NetScaler pooled capacity
The NetScaler pooled capacity allows you to share bandwidth or instance licenses across different ADC form factors. For virtual CPU subscription-based instances, you can share virtual CPU license across instances. Use this pooled capacity for the instances that are in the data center or public clouds. When an instance no longer requires the resources, it checks the allocated capacity back into the common pool. Reuse the released capacity to other ADC instances that need resources.
You can use pooled licensing to maximize the bandwidth utilization by ensuring the necessary bandwidth allocation to an instance and not more than its need. Increase or decrease the bandwidth allocated to an instance at run time without affecting the traffic. With the pooled capacity licenses, you can automate the instance provisioning.
How NetScaler pooled capacity licensing works
NetScaler pooled capacity has the following components:
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NetScaler instances, which can be categorized into:
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Zero-capacity hardware
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Standalone VPX instances or CPX instances or BLX instances
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Bandwidth pool
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Instance pool
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NetScaler ADM configured as a license server
Zero-capacity hardware
When managed through NetScaler pooled capacity, MPX and SDX instances are referred to as “zero-capacity hardware” because these instances cannot function until they check resources out of the bandwidth and instance pools. Thus, these platforms are also referred to as MPX-Z, and SDX-Z appliances.
Zero-capacity hardware requires a platform license to be able to check out bandwidth and an instance license from the common pool.
Note
- Instance license subscription is not required for MPX instances. See table 1 in this page, for supported pooled capacity for MPX and SDX instances. See table 5 for license requirement for different MPX and SDX form factors.
- The zero capacity license installation works the same way as other NetScaler local licenses. For more information about how to obtain and install a zero capacity license, see Licensing guide for NetScaler.
Manage and install platform licenses
You must install a platform license manually, by using the hardware serial number or the license access code. After a platform license is installed, it is locked to the hardware and cannot be shared across NetScaler hardware instances on demand. However, you can manually move the platform license to another NetScaler hardware instance.
NetScaler MPX instances running the ADC software release 11.1 build 54.14 or later and NetScaler SDX instances running 11.1 build 58.13 or later support ADC pooled capacity. For more information, see Table 1. Supported pooled capacity for MPX and SDX instances.
Standalone NetScaler VPX instances
NetScaler VPX instances running NetScaler software release 11.1 Build 54.14 and later on the following hypervisors supports pooled-capacity:
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VMware ESX 6.0
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Citrix Hypervisor
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Linux KVM
NetScaler VPX instances running NetScaler software release 12.0 Build 51.24 and later on the following hypervisors and cloud platforms supports pooled-capacity:
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Microsoft Hyper-V
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AWS
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Microsoft Azure
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Google Cloud
NetScaler VPX instances running NetScaler software release 13.0 and 13.1 (all versions) on the following hypervisors and cloud platforms support pooled-capacity:
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VMware ESX 6.0
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Citrix Hypervisor
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Linux KVM
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Microsoft Hyper-V
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AWS
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Microsoft Azure
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Google Cloud
Note
To enable communication between NetScaler ADM and Microsoft Azure or AWS, an IPSEC tunnel has to be configured. For more information, see Add NetScaler VPX Instances Deployed in Cloud to NetScaler ADM. Unlike zero-capacity hardware, VPX does not require platform license. To process traffic, it must check out bandwidth and an instance license from the pool.
Standalone NetScaler CPX instances
NetScaler CPX instances deployed on a Docker host support pooled-capacity. Unlike zero-capacity hardware, CPX does not require a platform license. A single CPX instance consuming up to 1 Gbps throughput checks-out only 1 instance and no bandwidth from the license pool. For example, consider that you have 20 CPX instances with 20 Gbps bandwidth pool. If one of the CPX instances consumes 500 Mbps throughput, the bandwidth pool remains 20 Gbps for the remaining 19 CPX instances.
If the same CPX instance starts to consume 1500 Mbps throughput, the bandwidth pool has 19.5 Gbps for the remaining 19 CPX instances.
For pool licensing, you can add more bandwidth only in multiples of 10 Mbps.
Standalone NetScaler BLX instances
NetScaler BLX instances support pooled-capacity licenses. A NetScaler BLX instance does not require a platform license. To process traffic, a NetScaler BLX instance must check out bandwidth and an instance license from the pool.
Bandwidth Pool
The bandwidth pool is the total bandwidth that can be shared by NetScaler instances, both physical and virtual. The bandwidth pool comprises separate pools for each software edition (Standard, Advanced, and Premium). A given NetScaler instance cannot have bandwidth from different pools checked out concurrently. The bandwidth pool from which it can check out bandwidth depends on its software edition for which it is licensed.
Instance pool
The instance pool defines the number of VPX instances or CPX instances or BLX instances that can be managed through NetScaler pooled capacity or the number of VPX instances in an SDX-Z instance.
When checked out from the pool, a license unlocks the MPX-Z, SDX-Z, VPX, CPX, and BLX instance’s resources, including CPUs/PEs, SSL cores, packets per second, and bandwidth.
Note
The Management Service of an SDX-Z does not consume an instance.
NetScaler ADM license server
NetScaler pooled capacity uses the NetScaler ADM configured as a license server to manage pooled capacity licenses: bandwidth pool licenses and instance pool licenses. You can use the NetScaler ADM software to manage pooled capacity licenses without an ADM license.
When checking out licenses from bandwidth and instance pool, NetScaler form factor and hardware model number on a zero-capacity hardware determines
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The minimum bandwidth and the number of instances that a NetScaler instance must check out before being functional.
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The maximum bandwidth and the number of instances that a NetScaler can check out.
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The minimum bandwidth unit for each bandwidth check-out. The minimum bandwidth unit is the smallest unit of bandwidth that a NetScaler has to check out from a pool. Any check-out must be an integer multiple of the minimum bandwidth unit. For example, if the minimum bandwidth unit of a NetScaler is 1 Gbps, 1000 Mbps can be checked out, but not 200 Mbps or 150.5 Gbps. The minimum bandwidth unit is different from the minimum bandwidth requirement. A NetScaler instance can only operate after it is licensed with at least the minimum bandwidth. Once the minimum bandwidth is met, the instance can check out more bandwidth with the minimum bandwidth unit.
Tables 1, 2, 3, and 4 summarize the maximum bandwidth/instances, minimum bandwidth/instances, and minimum bandwidth unit for all supported NetScaler instances. Table 5 summarizes the license requirement for different form factors for all supported NetScaler instances:
Table 1. Supported pooled capacity for MPX and SDX instances
| Product line | Maximum bandwidth (Gbps) | Minimum bandwidth (Gbps) | Minimum instances | Maximum instances | Minimum bandwidth unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MPX 5900Z | 10 | 1 | N/A | N/A | 1 Gbps |
| MPX 8900Z | 30 | 5 | NA | NA | 1 Gbps |
| MPX 9100Z | 30 | 10 | NA | NA | 1 Gbps |
| MPX 8900Z FIPS | 33 | 5 | NA | NA | 1 Gbps |
| MPX 14000Z series | 100 | 20 | NA | NA | 1 Gbps |
| MPX 14000Z 40G series | 100 | 20 | N/A | N/A | 1 Gbps |
| MPX 14000Z FIPS series | 100 | 20 | N/A | N/A | 1 Gbps |
| MPX 14000Z 40S series | 100 | 20 | N/A | N/A | 1 Gbps |
| MPX 15000Z series | 120 | 20 | N/A | N/A | 1 Gbps |
| MPX 15000Z FIPS series | 120 | 20 | N/A | N/A | 1 Gbps |
| MPX 15000Z 50G series | 120 | 20 | N/A | N/A | 1 Gbps |
| MPX 16000Z series | 200 | 30 | N/A | N/A | 1 Gbps |
| MPX 22000Z series | 120 | 40 | N/A | N/A | 1 Gbps |
| MPX 24000Z series | 150 | 100 | N/A | N/A | 1 Gbps |
| MPX 25000Z 40G | 200 | 100 | N/A | N/A | 1 Gbps |
| MPX 25000ZA | 200 | 100 | N/A | N/A | 1 Gbps |
| MPX 26000Z series | 200 | 100 | N/A | N/A | 1 Gbps |
| MPX 26000Z 100G series | 200 | 100 | N/A | N/A | 1 Gbps |
| MPX 26000Z 50S series | 200 | 100 | N/A | N/A | 1 Gbps |
| SDX 8900Z | 30 | 10 | 2 | 7 | 1 Gbps |
| SDX 9100Z | 95 | 20 | 4 | 7 | 1 Gbps |
| SDX 14000Z series | 100 | 10 | 2 | 25 | 1 Gbps |
| SDX 14000Z 40G series | 100 | 10 | 2 | 25 | 1 Gbps |
| SDX 14000Z 40S series | 100 | 20 | 10 | 25 | 1 Gbps |
| SDX 14000Z FIPS series | 100 | 10 | 2 | 25 | 1 Gbps |
| SDX 15000Z 50G | 120 | 10 | 2 (Note: 5 instances for versions lower than 13.0 47.x) | 55 | 1 Gbps |
| SDX 15000Z | 120 | 10 | 2 Note: 5 instances for versions lower than 13.0 47.x) | 55 | 1 Gbps |
| SDX 16000Z series | 200 | 15 | 10 | 55 | 1 Gbps |
| SDX 22000Z series | 120 | 20 | 20 | 80 | 1 Gbps |
| SDX 25000Z 40G | 200 | 50 | 10 | 115 | 1 Gbps |
| SDX 25000ZA | 200 | 50 | 10 | 115 | 1 Gbps |
| SDX 26000Z 100G | 200 | 50 | 10 | 115 | 1 Gbps |
| SDX 26000Z | 200 | 50 | 10 | 115 | 1 Gbps |
| SDX 26000Z 50S | 200 | 50 | 10 | 115 | 1 Gbps |
| SDX 24000Z series | 150 | 50 | 10 | 80 | 1 Gbps |
Note
The minimum bandwidth and instances are applicable to SDX instances running the following releases and higher: 11.1 64.x, 12.0 63.x, 12.1 54.x, and 13.0 41.x.
The minimum purchase quantity is different from the minimum system requirement.
Table 2. Supported pooled capacity for CPX instances
| Product line | Maximum bandwidth (Gbps) | Minimum bandwidth (Mbps) | Minimum instances | Maximum instances | Minimum bandwidth unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPX | 10 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 10 Mbps |
Table 3. Supported pooled capacity for VPX instances on Hypervisors and Cloud services
| Hypervisor/Cloud Service | Maximum bandwidth (Gbps) | Minimum bandwidth (Mbps) | Minimum instances | Maximum instances | Minimum bandwidth unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citrix Hypervisor | 40 Gbps | 10 Mbps | 1 | 1 | 10 Mbps |
| VMware ESXI | 100 Gbps | 10 Mbps | 1 | 1 | 10 Mbps |
| Linux KVM | 100 Gbps | 10 Mbps | 1 | 1 | 10 Mbps |
| Microsoft Hyper-V | 3 Gbps | 10 Mbps | 1 | 1 | 10 Mbps |
| AWS | 30 Gbps | 10 Mbps | 1 | 1 | 10 Mbps |
| Azure | 10 Gbps | 10 Mbps | 1 | 1 | 10 Mbps |
| Google Cloud | 10 Gbps | 10 Mbps | 1 | 1 | 10 Mbps |
Note
The minimum purchase quantity is different from the minimum system requirement.
Table 4. Supported pooled capacity for BLX instances
| Product line | Maximum bandwidth (Gbps) | Minimum bandwidth (Mbps) | Minimum instances | Maximum instances | Minimum bandwidth unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BLX | 100 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 10 Mbps |
Table 5. License requirement for different form factors
| Product line | Zero Capacity Hardware Purchase | Bandwidth and Edition Subscription | Instance Subscription |
|---|---|---|---|
| MPX | License required | License required | - |
| SDX | License required | License required | License required |
| VPX | - | License required | License required |
| CPX | - | - | License required |
| BLX | - | License required | License required |