Book Image

Implementing NetScaler VPX??? - Second Edition

By : Marius Sandbu
Book Image

Implementing NetScaler VPX??? - Second Edition

By: Marius Sandbu

Overview of this book

With a large demand for responsive websites and availability of services, IT administrators are faced with an ever-rising need for services that are optimized for speed. NetScaler VPX is a software-based virtual appliance that provides users with the comprehensive NetScaler feature set. Implementing apps and cloud-based services is much easier with its increased service performance and integrated security features. This book will give you an insight into all the new features that NetScaler VPX™ has to offer. Starting off with the basics, you will learn how to set NetScaler up and configure it in a virtual environment including the new features available in version 11, such as unified gateway and portal theme customization. Next, the book will cover how to deploy NetScalar on Azure and Amazon, and you will also discover how to integrate it with an existing Citrix infrastructure. Next, you will venture into other topics such as load balancing Microsoft and Citrix solutions, configuring different forms of high availability Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB), and network optimization. You will also learn how to troubleshoot and analyze data using NetScaler's extensive array of features. Finally, you will discover how to protect web services using an application firewall and will get to grips with other features such as HTTP, DOS, and AAA.
Table of Contents (10 chapters)
9
Index

Setup scenarios

When thinking about the deployment of NetScaler, a couple of things need to be taken into consideration:

  • How is the network layout between the users and the service?
  • What kind of network security is in place?
  • Is the business using Network Address Translation (NAT) or any other kind of firewall that requires configuration to allow traffic?
  • What service or application is going to be published?

A common scenario is load balancing some sort of a web service to external users. In such a scenario, a business might have a demilitarized zone and an intranet zone. One topology that can be used here is that NetScaler can be placed with one interface in the demilitarized zone and one interface in the intranet zone. This is also known as a two-armed setup. It is important to note that a two-armed setup is not necessarily two NICs connected to different networks; it may also be multiple VLANs trunked to the same NIC. This is practical for load balancing internal resources, as well because the traffic does not need to flow back and forth through the firewall multiple times.

In some cases, because of business requirements, you might have NetScaler attached to only one interface or only one VLAN that resides in the same zone. This is known as a one-armed setup. Here, NetScaler is placed, for example, in only the DMZ zone, and routing tables are in place to allow NetScaler to access the backend services. This type of topology emphasizes security. We will cover a sample scenario later in this chapter.

Now that we have gone through the different editions, features, and licensing, let us begin with the initial setup of NetScaler.