Netscaler Console - multiple agents in same datacenter - licensing

[Gijs Lemahieu]

Hi,

 

As a CSP, we are migrating from the old licensing model (create a license file on the Citrix portal and import this into the netscaler appliances) to the new licensing model (through Netscaler Console hosted on Citrix cloud, Flexed licensing and a Netscaler console agent on premise who is acting as proxy between the ADCs and Netscaler console).

 

I've got some questions about a best practice setup (and avoid single point of failures).

•  in a scenario with multiple sites and 1 agent per site, there is only 1 LSA per tenant (https://docs.netscaler.com/en-us/netscaler-console-service/manage-licenses/adm-service-agent-behavior-pooled-licensing.html). If the agent goes down in one of the sites (no matter if this agent is the LSA or not), the ADC (registered to this agent) will enter a grace period for 30 days. This means, during the downtime of this agent, all ADC's connected to this agent will enter a grace period and you cannot modify the license allocation. Am I correct that everything will keep on working (except license modifications like assign 1 GB instead of 500 MB bandwidth) as long as you don't exceed those 30 days? It's not like to the ADC will start working with a express license?
•  we have, logically seen, 1 datacenter but in fact, there are 2 physical datacenters with L2 connection in between. Netscaler HA pairs have both members running in a different physical datacenter but they connect to each other in the same L2 subnet. I'm thinking now about the 'Netscaler Console agent setup'. Should I deploy 1 agent (in one of the 2 physical locations) or 2 agents (one in each physical location)?
  • deploying 1 agent in one of the 2 physical locations : this means I can register both ADC members of a HA pair to the same agent and this agent will provide licensing for both ADCs (ADC 1 is located in datacenter 1 and ADC 2 in datacenter 2). In case of a failure with the agent, I have 30 days to fix this and meanwhile, I cannot modify licenses.
  • deploying an agent in both physical locations : if agent 1 is acting as LSA (only 1 agent can act as LSA) and this one is failing, license allocation will automatically migrate to agent 2 within 24 hours? But should I register ADC 1 to agent 1 and ADC 2 to agent 2 (while ADC 1 and ADC 2 are both members of a HA group)?

Documentation is a bit confusing but as I understand, I should register both ADC members of a HA pair to the same agent.

As long as, in case of a agent failure and I don't need to modify licenses and I can get it back up & running within 30 days, one agent on one of both datacenters is sufficient.

Is this correct?

 

thanks for your help!

 

Gijs.

[Gijs Lemahieu]

Hi,

 

anyone with an idea or suggestion on this?

 

Thanks!

 

Gijs.