Click on Configure

Upload the logo that you want to place at the logon screen – the second logo will be placed in the header when logged on – change the colours that fit your needs. Click on Apply and Ok

Note: Be aware of the logo sizing, if they are bigger then the default you can get problems with your PNagent, receiver client profile setup for the X1 Receiver Experience.

Refresh your StoreFront page and see the results

Enroll the NetScaler VPX in Azure IaaS 

Search for the NetScaler 11.1 or 12.0 VPX Bring Your Own License version in the marketplace, and proceed the creation of the Virtual Machine in Azure Infrastructure as a Service. Click on Create

Enter in the requested information, such as Virtual Machine name, storage type, subscription, DC location etc. Click Ok to switch to the sizing screen

Choose a sizing for the NetScaler Virtual Machine. I’ll use the DS2_V2.

Note: Using NetScaler in HA? Don’t forget to configure an Availability Set to ensure High Availability / Continuity of your NetScaler environment! These steps need to be done before the creation of the machine. 

Enter the other requested information, such as Storage Account, Virtual Network and Subnet and

Start the enrollment, click on Create

Configure the NetScaler Multiple IP Addresses in Azure

 Click Virtual Machines and select the NetScaler device

Click Network interfaces and then click the name of the Network Interface.

Click IP configurations.

 Click Add.

Provide Name: SNIP
 

Private IP address settings:

Static IP address and Public IP address: Disabled

Click Add one more time to add another secondary private IP which will act as a VIP for NetScaler.

Name: VIP
 Private IP address settings: Static
 IP Address Public IP address: Enabled
 

Click IP address and Create new and enter Name as VIP. Enable the Public IP address option

Choose an existing PIP or add a new Public IP to the VIP configuration. Click Ok

Note: Please change the ipconfig1 address to static before you proceed. Just to determine that the management access stays the same after a reboot.

Please confirm, all the addresses must be listed as picture below…

Note: When you haven’t got a hybrid connection to Azure, you should also add a Public IP to the primary IP Configuration (named ipconfig1) to provide access to the management portal.

Perform the initial NetScaler Gateway configuration

Logon to the NetScaler web portal.

Note: Use the same credentials, as you entered during the setup of the NetScaler Virtual Machine.

Click on Subnet IP Address

Enter in the internal SNIP address from the previous step. Click Done

Upload the NetScaler license

Note: Use the following url to request a trial. Please use the Host ID during the allocation in the MyCitrix portal.

https://www.citrix.com/products/netscaler-adc/get-started.html

When finished adding, please reboot the NetScaler!

Note: Click on Save the configuration before rebooting.

Seeing all the green checkmarks? Than we can proceed the next steps!

Navigate to System -> Network -> IPs and click Add.

Add the Virtual IP address to the NetScaler

Make sure that all the 2 Network Addresses are listed !

Open the XenApp and XenDesktop setup in the menu

Click on Get Started

Select StoreFront and Click Continue 

Enter in an external DNS name for the NetScaler Web Portal, enter in the VIP Address and click on Continue

Note: Select the option – Redirect request… – to create an 80 to 443 port redirection.

Click on Yes

Upload a SSL certificate to the NetScaler

Note: Don’t know how to add a SSL certificate to NetScaler? Please check one of my previous blogs from step 18.

Enter in the internal StoreFront url and click on Retrieve store to check the connection. 

Enter in the FQDN of the Citrix Cloud Connector(s) as STA service! Add more Citrix Cloud Connectors as STA by clicking on the + button 

Provide Choose Authentication Type : Domain

IP Address : Active Directory Server IP

Base DN: cn=users,dc=infrashare,dc=net (example)

Service account = administrator@infrashare.net (example)

Click on Test Connection to check all the settings

Please confirm all the settings in the summary screen, click Done

 Check if the Virtual Server is UP!

Add the NetScaler Gateway configuration file in StoreFront

Download the NetScaler configuration file and upload the .zip file in the StoreFront

 Select the correct Virtual Server, click Ok

Save the config file

Switch to the StoreFront console, click on Manage NetScaler Gateways

Click on Imported from file

Browse for the ZIP file and import the vServer 

Click on Next

Ensure that the STA is responsible through the FQDN of the Citrix Cloud Connectors

 Review the changes, click on Import

The NetScaler Gateway config is deployed to StoreFront 

 And automatically applied to the Store Settings…

Create a custom Theme in NetScaler

Go in the Menu to NetScaler Gateway > Portal Themes

Click on Add

 Enter a name and template

 Change the settings as your own needs, for example the Center Logo. Click on Ok when finished editing

 Now we must apply the theme to the vServer configuration

 Go to NetScaler Gateway -> Virtual Servers and select the vServer, click on Edit

Select Portal Themes

Select the theme we’d just created. Click on Ok and Done

Make sure to save the config

Create an External DNS record

Create a custom A record in your external DNS ISP portal, and point it to the Public IP Address which you’ll received during the Network Interface configuration process 

Add Network Security Groups inbound rules

Add the following 2 inbound Network Security rules to the NetScaler to provide access from the outside over HTTP and SSL to the Public IP VIP address. 

HTTP-inbound

HTTPS-inbound

Test an internal Citrix Session to the Citrix Cloud

Open the internal StoreFront Url and enter in the credentials

And yes, the Desktop and Apps from my XenApp and XenDesktop Service in Citrix Cloud are working!

Test an external Citrix Session to the Citrix Cloud

Open the External NetScaler Url and enter in the credentials

(For me that will be https://netscalerinazure.infrashare.net/)

And the Remote NetScaler Gateway session also works!!

Adding Azure MFA Secondary Authentication

Extra Security layer: Another article you might find interesting is the one I wrote earlier on Azure MFA on NetScaler

How to Configure Azure MFA as Citrix NetScaler RADIUS using the new NPS Extension

That’s it for now. I’ll hope you’ll just one step closer in implementing the Citrix Digital Workspace!

Cheers,

Christiaan Brinkhoff