Deploy a Citrix SD-WAN VPX instance on a NetScaler SDX appliance
Citrix SD-WAN technology applies software-defined networking (SDN) concepts to WAN connections. The technology abstracts traffic management and monitoring from network hardware and applies them to individual applications. The result is improved performance, high-quality user experiences over geographically dispersed locations, and simplified deployment of wide-area and cloud-access networks. For more information, see Citrix SD-WAN.
Note: Only the SD-WAN VPX Standard edition is supported. For more information, see SD-WAN VPX editions.
Deploying a Citrix SD-WAN VPX instance on an SDX appliance includes the following tasks:
- Installing the hardware: ensure the SDX hardware is properly installed. For more information, see Installing the Hardware.
- Setting up and configuring the SDX Management Service. For more information, see Getting Started with the Management Service User Interface and Configuring the Management Service.
- Provisioning the SD-WAN VPX instance on the SDX appliance. For more information, see Provision the Citrix SD-WAN VPX instance on a NetScaler SDX.
- Configuring the SD-WAN VPX instance. For more information, see the Configuration documentations and Configuring the virtual path service between the MCN and client sites.
Prerequisites
Ensure you’ve the following licenses:
- Citrix SD-WAN VPX license
- NetScaler SDX platform license
Citrix SD-WAN VPX requirements
The Citrix SD-WAN VPX on the SDX platform can act both as a site and MCN. The MCN can handle 1 Gb/s bidirectional throughput and 64 sites.
Supported throughput for MCN and site
- 250 Mb/s to 1 Gb/s bidirectional throughput
- MCN supports 64 sites
Hardware requirement for supported throughput
Site
- 4 CPUs to 16 CPUs
- 4 GB to 16 GB RAM
- 60 GB to 250 GB disk storage
- Minimum 4 NICs: one for management and remaining minimum 3 for data path
Master control node (MCN)
- 4, 8, and 16 CPUs
- 16 GB RAM
- 250 GB disk storage
- Minimum 4 NICs: one for management and remaining 3 for data path, with dedicated NICs for data path
Data center topology
You can deploy a Citrix SD-WAN VPX appliance on a NetScaler SDX in policy-based route (PBR) mode or in inline mode. See scenario 1 and 2 for data center topology for these two supported modes. For more information, see Deploying SD-WAN in virtual inline mode).
Scenario 1: Inline Mode
Scenario 2: PBR mode or virtual inline mode
Provision the Citrix SD-WAN VPX instance on a NetScaler SDX
Before you provision the Citrix SD-WAN VPX appliance, download the SD-WAN VPX image from the NetScaler product download site: https://www.citrix.com/downloads/netscaler-sd-wan/.
Follow these steps to provision the Citrix SD-WAN VPX appliance.
- Log on to the NetScaler SDX appliance.
- Navigate to Configuration > SD-WAN > Instances.
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Select Software Images > Upload and upload the SD-WAN XVA file.
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Select Instances > Add. The Provision SD-WAN Instance page appears.
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In the Provision SD-WAN Instance page, enter the following:
a. Name
b. IP address
c. Netmask
d. Gateway address
e. Upload the XVA file
f. Under Resource Allocation, allocate resources.
g. Under Network Settings, provision management interfaces and select OK to create to provision the SD-WAN VPX instance on the SDX appliance.
Note: The SDX Management Service binds interfaces to the VPX instance in the ascending sequence of interface names. For example, if you add 1/4, and 1/1, Management Service arranges them as 1/1, 1/4. When you add new interfaces, the existing sequence is retained and a new sequence is created. For example, you add interfaces 1/2, 10/1, 1/3.The new sequence would be 1/1, 1/4; 1/2, 1/3, 10/1.
6. The SD-WAN VPX instance appears under the Instance page. Here’s an example.
To edit the instance, navigate to Configuration > SD-WAN > Instances. Select and click the instance. Once you’ve completed editing, click OK to save the changes.
Configuring the Citrix SD-WAN VPX instance
After you’ve created an SD-WAN instance on the SDX appliance, configure the SD-WAN instance by completing these two tasks:
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Apply configuration for both MCN and site appliances.
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Configure virtual path and transmit traffic.
For more information, see the following topics:
Related information
For more information about getting started with a Citrix SD-WAN appliance, see Citrix SD-WAN.
For more information about the NetScaler SDX appliance, see NetScaler SDX.