30 Days of NetScaler: Day 5 Instances!

NetScaler instances, how many different ways can you run one?

Hello, it is day 5.

Angela has been asked to design a new architecture for a customer. As part of the design, she will need to add some network services for load balancing and authentication. Now, obviously, in this scenario, Angela is smart and experienced with all things NetScaler related.

The company, Acme, which is run by Mr Coyote, currently has quite a sprawling network setup. There is a mix of sites, on-premise, cloud, and a couple of colocations too.

What is the goal of the new design?

She would like to keep it simple and ensure that she sizes the services for what Acme actually needs. Also, as she has a mix of platforms to support, it will require some thought to fit appliances in the right places.

So what?

Great question! The purpose of this post is to show what her options might be to deliver those services in the different DCs

You have requested some training; your memory might be a bit hazy as there was a football game at the weekend and the team just didn’t turn up! Who would be a football supporter? Anyway, the plan is to offer some pointers on NetScaler, with a series on all things related to the appliance. The goal is to provide you with enough information to be actually dangerous when talking to a customer or client. The number of days is a bit of an arbitrary number, but I am prepared to give you 2 minutes of material. Can I get 2 minutes of your time?

I have spoken about Load balancing, GSLB, Content Switching, and Software Bundles in previous posts, today is all about NetScaler instances.

Honestly, what are you talking about?

When you need an appliance to do a job, there is typically a conversation to be had with someone with some technical skills to work out what kind of appliance is needed to be able to do the job.

Technical stuff, does it ever get old?

After that, let's be clear. You can't always put in a huge physical system, alas, the spec has called to right-size the solution. That plus cloudy DCs don't tend to take rack mount appliances. :-(

If you are buying something new, you need to be sure that the form factor is going to suit you. NetScaler can be an instance in several different ways, it can be physical, virtual, logical, or container.

So what? What problem does it solve?

I have talked about NetScaler platform choices before.

I know what you are thinking. This isn't original content! Hold on, there is more to it.

In simple terms, NetScaler can be used in the following forms:

1. A Physical: This would be a physical rack-mounted appliance. It is called a NetScaler MPX

2. Virtual, the same software as the physical, just running on a hypervisor. It is called a NetScaler VPX

3. Multitenant, this is a mix of the MPX and VPX and is called SDX.

4. Container-based, this is where the deployment of a Microservice architecture is needed. This is a NetScaler CPX.

5. NetScaler BLX for bare metal runs as a Linux process on your hardware of choice. Because NetScaler BLX is a lightweight software package with no hypervisor or container overhead, you get extraordinarily fast performance.

Is that it? Well, no, actually, the solution can also make use of Admin partitions. These can be combined with the form factors above.

Who would be interested in this?

Anyone who runs a network and needs specific NetScaler capabilities from NetScaler for a workload. It is common for NetScaler to be added for something internet-facing, as it allows the admin to be confident that she/he can have their workloads keep going as things ‘happen’.

Different appliances give you different options it is knowing what is necessary for each workload. This can also mean that you need a view of what the setup will look like when you have customers actually accessing it.

How do you choose the right Instance NetScaler?

NetScaler is typically in front of the service that you run. The thing is, when would you ever buy one appliance to do one workload? I don't see that scaling so well. The Sales guy is going to be pretty happy, though!

What are the key questions you need to understand when creating a design?

• The NetScaler is an ADC, so you will need an idea of throughput.

How much traffic you are expecting can have quite an impact on the appliance, plus how it gets deployed. Virtual Instance can go up to 100GB per appliance, you can use more than one appliance to scale over that.

The thing is, it might be better to go physical at that point.

• What is the level of service separation between workloads?

Sometimes, you cannot have similar workloads on the same appliance, there might be some sensitivity that requires a service separation. Dropping in a physical SDX works as that allows a Virtual Instance for different 'customers' or 'Tenants' of your service.

Or you might be able to use Virtual appliances, the VPX. Maybe you can share a software partition between services. NetScaler has something called an Admin Partition. Similar in function to the 'Context' on a Cisco ACE(If you remember them!).

Also, you can mix and match. Specify a SDX NetScaler, runs different instances to get basic separation between customers. Then use some admin partitions to split up the services.

• What kind of DC do I need to cater for?

It was mentioned above that you cannot take a physical appliance to the cloud, you could get it close in some sort of co-location DC. Most customers make use of the Virtual VPX in the Public Cloud.

• What license bundle will the appliance need?

I talked on Day 4 about software bundles and how certain features require a certain license on the appliance. What features will be used? Premium gives you everything..

• How many DCs will there be? What is the expected resilience model

Assuming there are two DCs, one cloud and one On-Prem. What happens when we need to have this run across two DCs? On day 2, I talked about GSLB, so there are ways to make 2 DCs work as one service with some smoke and mirrors.

I’m going to the cloud, baby! We don’t need that legacy piece of equipment.

I think I have shown that NetScaler can fit into cloud DCs and offer lots of extras to protect your services.

Summary.

NetScaler comes in many different formats. You might start off small and then transition to something bigger as the workload grows. You need to remember that all NetScaler appliances run exactly the same code; it doesn't matter what the DC is, it doesn't matter what the workload.

NetScaler has your back.

NetScaler is all about no limits networking, I think that about sums it up.

Ok, I might have had a sip of the Kool-Aid!