Application Delivery Management

NetScaler telemetry program

November 22, 2024

Contributed by:

C R

Citrix collects basic license telemetry data and NetScaler deployment and feature usage telemetry data for its legitimate interests, including license compliance. You may automatically or manually upload the required license and feature usage data to remain compliant with the NetScaler telemetry program described here. NetScaler Console configuration and feature usage data is also collected to manage, measure, and improve Citrix products and services. If you are an existing NetScaler Console customer, you must ensure to be compliant with the NetScaler telemetry program. We highly recommend adding NetScaler instances to NetScaler Console to improve and simplify your NetScaler operations overall and support the enhancement of our products and services by sending NetScaler feature usage data. Learn more.

You can upload the required telemetry data using the following ways:

Automated collection mode - This mode is enabled by default after you upgrade to 14.1 25.53 or later / 13.1-53.22 or later build. The automated mode creates an outbound connection to use the auto-enabled channel (endpoint URLs) and uploads the telemetry data automatically. You must only ensure that the endpoint URLs are reachable. Since the upload happens automatically, no action is required from your end unless the prerequisites fail. For more information, see Automated collection mode.
Manual collection mode - This mode is enabled only if the automated mode is disabled. You must download the required telemetry data from the NetScaler telemetry home page in NetScaler Console on-prem and complete the first upload to NetScaler Console service within 30 days. The subsequent uploads must be done every 90 days to remain compliant. For more information, see Manual collection mode.

The recommendation is to use the automated telemetry mode and upload the required data automatically, but you can also choose to disable the automated mode and upload it manually. In both automated and manual modes, data upload is required to remain compliant with the NetScaler telemetry program. You may choose to disable the optional telemetry data from being included in the data upload, but the required license compliance and feature usage telemetry data must be provided in both the automated and manual modes.

To remain compliant, the number of days since the last successful upload must not be greater than 90 days.

Notes:

After you upgrade to NetScaler Console 14.1-25.53 or later / 13.1-53.22 or later build, the following configuration is automatically pushed to your NetScaler instances through NetScaler Console. This configuration collects and stores the telemetry metrics in your NetScaler instances:
enable ns feature AppFlow
add analytics profile telemetry_metrics_profile -type timeseries -outputMode prometheus -metrics ENABLED -serveMode Pull -schemaFile "./telemetry_collect_ns_metrics_schema.json" -metricsExportFrequency 300

If you are in manual mode or automated mode (with any prerequisite not met), NetScaler Console continues to check for the above configuration every 24 hours and push it to NetScaler instances, if this configuration is missing. If you do not want the configuration to be pushed, you must be in the automated mode (with all prerequisites met) or upgrade to the upcoming build (14.1-29.x or 13.1-55.x).

If you see this configuration in your NetScaler instance and you are not using the Console analytics features and NetScaler Prometheus integration, you can use the following commands to remove the configuration:

rm analytics profile telemetry_metrics_profile

disable ns feature AppFlow

The /nsconfig/.telemetry.conf file is updated with the following command for the Gateway telemetry. NetScaler Console checks for this command every hour and adds it, if this command is missing:
ns_telemetry_server,<Console IP>,5140

Some telemetry parameters are collected through scripts that are pushed from NetScaler Console to NetScaler instances. These scripts are read-only and do not change anything in NetScaler.

The information collected through telemetry, such as email addresses, user names, and IP addresses, is securely pseudonymised by hashing the information at the source using one-way hashing algorithms. As a result, Citrix cannot access or read these values. This telemetry data is used solely for logical asset-matching purposes.

The following table provides the parameter details that are collected as part of NetScaler telemetry program:

Categories	Description	What do we use it for?	Required/Optional
License, and NetScaler deployment and usage telemetry	Information about license entitlement, allocation, usage, and high-level NetScaler deployment data, and NetScaler feature usage.	License compliance and to manage, measure, and improve the service.	Required
NetScaler Console deployment and feature usage telemetry	Information about Console deployment and feature usage.	To manage, measure, and improve the service.	Optional

For more information about the list of optional and required telemetry parameters, see Data governance.

Citrix requires that you transition to the most recent NetScaler Console build (14.1 25.53 or later / 13.1–53.22 or later) within 3 months starting from 18th June 2024. After upgrading to NetScaler Console 14.1 25.53 or later / 13.1–53.22 or later, one of the telemetry modes (automatic or manual) must be actively functioning. Unless you have elected manual reporting, you agree to adjust your firewalls as necessary to allow automatic telemetry reporting.

Points to note:

You must ensure that you transition to the latest build (14.1–25.53 and later / 13.1–53.22 and later) by 18th September 2024.
If you opt for manual telemetry mode, the first upload must be completed within 30 days of your transition to the above build, but no later than 18th October 2024. Thereafter the manual telemetry upload must be done every 90 days for your NetScaler Console on-prem to be compliant with the NetScaler telemetry program.

Citrix may suspend or terminate your Citrix Support for non-compliance of these requirements without liability, in addition to any other remedies Citrix may have at law or equity. These requirements do not apply to the extent prohibited by law or regulation. For more information, see Citrix License Telemetry FAQ.

The official version of this content is in English. Some of the Cloud Software Group documentation content is machine translated for your convenience only. Cloud Software Group has no control over machine-translated content, which may contain errors, inaccuracies or unsuitable language. No warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, is made as to the accuracy, reliability, suitability, or correctness of any translations made from the English original into any other language, or that your Cloud Software Group product or service conforms to any machine translated content, and any warranty provided under the applicable end user license agreement or terms of service, or any other agreement with Cloud Software Group, that the product or service conforms with any documentation shall not apply to the extent that such documentation has been machine translated. Cloud Software Group will not be held responsible for any damage or issues that may arise from using machine-translated content.

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NetScaler telemetry program

November 22, 2024

Contributed by:

C R

November 22, 2024

Contributed by:

C R

NetScaler telemetry program

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