Tag Archives: XMS

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 10.0

The following content is a brief and unofficial prerequisites guide to setup, configure and test XenMobile 10.0 prior to deploying in a PoC, Pilot or Production environment by the author of this entry. The views, opinions and concepts expressed are those by the author of this entry only and do not necessary conform to industry descriptions or best practises.

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

What’s New
1: XenMobile is now a single unified hardened Linux virtual appliance.
2: Complete overhaul of the Web UI which dramatically simplifies policy setup & configuration of MDM + MAM policies and it allows for the management of multiple platforms within a single policy.
3: Built-in V6 Citrix Licensing server provides a 30 day trial/evaluation and also support for remote V6 CTX licensing server.
4: Built-in PostgreSQL database recommended for PoC’s and there’s also support for remote MS SQL database which is recommended for production deployments.
4: XMS V/A includes IPtables which is a Linux firewall – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iptables.
5: XMS placement is in the DMZ. The V/A is hardened and is FIPS 140-2 compliant and remember you data is actually stored in a MS SQL database unless your utilising PostgreSQL database within the XMS V/A.
6: Traffic flow and ports between NetScaler Gateway and the XenMobile Server (XMS) have changed please refer to eDocs for an architecture overview of the changes at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-10/xmob-arch-overview-con.html.
7: The Admin Web UI is now on https://XMS-FQDN:4443/. This port is not configured as part of the XenMobile 10 wizard on NetScaler Gateway build 10.5-55.8 which means that you will not be able to access the mgmt. Admin Web UI from the internet it will only be accessible from the DMZ and the TRU network dependant upon your firewall(s) ACL list.
8: New WorxHome build 10.0.3.83 which is also backwards compatible from XenMobile 10.x.n
9: The XenMobile NetScaler Connector (XNC) currently is still a separate Windows Server.
9: You can find our more by watching the following Mobility Master Class: What’s New in XenMobile 10 available from Citrix TV.

Mobility Master Class: What’s New in XenMobile 10

Mobility Master Class: Citrix XenMobile 10 Clustering & MDM Migrations

Deploying XenMobile 10
1: Review the system requirements for XMS at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-10/xmob-system-requirements.html to understand the supported hypervisors, computing requirements. You should also make sure that you review the latest XM architecture as it has changed between XenMobile 9.0 vs. 10.0 and it can be viewed at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-10/xmob-arch-overview-con.html. You’ll notice that the traffic between NSG and the XMS V/A has changed however all traffic externally still occurs on there traditional ports (443, 8443, 2195, 2196, 5223).
2: Review and understand the NetScaler Gateway compatible requirements at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/worx-mobile-apps/xmob-10-understand-compatibilitymatrix-con.html.
3: Make sure that you print out and fill-in all the pre-requitses for the XMS V/A ref – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-10/xmob-xenmobile-install-checklist.html prior to deploying your XMS V/A on your chosen hypervisor.
4: Once you have uploaded the V/A to the hypervisor and booted it complete the onscreen instructions ref – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-10/xmob-install.html. Once you are finished login into the Admin WebUI replacing the IP Addr with your XMS V/A ip addr from this example https://XMS-IPADDR:4443/ and login with Administrator account your specified during the deployment and NOT admin which is used to access the XMS V/A CLI from your hypervisor only.
5: Once you’ve logged in you’ll need to have the following listed below available to successfully complete the second part of the initial XenMobile 10 deployment. There is also a pre-requites check list available at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-10/xmob-xenmobile-install-checklist.html.

– Citrix v6 licensing file for either local or remote. Remote is recommended for H/A purposes.*
– Microsoft Active Directory (AD) ip addr or FQDN, base DN, domain, search service account with read-only permissions.
– Certificate in *.p12 or *.pfx format for the SSL_Listener which is used for two way secure HTTPS communication to the XMS V/A.
– APNS certificate.
– Separate MDM and MAM+ FQDN’s correctly setup in DNS with fwd and reserve lookup’s configured and each configured with its own static IP addr for external resolution.
– 3x VIP for configuring XenMobile 10 with NetScaler Gateway 10.5.55.8 +. You can find a compatible NSG V/A version and builds at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-10/xmob-10-understand-compatibilitymatrix-con.html.
– MS SQL Database server configured to accept traffic and with write/read privileges to create and manage the remote XMS database.
– Mail server configuration which enables and provides workflow email messages, notifications to users e.t.c

6: Follow the onscreen prompts and once completed the web UI deployment wizard then you have successfully deployed a XMS V/A. Please not reboot the XMS V/A so that the existing SSL certificates for HTTPS can be unbound and the newly uploaded SSL cert(s) can be bound to HTTPS.
7: You may now setup a XMS cluster and configure H/A with a NSG and thereafter begin configuring your XenMobile 10.0 environment. See the H/A section for a how-to.
8: Logon to one of the XMS v/a direct IP addr e.g https://XMS:4443/ if in H/A fronted by the NSG as the XenMobile 10 wizard will not configure 4443 which means that you cannot access the mgmt interface via the VIP owned by the NSG. This means that the mgmt interface is not accessible either internally or externally on the FQDN that resolves the VIP owned by the NSG.
9: Scaling XenMobile 10.0 from 1000 up to 100,000 devices – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-10/xmob-scaling-xm.html.

XMS V/A High-Availability (H/A)
1: Prior to understanding how-to setup a XMS H/A or clustering you need to understand that the minimum requirements are for a remote CTX v6 licensing server and MS SQL database as the XMS V/A do not hold any user/cfg information this is all held in the remote database.
2: Once your have setup XMS follow the prompts in the CLI to enable clustering and configure the IPtables firewall ACL and then finally shut it down and clone it.
3: Rename the cloned XMS V/S to your required naming convention and then boot up the cloned XMS V/A login to the CLI and changed the IP addr and ensure that the IPtables firewall ACL ports are correctly enabled then shutdown the V/A.
4: Boot the first XMS V/A and then 60 seconds later boot the cloned XMS V/A and login to the CLI to very the cluster is enabled and then login into the XMS admin WebUI to verify that the cluster is up and functioning as expected. The original XMS V/A will be the oldest in the cluster.
5: You can now proceed to setting up the load-balancing for the XMS V/A’s with NSG to service MDM + MAM requests.

Supported NetScaler Gateway (Builds & Versions) for XM 10
1: 10.5.55.8 MR5; 10.5.54.9 MR4; 10.5.53.9 MR3; 10.1.130 MR & 10.1.129 MR ref – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/worx-mobile-apps/xmob-10-understand-compatibilitymatrix-con.html.

Deploying XM 10 with NetScaler Gateway 10.5.x.n (Draft)
1: Before beginning its worth mentioning that the way I will be describing how-to deploy XenMobile 10 in this blog article will be to utilise to external static IP addr’s + FQDN’s that are NATed to DMZ IP addr’s and I will utilising SplitDNS for device mgmt. in/outside of my TRU network. I will also be implementing the described XenMobile 10 environment below utilising an SSL Bridge although offloading includes a few more minor steps the intention of this section is aimed at helping you front your XenMobile 10.0 deployment with a NSG 10.5.x.n V/A.
2: Please review the following CTX article entitled “FAQ: XenMobile 10 and NetScaler 10.5 Integration” – http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX200430 which will aid you in been able to setup and configure load-balancing for XMS V/A’s, mVPN for Worx’s apps for XenMobile 10 with NetScaler Gateway 10.5.x.n.
3: You’ll require the following prior to be beginning:

– Correct NetScaler (Gateway) build +_ version the NSG version + build I’ll be discussing here is NetScaler Gateway 10.5.55.8 MR5 but you can check the latest supported version + builds at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/worx-mobile-apps/xmob-10-understand-compatibilitymatrix-con.html
– 1x FQDN for MDM e.g. mdm.axendatacentre.com * that resolves to both external internet routable static IP addr and your internal assigned static IP. Please note that this should match exactly the FQDN entered in at the time of the deployment of your XMS V/A during the first phase in the CLI the text your looking for is/was “XenMobile Server FQDN:” and its highlighted in yellow. It is also worth/noting that if you have utilised an internal domain e.g xms.abc.local as the FQDN this will only manage devices internally as that FQDN is not routable on the internet so you’ll only be able to manage devices INSIDE of the trusted network to its recommended to a FQDN that is internet routable and you can utilise SplitDNS to manage traffic requests to the NSG VIP’s for XenMobile.
– 1x FQDN for MAM (Worx’s Apps) e.g. mobileapps.axendatacentre.com * that resolves to both external internet routable static IP addr and your internal assigned static IP
– 2x External routable internet IP addr’s * e.g 8.8.8.8 which most IT Pro’s utilise to ping to check internet connectivity
– 3x Internal IP addr’s owned by the NSG as VIP
|- 1x for MDM
|- 1x for MAM Gateway
|- 1x for Load-balancing IP
– Wildcard certificate for your domain e.g *.domain.com
– If your implementing SSL Offloading (HTTP) of your XenMobile traffic for MAM then you’ll require the devices cert from the XMS V/A which can be downloaded from the XMS Web AdminUI at https://xms:4443/

4: Setup the NetScaler Gateway configuration within the Admin WebUI of the XMS V/A following the process outlined at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-10/xmob-netscaler-gateway.html its fairly straight forward and simple.
5: Login into the NSG Admin WebUI interface and click the XenMobile Wizard in the bottom left-hand corner and then you’ll be prompted to setup either XenMobile 9.0 or XenMobile 10.0 please selected XenMobile 10.0 and click “Get Started” to continue.
6: Ensure that “Access through NetScaler Gateway” which is for MAM, “Load Balance XenMobile Servers” which is for MAM are checked they should be by default, however you know have the opportunity to deselect either if one depending upon your deployment scenario/use case and obviously your acquired license. The current XenMobile 10 datasheet is available at –
https://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/products-solutions/citrix-xenmobile-the-revolutionary-way-to-mobilize-your-business.pdf.
7: Enter in your first VIP for the MAM Gateway then port should be 443 and provide a suitable name.
8: Select your previously uploaded SSL certificate (I am utilising a wildcard cert for my domain *.axendatacentre.com) or upload your SSL cert.
9: Create your (s)LDAP binding you will need to provide the following:

– LDAP IP addr
– LDAP Port default is 389
– Base DN e.g Cn=Users,dc=axendatacentre,dc=com
– Service account username & password
– Timeout default is 3 seconds
– Server Login sAMAccountName or UserPrincipalName (SuGgEsTeD)

10: Now enter in your MDM FQDN and then the Load-balancing IP addr beneath and accept the default port of 8443. You can now also choose to select HTTPS (SSL Bridge) vs. HTTP (SSL Offload) and you can choose your DNS mode including split tunnelling.
11: Select your previously uploaded SSL certificate (I am utilising a wildcard cert for my domain *.axendatacentre.com) or upload your SSL cert.
12: Enter in your MDM VIP and you’ll notice the default ports are 443, 8443 for communication to the XMS V/A(s). You’ll notice that you cannot change the SSL traffic configuration as I specified to not to perform any SSL offloading in set 10 above or its under section “Load Balancing IP address for MAM” within the NSG XenMobile 10 wizard.
13: Next add in the XMS ip addr’s of each V/A in your XMS cluster and provide an appropriate name and ports are automated defaulted to 443, 8443.
14: Click continue to finish and then click done and you have now setup and configured all your traffic for XenMobile to route through your NSG V/A and we are performing SSL Bridging in the above scenario.

Worx Features by Platform
1:The following eDocs web page lists the features by Worx app which includes WorxHome, WorxMail, WorxWeb, WorxEdit, WorxNotes, WorxTasks & WorxDesktop ref – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/worx-mobile-apps/xmob-worx-feature-platform-matrix.html.
2: Be sure to also checkout the known issues list at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/worx-mobile-apps/xmob-worx-knownissues-con.html and it is also worth noting that as of writing this blogging entry WorxTask’s is in Tech Preview (TP) ref – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/worx-mobile-apps/xmob-worx-tasks.html.

Twitter
You should follow the XenMobile team on twitter at – https://twitter.com/xenmobile for the very latest on Worx’s apps, updates, upgrades and so much more.

Security
1: The XenMobile security web page is available at – http://www.citrix.com/products/xenmobile/tech-info/mobile-security.html.
2: The XenMobile Security whitepaper is available at – https://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/products-solutions/xenmobile-security.pdf and I would strongly advise that you read/review it to get a better understanding of how XenMobile can help and assist any organisations EMM (Mobility) requirements.
3: The Mobile Application Management with XenMobile and the Worx App SDK –
https://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/products-solutions/mobile-containers-with-citrix-mdx.pdf, this is well worth reading.