Configuring AAA Policies

Sep 18, 2013

After you set up your users and groups, you next configure authentication policies, authorization policies, and audit policies to define which users are allowed to access your intranet, which resources each user or group is allowed to access, and what level of detail AAA will preserve in the audit logs. An authentication policy defines the type of authentication to apply when a user attempts to log on. If external authentication is used, the policy also specifies the external authentication server. Authorization policies specify the network resources that users and groups can access after they log on. Auditing policies define the audit log type and location.

You must bind each policy to put it into effect. You bind authentication policies to authentication virtual servers, authorization policies to one or more user accounts or groups, and auditing policies both globally and to one or more user accounts or groups.

When you bind a policy, you assign a priority to it. The priority determines the order in which the policies you define are evaluated. You can set the priority to any positive integer. In the NetScaler operating system, policy priorities work in reverse order: the higher the number, the lower the priority. For example, if you have three policies with priorities of 10, 100, and 1000, the policy assigned a priority of 10 is performed first, then the policy assigned a priority of 100, and finally the policy assigned an order of 1000. The AAA feature implements only the first of each type of policy that a request matches, not any additional policies of that type that a request might also match, so policy priority is important for getting the results you intend.

You can leave yourself plenty of room to add other policies in any order, and still set them to evaluate in the order you want, by setting priorities with intervals of 50 or 100 between each policy when you bind the policies. You can then add additional policies at any time without having to reassign the priority of an existing policy.

For additional information about binding policies on the NetScaler, see the Citrix NetScaler Traffic Management Guide at “Traffic Management.”