Tag Archives: SSL Micro-VPN

Fronting XenMobile 10.x.n with NetScaler 10.5.x.n – 11.x.n

The following content is a brief and unofficial prerequisites guide to setup, configure and test a NetScaler Gateway 10.5.x.n or NetScaler Unified Gateway 11.x.n fronting a XenMobile 10.x.n XMS virtual appliance prior to deploying in a PoC, Pilot or Production environment by the author of this entry. The views expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Citrix.

Shortened Names
XENMOBILE – xm
XENMOBILE SERVER – xms
VIRTUAL APPLIANCE – v/a
FEDERAL INFORMATION PROCESSING STANDARDs – fips
NETSCALER GATEWAY – nsg
NETSCALER UNIFIED GATEWAY – nug
VIRTUAL IP ADDRESS – vip
MOBILE APPLICATION MANAGEMENT – mam
MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT -mdm
CERTIFICATE AUTHORITY – ca

Deployment Preparation Overview (DRAFT & MAY CONTAIN ERROR(S))
0. The section also contain the pre-requite, system requirements for each virtual appliance (V/A) for NetScaler and the XenMobile Server (XMS).
1. Review the XenMobile comparability matrix at – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenmobile/10-1/xmob-system-requirements/xmob-10-understand-compatibilitymatrix-con.html to choose the correct NS build vs. XMS build.
2. Download the V/A’s for each at signing in with your Citrix partner access details.
3. You need an SSL certificate a wildcard is recommend for simplicity and this should be using at min a 2048-bit key for your CSR that you submit to your CA. If you are experiencing the following issue enrolment issue Profile Installation Failed “The server certificate for ‘https://’ is invalid“ the please review http://axendatacentre.com/blog/2015/03/29/xenmobile-10-0-poc-considerations/ to help resolve this issue.
4. Generate an APNS certificate following this process at http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenmobile/9/xmob-dm-config-requesting-apns-con.html and sign your APNS certificate with Citrix at – https://xenmobiletools.citrix.com/.
5. You need to be aware that the port communication between the different components has changed and also the placement of the XMS V/A in XenMobile 10. A network diagram can be viewed at – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenmobile/10-1/xmob-arch-overview-con.html I would recommended that you please refer to the figure 4. MDM and MAM modes and also figure 5. Cluster deployments.
6. XenMobile 10 today as of writing this blog post requires the following FQDN and IP ADDR reservations to be made available when fronting a XMS V/A with NS appliance either virtual or physical 10.5.x.n and 11.x.n. Please note that for simplicity I will refer to a NetScaler Virtual Appliance V/A from here on in.

a – 1x Public routable FQDN for MDM e.g enroll.axendatacentre.com
b – 1x Public routable static IP addr that resolves to the MDM FQDN
c – 1x Public routable FQDN for MAM e.g apps.axendatacentre.com as Secure/Worx’s apps utilise a mVPN via WorxHome now SecureHub
d – 1x Public routable static IP addr that resolves to the public FQDN MAM
e – 1x DMZ private static IP addr for Gateway for your mVPN traffic
f – 1x DMZ private static IP addr for Load-balancing the MAM traffic
g – 1x DMZ private static IP addr for MDM traffic e.g enrolling and on-going device mgmt.
h – 1x DMZ private static IP addr for the actual XMS V/A

Sample PoC Diagram
* refers to the “.axendatacentre.com” ending the FQDN.

MDM (b) Firewall MDM (a/g) NetScaler Installation FQDN (h) XMS
enroll.*
81.xxx.nnn.100
enroll.*
192.168.2.30
enroll.enroll.axendatacentre.com
MAM (d) MAM (c/e/f)
apps.*
81.xxx.nnn.101
apps.*
192.168.2.31
192.168.2.33

7. NetScaler today as of writing this blog article requires the following IP ADDR reservations for NetScaler to allow you to front Citrix e.g “XenMobile”, ShareFile e.t.c and none-Citrix workloads e.g web services, exchange servers, application servers and much more.

– 1x DMZ private static NetScaler IP addr
– 1x DMZ private static NetScaler Mgmt IP addr for mgmt. of your NS virtual or physical appliance
– 1x DMZ private static Subnet IP addr for the NetScaler to access resources within your TRU network

8. Once you have successfully deployed your XMS use the built-in 30 day licenses for the initial configuration then allocate some eval licenses against the XMS hostname. You can allocate XM 10 licenses by choosing the “MDM/Enterprise 99 User” from – http://store.citrix.com/store/citrix/en_US/pd/productID.306222300/ThemeID.33753000. Once you have licensed the XMS V/A then proceed to successfully deploy the NS V/A and login into the NS V/A mgmt. interface which will be the NS’s mgmt IP addr find the HostID or utilise the following CTX article entitled “How to Allocate NetScaler VPX Licenses” – http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX133147 which will be required to license your NS V/A. Once you have the HostID visiting the Citrix Evaluation Store at – http://store.citrix.com/store/citrix/en_US/cat/ThemeID.33753000/categoryID.63401700 and allocate as an eXaMpLe a 3000 VPX at platinum for 90 days at – http://store.citrix.com/store/citrix/en_US/pd/productID.278306700/ThemeID.33753000 and also allocate a “Universal 99 Concurrent User Connection” from – http://store.citrix.com/store/citrix/en_US/pd/productID.282559700/ThemeID.33753000 once again for 90 days.
9. Reboot both the NS, XMS V/A and validate that they are back up and running and functioning as expected using the CLI and or the Admin WebUI’s of each V/A.

Let’s Deploy XMS fronted by a NS (DRAFT & MAY CONTAIN ERROR(S))
1. Login into NS Admin WebUI and navigate to the licensing tab and validate that you have all green ticks and ensure that you have 99-104 Universal licenses if not please read step 8 above before proceeding.
2. In the bottom left-hand corner click on “XenMobile” and select “XenMobile 10” from the dropdown list on the XenMobile initial wizard welcome page.
3. Under the NetScaler for XenMobile section to the left-hand side select the following “Access through NetScaler Gateway” (MAM e.g Worx’s Apps) and “Load Balance XenMobile Servers” (MDM) and then click on Continue.
4. Enter in the IP addr e and leave the port as 443 and provide a Virtual Server Name then click Continue.
5. Select and existing wildcard card certificate or upload a new wildcard certificate then click Continue.
6. Select and existing LDAP binding or create a new LDAP binding and then click Continue. Example of a Base DN for the domain axendc.co.za with domain users residing with the default Users folder within AD would e.f “Cn=Users,dc=axenc,dc=co,dc=za“.
7. Under Load-Balancing FQDN for MAM enter in a for the FQDN and for the IP addr beneath is enter in IP addr f and then click Continue. Please leave the defaults as is for now BUT please be aware that we will are not be performing any SSL Offloading, split tunnelling.
8. Select the same SSL cert as per step 5 above unless its NOT a wild card certificate in-which case then please upload the SSL cert for the MDM FQDN before proceeding. Click Continue.
9. Click “Add Server” under the XenMobile Servers section and enter in IP addr h and the click Continue. Note: Port for communication is 8443!
10. Click “Load Balance Device Manager/XenMobile Servers“.
11. Enter in the IP addr g and alter or leave the default name of the Virtual Server and click Continue. Note: Communication is HTTPS or SSL_Bridge as we choose not to perform HTTP or SSL Offloading in step 7 above.
12. You’ll notice that your XenMobile Servers IP addr’s are already automatically inserted under the XenMobile Servers section click Continue. Note: The Ports for communication are 443, 8443!
13. Click Done!
14. You have now successfully deployed a single XMS V/A fronted by a NS V/A. Once the wizard has completed you can click Edit under the “NetScaler Gateway” section on the top right-hand side under the Test Connectivity button to back into the wizard and modify the split tunnelling options to meet your organisations needs and or requirements.

XenMobile AppController 2.8

The following content is a brief and unofficial prerequisites guide to setup, configure and test XenMobile AppController 2.8 ( Previously Cloud Gateway) part of Citrix XenMobile Enterprise prior to deploying in a PoC, Pilot or Production environment by the author of this entry.

Shortened Names
XENMOBILE APPCONTROLLER – xac
FULLY QUALIFIED DOMAIN – fqdn
CLOUD GATEWAY – cg

XenMobile Is Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140 Compliant
Check out – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/apppreptool/clg-appwrap-fips-con.html.

Certificates
1: By default the following two types of self-assigned certificates are issued to your XenMobile AppController upon initial deployment which are a Server, SAML certificates issued to the FQDN AppController.example.com.
2: It is safe to perform the initial xac with the default certificates thereafter I would recommend generating a CSR and signing with your Enterprise CA vs. self-assigned to the host name.

Self Assigned Certificate
1: To create a self assigned certificate directly on XenMobile AppController login to the admin console at – https://FQDN:4443 using your access details and once authenticated
2: Click Settings
3: Click Certificates
4: Click New and complete onscreen input fields the primary fields are to select certificate cipher encryption strength to be 2048 nothing less, then enter in the common name for cert e.g appcontroller.yourorganisation.net or xac.natal-sharks.local and select the correct country.
5: Click Save
6: Next the Certificate Signing Request will appear click Close
7: Click to highlight the certificate with common name entered in above
8: Click Self-Signed
9: Enter in a value for which the certificate will be valid in number of days e.g 365 for a full calendar year and click Save.
10: Your CSR has now been self assigned.
11: Click to highlight it again and click Make Active
12: Click Yes and the newly self-assigned certificate will be bound to HTTPS and log you out which is normal.
13: Clear your internet browsers cache on IE as an example and restart the browser and navigate back to xac admin console and you should notice that there is no SSL certificate errors and the lock icon has a blue background. You have successfully created and bound a self assigned certificate to your xac.
14: For further information please read the following – eDocs Certificate Signing Request for the XenMobile AppController 2.8 .

Enterprise CA signed Certificate
1: Complete steps 1 through 5 under the self-assigned certificates.
2: When the Certificate Signing Request box appear’s copy the CSR response generated into a text file and save to your desktop and click Close.
3: Navigate to your Enterprise CA’s FQDN and follow the onscreen instructions and complete the CSR and ensure that you download the certificate response in Base64 format.
4: Navigate back to the XAC Click Import and select Server (.pem) and select your certificate and Click import.
5: If your certificate has a public and private key (*.pfx12) enter in the password in the password fields or leave blank and the Click Ok.
6: Your signed certificate is now imported successfully.
7: Click to highlight your newly import server certificates and click Make Active.
12: Click Yes and the newly signed certificate will be bound to HTTPS and you be logged out which is normal.
13: Clear your internet browsers cache on IE as an example and restart the browser and navigate back to xac admin console and you should notice that there is no SSL certificate errors and the lock icon has a blue background. You have successfully created and bound a self assigned certificate to your xac.

XenMobile AppController 2.8
1: Download the virtual appliance for your platform at – https://www.citrix.com/downloads/xenmobile.html .The supported hypervisors include XenServer, Hyper-V, ESXi
2: Designate and document a FQDN (Optionally create either an Internal or External), IP address, subnet netmask, default gateway, DNS, NTP, AD including a domain services account + e-mail address and strong admin password.
3: Deploy the xac virtual appliance and access the xac console and login using the default access details which are username: admin and password: password.
4: Click 0 and press return/enter to enter the Express Setup mode and complete the required configuration steps onscreen and then Click 5 and press return/enter to reboot the xac.
6: Once the xac reboots open up your internet browser and navigate to the designated https://FQDN:4443 and login using default access details mentioned above.
7: Upon login complete the onscreen wizard. Please note that some of the configuration options will already be prep-populated from your entries entered in at the xac console in Step 4 above. Once completed you will be logged out which is normal.
8: Relogin to the xac and complete either the self-assigned or Enterprise CA signed certificate process.

Multi-Domain Support
Currently the XenMobile AppController 2.8 doesn’t support multi-domain domains e.g multiple LDAP(S) bindings to more than one domain. The following Citrix Blog article is however quiet a useful when leveraging a NetScaler Gateway “Implementing cascading LDAP policies along with universal domain groups” Text in brackets credit of the author of the Citrix Blog Entry –

XenMobile Enterprise (XAC 2.8, XDM 8.5, SCZ 2.0) Reference Architecture
http://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/products-solutions/reference-architecture-for-mobile-device-and-app-management.pdf

Coming soon!
In the mean time check out the eDocs supporting documentation re XenMobile
AppController 2.8 edocs.citrix.com, WorxMail and WorxWeb.