Application Delivery Management

Create a StyleBook to upload SSL certificate and certificate key files to Citrix ADM

December 31, 2023

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When creating a StyleBook configuration that uses the SSL protocol, you must upload the SSL certificate files and certificate key files as required by the StyleBook parameters. StyleBook allows you to directly upload the SSL files and key files from your local system by using the Citrix ADM GUI. You can also use Citrix ADM APIs to upload certificate files and key files that are already managed by Citrix ADM.

StyleBook configuration

This document assists you to create your own StyleBook - Load Balancing Virtual Server (SSL) with components to upload SSL certificates and key files. The StyleBook provided here as an example creates a basic load balancing virtual server configuration on the selected Citrix ADC instance. The configuration uses the SSL protocol. To create a configuration using this StyleBook, you must provide the name and IP address of the virtual server, select the load balancing method parameters, and upload the certificate file and the certificate key file for the virtual server, or use a certificate file and certificate key file that are already present in the Citrix ADM. These are specified in the “parameters” section, as shown below:

parameters:
 -
  name: name
  type: string
  required: true
 -
  name: ip
  type: ipaddress
  required: true
 -
  name: lb-alg
  type: string
  allowed-values:
    - ROUNDROBIN
    - LEASTCONNECTION
  default: ROUNDROBIN
 -
  name: certificate
  label: "SSL Certificate File"
  description: "The file name of the SSL certificate file"
  type: certfile
 -
  name: key
  label: "SSL Certificate Key File"
  description: "The file name of the server certificate's private key file"
  type: keyfile
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Two components are then created in the components section of the StyleBook, as shown below. The “my-lbvserver-comp” component is of type ns::lbvserver, where:

“ns” is the prefix that refers to the built-in namespace netscaler.nitro.config and version 10.5 that you had specified in the import-stylebooks section.
“lbvserver” is a built-in StyleBook in this namespace. It corresponds to the Citrix ADC NITRO load balancing virtual server resource of the same name.

The second component “lbvserver-certificate-comp” is of type stlb::vserver-certs-binds. The prefix “stlb” refers to the namespace “com.citrix.adc.stylebooks” and version 1.0 that is specified in the import-stylebooks section of the StyleBook. If the “com.citrix.adc.stylebooks” namespace can be thought of as a folder, “vserver-certs-binds” is another StyleBook (or a file) in that folder. StyleBooks that are in the namespace “com.citrix.adc.stylebooks” are shipped as part of Citrix ADM.

The “vserver-certs-binds” StyleBook used by user-defined StyleBooks allows you to easily configure the certificates by uploading the certificate and key files to the target Citrix ADC instance, and by configuring the binding of the certificate and key files to the appropriate virtual servers. The properties for this component are - the name of the lb virtual server and the names of the SSL certificates that you provide while creating the configuration pack.

components:
 -
  name: my-lbvserver-comp
  type: ns::lbvserver
  properties:
   name: $parameters.name
   servicetype: SSL
   ipv46: $parameters.ip
   port: 443
   lbmethod: $parameters.lb-alg
 -
  name: lbvserver-certificate-comp
  type: stlb::vserver-certs-binds
  description: Binds lbvserver with server certificate
  properties:
   vserver-name: $components.my-lbvserver-comp.properties.name
   certificates:
    -
     cert-name: $parameters.name + "-lb-cert"
     cert-file: $parameters.certificate
     ssl-inform: PEM
     key-name: $parameters.name + "-key"
     key-file: $parameters.key
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When you use the API to create a configuration from such a StyleBook, use just the file names (not the full file path). These files are expected to be already available in the certificate and key file folders on Citrix ADM. The uploaded SSL certificate file is stored on Citrix ADM in the /var/mps/tenants/…/ns_ssl_certs directory, and the SSL certificate key file is stored in /var/mps/tenants/…/ns_ssl_keys directory in Citrix ADM.

Creating configurations to upload SSL files

The following procedure creates a basic load balancing virtual server configuration on a selected Citrix ADC instance using the SSL protocol from the StyleBook specified above. You can use this procedure to upload the SSL certificate files and the certificate keys files in Citrix ADM.

To create a configuration for uploading files

In Citrix ADM, navigate to Applications > Configuration > StyleBooks. The StyleBooks page displays all the StyleBooks that are available in your Citrix ADM.
Scroll down and select Load Balancing Virtual Server (SSL) or type Load Balancing Virtual Server (SSL) in the search field and press the Enter key.
Click Create Configuration link in the StyleBook panel.

The StyleBook parameters appear as a user-interface page that allows you to enter the values for all the parameters defined in this StyleBook.
Enter the name of the load balancer and the virtual IP address in the basic load balancer settings section.
In SSL Certificates Settings section, select the respective files from your local storage folder. Alternatively, you can select the files present on the Citrix ADM itself.
Select the target Citrix ADC instance on which the configuration needs to be created, and click Create.

Notes:

You can also click the refresh icon to add recently discovered Citrix ADC instances in Citrix ADM to the available list of instances in this window.

In Citrix ADM, the following default StyleBooks, which are shipped as part of Citrix ADM, enable you to create SSL support by uploading the SSL certificates and keys.

HTTP/SSL LoadBalancing StyleBook (lb)

HTTP/SSL LoadBalancing (with Monitors) StyleBook (lb-mon)

HTTP/SSL Content Switched Application with Monitors (cs-lb-mon)

Sample Application StyleBook using CS, LB and SSL features (sample-cs-app)

You can also create your own StyleBooks that make use of SSL certificates in the same way as described in the above StyleBook

Build your StyleBook

The full content of the file lb-vserver-ssl.yaml is shown below:

name: lb-vserver-ssl
description: "This stylebook defines a load balancing virtual server configuration."
display-name: "Load Balancing Virtual Server (SSL)"
namespace: com.example.ssl.stylebooks
schema-version: "1.0"
version: "0.1"

import-stylebooks:
 -
  namespace: netscaler.nitro.config
  prefix: ns
  version: "10.5"
 -
  namespace: com.citrix.adc.stylebooks
  prefix: stlb
  version: "1.0"

parameters:
 -
  name: name
  type: string
  required: true
 -
  name: ip
  type: ipaddress
  required: true
 -
  name: lb-alg
  type: string
  allowed-values:
    - ROUNDROBIN
    - LEASTCONNECTION
  default: ROUNDROBIN
 -
  name: certificate
  label: "SSL Certificate File"
  description: "The file name of the SSL certificate file"
  type: certfile
 -
  name: key
  label: "SSL Certificate Key File"
  description: "The file name of the server certificate's private key file"
  type: keyfile

components:
 -
  name: my-lbvserver-comp
  type: ns::lbvserver
  properties:
    name: $parameters.name
    servicetype: SSL
    ipv46: $parameters.ip
    port: 443
    lbmethod: $parameters.lb-alg
 -
  name: lbvserver-certificate-comp
  type: stlb::vserver-certs-binds
  description: Binds lbvserver with server certificate
  properties:
   vserver-name: $ components.my-lbvserver-comp.properties.name
   certificates:
    -
     cert-name: $parameters.name + "-lb-cert"
     cert-file: $parameters.certificate
     ssl-inform: PEM
     key-name: $parameters.name + "-key"
     key-file: $parameters.key
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Using the Citrix ADM API to create a configuration pack

You can also use the Citrix ADM API to create a configuration pack that uploads Cert and Key files to the selected Citrix ADC instance. For more information on how to use APIs, see How to Use API to Create Configurations to Upload Cert and Key Files.

Viewing the objects defined on the Citrix ADC instance

After the StyleBook configuration pack is created on Citrix ADM, click View objects created to display all the Citrix ADC objects created on the target Citrix ADC instance

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Create a StyleBook to upload SSL certificate and certificate key files to Citrix ADM

December 31, 2023

Contributed by:

December 31, 2023

Contributed by:

Create a StyleBook to upload SSL certificate and certificate key files to Citrix ADM

StyleBook configuration

Creating configurations to upload SSL files

To create a configuration for uploading files

Build your StyleBook

Using the Citrix ADM API to create a configuration pack

Viewing the objects defined on the Citrix ADC instance

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