Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) is a centralised solution for the management, monitoring and troubleshooting of all your Citrix ADC (Application Delivery Controller) and Citrix SD-WAN appliances.

It provides a single pane of glass view from which you can perform all the tasks you need for example, Add new devices, edit configurations, backup/restore configurations, monitor traffic, report and alert and much, much more.

Citrix ADM can also be configured for AppFlow reporting, receiving HDX/ICA AppFlow traffic from both Citrix ADC and Citrix SD-WAN SE and PE devices.

A Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) Agent is an “intermediary” ADM device between the main Citrix ADM Server, either on-premise or in the Cloud and the discovered instances at different data centres/sites.

The agent is used when instances that require management are in remote sites and collect appropriate information from those local instances and passes the data back to the Citrix ADM server.

The Citrix ADM Agent provides a local point for instances to communicate with and then the Agent will communicate with the remote ADM Server. The benefit is that only the agent communicates with the remote ADM server minimising WAN traffic and firewall port configurations.

Once the Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) server is installed and licenced appropriately you can connect using a supported browser over port 80 or 443. From this browser you can perform all the management, monitoring and troubleshooting you need.

For example, you can add instances to the ADM server. Instances are Citrix appliances identified to the ADM server by adding their management IP’s (for ADC’s this is the NSIP).

Once these devices are added and discovered by the ADM server, the ADM server can then, using NITRO calls, SNMP, SSH and SCP protocols initiate the transfer of information such as appliance Inventory, licence, certificate details etc. It can also perform configurations and firmware updates.

All this information is then processed by the Citrix ADM server and stored in the internal database for current and future reporting/use.

The upgrade process for Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) is performed using the GUI (graphical user interface) and is accessed via the “System” tab in the options menu.

The simple process is to download the latest version of firmware from the Citrix download website to your local machine and then using the GUI you can upload that new version to the ADM server and initiate the upgrade process.  Once started the upgrade process is automatic and requires no further user interaction.

Installation of Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) is very much dependant on your needs and available hypervisor.  The basic requirements for an on premise install is 32GB memory, 8 vCPU’s and at least 120 GB disk storage depending on what you want to record and how long you want to keep it.  Recommendations are that you add a second disk for your data storage at initial time of installation.  Citrix ADM can be deployed as either a single server or in an HA (High Availability) pair.

For full details of the installation process can be found in the online documentation https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-application-delivery-management-software/13.html

Configuration of Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) can only be done via the GUI (graphical user interface) accessed using a supported browser (Internet explorer, Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Safari or Mozilla Firefox).  Once logged on the GUI enables you to add, manage and monitor instances it also allows you to set up alerts, view analytics and configure the instances.

Setup of Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) is very much dependant on your needs and available hypervisor.  The basic requirements for an on premise install is 32GB memory, 8 vCPU’s and at least 120 GB disk storage depending on what you want to record and how long you want to keep it.  Recommendations are that you add a second disk for your data storage at initial time of installation.  Citrix ADM can be deployed as either a single server or in an HA (High Availability) Pair.

For full details of the installation process can be found in the online documentation https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-application-delivery-management-software/13.html

Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) Service is Citrix ADM available as a Service from Citrix Cloud. (ADMaaS)

You need to sign up for Citrix Cloud account and ADM is an available service within your cloud account.

Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) is a virtual appliance that can run on Citrix Hypervisor, Microsoft Hyper-V, VWware ESXi and Generic KVM. It is also available as a Cloud based service from Citrix and as cloud based resources in Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS) Clouds.

For the on premise version you can download the appropriate image from the Citrix download web site: https://www.citrix.com/en-gb/downloads/citrix-application-management/

Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) Analytics is a feature that provides an easy way to review Citrix ADC insights to analyse and improve application performance.

Citrix ADM Analytics features are:

o Web Insight – Visibility into web applications/ real time monitoring

o HDX Insight – End to End visibility into Citrix HDX/ICA traffic passing through the Citrix ADC

o Gateway Insight – Visibility into failures encountered by users while trying to log onto the Citrix Gateway

o Security Insight – Visibility into application security status and take corrective actions to secure those applications

o SSL Insight – Visibility into secure Web applications, see real-time and historical data

o TCP Insight- Visibility into the statistics of traffic flow through the Citrix ADC

A Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) Agent is an “intermediary” ADM device between the main Citrix ADM Server, either on-premise or in the Cloud and the discovered instances at different data centres/sites.

The agent is used when instances that require management are in remote sites and collect appropriate information from those local instances and passes the data back to the Citrix ADM server.

A Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) On premises is when the virtual appliance is installed on the consumers physical hypervisor located at their site or data centre. It is not cloud based.

Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) licensing is different depending on what your requirements are.  To manage and monitor a Citrix ADC Instance the Citrix ADC instance must have verified licence. You can manage and monitor any number of Citrix ADC instances without any further licence other than the valid Citrix ADC licence.

To manage more than 30 discovered applications on the dashboard (vservers) you will require a further licence. Up to 30 is currently free. (this may change in the future).  The longevity of the data stored for this Analytics data then dependent on the Citrix ADC Licence.

If the Citrix ADC has an Advanced Licence then reporting is < 1hour

If the Citrix ADC has a Premium Licence then reporting is “unlimited”

Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) is available in the cloud as “marketplace” selections in either Microsoft Azure or AWS and “as a Service” (aaS) from Citrix Cloud.  The Azure and AWS options allow you to either purchase an appliance licence from the cloud vendor or alternatively you can Bring your own Licence (BYOL).  In ALL cases a Citrix ADM Agent will need to be installed in close proximity to the instances that you require managing be they on premises or in the cloud.

With Citrix ADMaaS you gain visibility into the health, performance, and security of your applications. You can automate the setup, deployment, and management of your application delivery infrastructure across hybrid multi-cloud environments.

Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) HA (High Availability) is when two Citrix ADM servers are configured to run as an Active/Passive pair. The primary device will run as the main device communicating with the ADC instances and the Secondary device will shadow the primary, replicating its database and configuration. This then allows the secondary to seamlessly take over the role of the primary should, for any reason, the primary fail.

Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) is available as an image in the Microsoft Azure “marketplace”. With the installation of ADM in Azure and appropriate ADM Agents either within the cloud or on premises you gain visibility into the health, performance, and security of your applications. You can automate the setup, deployment, and management of your application delivery infrastructure across hybrid multi-cloud environments.

Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) is available as an image in the AWS “marketplace”. With the installation of ADM in AWS and appropriate ADM Agents either within the cloud or on premises you gain visibility into the health, performance, and security of your applications. You can automate the setup, deployment, and management of your application delivery infrastructure across hybrid multi-cloud environments.

Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) is the new name for what was called Citrix NetScaler Management and Analytics Service (MAS)

Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) and Citrix ADC (Application Delivery Controller) are two separate and different devices from Citrix.

Citrix ADC is an Application Delivery Controller that accelerates application performance, enhances application availability with advanced load balancing (L4-7) and provides security.

Citrix ADM is a Virtual Device that provides centralised management, reporting, troubleshooting and configuration of your Citrix ADC instances.

Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) communicates with Citrix ADC instances and as such the following ports need to be open between the Citrix ADC instances and either the Citrix ADM Server or Citrix ADM Agent

o TCP Port 80 for NITRO communication

o TCP Port 22 for SSH communication

o UDP Port 4739 for AppFlow communication

o ICMP for initial instance detection

o SNMP Port 161, 162 to receive SNMP events

o Syslog Port 514 to receive Syslog messages

o TCP Port 5557 for logstream communication

o TCP Ports 8443, 7443 and 443 need to be open between Citrix ADM Server and Citrix ADM Agent.

Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) Stylebook is a template that can be used to create and manage your Citrix ADC instances. They are either shipped with Citrix ADM or you can create them for your specific needs using Citrix ADM GUI.

Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) is a virtual appliance that can be installed on the following hypervisors, Citrix Hypervisor, Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware ESXi and Generic KVM

The requirements for an on premise install are 32GB memory, 8 vCPU’s and at least 120 GB disk storage depending on what you want to record and how long you want to keep it.

Recommendations are that you add a second disk for your data storage at initial time of installation. The size of this storage is dependant on a number of factors such as number of instances, type of traffic, ADC Licences etc. Contact us at hello@clouddnagroup.com for more specific information.

The default username and password for Citrix Application Delivery Manager is nsroot/nsroot. Note: Best practices are to change this password at first login to ensure secure authorised access at all times.

Kubernetes is an open source platform designed to automate deploying, scaling, and operating application containers.

Citrix supports the deployment of the Citrix ADC CPX in Kubernetes. Citrix ADM can be used to manage, configure and report on all forms of Citrix ADC (VPX, MPX, SDX, BLX and CPX)

Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) RBAC (Roles Based Access Control)

Citrix ADM provides RBAC allowing you to configure fine-grained access control for users through the definition of Policies, Roles, Groups and Users.  Policies are a list of access permissions (view, edit and enable/disable) to ADM Applications and features (licence management, Analytics, networks, load balancing, GSLB etc.).  Roles are a way of binding one or more polices together.

Groups then bring this all together, binding Roles and users allowing you to define their Authorisation settings. Authorisation settings allow you to configure access to such things as which instances and applications/services etc. within those instances.

Users can be locally authenticated or authenticated through external servers such as Radius/Tacacs/LDAP.

Citrix Director is a central console for the monitoring and troubleshooting Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops,

The integration of Citrix ADM with Citrix Director allows Citrix Director to obtain the Citrix HDX Insight reports (network analysis and performance management) from Citrix ADM.

Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) has a feature called “Record and Play”.

This feature allows Citrix ADC administrators to record the changes they make to the configuration of their ADC. This recording can then be imported into Citrix ADM and executed against any other Citrix ADC instance managed by Citrix ADM. Options available are that the recording can be edited so that Citrix ADC specific settings can be converted to “variables” and then prompt for input when executed against other Citrix ADC instances. The recording can also be saved as a template to be used in the future.

Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) can perform Citrix ADC backups. These backups can be stored within Citrix ADM or be downloaded for off site storage. The backup file contains a full copy of the nsconfig directory which includes not only the ns.conf files but the Licence and certificates (SSL) directory.

Restore of the Citrix ADC can be performed from this Backup Feature.

Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) has a feature within it called “Configuration Audit”. An option available in this feature is “Configuration Advice” and this allows you to import the configuration of a Citrix ADC instance and perform an analysis. The output of this analysis delivers reports on the running configuration with regard to PCI Compliance v3.0 and Best Practices.

Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Management) External Authentication

Users can be authenticated to Citrix ADM in several ways. They can be authenticated against an internal user base or Citrix ADM can be configured to support external authentication. Citrix ADM supports Radius, LDAP and TACACS servers.

Good to note that you can set up authentication as external and fall back to local should external authentication fail.

Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) TACACS

Users can be authenticated to Citrix ADM in several ways. They can be authenticated against an internal user base or Citrix ADM can be configured to support external authentication. Citrix ADM supports Radius, LDAP and TACACS servers.

Good to note that you can set up authentication as external and fall back to local should external authentication fail.

Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) Radius

Users can be authenticated to Citrix ADM in several ways. They can be authenticated against an internal user base or Citrix ADM can be configured to support external authentication. Citrix ADM supports Radius, LDAP and TACACS servers.

Good to note that you can set up authentication as external and fall back to local should external authentication fail.

Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) LDAP

Users can be authenticated to Citrix ADM in several ways. They can be authenticated against an internal user base or Citrix ADM can be configured to support external authentication. Citrix ADM supports Radius, LDAP and TACACS servers.

Good to note that you can set up authentication as external and fall back to local should external authentication fail.

Appflow is the mechanism that Citrix ADC and SD-WAN appliances transmit performance and database information to remote reporting and analytic engines.

AppFlow uses Internet Protocol Information eXport (IPFIX) to transmit this information.

Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) Server can be configured as an AppFlow collector

Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) User Guide is available online at the following link https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-application-delivery-management-service.html

If you require a demonstration of Citrix Application Delivery Manager (ADM), we can arrange for you, please contact us on hello@clouddnagroup.com and we will be happy to help.

Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) documentation is available online at the following link https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-application-delivery-management-service.html

Citrix ADM (Application Delivery Manager) Datasheet is available from the following link: https://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/data-sheet/citrix-application-delivery-management-data-sheet.pdf