Deploy a NetScaler VPX Instance on Cisco CSP 2100

You can deploy an SR-IOV-enabled NetScaler VPX instance on Cisco Cloud Services Platform (CSP) 2100 to configure network functions virtualization (NFV) for your environment. The Cisco CSP 2100 is a turnkey, open, x86 Linux Kernel-based virtual machine (KVM) software and hardware platform for data center NFV.

This section describes how to deploy a NetScaler VPX instance on Cisco CSP 2100 and enable SR-IOV on the instance.

Points to Note

• Supported NetScaler version: From release 11.1 56.x and later
• Qualified on CSP version 2.2.3 build 32

Deploy a NetScaler VPX Instance on Cisco CSP 2100

Deploy a NetScaler VPX instance on Cisco CSP 2100 is a 2-step process:

1. Upload the NetScaler VPX qcow image.

2. Enable SR-IOV on the VPX instance.

Complete the following steps:

1. Download the NetScaler VPX 11.1 56.x qcow image from the Citrix download site.

2. Log on to Cisco CSP 2100 with your logon credentials.

3. From the dashboard, select Configuration > Repository.

4. From the Repository window, select the plus sign.

5. Select Browse to browse to the downloaded NetScaler VPX qcow image.

6. Select Upload to upload the VPX image to CSP 2100.

Next, provision the VPX instance and add SR-IOV interfaces to it.

1. From the CSP dashboard, select Configuration > Services.

2. Select the plus sign. The Create Service template appears. Enter the following specifications:

• Name
• Target Host Name
• Image Name: qcow image that you’ve already downloaded
• Number of cores: minimum two
• Disk Space: Minimum 20 GB
• RAM: Minimum 2,048 GB

3. To add an SR-IOV interface, select the plus sign next to VNIC. The VNIC Configuration window appears.

4. For Interface Type, select Passthrough.

5. Specify the VLAN range.

6. For Passthrough Mode, select SR-IOV.

7. For Network Name, select an SR-IOV supported NIC. Click Submit.

8. Click Deploy to complement the process.  It might take a moment for the NetScaler VPX instance to be deployed on  Cisco CSP 2100.

9. Next, log on to the NetScaler VPX instance to complete the initial configuration.

Limitations

The following are CSP 2100-related limitations:

• If you power off the NetScaler VPX instance by using the CSP 2100 GUI , the NetScaler VPX configuration might get lost.
• In host VLAN mode, the VPX Niantic SR-IOV interfaces must be configured to 9k MTU size.
• Due to vCPU scheduling issues on the CSP 2100 platform, latency, transmit stall, and transmit queue overflow might be observed on the NetScaler VPX instance.
• The “Tag-all” command is not supported on a VPX Niantic SR-IOV interface.
• The LACP feature is not supported on a VPX Niantic SR-IOV interface.