30 Days of ADM: Day 29 January 25, 2023
You have to love licensing! Well maybe not...:-)
I am back, it is day 29.
Citrix ADM offers massive value to existing NetScaler users; they work as a dynamic duo.
A bit like Batman and Robin!
It makes sense to not ignore what it can offer, part of the purpose of this series is to demonstrate value, one way or another.
You have been selected for a training course in Citrix ADM, the goal is to provide you with enough information to be actually dangerous when talking to a customer or client. 30 days is a bit of an arbitrary number, but I am prepared to give you2 minutes of material, can I get 2 minutes of your time?
I have talked about Fleet management, general analytics, security analytics, AI / ML, Stylebooks, Pooled Capacity, instance advisory upgrade, security advisory, autoscaling, onboarding, RESTful API, CADS self-managed, Service Graph, WebTransaction Analytics, Config Jobs, Network Reporting, SSL Dashboard, RBAC, event handling, config drift, WAF learning, the overview & Gateway insights dashboards, On-Prem vs cloud ADM, A+ SSL ratings, time travel, Peak & Lean usage and App performance indicators.
Today is all about ADM licensing
Honestly, what are you talking about?
There are a few small parts of Citrix ADM service that need a license to be purchased, to get the most out of it. Which bits are they?
Virtual IP addresses: A VIP is an address that clients connect to on NetScaler
Storage: When using a service, storage costs, so there is a charge for that.
So what? What problem does it solve?
The aim of this series is to show value from several different angles, obviously, it can vary based on what you are focused on. There have been a few different scenarios along the way, maybe one of them has been appropriate to what you see in your infrastructure?
Then again, maybe I need to offer more scenarios.
Who would use this?
Almost any customer uses a few different NetScaler appliances within their infrastructure hosting services. That’s everyone, right?
What does Citrix ADM Service offer for free?
Starting off with the idea that you want a zero-cost option, Citrix offers ADM Express(Free)
The free features include:
· All Management & Monitoring features.
· All features under the “Infrastructure”node.
· Limited Analytics (2 VIPs).
· Data Retention – 500 MB or 1 Day which ever comes first.
To get up and running, all you would need to do is follow the Citrix cloud onboarding routine and then sign into the Citrix ADM tile.
There are then a few choices that set where (geographically) the ADM instance will be placed.
Naturally, pick one close to where you are.
What does Citrix ADMService hybrid offer for a fee?
The Hybrid(Paid) offering has enhancements over the standard service, these include:
· App Performance, App Sec Analytics,
· Gateway Analytics
· All Analytics Features under“Application”,
· “Security” and “Gateway” in ADM UI threshold value. Click the Memory Usage tab to view the issue details.
Naturally, the option to gather detailed analytics is dependent on the number of VIPs that you have on your ADM account
What if I just need to getAnalytics for a handful of VIPs?
You can move your VIPs around to suit. They get assigned by default, but you can change that if needed and manually assign them.
If you just have a few, reassign them as required, turning off the auto-assignment option below.
I need more details!
You can review the online documents here, for some bedtime reading
https://tinyurl.com/3xzc4pbe
Summary
You can get a lot of details on your infrastructure with the express edition of Citrix ADM.For just a small extra cost you can tap into a lot more value from ADM advanced. The ML and AI capabilities could offer some powerful behavioural stats on user access.
On-prem ADMis a good option if you are limited by cloud policy, VIPs can be assigned, you would just need to install them.
Citrix ADMis all about helping you keep things running smoothly. All of this will help you stay on top of your environment. With tools like this, you can save time and ensure that you get back to high-value tasks.
Ultimately, it is another great reason to run Citrix ADM. As a service or on-prem, its your choice. The lack of leg work to keep it up to date has me sold on the service!