. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click Persistence.
  11. On the left, in the Persistence section, do the following:
    1. Change the Persistence drop-down to COOKIEINSERT.
    2. Set the Time-out to 0 minutes. This makes it a session cookie instead of a persistent cookie.
    3. Set the Backup Persistence to SOURCEIP.
    4. Set the Backup Time-out to match the timeout of Director. The default timeout for Director is 245 minutes.
    5. The IPv4 Netmask should default to 32 bits.
  12. Click OK.
  13. On the right, in the Advanced Settings section, add the Policies section.
  14. On the left, in the Policies section, click the plus icon.
    1. Change the Choose Policy drop-down to Responder, and click Continue.
    2. Select the previously created Director_Redirect policy, and click Bind.
  15. If you haven’t enabled the Default SSL Profile, then perform other normal SSL configuration including: disable SSLv3, bind a Modern A+ Cipher Group, and enable Strict Transport Security.

SSL Redirect

Do one of the following to configure a redirect from HTTP to HTTPS:

SSL Warning

  1. If you are doing SSL Offload (SSL on front end, HTTP on back end), when connecting to Director, it might complain about “You are not using a secure connection”.
  2. To turn off this warning, login to the Director servers, and run IIS Manager.
  3. On the left, navigate to Server > Sites > Default Web Site > Director.
  4. In the middle, double-click Application Settings.
  5. Change UI.EnableSslCheck to false.

CLI Commands

Here is a list of NetScaler CLI commands for Director Load Balancing:

add server Director01 10.2.2.18
add server Director02 10.2.2.100
add server 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1
add service AlwaysUp 127.0.0.1 HTTP 80
add serviceGroup svcgrp-Director-HTTP HTTP
add ssl certKey wildcom -cert WildcardCorpCom_pem -key WildcardCorpCom_pem
add lb vserver lbvip-Director-SSL SSL 10.2.2.210 443 -persistenceType SOURCEIP -timeout 245
add lb vserver lbvip-Director-HTTP-SSLRedirect HTTP 10.2.2.210 80 -persistenceType NONE
add responder action Director_Redirect redirect "\"/Director\"" -responseStatusCode 302
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
add responder policy Director_Redirect "http.REQ.URL.PATH.EQ(\"/\")" Director_Redirect
add responder policy http_to_ssl_redirect_responderpol HTTP.REQ.IS_VALID http_to_ssl_redirect_responderact
bind lb vserver lbvip-Director-HTTP-SSLRedirect AlwaysUp
bind lb vserver lbvip-Director-SSL svcgrp-Director-SSL
bind lb vserver lbvip-Director-SSL -policyName Director_Redirect -priority 100 -gotoPriorityExpression END -type REQUEST
bind lb vserver lbvip-Director-HTTP-SSLRedirect -policyName http_to_ssl_redirect_responderpol -priority 100 -gotoPriorityExpression END -type REQUEST
add lb monitor Director HTTP -respCode 200 -httpRequest "GET /Director/LogOn.aspx?cc=true" -LRTM DISABLED -secure YES
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Director-SSL Director01 443
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Director-SSL Director02 443
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Director-SSL -monitorName Director
set ssl serviceGroup svcgrp-Director-SSL -tls11 DISABLED -tls12 DISABLED
bind ssl vserver lbvip-Director-SSL -certkeyName wildcom
bind ssl vserver lbvip-Director-SSL -eccCurveName P_256
bind ssl vserver lbvip-Director-SSL -eccCurveName P_384
bind ssl vserver lbvip-Director-SSL -eccCurveName P_224
bind ssl vserver lbvip-Director-SSL -eccCurveName P_521
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VMware Horizon Unified Access Gateway Load Balancing – NetScaler 12

August 30, 2017, 5:49 pm
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Use this procedure to load balance VMware Unified Access Gateway (formerly known as Access Point).

Overview

To simplify this post, this post is focused on Unified Access Gateway, which is the replacement for Horizon Security Servers.

For load balancing of other Horizon components:

  • Internal Horizon Connection Servers – This is standard load balancing on SSL_BRIDGE protocol, port 443, and Source IP persistence. See the CLI commands for a sample configuration.
  • Horizon Security Servers – Detailed configuration for Horizon Security Servers have been removed from this version of the post. But the CLI commands for Security Server load balancing are preserved at the bottom of this post.

UAG appliances vs Horizon Security Servers

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

Unified Access Gateway appliances are preferred over Horizon Security Servers for the following reasons:

  • No need to pair with internal Connection Servers, which simplifies the configuration.
  • Linux appliance instead of Windows server.
  • Authentication can be offloaded to the Unified Access Gateway. This includes: Smart Cards, RSA, and RADIUS.
  • Blast Extreme Adaptive Transport (BEAT) in Horizon 7.1 and newer only works with Unified Access Gateway 2.9 and newer. Security Server and older Access Points don’t work.

Here is a typical Unified Access Gateway architecture:

  • Two Internal Connection Servers – these need to be load balanced on an internal VIP on TCP 443. Internal users connect to the internal VIP.
    • Instructions for load balancing the internal Connection Servers are not detailed in this post. Instead, see the CLI Commands.
  • Two DMZ Unified Access Gateway (Access Point) appliances – these need to be load balanced on a DMZ VIP on several ports. External users connect to the DMZ VIP.
    • Unified Access Gateway appliances connect to the internal Load Balancing VIP for the internal Connection Servers using HTTPS protocol
    • Unified Access Gateway appliances connect directly to Horizon Agents using Blast or PCoIP protocol.

Protocols/Ports

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

For VMware Unified Access Gateway (UAG), Blast Extreme only needs TCP 443, and UDP 443. If you use VMware Unified Access Gateway with Blast Extreme exclusively, then the number of ports to UAG is minimal, and load balancing configuration is simplified. Here are typical load balancing port requirements for Unified Access Gateway with Blast Extreme only:

  • TCP 443
  • UDP 443

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

To support Blast Extreme, PCoIP, and HTML Blast connectivity, the following ports must be load balanced to the UAGs:

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

The initial connection to UAG is always TCP 443 (HTTPS). If a user is load balanced on port 443 to a particular UAG, then the connection on UDP 4172 must go the same UAG. Normally load balancing persistence only applies to a single port number, so whatever UAG was selected for port 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 Virtual Servers with different port numbers. In F5, you configure Match Across.

Also see Load Balancing across VMware Unified Access Gateway Appliances by Mark Benson at VMware Communities.

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

Load Balancing Monitors

Users connect to Unified Access Gateway appliances on multiple ports: TCP 443, UDP 443, TCP 8443, UDP 8443, TCP 4172, and UDP 4172. Create Load Balancing Monitors for each port number. Since UDP can’t be easily monitored, use TCP monitors as substitutes for UDP. That means you only need three monitors:

  • TCP 443 – HTTPS
  • TCP 4172
  • TCP 8443

SSL (443) 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 the Standard Parameters tab, and check the box next to Secure.
  7. Scroll back up, and switch to the Special Parameters tab.
  8. In the Send String section, enter GET /broker/xml
  9. In the Receive String section, enter clientlaunch-default
  10. Scroll down, and click Create.

PCoIP (4172) 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 (8443) 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.

Load Balancing Servers

Create Load Balancing Server Objects for the DMZ Unified Access Gateway appliances.

  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 appliance name.
  4. Enter the IP address of a Unified Access Gateway appliance.
  5. Enter comments to describe the server. Click Create.
  6. Continue adding Unified Access Gateway appliances.

Load Balancing Services

Overview

Since there are six protocol/ports to UAG, there will be six service groups – one for each protocol/port:

  • TCP 443 – SSL_BRIDGE
  • UDP 443
  • UDP 4172
  • TCP 4172
  • TCP 8443 – SSL_BRIDGE
  • UDP 8443

Users will initially connect to TCP port 443, and then must be redirected to one of the other ports on the same UAG appliance that was initially used for the TCP 443 connection. If TCP 443 is up, but UDP 4172 is down on the same appliance, then you probably TCP 443 to go down too. To facilitate this, bind all three port number monitors to the TCP 443 service. If any of the bound monitors goes down, then TCP 443 is also taken down.

  • Only the TCP 443 service group needs to monitor all port numbers.
  • Other port number service groups only need to monitor that specific port number. For example, the TCP 8443 Service Group should monitor port TCP 8443.
  • Since UDP is difficult to monitor, the UDP Service Groups will monitor the equivalent TCP port. For example, the UDP 4172 Service Group will monitor TCP 4172. This isn’t the best option, but it’s better than ping.

TCP 443 Load Balancing Service Group

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand Load Balancing, and click Service Groups.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Give the Service Group a descriptive name (e.g. svcgrp-UAG-SSL).
  4. Change the Protocol to SSL_BRIDGE, and click OK to close the Basic Settings section.
  5. On the left, click where it says No Service Group Member.
    1. Change the selection to Existing Server, and select the Unified Access Gateway appliances you created earlier.

    2. In the Port field, enter 443, and click Create.
  6. Click OK to close the Service Group Members section.
  7. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click Monitors.
  8. On the left, in the Monitors section, click where it says No Service Group to Monitor Binding.
    1. Click where it says Click to select.
    2. Click the radio button next to the Horizon-SSL monitor, and click Select.
    3. Click Bind.
  9. The TCP 443 Service Group should monitor all port numbers. To bind more monitors, on the left, click where it says 1 Service Group to Monitor Binding.
    1. Click Add Binding.
    2. Click where it says Click to select.
    3. Click the radio button next to the Horizon-PCoIP monitor, and click Select.
    4. Then click Bind.
    5. Repeat these steps to bind the Horizon-Blast monitor. If any of these monitors goes down, then the UAG is taken offline.
    6. Click Close.
  10. To verify the monitors, on the left, in the Service Group Members section, click the line that says # Service Group Members.
    1. Right-click one of the members, and click Monitor Details.
    2. 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.
    3. Click Close when done.
  11. Then click Done to finish creating the Service Group.

Other Ports Load Balancing Services

Here are general instructions for the other Horizon UAG load balancing service groups.

  1. On the left, go to Traffic Management > Load Balancing > Service Groups.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Name it svcgrp-Horizon-UDP443 or similar.
  4. Change the Protocol to UDP. Click OK.
  5. Click where it says No Service Group Member.
    1. Change the selection to Server Based, and then click Click to select.
    2. Select your multiple Unified Access Gateway appliances, and click Select.
    3. Enter 443 as the Port. Click Create.
  6. Click OK to close the Service Group Members section.
  7. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, add the Monitors section.
    1. On the left, in the Monitors section, click where it says No Service Group to Monitor Binding.
    2. Click where it says Click to select.
    3. Select the Horizon-SSL monitor, click Select, and then click Bind.
  8. Click Done to finish creating the Service Group for UDP 443.
  9. Add another Service Group for PCoIP on TCP 4172.
    1. Name = svcgrp-Horizon-PCoIPTCP or similar.
    2. Protocol = TCP
    3. Members = multiple Unified Access Gateway appliances.
    4. Port = 4172.
    5. Monitors = Horizon-PCoIP. You can add the other monitors if desired.
  10. Add another Service Group for PCoIP on UDP 4172.
    1. Name = svcgrp-Horizon-PCoIPUDP or similar.
    2. Protocol = UDP
    3. Members = multiple Unified Access Gateway appliances
    4. Port = 4172.
    5. Monitors = Horizon-PCoIP. You can add the other monitors if desired.
  11. Add another Service Group for SSL_BRIDGE 8443.
    1. Name = svcgrp-Horizon-TCP8443 or similar.
    2. Protocol = SSL_BRIDGE
    3. Members = multiple Unified Access Gateway appliances
    4. Port = 8443.
    5. Monitors = Horizon-Blast. You can add the other monitors if desired.
  12. 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 Unified Access Gateway appliances
    4. Port = 8443.
    5. Monitors = Horizon-Blast. You can add the other monitors if desired.
  13. The six service groups should look something like this:

Load Balancing Virtual Servers

Unified Access Gateway appliances listen on multiple 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 Virtual IP address:

  • Virtual Server on SSL_BRIDGE 443 – bind the SSL_BRIDGE 443 service group.
  • Virtual Server on UDP 443 (Horizon 7) – bind the UDP 443 service group.
  • Virtual Server on UDP 4172 – bind the PCoIP UDP service group.
  • Virtual Server on TCP 4172 – bind the PCoIP TCP 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. In the Basic Settings section:
    1. Name it lbvip-Horizon-SSL or similar.
    2. Change the Protocol to SSL_BRIDGE.
    3. Specify a new VIP. This one VIP will be used for all of the Virtual Servers.
    4. Enter 443 as the Port.
  4. Click OK to close the Basic Settings section.
  5. On the left, in the Services and Service Groups section, click where it says No Load Balancing Virtual Server ServiceGroup Binding.
    1. Click where it says Click to select.
    2. Click the radio button next to the Horizon-SSL Service Group, and click Select.
    3. Click Bind.
  6. Click Continue to close the Services and Service Groups section.
  7. Then click Done to finish creating the Load Balancing Virtual Server. Persistency will be configured later.
  8. Create another Load Balancing Virtual Server for UDP 443. You can right-click the existing Load Balancing Virtual Server, and click Add to copy some settings.
    1. Same VIP as the TCP 443 Load Balancer.
    2. Protocol = UDP, Port = 443
    3. Service Group Binding = the UDP 443 Service Group

  9. 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.

  10. 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

  11. 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

  12. Ceate 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 Service Group

  13. This gives you six Virtual Servers on the same VIP, but different protocols and port numbers.

Persistency Group

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 appliance. Create a Persistency Group to facilitate this.

  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 drop-down to SOURCEIP.
  5. Enter a Time-out 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 Unified Access Gateway Load Balancing Virtual Servers to the right. Click Create.

Horizon 7 Origin Check

Origin Check might prevent you from connecting to load balanced Connection Servers and/or Unified Access Gateways. You can disable Origin Check as detailed at VMware 2144768 Accessing the Horizon View Administrator page displays a blank error window in Horizon 7.

Load Balancing CLI Commands

Internal Connection Server Load Balancing

add server VCS01 10.2.2.19
add server VCS02 10.2.2.20
add serviceGroup svcgrp-VCS-SSL SSL_BRIDGE
add lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-SSL SSL_BRIDGE 10.2.5.203 443 -persistenceType SOURCEIP -timeout 600
bind lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-SSL svcgrp-VCS-SSL
add lb monitor Horizon-SSL HTTP-ECV -send "GET /broker/xml" -recv clientlaunch-default -LRTM DISABLED -destPort 443 -secure YES
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-VCS-SSL VCS01 443
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-VCS-SSL VCS02 443
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-VCS-SSL -monitorName Horizon-SSL

Unified Access Gateway load balancing with Blast Extreme only (no PCoIP)

add server UAG01 10.2.2.187
add server UAG02 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 UAG01 443
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-SSL UAG02 443
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-SSL -monitorName Horizon-SSL
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-UDP443 UAG01 443
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-UDP443 UAG02 443
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-Horizon-UDP443 -monitorName Horizon-SSL
add lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-SSL SSL_BRIDGE 10.2.2.204 443
add lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-UDP443 UDP 10.2.2.204 443
bind lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-SSL svcgrp-Horizon-SSL
bind lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-UDP443 svcgrp-Horizon-UDP443
bind lb group Horizon lbvip-Horizon-SSL
bind lb group Horizon lbvip-Horizon-UDP443
set lb group Horizon -persistenceType SOURCEIP -timeout 600

Unified Access Gateway load balancing with Blast and PCoIP

add server UAG01 10.2.2.187
add server UAG02 10.2.2.188
add serviceGroup svcgrp-UAG-SSL SSL_BRIDGE
add serviceGroup svcgrp-UAG-UDP443 UDP
add serviceGroup svcgrp-UAG-PCoIPTCP TCP
add serviceGroup svcgrp-UAG-PCoIPUDP UDP
add serviceGroup svcgrp-UAG-TCP8443 SSL_BRIDGE
add serviceGroup svcgrp-UAG-UDP8443 UDP
add lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-SSL SSL_BRIDGE 10.2.5.204 443
add lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-UDP443 UDP 10.2.5.204 443
add lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-PCoIPUDP UDP 10.2.5.204 4172
add lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-PCoIPTCP TCP 10.2.5.204 4172
add lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-8443SSL SSL_BRIDGE 10.2.5.204 8443
add lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-8443UDP UDP 10.2.5.204 8443
bind lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-SSL svcgrp-UAG-SSL
bind lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-UDP443 svcgrp-UAG-UDP443
bind lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-PCoIPTCP svcgrp-UAG-PCoIPTCP
bind lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-PCoIPUDP svcgrp-UAG-PCoIPUDP
bind lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-8443SSL svcgrp-UAG-TCP8443
bind lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-8443UDP svcgrp-UAG-UDP8443
add lb group Horizon -persistenceType SOURCEIP -timeout 600
bind lb group Horizon lbvip-Horizon-SSL
bind lb group Horizon lbvip-Horizon-UDP443
bind lb group Horizon lbvip-Horizon-PCoIPUDP
bind lb group Horizon lbvip-Horizon-PCoIPTCP
bind lb group Horizon lbvip-Horizon-8443SSL
bind lb group Horizon lbvip-Horizon-8443UDP
set lb group Horizon -persistenceType SOURCEIP -timeout 600
add lb monitor Horizon-SSL HTTP-ECV -send "GET /broker/xml" -recv clientlaunch-default -LRTM DISABLED -destPort 443 -secure YES
add lb monitor Horizon-PCoIP TCP -LRTM DISABLED -destPort 4172 -secure YES
add lb monitor Horizon-Blast TCP -LRTM DISABLED -destPort 8443 -secure YES
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-UAG-SSL UAG01 443
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-UAG-SSL UAG02 443
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-UAG-SSL -monitorName Horizon-SSL
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-UAG-SSL -monitorName Horizon-PCoIP
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-UAG-SSL -monitorName Horizon-Blast
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-UAG-UDP443 UAG01 443
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-UAG-UDP443 UAG02 443
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-UAG-UDP443 -monitorName Horizon-SSL
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-UAG-PCoIPTCP UAG01 4172
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-UAG-PCoIPTCP UAG02 4172
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-UAG-PCoIPTCP -monitorName Horizon-PCoIP
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-UAG-PCoIPUDP UAG01 4172
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-UAG-PCoIPUDP UAG02 4172
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-UAG-PCoIPUDP -monitorName Horizon-PCoIP
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-UAG-TCP8443 UAG01 8443
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-UAG-TCP8443 UAG02 8443
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-UAG-TCP8443 -monitorName Horizon-Blast
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-UAG-UDP8443 UAG01 8443
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-UAG-UDP8443 UAG02 8443
bind serviceGroup svcgrp-UAG-UDP8443 -monitorName Horizon-Blast

Horizon Security Server load balancing

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 lbvip-Horizon-SSL SSL_BRIDGE 10.2.2.204 443
add lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-UDP443 UDP 10.2.2.204 443
add lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-PCoIPUDP UDP 10.2.2.204 4172
add lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-PCoIPTCP TCP 10.2.2.204 1472
add lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-8443TCP SSL_BRIDGE 10.2.2.204 8443
add lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-8443UDP UDP 10.2.2.204 8443
bind lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-SSL svc-VSS01-SSL
bind lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-SSL svc-VSS02-SSL
bind lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-UDP443 svcgrp-Horizon-UDP443
bind lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-PCoIPTCP svcgrp-Horizon-PCoIPTCP
bind lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-PCoIPUDP svcgrp-Horizon-PCoIPUDP
bind lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-8443TCP svcgrp-Horizon-TCP8443
bind lb vserver lbvip-Horizon-8443UDP svcgrp-Horizon-UDP8443
bind lb group Horizon lbvip-Horizon-SSL
bind lb group Horizon lbvip-Horizon-UDP443
bind lb group Horizon lbvip-Horizon-PCoIPUDP
bind lb group Horizon lbvip-Horizon-PCoIPTCP
bind lb group Horizon lbvip-Horizon-8443TCP
bind lb group Horizon lbvip-Horizon-8443UDP
set lb group Horizon -persistenceType SOURCEIP -timeout 600
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