Basic Load Balancing

CNS 207-2I: Implementing Citrix NetScaler 10.5 for App and

Desktop Solutions

Overview
After completing this module, you will be able to:
Explain basic load-balancing concepts for a NetScaler system.
Configure a basic load-balancing setup.
Explain why monitors are used in a load-balancing configuration.
Identify the different load-balancing methods.
Identify the different session persistence methods.
Verify the load balancing configuration

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Load Balancing Basics

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Entity Management
Entities in the NetScaler system are any configurable objects that are used with
NetScaler features:
Server
Service
Service Group
Load-Balancing Virtual Server
Monitor

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Load Balancing Architecture

SRV_1
10.10.1.3

svc_1
Protocol + Port
Monitor
Service-1
LB_RGB
VIP
Protocol + Port
Load Balancing Methods
vServer

Service-2

SRV_2
10.10.1.4

10.10.1.3

S
W

svc_2
Protocol + Port
Monitor

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FTP
HTTP
SQL
RDP

10.10.1.4

svc_3
Protocol + Port
Monitor
Service-3

FTP
HTTP
SQL
RDP

10.10.1.5

SRV_3
10.10.1.5

FTP
HTTP
SQL
RDP

Server Creation
You can create servers explicitly as named entities before creating services. You
then create the service and reference the existing server object.
If you create the service first, the system automatically creates a server object
based on the IP address used when configuring the service

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Server Monitoring
The purpose of service monitoring is to check the state of the services
periodically. Monitors specify the type of requests sent to a service and the
expected response from the server; this probe is known as a health check.

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Services Configuration Overview

After you enable the load-balancing feature, you must create at least one service
for each application server that is to be included in your load-balancing setup.

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Services Creation
A service entity represents an application running on a server entity and is
identified by a unique IP address/port combination. The service defines the traffic
type between the NetScaler system and a server. Services must be bound to
virtual servers before the NetScaler system is able to load balance incoming
traffic between servers.

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Virtual Server Creation

A virtual server provides the client with access to the actual servers behind the
NetScaler system. The client connects to a virtual server which consists of an IP
address, port, and protocol combination that accepts incoming traffic.

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Binding Virtual Servers to Services or a Service Group

You can create most entities in the NetScaler system independently but they will not serve a
function until they are bound to another related entity.

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Traffic Types
You can configure a load-balancing virtual server to support any number of traffic
types. You can also configure multiple load-balancing servers to support different
services on the same virtual IP address.

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Built-In Monitors
The NetScaler system contains a number of built-in monitors that you can use to
monitor your services
These built-in monitors handle most of the common protocols
You cannot modify or remove the built-in monitors; you can only bind a built-in
monitor to a service and unbind it from the service

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Monitor Parameters
Two types of parameters can be configured for monitors:
Parameters that are standard and apply to all monitors, regardless of type
Parameters that are specific to the type of monitor being defined

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Creating Monitors
You can create a monitor on the NetScaler system by specifying the monitor
name, monitor type, and values for appropriate parameters.

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HTTP Monitoring
The parameters for the HTTP monitor can be configured as follows:
HTTP Request
Response Codes

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Extended Application Verification (EAV) Monitoring

You can monitor service dependencies using the following built-in monitor types
for certain protocols and applications:
RADUIS
MYSQL
SNMP
LDAP
POP3
NNTP
CITRIX-XML-SERVICE
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Extended Content Verification (ECV) Monitoring

ECV monitors are used for verifying content in HTTP, TCP, and UDP payload
ECV monitors are considered kernel monitors they are basic high-performance
probes that originate from the BSD kernel

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Setting Monitor Thresholds

The NetScaler system uses monitor thresholds to determine the state of services.
The threshold value is used to minimize the impact of spikes in load from shutting
down a service.

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Custom Monitors
In addition to built-in monitors, you can create custom monitors, either based on
the built-in monitors or from scratch, to check the state of your services.

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Load Balancing Methods

Load-balancing decisions for incoming traffic are made based on the loadbalancing method assigned to the service.
The following are common load-balancing methods (more available):
Least Connections
Round Robin
Least Bandwidth
Least Packets
Least Response Time

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Round Robin
Round robin distributes traffic based on a server-rotation system, regardless of
load.
This method is sufficient if all requests result in the same load on servers, but in
most cases, a more robust load-balancing method based on metrics should be
used.

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Diameter Load Balancing

A virtual server performing load balancing of Diameter messages provides the
following results:
Lighter load on Diameter servers, which translates to faster response times
Server health monitoring with better failover capabilities
Better scalability in terms of server addition without changing client configuration
HA
SSL Diameter offloading

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Service Weights
In a load-balancing configuration, you assign weights to services to indicate the
percentage of traffic that should be sent to each service.
Service weights can be configured for the following load-balancing methods:
Least Connections
Round Robin
Least Bandwidth
Least Packets
Least Response Time

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Persistence and Persistence Connections

Unless you configure persistence, different transmissions from the same client
might be directed to different servers even though all of the transmissions are part
of the same session.

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Session Persistence Methods

Session persistence methods are determined based on the method you assign to
the service. Common persistence methods:
Cookie-Insert
Source-IP-Address
SSL Session ID
Custom Server ID
Rule-based

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Persistence Tables
Session persistence information for each session is stored on the NetScaler
system in a persistence table
The following information is displayed in the table.
Persistence type
Source IP address
Destination IP address
Destination port
Virtual server name

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Persistence Group Configuration

To create a virtual server group, you bind different types of virtual servers, one for
each type of connection that your load balanced servers accept, into a single
group
You then configure a persistence type for the entire group

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Clearing of Persistence Sessions

You might need to clear persistence sessions from the NetScaler if sessions fail
to time out
You can do one of the following:
Clear all sessions for all virtual servers at once
Clear all sessions for a given virtual server at once

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Load Balancing Configuration Protection

You can protect your load-balancing setup against failure by:
Redirecting excess traffic to an alternate URL
Configuring a backup load-balancing virtual server

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WORK BETTER. LIVE BETTER.

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