Course Overview

Learn about the new features and benefits of Citrix NetScaler 10. This course covers the NetScaler virtualization and scalability features as well as the product editions, platforms and licensing options.

Reviews

The CNS-205 course prepares learners for the A28 Citrix NetScaler 10 Essentials and Networking exam, a requirement for the NetScaler 10 Citrix Certified Administrator (CCA) certification.

Getting Started
Basic Networking
High Availability
Securing NetScaler
NetScaler System Communication Troubleshooting
Basic Load Balancing
SSL Offload
AppExpert Default Policy Engine
Rewrite, Responder, and URL Transform
Content Switching
Optimizing Traffic
Clustering
Monitoring and Management

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 http:www.citrix.com/netscaler.

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.

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.

12. Are NetScaler VPX for XenServer and NetScaler VPX for VMWare priced the same?
Yes.

13. Are the same SKUs used for both NetScaler VPX for XenServer and NetScaler VPX for VMWare?

Yes.

14. 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.

15. 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.