NetScaler VPX FAQ. Table of Contents

Transcription

1 NetScaler VPX FAQ Table of Contents Feature and Functionality Frequently Asked Questions... 2 Pricing and Packaging Frequently Asked Questions... 4 NetScaler VPX Express Frequently Asked Questions... 5 VMWare ESX Frequently Asked Questions... 6 Capacity Planning/Sizing Frequently Asked Questions... 7 System Requirements Frequently Asked Questions... 9 Other Technical Frequently Asked Questions... 10

2 Feature and Functionality Frequently Asked Questions 1. What is NetScaler VPX? NetScaler VPX is a virtual NetScaler appliance that can be hosted on a hypervisor installed on industry standard servers. 2. Does NetScaler VPX include all the Web application optimization functionality as NetScaler appliances? Yes. NetScaler VPX includes all NetScaler load balancing/traffic management, application acceleration, application security (including Access Gateway Enterprise and Citrix Application Firewall), and offload functionality. For a complete overview of NetScaler feature/functionality, see 3. Does NetScaler VPX Express include all NetScaler Standard functionality, including Access Gateway Enterprise and load balancing for XenApp Web Interface and XML broker? Yes. NetScaler VPX Express includes full NetScaler Standard functionality. 4. Are there any limitations with Citrix Application Firewall when using it on NetScaler VPX? No. Citrix Application Firewall on NetScaler VPX provides the same security protections as it does on NetScaler appliances. Performance/throughput of Citrix Application Firewall varies by platform. 5. Are there any differences between Access Gateway Enterprise on NetScaler VPX and Access Gateway Enterprise on NetScaler appliances? Functionally, they are identical. Access Gateway Enterprise on NetScaler VPX supports all the Access Gateway Enterprise features available in NetScaler software release 9.1. However, because NetScaler appliances provide dedicated SSL acceleration hardware, they offer greater SSL VPN scalability than a NetScaler VPX instance. 6. Does NetScaler VPX support SSL offload? Yes. However, NetScaler VPX does all SSL processing in software, so NetScaler VPX does not offer the same SSL performance as NetScaler appliances. NetScaler VPX can support up to 500 new SSL transactions per second. 7. Will third-party SSL cards installed on the server hosting NetScaler VPX accelerate SSL encryption/decryption? No. Supporting third-party SSL cards cannot associate the NetScaler VPX to specific hardware implementations, greatly diminishing an organizations ability to flexibly host NetScaler VPX anywhere within the datacenter. NetScaler MPX appliances should be used when more SSL throughput than NetScaler VPX provides is required. Page 2

3 8. Does NetScaler VPX support the same encryption ciphers as physical NetScaler appliances? Yes. 9. Other than the obvious difference of being able to run on a hypervisor, how does NetScaler VPX differ from NetScaler physical appliances? There are two main areas where customers see differences in behavior. The first is NetScaler VPX cannot offer the same performance as many NetScaler appliances. The second is that while NetScaler appliances incorporate its own L2 networking functionality, NetScaler VPX relies upon the hypervisor for its L2 networking services. Generally this does not limit how the NetScaler VPX can be deployed, but certain L2 functionality that is configured on a physical NetScaler appliance must be configured on the underlying hypervisor. 10. How does NetScaler VPX play a role in Application Delivery Market? NetScaler VPX changes the game in the application delivery market in three ways: By making NetScaler appliance even more affordable, NetScaler VPX enables any IT organization to deploy a NetScaler appliance not just for their most mission-critical Web applications, but for all of their Web applications. NetScaler VPX allows customers to further converge networking and virtualization within their datacenters. NetScaler VPX can not only be used to optimize Web applications hosted on virtualized servers, it enables Web application delivery itself to become a virtualized service that can be easily and rapidly deployed anywhere. In lets IT organizations use their standard datacenter processes for tasks such as provisioning, automation and charge-- back for the Web application delivery infrastructure. NetScaler VPX opens up new deployment architectures that are not practical if only physical appliances are used. NetScaler VPX and NetScaler MPX appliances can be used basis, tailored to the individual needs of each respective application to handle processor-intensive actions such as compression and application firewall inspection. At the datacenter edge, NetScaler MPX appliances handle high-volume network-wide tasks such as initial traffic distribution, SSL encryption/decryption, denial of service (DoS) attack prevention, and global load balancing. Pairing high-performance NetScaler MPX appliances with easy-to-deploy NetScaler VPX virtual appliance brings unparalleled flexibility and customization capabilities to modern, large-scale, datacenter environments while also reducing overall datacenter costs. 11. How does NetScaler VPX fit into our Citrix Delivery Center strategy? With the availability of NetScaler VPX, the entire Citrix Delivery Center offering is available as a virtualized offering. Now, the entire Citrix Delivery Center benefits from the powerful management, provisioning, monitoring, and reporting capabilities available in Citrix XenCenter, and can be deployed rapidly into almost any environment, and managed centrally from anywhere. With one integrated, virtualized application delivery infrastructure, organizations can deliver desktops, client/server applications, and Web applications. Page 3

4 Pricing and Packaging Frequently Asked Questions 12. How is NetScaler VPX packaged? The following table provides packaging options for NetScaler VPX. Just as with NetScaler physical appliances, NetScaler VPX is available in Standard, Enterprise, and Platinum Editions. Maximum Throughput NetScaler Standard NetScaler Enterprise NetScaler Platinum NetScaler VPX Express 1 Mbps Free - - NetScaler VPX Mbps Yes Yes Yes NetScaler VPX Mbps Yes Yes Yes NetScaler VPX Mbps Yes Yes Yes NetScaler VPX Gbps Yes Yes Yes NetScaler VPX selection is very similar to the selection of NetScaler appliances. First, the customer selects the NetScaler edition based on its functionality requirements. Then, the customer selects the specific NetScaler VPX bandwidth tier based on their throughput requirements. Contact your Citrix representative or Citrix Solution Advisor for pricing. 13. Are NetScaler VPX for XenServer and NetScaler VPX for VMWare priced the same? Yes. 14. Are the same SKUs used for both NetScaler VPX for XenServer and NetScaler VPX for VMWare? Yes. 15. Can a NetScaler VPX license be moved from XenServer to VMWare? Yes. NetScaler VPX licenses are independent of the underlying hypervisor. If you decide to move the NetScaler VPX virtual machine from one hypervisor to another, you do not have to get a new license. However, you might need to rehost the existing NetScaler VPX license. 16. Can NetScaler VPX instances be upgraded? Yes. Both the throughput limits and NetScaler family edition can be upgraded. Upgrade SKUs for both types of upgrade are available. 17. If I want to deploy NetScaler VPX in a high availability pair, how many licenses do I need? Just as with NetScaler physical appliances, a NetScaler high availability configuration requires two active instances. Therefore, the customer must purchase two licenses. Page 4

5 NetScaler VPX Express Frequently Asked Questions 18. How do I get access to NetScaler VPX Express? NetScaler VPX Express can be downloaded for free from MyCitrix. If you do not have a MyCitrix account, there is a simple one-step registration process to obtain a MyCitrix account. 19. Where can I get more information on exactly what features are available in NetScaler VPX Express? See for a comprehensive overview of NetScaler features and editions. 20. Does NetScaler VPX Express require a license? Yes. Licenses can be requested from the same page used to download VPX Express. Citrix VPX Express licenses are activated using the standard MyCitrix licensing portal. See the Citrix Knowledge Base article CTX for a detailed overview on how to apply licenses to NetScaler VPX. 21. Will the NetScaler VPX Express license expire? Yes. The license is valid for one year. After that year, the user is free to request another license and then apply that license to the NetScaler VPX Express instance. 22. Can users return to MyCitrix and reallocate NetScaler VPX Express licenses? Yes. You can reallocate any NetScaler VPX Express license up to three times. To reallocate a license more than three times, contact Citrix Customer Service. 23. Does NetScaler VPX Express include the five free Access Gateway Enterprise edition Concurrent licenses? Yes. 24. Is there a limit to how many NetScaler VPX Express licenses a customer can download? No. 25. Does NetScaler VPX Express support the same encryption ciphers as NetScaler MPX appliances? For general availability, all the same strong encryption ciphers supported on NetScaler appliances is available on NetScaler VPX and NetScaler VPX Express (and subject to the same import/export regulations). 26. Can I file tech support cases for NetScaler VPX Express? No. A retail NetScaler VPX license such as, VPX-10, VPX-200, VPX-1000, VPX is required to file technical support cases. However, NetScaler VPX Express users are free to use both the NetScaler VPX Knowledge Center, and request help from the community using the NetScaler discussion forums. 27. Can NetScaler VPX Express be upgraded to a retail version? Yes. Simply purchase the retail NetScaler VPX license you need, and then apply the corresponding license key to the NetScaler VPX Express instance. Page 5

6 VMWare ESX Frequently Asked Questions 28. Where can I get the NetScaler VPX for ESX tech preview? The NetScaler VPX VMWare packages can be downloaded from the following link: uctid=21679&c1=pov &c2=ost What VMWare versions does NetScaler VPX support? NetScaler VPX supports both VMWare ESX and ESXi for versions 3.5 or later. 30. What are the server requirements for the VMWare tech preview? The following are the recommended minimum hardware specifications for the VMware ESX system on which NetScaler VPX is installed: CPU: One or more x86 CPUs with virtualization assist (Intel-VT or AMD-V) enabled. The CPU must have a 64-bit architecture. For example, E5540, E5450, and E5250 Intel processors. You might have to manually enable the CPU virtualization feature through system BIOS configuration. RAM: Minimum 2 GB. NICs: Two 1 gigabit NICs required. 31. What is the maximum performance the NetScaler VPX installed on VMWare? A NetScaler VPX virtual machine installed on VMWare provides the same performance as a NetScaler VPX virtual machine installed on XenServer. 32. Does NetScaler VPX installed on VMWare provide complete NetScaler functionality? Yes. However, to use the full performance and functionality, you must use a VPX Platinum license. If a license other than a VPX-1000 Platinum license is used, then the tech preview will run within the performance and functionality restrictions of that license. 33. For VMWare, how many virtual network interfaces can you allocate to a NetScaler VPX? You can allocate up to 10 virtual network interfaces to a NetScaler VPX. 34. For VMWare, how many virtual CPUs can you allocate to a NetScaler VPX? You can allocate only one virtual CPU to a NetScaler VPX. 35. From VSphere, how can we access the NetScaler VPX command line? The VMware VSphere client provides built-in access to the NetScaler VPX command line through a console tab. Additionally, you can use any SSH or Telnet client to access the command line. You need to use the NSIP address of the NetScaler VPX in the SSH or Telnet client. 36. How can we access NetScaler VPX GUI? To access NetScaler VPX GUI, type the NSIP of the NetScaler VPX, for example, address> in the address field of any browser. Page 6

7 37. Can two NetScaler VPX instances installed on the same VMware ESX be configured in a high availability setup? Yes, but it is not recommended. A hardware failure would affect both NetScaler VPX instances. 38. Can two NetScaler VPX instances running on two different VMware ESX systems be configured in a high availability setup? Yes. This is the recommended high availability setup. 39. For the VMWare, are interface related events supported on NetScaler VPX? No. Interface related events are not supported. 40. For the VMWare, are tagged VLANS supported on NetScaler VPX? No. NetScaler tagged VLANs are not supported on NetScaler VPX. You need to configure tagged VLANs at the VMware ESX level. 41. For the VMWare, are link aggregation and LACP supported on NetScaler VPX? No. Link Aggregation and LACP are not supported for NetScaler VPX. Link aggregation must be configured at the VMWare level. 42. How do we access NetScaler VPX Documentation? The documentation is available from the NetScaler VPX GUI. After logging in, select the Documentation tab. Capacity Planning/Sizing Frequently Asked Questions 43. What performance can I expect with NetScaler VPX? NetScaler VPX offers good performance. The following table provides performance level achievable using NetScaler VPX. Note that NetScaler VPX performance is dependent on the power of the underlying server infrastructure. Performance VPX-10 VPX-200 VPX-1000 VPX-3000 HTTP throughput 10 Mbps 200 Mbps 1 Gbps 3 Gbps SSL encrypted throughput 10 Mbps 200 Mbps 1 Gbps 1 Gbps HTTP compression 10 Mbps 200 Mbps 750 Mbps 750 Mbps throughput Application firewall 10 Mbps 200 Mbps 500 Mbps 500 Mbps throughput Max concurrent TCP 5 million 5 million 5 million 5 million connections 2 New SSL requests/second Max concurrent SSL VPN users Page 7

8 Note: Maximum HTTP throughput for NetScaler VPX instance running on XenServer and Microsoft Hyper-V is less than 3 Gbps 44. Given that server CPU power will vary, how can we estimate maximum performance of a NetScaler VPX instance? The above performance estimates were achieved using the same testing methodology used to test NetScaler physical appliances, using an Intel Xeon dual core@1.8 GHz. Using a faster CPU could result in higher performance (up to the maximum allowed by the license), while using a slower CPU can certainly limit the performance. 45. Are NetScaler VPX bandwidth/throughput limits for inbound only traffic, or both inbound and outbound traffic? NetScaler VPX bandwidth limits are enforced for traffic inbound to the NetScaler only, regardless of whether this is request traffic or response traffic. This indicates that a NetScaler VPX-1000 (for example) can process both 1 Gbps of inbound traffic and 1 Gbps of outbound traffic simultaneously. Note that inbound and outbound traffic are not the same as request and response traffic. To NetScaler, both traffic coming from endpoints (request traffic) and traffic coming from origin servers (response traffic) is inbound (that is, coming into the NetScaler). 46. Can multiple instances of NetScaler VPX be run on the same server? Yes. However, ensure that the physical server has enough CPU and I/O capacity to support the total workload running on the host, or NetScaler VPX performance could be impacted. 47. How many NetScaler VPX instances can be hosted on a single physical server? Each NetScaler VPX instances requires one CPU core, and we recommend at least one core be dedicated to the hypervisor. Therefore, the maximum number of NetScaler VPX instances a server can support is the total number of CPU cores, less one. For example, a single server with two CPUs, each CPU having four cores, can host a maximum of seven NetScaler VPX instances. 48. If more than one instance of NetScaler VPX is running on a physical server, what is the minimum hardware requirement per NetScaler VPX instance? Each NetScaler VPX instance should be allocated 1 GB of physical RAM, 20 GB of hard disk space, and one dedicated CPU core. 49. Can I host NetScaler VPX and other applications on the same server? Yes. For example, NetScaler VPX, XenApp Web Interface and XenApp XML Broker could all be virtualized and can run on the same server. For best performance, ensure that the physical host has enough CPU and I/O capacity to support all the running workloads. Page 8

9 50. Will adding CPU cores to a single NetScaler VPX instance increase the performance of that instance? No. The NetScaler VPX only supports one CPU core per instance. Adding additional CPU cores to a NetScaler VPX instance does not increase throughput or performance. Supporting NetScaler VPX instance scalability by adding cores is being investigated. 51. Even though NetScaler VPX is idle, it looks like it is consuming more than 90% of CPU. Why is this? This is normal behavior and NetScaler appliances exhibit the same behavior. To see the true extent of NetScaler VPX CPU utilization, use the stat cpu command in the NetScaler CLI, or view NetScaler VPX CPU utilization from the NetScaler GUI. The NetScaler packet processing engine is always looking for work, even when there is no work to be done. Therefore, it will do everything it can to take control of the CPU and not release it. On a server installed with NetScaler VPX and nothing else, this results in it looking like (from the hypervisor perspective) that NetScaler VPX is consuming the entire CPU. Looking at the CPU utilization from inside NetScaler (by using the CLI or the GUI) provides a picture of NetScaler VPX CPU capacity being used. System Requirements Frequently Asked Questions 52. What is the minimum hardware requirement for NetScaler VPX? NetScaler VPX requires: Processor requirements: Dual core server with Intel VTx or AMD-V Memory available: 2GB RAM, 20 GB hard drive Hypervisor: Citrix XenServer 5.6 or later; VMWare ESX/ESXi 3.5 or later, Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V Connectivity: 100 Mbps minimum; 1 Gbps recommended A network interface card compatible with the hypervisor 53. What are Intel VTx and AMD-V? These features, sometimes referred to as hardware assist or virtualization assist, trap sensitive or privileged CPU instructions executed by the guest OS out to the hypervisor. This simplifies hosting guest OSs (BSD for a NetScaler VPX) on the hypervisor. 54. How common are VTx and AMD-V? Virtually all servers shipped within the last two years support either VTx or AMD-V. Note that many servers ship with virtualization assist disabled in BIOS. Before assuming you cannot run NetScaler VPX, check if you need to change this setting on the server. Page 9

10 55. Can NetScaler VPX be imported onto XenServer instances that do not have Intel VTx or AMD V hardware assist support? No. NetScaler VPX requires the hardware assist Intel VTx or AMD-V provide. It cannot run without them. Note that many servers ship with virtualization assist disabled in BIOS. Before assuming you cannot run NetScaler VPX, check if you need to change this setting on your server. 56. Is there a hardware compatibility list (HCL) for NetScaler VPX? As long as the server supports Intel VTX or AMD-V, NetScaler VPX should run on any server compatible with the underlying hypervisor. See the hypervisor HCL for a comprehensive list of supported platforms. 57. What version of NetScaler OS is NetScaler VPX based on? NetScaler VPX is based upon NetScaler 9.1 release. 58. Since NetScaler VPX runs on BSD, can it be run natively on a server with BSD Unix installed? No. NetScaler VPX requires XenServer 5 update 3 or later, or VMWare ESX/ESXi 3.5 or later for support. 59. Does NetScaler VPX require a virtual machine to run, or can it run on bare metal/windows servers? NetScaler VPX requires the hypervisor to run. Other Technical Frequently Asked Questions 60. How does link aggregation on a physical server with multiple NICs work? LACP is not supported. NetScaler virtual interfaces do not support tagged VLANs. These must be configured on the hypervisor itself. Settings on network interfaces on the NetScaler configuration utility do not apply. For XenServer, Static link aggregation is supported and has limits of four channels and seven virtual interfaces. For VMWare, static link aggregation is not supported within NetScaler VPX, but can be configured at the VMWare level. 61. Is MAC based Forwarding (MBF) supported on VPX? Is there any change from the NetScaler appliance implementation? MBF is supported and it behaves exactly the same way as with the NetScaler appliance. The hypervisor basically switches all the packets received from NetScaler VPX to outside and vice versa. 62. How is the NetScaler VPX upgrade process carried out? Upgrades are performed the same way as for NetScaler appliances: download a kernel file and use installns or the upgrade utility in the GUI. After the NetScaler VPX is initially installed, NetScaler 9.1 or later Classic maintenance release/patch can be used to upgrade it. Page 10

11 63. How are flash and disk space allocated? Can we change it? /flash = 965M /var = 14G If more memory is required for some features, you can allocate up to 4 GB per instance to provide additional caching capacity. Use the hypervisor console to adjust memory for the NetScaler VPX virtual machine. A minimum of 1 GB memory must be allocated to each NetScaler VPX instance. The NetScaler VPX disk image was sized at 20 GB for serviceability purposes such as, room for taking and storing up to 4 GB core dumps, and log and trace files. While it would be possible to generate a smaller disk image, there are no plans to do this at this time. /flash and /var are both in the same disk image, they are kept as separate file systems for compatibility purposes. 64. Can VPX 9.1 be downgraded to a lower NetScaler version? No. NetScaler VPX supports NetScaler software release 9.1 build 97.3 or later for XenServer, and NetScaler software release 9.1 build 99.8 or later for VMWare. 65. What can we expect regarding the NetScaler VPX build numbering and interoperability with other builds? NetScaler VPX have similar build numbering as the 9.1.cl (classic) and 9.1.nc (ncore) release, for instance 9.1_97.3.vpx, 9.1_97.3.nc, and 9.1_97.3.cl. 66. Can the NetScaler VPX can be a part of a high availability setup with a NetScaler appliance? This is not a supported configuration. 67. Are all the interfaces visible in NetScaler VPX directly related to the number of interfaces on the hypervisor? No. You can add up to seven interfaces (10 for VMWare) through the NetScaler VPX configuration utility with only one physical NIC on the hypervisor. 68. Can XenServer XenMotion or VMWare VMotion be used to move active instances of NetScaler VPX? NetScaler VPX does not support XenMotion or VMotion. XenMotion and VMotion support are being evaluated. Page 11