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Secure front-end profile

September 27, 2025

Contributed by:

C S S

In addition to a default front-end and a default back-end profile, a new default secure front-end profile is available from release 12.1. The settings required for an A+ rating (as of May 2018) from Qualys SSL Labs are preloaded into this profile. Earlier, you had to explicitly set each of the parameters required for an A+ rating on an SSL front-end profile or an SSL virtual server. Now you can bind the ns_default_ssl_profile_secure_frontend profile to your SSL virtual server and the required parameters are automatically set on your SSL virtual server.

Note:

The secure front-end profile is not editable.

When you enable the default profile, the default front-end profile is automatically bound to all the SSL virtual servers. To get an A+ rating, you must explicitly bind the ns_default_ssl_profile_secure_frontend profile and also bind an SHA2/SHA256 server certificate to your SSL virtual server.

Secure front-end profile parameters

The parameters with their default settings are listed here:

SSLv3: DISABLED  TLSv1.0: DISABLED  TLSv1.1: DISABLED  TLSv1.2: ENABLED  TLSv1.3: DISABLED

Deny SSL Renegotiation: NONSECURE

HSTS: ENABLED

HSTS IncludeSubDomains: YES

HSTS Max-Age: 15552000

Cipher Name: SECURE    Priority :1
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Secure cipher alias

A new secure cipher alias is added and bound to the secure front-end profile. To list the ciphers that are part of this alias, at the command prompt type: show cipher SECURE

show cipher SECURE

    1) Cipher Name: TLS1.2-ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 Priority : 1
           Description: TLSv1.2 Kx=ECC-DHE  Au=RSA  Enc=AES-GCM(256) Mac=AEAD   HexCode=0xc030
    2) Cipher Name: TLS1.2-ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 Priority : 2
           Description: TLSv1.2 Kx=ECC-DHE  Au=RSA  Enc=AES-GCM(128) Mac=AEAD   HexCode=0xc02f
    3) Cipher Name: TLS1.2-ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384            Priority : 3
           Description: TLSv1.2 Kx=ECC-DHE  Au=ECDSA Enc=AES-GCM(256) Mac=AEAD   HexCode=0xc02c
    4) Cipher Name: TLS1.2-ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256            Priority : 4
           Description: TLSv1.2 Kx=ECC-DHE  Au=ECDSA Enc=AES-GCM(128) Mac=AEAD   HexCode=0xc02b
Done
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Configuration

Perform the following steps:

Add a load balancing virtual server of type SSL.
Bind a SHA2/SHA256 certificate.
Enable the default profile.
Bind the secure front-end profile to the SSL virtual server.

Get an A+ rating for an SSL virtual server by using the CLI

At the command prompt, type:

add lb vserver <name> <serviceType> <IPAddress> <port>
bind ssl vserver <vServerName> -certkeyName <string>
set ssl parameter -defaultProfile ENABLED
set ssl vserver <vServerName> -sslProfile ns_default_ssl_profile_secure_frontend
show ssl vserver [<vServerName>]
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Example:

add lb vserver ssl-vsvr SSL 192.0.2.240 443

bind ssl vserver ssl-vsvr -certkeyName letrsa

set ssl parameter -defaultProfile ENABLED

Save your configuration before enabling the Default profile. You cannot undo the changes. Are you sure you want to enable the Default profile? [Y/N]y

set ssl vserver ssl-vsvr -sslProfile ns_default_ssl_profile_secure_frontend
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sh ssl vserver ssl-vsvr

    Advanced SSL configuration for VServer ssl-vsvr:
    Profile Name :ns_default_ssl_profile_secure_frontend
    1) CertKey Name: letrsa     Server Certificate
Done
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sh ssl profile ns_default_ssl_profile_secure_frontend

    1) Name: ns_default_ssl_profile_secure_frontend (Front-End)
    SSLv3: DISABLED  TLSv1.0: DISABLED  TLSv1.1: DISABLED  TLSv1.2: ENABLED  TLSv1.3: DISABLED
    Client Auth: DISABLED
    Use only bound CA certificates: DISABLED
    Strict CA checks:                  NO
    Session Reuse: ENABLED   Timeout: 120 seconds
    DH: DISABLED
    DH Private-Key Exponent Size Limit: DISABLED    Ephemeral RSA: ENABLED     Refresh Count: 0
    Deny SSL Renegotiation                NONSECURE
    Non FIPS Ciphers: DISABLED
    Cipher Redirect: DISABLED
    SSL Redirect: DISABLED
    Send Close-Notify: YES
    Strict Sig-Digest Check: DISABLED
    Zero RTT Early Data: DISABLED
    DHE Key Exchange With PSK: NO
    Tickets Per Authentication Context: 1
    Push Encryption Trigger: Always
    PUSH encryption trigger timeout:  1 ms
    SNI: DISABLED
    OCSP Stapling: DISABLED
    Strict Host Header check for SNI enabled SSL sessions:                    NO
    Push flag:             0x0 (Auto)
    SSL quantum size:                8 kB
    Encryption trigger timeout       100 mS
    Encryption trigger packet count: 45
    Subject/Issuer Name Insertion Format:  Unicode
    SSL Interception: DISABLED
    SSL Interception OCSP Check: ENABLED
    SSL Interception End to End Renegotiation: ENABLED
    SSL Interception Maximum Reuse Sessions per Server:   10
    Session Ticket: DISABLED
    HSTS: ENABLED
    HSTS IncludeSubDomains: YES
    HSTS Max-Age: 15552000
    ECC Curve: P_256, P_384, P_224, P_521
    1) Cipher Name: SECURE    Priority :1
    Description: Predefined Cipher Alias
    1) Vserver Name: v2
Done
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Get an A+ rating for an SSL virtual server by using the GUI

Navigate to Traffic Management > Load Balancing > Virtual Servers, and select an SSL virtual server.
In Advanced Settings, click SSL Profile.
Select ns_default_ssl_profile_secure_frontend.
Click OK.
Click Done.

The official version of this product documentation is in English. Any non-English version is solely provided for your convenience and may include machine-translated content. For more information, please refer to the Machine Translation Disclaimer on Cloud Software Group home.

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NetScaler Secure Deployment Guide

Secure front-end profile

September 27, 2025

Contributed by:

C S S

September 27, 2025

Contributed by:

C S S

In this article

Secure front-end profile parameters
Secure cipher alias
Configuration

Was this helpful

NetScaler Secure Deployment Guide