NetScaler SDX

Manage interfaces

In the management service’s Interfaces pane, you can configure transmission settings for each interface. Also, you can display the mapping of the virtual interfaces on the VPX instances to the SDX appliance, and assign MAC addresses to the interfaces.

Note: Autonegotiation is not supported on an interface to which a direct attach cable (DAC) is connected.

In the list of Interfaces in the Interfaces pane, in the State column, UP indicates that the interface is receiving traffic normally. DOWN indicates a network issue because of which the interface is unable to send or receive traffic.

Important: Flow control is not recommended from connections over 1 GB.

To configure an interface

  1. On the Configuration tab, in the navigation pane, expand System, and then click Interfaces.

  2. In the Interfaces pane, click the interface that you want to configure, and then click Edit.

  3. In the Configure Interface window, specify values for the following parameters:

    • Auto Negotiation*— Enable auto-negotiation. Possible values: ON, OFF. Default: ON.
    • Speed*— Ethernet speed for the interface, in Mb/s. Possible values: 10, 100, 1000, and 10000.
    • Duplex*— Type of duplex operation of the interface. Possible values: Full, Half, NONE. Default: NONE.
    • Flow Control Auto Negotiation*— Automatically negotiate flow control parameters. Possible values: ON, OFF. Default: ON
    • Rx Flow Control*— Enable Rx flow. Possible values: ON, OFF. Default: ON
    • Tx Flow Control*— EnableTx flow control is enabled. Possible values: ON, OFF. Default: ON

    * A required parameter

  4. Click OK, and then click Close.

To reset the parameters of an interface to their default values

  1. On the Configuration tab, in the navigation pane, expand System, and then click Interfaces.
  2. In the Interfaces pane, click the interface that you want to reset, and then click Reset.

Display the mapping of virtual interfaces on the VPX instance to the physical interfaces on the SDX appliance

On a VPX instance, the GUI and the CLI display the mapping of the virtual interfaces on the instance to the physical interfaces on the appliance.

After logging on to the VPX instance, in the configuration utility, navigate to Network, and then click Interfaces. The virtual interface number on the instance and the corresponding physical interface number on the appliance appear in the Description field, as shown in the following figure:

In the CLI, type the show interface command. For example:

 > show interface
 1) Interface 10/3 (10G VF Interface, PF 10/4) #2
 flags=0xe460 <ENABLED, UP, UP, HAMON, 802.1q>
 MTU=1500, native vlan=1, MAC=6e:b6:f5:21:5d:db, uptime 43h03m35s
 Actual: media FIBER, speed 10000, duplex FULL, fctl NONE, throughput 10000
 RX: Pkts(2547925) Bytes(287996153) Errs(0) Drops(527183) Stalls(0)
 TX: Pkts(196) Bytes(8532) Errs(0) Drops(0) Stalls(0)
 NIC: InDisc(0) OutDisc(0) Fctls(0) Stalls(0) Hangs(0) Muted(0)
 Bandwidth thresholds are not set.
 ...
<!--NeedCopy-->

Assign a MAC address to an interface

While provisioning an ADC instance on an SDX appliance, the Citrix Hypervisor internally assigns a MAC address to a virtual interface associated with that instance. The same MAC address might be assigned to a virtual interface associated with another instance on the same appliance or on another appliance. To prevent an assignment of duplicate MAC addresses, you can enforce unique MAC addresses.

There are two ways of assigning a MAC address to an interface:

  1. Assign a base MAC address and a range to an interface: The Management Service assigns a unique MAC address by using the base address and range.
  2. Assign a global base MAC address: A global base MAC address applies to all interfaces. The Management Service then generates the MAC addresses for all interfaces. If you set the global base MAC address, the range for a 1G interface is set to 8 and the range for a 10G interface is set to 64. See the following table for sample base MAC addresses if the global base MAC address is set to 00:00:00:00:00:00.
Physical Interface Base MAC Address
0/1 00:00:00:00:00:00
0/2 00:00:00:00:00:08
1/1 00:00:00:00:00:10
1/2 00:00:00:00:00:18
1/3 00:00:00:00:00:20
1/4 00:00:00:00:00:28
1/5 00:00:00:00:00:30
1/6 00:00:00:00:00:38
1/7 00:00:00:00:00:40
1/8 00:00:00:00:00:48
10/1 00:00:00:00:00:50
10/2 00:00:00:00:00:90

Table 1. Example of Base MAC Addresses Generated from a Global Base MAC Address

The base MAC address for the management ports is for reference only. The Management Service generates MAC addresses, based on the base MAC address, for 1/x and 10/x ports only.

Note: You cannot assign a base MAC address to a channel.

To perform the various operations with MAC address, click System > Interfaces. Select an interface and then click Edit. Perform the MAC address operation, in the Configure Interface window.

Disable or enable the physical interfaces on the SDX appliance

If you are not using any of the physical interfaces on the SDX appliance, for the security purpose, you can disable the physical interface using the Management Service.

Note: By default, all the physical interfaces on the SDX appliance are enabled. Also, if an interface is used by a VPX or channel, you cannot disable the interface.

To disable the physical interface:

  1. On the Configuration tab, in the navigation pane, expand System, and then click Interfaces.
  2. In the Interfaces pane, select the interface that you want to disable.
  3. In the Action drop-down list, click Disable.

If you want to use the disabled physical interface, you can enable the interface using the Management Service.

To enable the disabled physical interface:

  1. On the Configuration tab, in the navigation pane, expand System, and then click Interfaces.
  2. In the Interfaces pane, select the disable interface that you want to enable.
  3. In the Action drop-down list, click Enable.