What is Citrix NetScaler (ADC) Monitoring?

With Citrix NetScaler (ADC) monitoring, uberAgent collects appliance & gateway performance, utilization, and inventory data from Citrix NetScaler Application Delivery Controllers (metrics docs).

The uberAgent endpoint agent needs to be installed on a machine from where it can reach the physical or virtual Citrix NetScaler (ADC) appliance(s). On Citrix Delivery Controllers (DDCs), the collection of NetScaler (ADC) metrics is enabled by default. Of course, NetScaler (ADC) metrics can also be retrieved from any other machine instead.

Enabling or Disabling Citrix NetScaler (ADC) Monitoring

Citrix NetScaler (ADC) monitoring is activated by default only on Citrix Delivery Controllers, as explained above. You can modify this behavior through the configuration setting [CitrixADC_Config] in uberAgent’s configuration.

To completely disable collecting Citrix ADC metrics, disable the following metrics in the configuration:

• CitrixADCPerformance
• CitrixADCvServer
• CitrixADCGateways
• CitrixADCInventory

Installation and Configuration

If you have uberAgent already installed on one or more DDCs for Citrix site monitoring, it makes sense to also collect Citrix NetScaler (ADC) metrics there. Make sure that the DDCs can communicate with the Citrix NetScaler (ADC) management interface (NSIP) either through port 80 or, if you enabled Secure Access Only for the NSIP, through port 443.

While DDCs may be the ideal place to capture Citrix NetScaler (ADC) data for most customers, that may not be the case for everybody. As explained above, you can overwrite the setting CollectADCInformation in the stanza [CitrixADC_Config] to collect Citrix NetScaler (ADC) metrics from any installed uberAgent endpoint. Make sure that this setting is only distributed to the machines that are intended for this purpose. If you distribute it to all machines where uberAgent is installed, every endpoint communicates with the Citrix NetScaler (ADC) appliance(s), which could overload the appliance(s) and generate unnecessary data.

CollectADCInformation=MachineList in combination with a set of machines configured in CollectADCInformationMachines, defines on which machines the collection of ADC metrics will be performed.

Citrix NetScaler (ADC) Configuration

Besides network access, uberAgent also needs credentials to be able to login into the Citrix ADC appliances. It only needs to read information; hence using a user with the command policy read-only bound is the recommended option. Users with more privileges are also supported, but not recommended from a security perspective.

Create a user with the command policy read-only bound from CLI:

add system user nsread Password -externalAuth DISABLED -timeout 900 -maxsession 20
bind system user nsread read-only 100

uberAgent Configuration

This section explains the configuration via uberAgent’s configuration file. The configuration via GPO works accordingly.

Use the stanza [CitrixADC_Config] to specify how uberAgent should connect to your appliance(s). If multiple [CitrixADC_Config] stanzas are specified, the configured metrics are determined for each of them. Use one [CitrixADC_Config] stanza per Citrix NetScaler (ADC) pair.

Following are some examples of valid Citrix ADC configurations. More information on the parameters is available in the configuration file itself. Note that passwords can be encrypted.

Example 1: One Citrix NetScaler (ADC) appliance manageable through HTTP (port 80). Data collection happens on DDCs only

[CitrixADC_Config]
Server = 10.1.1.21
Username = nsread
Password = Password
Https = false
CollectADCInformation = DDCOnly

Example 2: A Citrix ADC high-availability pair manageable through HTTPS (port 443). Data collection happens not on a DDC.

• If HTTPS is used, the entries in the setting Server must match those in the certificate bound to the NSIP.
• uberAgent collects performance information for the primary appliance only. So for best collection performance, list the primary appliance first.

[CitrixADC_Config]
Server = CitrixADC1.domain.local,CitrixADC2.domain.local
Username = nsread
Password = Password
Https = True
CollectADCInformation = True

Example 3: A Citrix ADC high-availability pair manageable through HTTPS (port 443). Data collection happens on a set of machines.

[CitrixADC_Config]
Server = CitrixADC1.domain.local,CitrixADC2.domain.local
Username = nsread
Password = Password
Https = True
CollectADCInformation = MachineList
CollectADCInformationMachines = DDC01, DDC02

System Requirements

Please see the system requirements page for details.