Deploy a NetScaler BLX appliance

Deploying a NetScaler BLX appliance (without DPDK support) on a Linux host consists of the following steps:

• Configure the NetScaler BLX appliance to be in shared or dedicated network mode
• Setting the management IP address of the BLX appliance for the first time (only in dedicated mode)
• Starting the BLX appliance

Configure a BLX appliance in shared mode

A BLX appliance configured in shared mode shares the Linux host NIC ports with the other applications running on the host.

By default, A BLX appliance starts in shared mode for the first time. A BLX appliance also starts in shared mode, if all the lines in the BLX configuration file (blx.conf file) are prefixed with #. The BLX configuration file is present in the /etc/blx directory in the Linux host. By default, the HTTP management port (mgmt-http) is 9080, and HTTPS (mgmt-https) is 9443.

Configure a BLX appliance in dedicated mode

A BLX appliance configured in dedicated mode has dedicated Linux host NIC ports.

You can configure a BLX appliance to be in dedicated mode by editing the BLX configuration file (blx.conf). The BLX configuration file is present in the /etc/blx directory on the Linux host. You can set the values for one or more interfaces and IP addresses in the blx.conf file. These interfaces and IP addresses are not configured in the host network.

Note:

By default, all the lines in the blx.conf file are prefixed with a # symbol. Remove the # symbol and edit the blx-system-config section with any options you want to set.

Various options can be passed to the BLX appliance by editing the blx-system-config section in the blx.conf file. The options that are available are as follows:

• worker-processes. The number of BLX worker-processes (packet engines) that must be started. Default: 1, Maximum: 28.
• ipaddress. The IP address on which the BLX listens. Default: BLX listens on all IP addresses. A prefix is optional, and by default, it is /24.
• interfaces. The interfaces that are dedicated to the BLX appliance.

Use the following CLI command to set the HTTP and HTTPS port in dedicated mode:

set nsparam – mgmthttpport 80 – mgmthttpsport 443

<!--NeedCopy-->

Notes:

• The format for HTTP or HTTPS port is <PORT> or <IP:PORT>.
• When you specify only the port number, the BLX management interface listens on this port on any IP address configured on the host.
• When both IP address:port are specified, the BLX management interface listens on that specific IP address and the port number.

You can specify either HTTP or HTTPS port. However, the other port does not open.

The following sample blx.conf file shows the edited blx-system-config section:

blx-system-config

{

worker-processes: 2

ipaddress: 7.7.7.10/24

interfaces: eth1

mgmt-http-port: 9080

mgmt-https-port: 9443

}
<!--NeedCopy-->

Setting the management IP address of the BLX appliance for the first time

The management IP address of a BLX appliance is the IP address at which you access the appliance for management purposes. The management IP address of the BLX appliance is also called the Citrix ADC IP (NSIP) address.

A BLX appliance can have only one Citrix ADC IP (NSIP) address. Also, you must add a default route for the configured Citrix ADC IP subnet so that the Citrix ADC IP becomes reachable from other networks on the LAN.

For setting the management IP address of the BLX appliance for the first time, you set the related parameters in the BLX configuration file (blx.conf).

To set the management IP address and the default route for the first time:

1. Open the BLX configuration file (blx.conf) present in the Linux host. The complete path of the BLX configuration file is:

   /etc/blx/blx.conf

2. Uncomment the following parameter and set the management IP address:

   # ipaddress:

3. Uncomment the following parameter and set the default route in the static route section:

   # default

Sample config:

In the following sample excerpt of a blx.conf file, management IP address and default route are set:

.
.

ipaddress: 203.0.113.10
.
.
default 203.0.113.1
.
.
<!--NeedCopy-->

Starting the BLX appliance

Start the BLX appliance by running the following command:

systemctl start blx

The BLX appliance is now in Up state.

Check the status of the BLX appliance again:

systemctl status blx

After successfully installing and starting a BLX appliance, you can configure ADC features on the BLX appliance by using one of the following methods:

• Citrix ADC CLI
• Citrix ADC GUI
• Citrix NITRO REST APIs

For more information on using these methods, see Configure a BLX appliance.

For more information on Citrix ADC features, see Citrix ADC Documentation.

Notes:

• You can check the processes running on the Linux host by running the following grep command:

  ps aux | grep ns

• Ensure to check that the nsppe process is running:

  root 68332 2.7 5.5 485264 442084 ? Ss 16:25 0:02 /usr/sbin/nsppe 1

• To stop the BLX appliance, use the following command, which stops all the associated BLX processes:

  systemctl stop blx

• To uninstall the BLX appliance from the Linux host, use the following command:

• Run the following command on a Red Hat enterprise Linux (RHEL) host:

  yum remove blx

• Run the following command on a Debian based Linux host to uninstall the BLX appliance but retain the BLX configuration file:

  apt remove blx

• Run the following command on a Debian based Linux host to uninstall the BLX appliance and also remove the BLX configuration file:

  apt purge blx

  On running the apt purge blx command, the Linux host might display some warning messages that some BLX related system files were not removed even when all these files were removed.