NetScaler

NetScaler in a Private Cloud Managed by Microsoft Windows Azure Pack and Cisco ACI

September 21, 2020

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You can use a NetScaler appliance for load balancing in a private cloud that is managed through Microsoft Windows Azure Pack. The network for the private cloud is automated by using Cisco ACI and NetScaler.

This solution involves many integration points, such as Windows Azure Pack (WAP) to Cisco APIC, Cisco APIC to System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM), and Cisco APIC to NetScaler. As a tenant in the private cloud, you can enable NAT, provision network services, and add a load balancer.

WAP supports tenant and administrator portals where an administrator can perform administrative tasks such as ACI registration, VIP range, NetScaler device association with virtual machine cloud, tenant user account creation, and so on. Tenants can log on to the WAP Tenant Portal and configure the network, bridge domains, and Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRFs), and make use of the NetScaler load balancing and RNAT features.

Important

In this solution, the NetScaler appliance provides only basic load balancing.

Tenants can deploy multiple VIP addresses with different ports for the same network, but must ensure that the IP and port combination is unique.

The NetScaler device package supports only single-context deployment. Each Tenant gets a dedicated NetScaler instance.

WAP supports NetScaler MPX appliances and NetScaler VPX virtual appliances, including NetScaler VPX instances deployed on the NetScaler SDX platform.

The following illustration provides an overview of the solution:

localized image

Prerequisites

Make sure that:

You have conceptual knowledge of Cisco ACI components and NetScalers.
- For more information about Cisco ACI and its components, see the product documentation at: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/cloud-systems-management/application-policy-infrastructure-controller-apic/tsd-products-support-series-home.html.
- For more information about the NetScalers, see the NetScaler product documentation at http://docs.citrix.com/.
All the required components of Cisco ACI, including Cisco APIC in the datacenter, are set up and configured. For more information about Cisco ACI and its components, see the product documentation at: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/cloud-systems-management/application-policy-infrastructure-controller-apic/tsd-products-support-series-home.html.
You know how to integrate Cisco ACI with Microsoft Windows Azure Pack. See the product documentation at: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/aci/apic/sw/2-x/virtualization/b_ACI_Virtualization_Guide_2_2_1.html.
You have conceptual knowledge of Microsoft Windows Azure Pack. See the product documentation at: https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/cloud-platform/windows-azure-pack.
You have installed NetScaler software release 11.1 or later.
You configure NetScalers in Cisco ACI, so that they can be managed by using Cisco APIC.
From Cisco APIC, make sure that:
- Management connectivity of Cisco APIC to NetScaler are established.
- You upload the NetScaler device package version 11.1-52.3 and register the NetScaler device in Cisco ACI by using Cisco APIC.
- You configure the NetScaler appliance in Cisco APIC’s common tenant and make sure that there are no faults in Cisco APIC.
- You have configured all the APIC specific configurations such as, VLAN pool, L3OutServicesDom, L3ExtOUt, resource pool, and so on. For more information, see Cisco documentation.

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NetScaler in a Private Cloud Managed by Microsoft Windows Azure Pack and Cisco ACI

September 21, 2020

Contributed by:

September 21, 2020

Contributed by:

NetScaler in a Private Cloud Managed by Microsoft Windows Azure Pack and Cisco ACI

Prerequisites

In this article