NetScaler Clustering Simplified Into 3 Easy Steps

NetScaler Clustering Simplified Into 3 Easy Steps
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So experts, you need to do a quick repro setup of clustering in your lab, but don’t have time to read through the hundreds pages of clustering configuration guides located here https://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/downloads/netscaler-adc/citrix_netscaler_clustering_guide_v2.pdf, and here https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/netscaler/11/system/clustering.new.generateall.pdf. Good thing for you that I did that already and have boiled it all down to the bare essentials of what you really need in a pinch.
This article is not meant to teach you everything you need or want to know about clustering. It is just a quick step-by-step to get it up and running in a hurry. There are some things that I am presuming are already setup with your NetScalers that will give them some basic communications with each other, and there are tons of other articles that cover those topics. Aside from that, you will also need a clustering license. Here are the “sort of” 3 steps to setting up clustering. I say sort of because each step has multiple steps to perform for its completion. Please change IP’s to match your particular environment:

Step 1: Creating the Cluster
????" ??" ??" ??" Log onto 10.10.10.101 via CLI.
????" ??" ??" ??" Issue the following commands:
-??" ??" ??" add cluster instance <clID>
(Can be any number from 0-31, as there can be 32 instances in a cluster as of 11.0.)
-??" ??" ??" add cluster node 1 10.10.10.101 –state ACTIVE –backplane 1/1/2
-?? ?? ?? add ns ip 10.10.10.103 255.255.255.0 –type CLIP
(This will add the CLuster IP.)
-?? ?? ?? enable cluster instance <clID>
-?? ?? ?? save config
-?? ?? ?? reboot -warm
????" ??" ??" ??" NOTE: make sure that you reboot this first node after you enable the cluster instance.

Step 2: Adding Nodes to the newly created cluster
????" ??" ??" ??" Log onto the CLIP that you previously added 10.10.10.103
????" ??" ??" ??" Issue the following commands:
-??" ??" ??" add cluster node 2 10.10.10.102 –state ACTIVE –backplane 2/1/2
-?? ?? ?? save config
Adding nodes gives the cluster the ability to see the node, and the node the ability to see the cluster. But we still haven’t allowed them to participate together as a cluster.

Step 3: Joining newly added node to cluster
????" ??" ??" ??" Log onto the 10.10.10.102 node using nsroot/<password>
????" ??" ??" ??" Issue the following commands:
-??" ??" ??" join cluster -clip 10.10.10.103 –password <password>
-?? ?? ?? save config
-?? ?? ?? reboot -warm
????" ??" ??" ??" Note: Make sure that you reboot the second node after joining the cluster IP. If you have more NetScalers to add to the cluster, repeat Steps 2 and 3 for each.

Verify Cluster Node From the CLIP
????" ??" ??" ??" You can change which node is CCO by changing the priority on that node to make it higher or lower than the other node(s).
????" ??" ??" ??" Log onto the CLIP and type sh cluster node at the prompt:
> sh cluster node
1) Node ID: 2
??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" IP:??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" 10.10.10.102*
??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" Backplane:??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" 2/1/2
??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" Health:??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" UP
??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" Admin State:??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ACTIVE
??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" Operational State:??" ??" ACTIVE(Configuration Coordinator)
??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" Sync State:??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ENABLED
??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" Priority:??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" 25
??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" Node Group:??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" DEFAULT_NG
2) Node ID: 1
??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" IP:??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" 10.10.10.101
??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" Backplane:??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" 1/1/2
??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" Health:??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" UP
??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" Admin State:??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ACTIVE
??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" Operational State:??" ??" ACTIVE
??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" Sync State:??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ENABLED
??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" Priority:??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" 31
??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" Node Group:??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" ??" DEFAULT_NG
??" Done
>
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https://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/downloads/netscaler-adc/citrix_netscaler_clustering_guide_v2.pdf

https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/netscaler/11/system/clustering.new.generateall.pdf

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