Course Details
In this course, you will learn the foundational concepts and advanced skills necessary to implement, configure, secure, monitor, optimize, and troubleshoot a Citrix Netscaler system from within a networking framework. This course is designed specifically for those with limited or no previous NetScaler experience. Through this course, you will participate in hands-on exercises within a virtual lab environment.
This course is based on the Citrix NetScaler 10.5 product, but the skills and fundamental concepts are common to earlier product versions.
This course includes an exam voucher for the Citrix Certified Professional – Networking (CCP-N) exam.
Certification:
Citrix Certified Professional – Networking (CCP-N)
Course Prerequisites
- Intermediate knowledge of TCP/IP and HTTP protocols and an understanding of the OSI model
- Experience with network devices, networking protocols, and aspects of application and site
- architecture
- Moderate exposure to UNIX or Linux
- Exposure to basic systems administration concepts, including logging, software upgrade procedures, and high availability operations
- Familiarity with web server software
- Knowledge of network security threats and site protection concepts
Course Agenda
1. Getting Started
- NetScaler
- NetScaler System
- NetScaler Functionality
- NetScaler Operating System
- Hardware Platforms
- Hardware Components
- Planning a NetScaler Deployment
- Deployment Scenarios
- TriScale
- NetScaler Configuration
- Logging into the NetScaler System
- NetScaler Licenses
2. Basic Networking
- OSI Networking Model
- NetScaler Architecture
- Packet Forwarding
- NetScaler-Owned IP Addresses
- NetScaler IP Address
- Sending a Client IP Address to Servers
- Virtual Local Area Networks (VLAN)
- Network Address Translation
3. Basic Load Balancing
- Load Balancing Basics
- Configuring Basic Load Balancing
- Services Configuration
- Virtual Servers Creation
- Services Bound to a Virtual Server
- Configuration Verification
- Load-Balancing Methods
- Service Weights
- Session Persistence Methods
- Service Level Monitors
4. High Availability
- Functionality
- Node Configuration
- Propagation and Synchronization
- Management
5. Policies and Expressions
- Policies
- Policy Basics
- Basic Policy Components
- Policy Bindings
- Policy Priorities
- Hypertext Transfer Protocol
- Expression Structures
- Wildcards
- Context-Sensitive Fields
- Simple Expressions
- Compound Expressions
- Advanced Policy Conversion
6. Content Switching
- Configuring a Load Balancing Setup for Content Switching
- Content-Switching Policies
- Content-Switching Rule Precedence Without Priority Specified
- Content-Switching Rule Precedence With Priority Specified
7. Connection Tuning
- IPv6
- DNS and the NetScaler
- IP Routing
- Link Load Balancing
- SIP Load Balancing
- Custom Load
- Persistence and Persistence Connections
- Load Balancing Configuration Protection
- Load Balancing Setup Management
- Traffic Management
8. Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB)
- Deployment Methods
- Concepts
- DNS Methods
- Implementing Static GSLB
- Metric Exchange Protocol
- Configuring Site-to-Site Communication
- Customizing the GSLB Configuration
- GSLB Persistence
- Monitoring GSLB Services
- Protecting the GSLB Setup Against Failure
- Implementing GSLB Failover for Disaster Recovery
9. Clustering
- Features Supported by Clustering
- Clustering
- Cluster
- Synchronization
- Connections
- Communication Interfaces
- Striped and Spotted IP Addresses
- Traffic Distribution
- Cluster and Node States
- NetScaler Cluster
- Set up
- Traffic Distribution Mechanisms
- Management
- Troubleshooting
10. Security and Authentication
- SSL
- SSL Administration
- SSL Keys
- Digital Certificates
- Certificate Signing Request
- SSL Certificates
- Certificate Generation
- Certificate Key Pairs
- NetScaler System Communication
- Front-End SSL
- Front-End SSL_TCP
- Securing Traffic
- SSL_Bride
- SSL Termination Points
- SSL Offload
- Configuring SSL Offload
- Advanced SSL Settings
- Hardware Compliance
- Authentication Setup
- AAA for Traffic Management
- SAML 2.0 Consumer Support
- Enhanced NTLMv2 Support
- Authentication Policy Creation
- Single Sign-On Setup
- LDAP Authentication
- Detailed Access Control Lists Configuration
- Extended Access Control Lists
- Creation and Removal of Access Control Lists
- SYN, SSL Renegotiation, TLS Man-in-the-Middle, and DoS Protection
- Client Traffic Management Based on Traffic Rate
11. Rewrite, Responder, and URL Transformation
- Packet Processing Flow
- Policies
- Policy Process Evaluation Flow
- Advanced Policy Expressions
- Actions
- Bind Points
- Policy Labels
- Pattern Sets
- Typecasting
- Rewrite, Responder, and URL Transform
- Configuring Rewrite Policies and Actions
- Configuring Responder Policies and Actions
- Configuring URL Transformation Policies and Actions
12. Optimizing Traffic
- Compression
- Integrated Caching
- Reverse-Proxy-Cache Configuration
- Content Groups
- Cache Selectors and Policies
- Caching Static and Dynamic Content
- Request and Response Process Flow
- Cache Policies and Cache Expressions
- Action Analytics
- Evaluation Order
- Built-In Policies
- Graceful Cache Configuration Changes
- Cache Content Groups
- FlashCache
- Caching Management
- AppExpert Templates
- Terminology
- Methodology
13. Advanced Monitoring
- Monitoring Needs
- Simple Network Management Protocol
- Dashboard
- Citrix Command Center
- Reporting Tools
- NetScaler Log Management
- Audit Logging
- Configuring NetScaler for Audit Logging
- Configuring an Audit Logging Server
- Global Auditing Parameters
- Configuring Auditing Policies
- Monitoring Methods
- Reporting Tools
- Monitoring Needs
- Simple Network Management Protocol
- Configuring SMNPv1 and SMNPv2
- AppFlow on the NetScaler
- AppFlow Collectors and EdgeSight Monitoring
- AppFlow Actions and EdgeSight Monitoring
- Third-Party Collectors
14. Troubleshooting
- Methodology
- Resources
- Tools
- Network Issues
- Hardware Issues
- Load Balancing Issues
- Authentication, Authorization, and Access (AAA) Issues
- SSL Troubleshooting
- SSL Offload Troubleshooting
- Policy Troubleshooting
- High Availability Troubleshooting