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Accelerate load balanced traffic by using compression

August 1, 2023

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Compression is a popular means of optimizing bandwidth usage, and most web browsers support compressed data. If you enable the compression feature, the NetScaler appliance intercepts requests from clients and determines whether the client can accept compressed content. After receiving the HTTP response from the server, the appliance examines the content to determine whether it is compressible. If the content is compressible, the appliance compresses it, modifies the response header to indicate the type of compression performed, and forwards the compressed content to the client.

NetScaler compression is a policy-based feature. A policy filters requests and responses to identify responses to be compressed, and specifies the type of compression to apply to each response. The appliance provides several built-in policies to compress common MIME types such as text/html, text/plain, text/xml, text/css, text/rtf, application/msword, application/vnd.ms-excel, and application/vnd.ms-powerpoint. You can also create custom policies. The appliance does not compress compressed MIME types such as application/octet-stream, binary, bytes, and compressed image formats such as GIF and JPEG.

To configure compression, you must enable it globally and on each service that will provide responses that you want compressed. If you have configured virtual servers for load balancing or content switching, you should bind the polices to the virtual servers. Otherwise, the policies apply to all traffic that passes through the appliance.

Compression configuration task sequence

The following flow chart shows the sequence of tasks for configuring basic compression in a load balancing setup.

Figure 1. Sequence of Tasks to Configure Compression

Note: The steps in the above figure assume that load balancing has already been configured.

Enable compression

By default, compression is not enabled. You must enable the compression feature to allow compression of HTTP responses that are sent to the client.

To enable compression by using the CLI

At the command prompt, type the following commands to enable compression and verify the configuration:

enable ns feature CMP
show ns feature

    > enable ns feature CMP

    Done

    > show ns feature

           Feature                        Acronym              Status

           -------                        -------              ------

    1)     Web Logging                    WL                   ON

    2)     Surge Protection               SP                   OFF

    .

    7) Compression Control CMP ON

       .

    Done

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To enable compression by using the GUI

In the navigation pane, expand System, and then click Settings.
In the details pane, under Modes and Features, click Change basic features.
In the Configure Basic Features dialog box, select the Compression check box, and then click OK.
In the Enable/Disable Feature(s)? dialog box, click Yes.

Configure services to compress data

In addition to enabling compression globally, you must enable it on each service that will deliver files to be compressed.

To enable compression on a service by using the CLI

At the command prompt, type the following commands to enable compression on a service and verify the configuration:

set service <name> -CMP YES
show service <name>

> show service SVC_HTTP1

SVC_HTTP1 (10.102.29.18:80) - HTTP

State: UP

Last state change was at Tue Jun 16 06:19:14 2009 (+737 ms)

Time since last state change: 0 days, 03:03:37.200

Server Name: 10.102.29.18

Server ID : 0   Monitor Threshold : 0

Max Conn: 0     Max Req: 0      Max Bandwidth: 0 kbits

Use Source IP: NO

Client Keepalive(CKA): NO

Access Down Service: NO

TCP Buffering(TCPB): NO

HTTP Compression(CMP): YES

Idle timeout: Client: 180 sec   Server: 360 sec

Client IP: DISABLED

Cacheable: NO

SC: OFF

SP: OFF

Down state flush: ENABLED

1)      Monitor Name: tcp-default

State: DOWN     Weight: 1

Probes: 1095    Failed [Total: 1095 Current: 1095]

Last response: Failure - TCP syn sent, reset received.

Response Time: N/A

Done

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To enable compression on a service by using the GUI

Navigate to Traffic Management > Load Balancing > Services.
In the details pane, select the service for which you want to configure compression (for example, service-HTTP-1), and then click Open.
On the Advanced tab, under Settings, select the Compression check box, and then click OK.
Verify that, when the service is selected, HTTP Compression(CMP): ON appears in the Details section at the bottom of the pane.

Bind a compression policy to a virtual server

If you bind a policy to a virtual server, the policy is evaluated only by the services associated with that virtual server. You can bind compression policies to a virtual server either from the Configure Virtual Server (Load Balancing) dialog box or from the Compression Policy Manager dialog box. This topic includes instructions to bind compression policies to a load balancing virtual server by using the Configure Virtual Server (Load Balancing) dialog box.

To bind or unbind a compression policy to a virtual server by using the command line

At the command prompt, type the following commands to bind or unbind a compression policy to a load balancing virtual server and verify the configuration:

(bind unbind) lb vserver -policyName
show lb vserver <name>

Example:

> bind lb vserver lbvip -policyName ns_cmp_msapp
Done
> showlbvserverlbvip

lbvip(8.7.6.6:80)-HTTPType:ADDRESS
State:UP
LaststatechangewasatThuMay2805:37:212009(+685ms)
Timesincelaststatechange:19days,04:26:50.470
EffectiveState:UP
ClientIdleTimeout:180sec
Downstateflush:ENABLED
DisablePrimaryVserverOnDown:DISABLED
PortRewrite:DISABLED
No.ofBoundServices:1(Total)1(Active)
ConfiguredMethod:LEASTCONNECTION
CurrentMethod:RoundRobin,Reason:Boundservice'sstatechangedtoUP
Mode:IP
Persistence:NONE
VserverIPandPortinsertion:OFF
Push:DISABLEDPushVServer:
PushMultiClients:NO
PushLabelRule:

BoundServiceGroups:
1)GroupName:Service-Group-1

1)Service-Group-1(10.102.29.252:80)-HTTPState:UPWeight:1

1)Policy:ns_cmp_msappPriority:0

Done

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To bind or unbind a compression policy to a load balancing virtual server by using the GUI

Navigate to Traffic Management > Load Balancing > Virtual Servers.
In the details pane, select the virtual server to which you want to bind or unbind a compression policy (for example, Vserver-LB-1), and then click Open.
In the Configure Virtual Server (Load Balancing) dialog box, on the Policies tab, click Compression.
Do one of the following:
- To bind a compression policy, click Insert Policy, and then select the policy you want to bind to the virtual server.
- To unbind a compression policy, click the name of the policy you want to unbind from the virtual server, and then click Unbind Policy.
Click OK.

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Accelerate load balanced traffic by using compression

August 1, 2023

Contributed by:

August 1, 2023

Contributed by:

Accelerate load balanced traffic by using compression

Compression configuration task sequence

Enable compression

To enable compression by using the CLI

To enable compression by using the GUI

Configure services to compress data

To enable compression on a service by using the CLI

To enable compression on a service by using the GUI

Bind a compression policy to a virtual server

To bind or unbind a compression policy to a virtual server by using the command line

To bind or unbind a compression policy to a load balancing virtual server by using the GUI

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