Citrix NetScaler

Citrix NetScaler Application Delivery Solutions

Web Application Delivery with the Highest Availability, Security and Performance

Citrix NetScaler web application delivery solutions are purpose built appliances that accelerate application performance up to five times, while simultaneously reducing datacenter costs and improving web application security. They provide visibility into the end-user application experience and comprehensive web application security in concert with advanced traffic management.

NetScaler, a member of the Citrix Delivery Center product family, is an ideal network management solution for any enterprise seeking accelerated Web application performance, improved web application security and increased application availability.

Citrix NetScaler Editions

Citrix NetScaler is available in three different software editions and six different appliance platforms, giving flexibility in selecting application functionality and system scalability.

• Citrix NetScaler Platinum Edition provides a web application delivery solution that reduces data center costs and accelerates application performance, while providing end-to-end visibility of application performance, full SSL VPN with access control support, and advanced application security.
• Citrix NetScaler Enterprise Edition provides web application acceleration and advanced L4-7 traffic management, enabling enterprises to increase Web application performance and availability and reduce data center costs.
• Citrix NetScaler Standard Edition provides any size organizations from small and medium business to the largest enterprise and Internet-centric companies comprehensive L4-7 traffic management, enabling increased web application availability.

Accelerated Application Performance

Citrix NetScaler accelerates web application performance by up to five times by leveraging multiple acceleration technologies and innovative TCP optimizations. Citrix AppCompress™ and Citrix AppCache deliver highly efficient data compression and caching of static and dynamic content to speed application responses. NetScaler TCP optimizations offers network management solutions that overcome the issues caused by high latency and congested network links and are transparent to clients and servers. This is done by accelerating the application delivery of any enterprise or web-based application while requiring little or no configuration. Real-time and historical page-level monitoring of end-user performance experience is provided by Citrix EdgeSight for NetScaler.

Comprehensive Web Application Security

NetScaler offers web application security from application-layer attacks, helping to prevent the theft and leakage of valuable corporate and customer data. Patented Citrix Request Switching enables NetScaler to proxy legitimate client requests and block illegitimate requests, and includes high-performance, built-in defenses against denial of service (DoS) attacks. Legitimate surges in application traffic that would otherwise overwhelm application servers are automatically handled with configurable Surge Protection and Priority Queuing features.

Increased Application Availability

To help ensure application availability, NetScaler delivers fine-grained direction of client requests to ensure optimal distribution of traffic. In addition to Layer 4 information (protocol and port number), traffic management policies for TCP applications can be based upon any application-layer content. Administrators can granularly segment application traffic based upon information contained within an HTTP request body or TCP payload, as well as L4-7 header information such as URL, application data type or cookie. Numerous load-balancing algorithms and extensive server health checks provide greater application availability by ensuring client requests are directed only to correctly behaving servers.

Reduced Deployment And Operating Costs

Citrix NetScaler cuts web application delivery costs by reducing the number of required servers and by optimizing usage of available network bandwidth. The intuitive AppExpert Visual Policy Builder enables application delivery policies to be created without the need for coding complex programs or scripts. In addition, NetScaler reduces ongoing operational expenses by consolidating multiple capabilities in a single solution. Included Citrix EasyCall functionality improves employee productivity and reduces telephone communication costs. For managing multiple NetScaler appliances, the separately available NetScaler Command Center provides centralized administration of system configuration, event management, performance management and SSL certificate administration.

Citrix NetScaler is available in three different software editions and four different appliance platforms, providing choice of application functionality and required system scalability.

The Citrix NetScaler family of application delivery solutions offers a rich set of features for web application delivery with the highest levels of availability, security and performance:

Citrix NetScaler Features

• Intelligent Server Load Balancing and Content Switching — Citrix NetScaler provides the industry’s most comprehensive Layer 4-7 traffic management. Deployed in front of application servers, NetScaler delivers fine-grained direction of client requests to ensure optimal distribution of traffic. In addition to Layer 4 information (protocol and port number), traffic management policies for TCP applications can be based upon any application-layer content. Administrators can granularly segment application traffic based upon information contained within an HTTP or TCP request’s body, as well as L4-7 header information such as URL, application data type or cookie. Numerous load-balancing algorithms and extensive server health checks provide greater application availability by ensuring client requests are directed only to correctly behaving servers.
• Accelerated Application — Citrix NetScaler delivers multiple TCP optimizations to improve the performance of the network and server infrastructure. For example, TCP connection multiplexing reduces thousands of short-lived client connections into a much smaller number of long-lived, persistent server connections. This and other TCP optimizations reduce server load, improving server performance and accelerating application response. NetScaler TCP optimizations are transparent to clients and servers, accelerating the delivery of any enterprise or Web-based application while requiring little or no configuration.
• Citrix AppCompress — Citrix AppCompress improves end-user performance, reduces bandwidth consumption and improves web application perfomance by compressing HTML/Text content before transmission to clients. AppCompress supports both encrypted and unencrypted data. More information on Citrix AppCompress.
• SSL Acceleration — NetScaler integrates hardware-based SSL acceleration to offload the compute-intensive processes of SSL connection setup and bulk encryption from Web servers. SSL acceleration reduces CPU utilization on servers, freeing server resources for other tasks. SSL acceleration is automatically enhanced by TCP optimizations and is fully integrated with the AppCompress option.
• Citrix AppCache — Citrix AppCache™ stores frequently requested Web content in memory and instantly serves static and dynamically-generated data to application users, speeding response time.  AppCache reduces the number of server resources needed for page regenerations, allowing existing servers to support increased loads also known as server load balancing. More information on Citrix AppCache.
• NetScaler Application Firewall Module — Citrix Application Firewall offers web application security from the growing number of application-layer attacks, including buffer overflow exploits, SQL injection attempts, cross-site scripting attacks and more. In addition to proven attack defenses, the NetScaler Application Firewall module provides identity theft protection by securing confidential corporate information and sensitive customer data. More information on NetScaler Application Firewall module
• EdgeSight for NetScaler — Citrix EdgeSight for NetScaler provides page level visibility of web application performance. EdgeSight for NetScaler transparently instruments client HTML pages, proactively monitoring web page response time from the end-user perspective. Response time measurements are combined with detailed statistics on the trip durations of requests and responses across the site infrastructure, providing granular visibility into how web applications are behaving from the end-user’s perspective. More information on EdgeSight for NetScaler.
• Access Gateway Universal SSL VPN Licenses -– NetScaler integrates the complete SSL VPN functionality of Citrix Access Gateway, Enterprise Edition and Citrix SmartAccess. This SSL VPN functionality is enabled by purchasing the Access Gateway Universal client licenses.  Licensing for up to 10,000 concurrent users is available. More information on Citrix Access Gateway Enterprise Edition.
• Global Server Load Balancing — Global Server Load Balancing delivers global traffic management for multi-site enterprises and service providers as a comprehensive solution for global load balancing and disaster recovery. More information on Citrix Global Server Load Balancing.
• Powerful Policy Engine and Intuitive Management Capabilities — AppExpert Visual Policy Builder enables application delivery policies to be created without the need for coding complex programs or scripts. In addition, NetScaler reduces ongoing operational expenses by consolidating multiple capabilities in a single solution managed with either a Web-based graphical user interface (GUI) or a powerful command-line interface (CLI). For multiple NetScaler appliances, the separately available NetScaler Command Center provides centralized administration of system configuration, event management, performance management and SSL certificate administration.