Clientless VPN access for SharePoint 2003, SharePoint 2007, and SharePoint 2013
NetScaler Gateway can rewrite content from one or more SharePoint 2003 or SharePoint 2007 or SharePoint 2013 sites so that the content is available to users without requiring the Citrix Secure Access client. For the rewrite process to complete successfully, you must configure NetScaler Gateway with the host name for each SharePoint server in your network.
You can use the NetScaler Gateway wizard or the configuration utility to configure the host name for SharePoint sites.
In the NetScaler Gateway wizard, navigate through the wizard to configure your settings. When you come to the Configure clientless access page, type the web address for the SharePoint site and then click Add.
To add more websites or to configure SharePoint for the first time after running the NetScaler Gateway wizard, you use the configuration utility.
Important:
Classic Clientless Access supports versions until SharePoint 2013 and OWA 2013. Advanced Clientless Access supports SharePoint 2016 and OWA 2016, and later versions.
Configure clientless access for SharePoint by using the NetScaler GUI
- Navigate to NetScaler Gateway > Global Settings.
- In the details pane, under Clientless Access, click Configure Clientless Access for SharePoint.
- Under Clientless Access for SharePoint, in Host name of the SharePoint server, type the host name for the SharePoint site and then click Add.
- Repeat Step 3 for each SharePoint site you want to add to the list and then click OK when finished.
Set a SharePoint site as the home page
If you want to set a SharePoint site as the users’ home page, configure a session profile and enter the host name of the SharePoint site.
To configure a SharePoint site as the home page
- Navigate to NetScaler Gateway > Policies, and then click Session.
- In the details pane, click Add.
- In Name, type a name for the policy.
- Next to Request Profile, click New.
- In Name, type a name for the profile.
- On the Client Experience tab, next to Home Page click Override Global, and then type the name of the SharePoint site.
- Next to Clientless Access, click Override Global, select On, and then click Create.
- In the Create Session Policy dialog box, next to Named Expressions, select General, select True value, click Add Expression, click Create, and then click Close.
After completing the session policy, bind it to users, groups, virtual servers, or globally. When users log on, they see the SharePoint website as their home page.
Enable name resolution for SharePoint 2007 servers
SharePoint 2007 servers send the configured server name as the host name within various URLs as part of the response. If a configured SharePoint server name is not the fully qualified domain name (FQDN), NetScaler Gateway cannot resolve the IP address using the SharePoint server name, and some user functions time out with the error message “HTTP:1.1 Gateway Time-out.” These functions can include checking files in and out, viewing the workspace, and uploading multiple files when users are logged on using clientless access.
To resolve this issue, you can try one of the following:
- Configure a DNS suffix on NetScaler Gateway so that the SharePoint host name is converted to an FQDN before name resolution.
- Configure a local DNS entry on NetScaler Gateway for every SharePoint server name.
- Change all the SharePoint server names to use the FQDN, such as SharePoint.intranetdomain instead of SharePoint,
Configure a DNS suffix
- In the configuration utility, on the Configuration tab, in the navigation pane, expand DNS and then click DNS Suffix.
- In the details pane, click Add.
- In DNS Suffix, type the intranet domain name as the suffix, click Create, and then click Close.
You can repeat Step 3 for each domain you want to add.
To configure a local DNS record for every SharePoint server name on NetScaler Gateway
- In the configuration utility, in the navigation pane, expand DNS > Records and then click Address Records.
- In the details pane, click Add.
- In Host Name, type the SharePoint host name for the DNS address record.
- In IP Address, type the IP address of the SharePoint server, click Add, click Create, and then click Close.
The host name for which an A record is added must not have a CNAME record. Also, there cannot be duplicate A records on the appliance.