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Managing your Citrix Netscaler VPX

Managing your Citrix Netscaler VPX

Citrix Netscaler VPX devices are powerful tools with an array of features that help to enhance and refine your IBM Cloud® solution in a multitude of ways. You can find the device's information in the IBM Cloud catalog, as well as connect to the device and configure its features.

Locating NetScaler details in the IBM Cloud catalog

Citrix NetScaler devices are listed in the device list, like any other server you have on the IBM Cloud platform.

To find the device list:

  1. From your browser, open the IBM Cloud catalog and log into your account.
  2. Select the Menu icon Menu icon from the top left, then click Classic Infrastructure.

Your devices, which are sorted by device name, show in the device list. Citrix Netscaler VPX devices have "NetScaler" as the device type.

On the left side of the row for your NetScaler, click the arrow to expand and show the Username and a masked password for NetScaler management access.

Other details that are listed in the device list include:

  • Location (data center in which the NetScaler resides)
  • Private IP address (which is used to connect to the NetScaler for management functions)
  • Start date (when the machine was ordered and provisioned)

While the private IP address of the NetScaler is listed, the public IP address of the NetScaler is not. This situation is because management of the NetScaler is done by using the private IP address. The public IP addresses for NetScaler devices are used as the device's VIPs or Virtual IPs, which are used for load balancing services.

The device details screen

Click the NetScaler's name to navigate to the Device Details page for the NetScaler. This page shows the VLAN on which your NetScaler was deployed, as well as your public IP addresses for the NetScaler. These IP addresses cannot be used for management, because they are the NetScaler's default public VIP addresses. You can use these addreses later to associate to a load balancing service.

Connecting to the NetScaler

IBM Cloud grants full root access to your NetScaler device. To log into the NetScaler's Management UI, connect to the IBM Cloud private network. This connection can be done with the IBM Cloud Management VPN. You can also perform management functions from a remote session on a server within the IBM Cloud environment.

To connect from the catalog to the NetScaler's Management UI, click the Actions menu list and choose Manage Device to launch a new tab or pop-up window in your browser. This routes you to the NetScaler's NSIP (the private IP address that you saw previously). The page that displays asks for the root username and password for the device. After you enter the information, it takes you to the NetScaler Management GUI.

Alternatively, you can copy and paste the NetScaler device's private IP into a web browser.

NetScaler SSH access

You can also connect to the NetScaler device directly by using your favorite SSH client. Use the private IP and login information for the NetScaler device from the device list page and make sure that you are connected to the IBM Cloud VPN.

Caution regarding HA configurations and portal passwords

Keep your Cloud portal root username and password consistent with the root username and password of the physical device. If these items are not kept consistent, upgrades and licensing operations can fail, resulting in production outages. Ensure that administratora are aware of this issue to avoid unexpected downtime.