Course Overview

Dive into the exciting new features and benefits of Citrix NetScaler 10! This course will guide you through the virtualization and scalability capabilities of NetScaler, along with details on the different product editions, platforms, and licensing options available

Reviews

The CNS-205 course is designed to get learners ready for the A28 Citrix NetScaler 10 Essentials and Networking exam, which is a must for anyone aiming to earn 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 essentially a virtual version of the NetScaler appliance that runs on a hypervisor set up on standard industry servers.

2. Does NetScaler VPX come with all the web application optimization features found in NetScaler appliances?

Absolutely! NetScaler VPX has all the load balancing, traffic management, application acceleration, and application security features (including Access Gateway Enterprise and Citrix Application Firewall) that you’d find in other NetScaler appliances. For a detailed look at what NetScaler offers, check out http://www.citrix.com/netscaler.

3. Does NetScaler VPX Express have all the functionalities of NetScaler Standard, including Access Gateway Enterprise and load balancing for XenApp Web Interface and XML broker?

Yes, it does! NetScaler VPX Express includes the complete functionality of NetScaler Standard.

4. Are there any limitations with Citrix Application Firewall when using it on NetScaler VPX?

Not at all! The Citrix Application Firewall on NetScaler VPX delivers the same level of security as it does on other NetScaler appliances. Just keep in mind that the performance and throughput can vary depending on the platform.

5. Are there any differences between Access Gateway Enterprise on NetScaler VPX and Access Gateway Enterprise on NetScaler appliances?

Functionally, they’re the same. Access Gateway Enterprise on NetScaler VPX supports all the features available in the NetScaler software release 9.1. However, since NetScaler appliances come with dedicated SSL acceleration hardware, they can handle SSL VPN scalability better than a NetScaler VPX instance.

6. Does NetScaler VPX support SSL offload?

Yes, it does! However, keep in mind that NetScaler VPX processes all SSL tasks in software, so it doesn’t match the SSL performance of NetScaler appliances. It can handle up to 500 new SSL transactionspersecond.

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,butfor 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--‐backfortheWebapplicationdeliveryinfrastructure.
· 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 (Do’s) 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 reducingoveralldatacentercosts. 

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 are upgraded?

Yes. Both the throughput limits and NetScaler family edition can be upgraded. Upgrade SKUs for both types of upgrade are available.

16. 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.