Copy a Citrix ADC configuration to a new machine

Copy Citrix ADC Configuration

In one of my recent projects, I had to build several Citrix ADCs in a new data center. After consultation with the customer, the same services and functions should be configured as in the old data center. The only difference was that the new data center should use different IP ranges and therefore all network settings of the Citrix ADCs and the connected services had to be adapted.

Requirements

  • Same version and build on all Citrix ADC
  • Same Citrix ADC license version on all Citrix ADC
  • IP addresses of the new Citrix ADC should be defined and free (NSIP, SNIP & VIP).
  • IP addresses of the connected machines should be known (server or server groups)
  • Basic configuration of the new Citrix ADC should be done (NSIP, SNIP, DNS, Timezone & License)

It’s important to mention that this manual is to be done at your own risk. You should be aware that you can make the complete machine unusable by editing the ns.conf. Therefore, I recommend, as always, perform a backup of the machines before you start.

Changes to the ns.conf

It always helps me to write down the upcoming changes. For example:

CitrixADC1 (old data center)

CitrixADC2 (new data center)

I turn off HA in the first step and then configure it clean with the second Citrix ADC in the new data center after the activation of the new ns.conf.

Copy existing certificates

First, we need to migrate the existing certificates to the new Citrix ADC. For this purpose we establish a connection to the source system via WinSCP.

WinSCP Connect

When the connection is established, navigate to the /flash/nsconfig path and mark the ssl folder and download it.

Flash Config SSL

Now connect to the target system and navigate to the same path /flash/nsconfig.

Access to this system is for authorized users only

Upload the downloaded ssl folder and overwrite the existing files in the target system.

Copy to ssl the certificate

Now connect to the Citrix ADC web interface to control the successful import.

Target Citrix ADC System

In the Citrix ADC Navigation Panel, click Traffic Management > SSL > Certificates > Server Certificates and check the display of the certificates

Citrix ADC Traffic Management SSl SSl Certificate Server Certificate

Download & customization of source ns.conf

To make sure all existing configurations in ns.conf are available, go to the Citrix ADC web interface and save the existing configuration again.

Save running config

Then connect again via WinSCP to the source Citrix ADC to download the existing ns.conf file.

Source Citrix ADC download ns.conf

Now navigate to the path /flash/nsconfig in WinSCP and mark ns.conf.

flash nsconfig ns.conf

Now copy the selected ns.conf to the local system

download ns.conf

In order to prepare the existing ns.conf for import, different lines have to be removed or edited from the file. For this you open the ns.conf with an editor (for example Notepad ++) on your local system.

The following lines must be deleted

All mentions of

set ns config -IPAddress
set lacp
set ns hostname
add ns ip6
add route
set interface
set system user
add route
set interface
set system user

In order to adapt the IP address to the new conditions, the old IP addresses (NSIP, SNIPs, VIPs & servers) are searched for and replaced by the previously created matrix.

add ns ip
add authentication vserver
replace ip

Upload the ns.conf to the target system

Now we can upload and deploy the customized ns.conf to the target system. To do this, connect again to the target Citrix ADC via WinSCP and navigate to the path /var/tmp/ to upload the modified ns.conf file there.

copy ns.conf to target

To import the modified configuration you need to connect to the Citrix ADC web interface of the target system and navigate to System > Diagnostics

System Diagnostics

Click here on Batch configuration.

Batch Configuration

There click on Choose File and then on Appliance.

Batch Configuration Choose File Appliance

Now navigate to the path where you previously saved the modified ns.conf (for example /var/tmp) and mark it. Confirm the selection by clicking on Open.

File Browser Open

After that click on Run to start the import process.

Batch Configuration Run

When the import process finished, a message appears asking for a system reboot

Batch Configuration Running

Then click on Stop.

Batch Configuration Done

Navigate to System & click on Reboot.

System System Information Reboot

In the following window mark Save configuration. Then start the restart by clicking on OK.

Reboot Save Configuration

After a successful restart, log in to the system again and check the successful import.

Citrix NetScaler Citrix ADC

Under System > Network > IPs > IPV4s

System Network IPs IPV4s

Under Traffic Management > Load Balancing > Virtual Servers

Traffic Management Load Blancing Virtual Servers

Or under Traffic Management > Content Switching > Virtual Servers

Traffic Management Content Switching Virtual Servers

3 thoughts on “Copy a Citrix ADC configuration to a new machine”

  1. Nice article !
    I use https://xconfig.io to do this.
    You can “load” a Citrix ADC config (as it is not really loaded on to the webserver, it’s just locally processed in the browser).
    And analyze and filter the configuration based on any object and automatically filter out on dependencies.
    Very usefull if you have to migrate apps individually or app by app.

    Cheers,

    Koen

  2. Great article.
    In my case the following are different from the source NS and from this Blog:
    Different VIP names and VIP-IP addresses
    -SF VIP
    -LDAP VIP
    -Netscaler Gateway VIP

    But the rest is same, or so I later can manage to do some editing in destination Netscaler GUI – after copy and upload nsconfig from source NS.
    But I´m very interested of how to edit the nsconfig instead of doing every configuration from zero in NS Gui, if you have som experience fromt that.
    :0)

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