NetScaler Console (formerly NetScaler Application Delivery Management, ADM) is the management and analytics product that also serves as the licence server for NetScaler Flexed and Pooled capacity. It is available as an on-premises virtual appliance (Console on-prem) and as a cloud service (Console service). This article covers how the Console itself is licensed, the telemetry obligation attached to it and the contract terms that govern all NetScaler products.
How Console is licensed
The licence unit for Console used to be the virtual server (VIP). From build 14.1-21.x the Console documentation says “the concept of licensed VIPs is removed” and an unlimited number of VIPs is available; the VIP licence SKU is end of sale and end of renewal.[1] For Console service, the default storage entitlement is now 5 GB, the storage SKU is end of sale and end of renewal, and storage purchased earlier is honoured until the term ends; a customer who bought a virtual server earlier has 500 MB of storage per virtual server until the subscription term ends.[2] Through the Citrix packages, UHMC provides 5 GB of Console service storage and Citrix Platform 15 GB, with more available on request.[7]
Console features depend on the NetScaler ADC or Gateway edition rather than on a Console licence. Application and security dashboards show web application firewall information only for Premium, or Advanced with the App Firewall licence; HDX Insight and Gateway Insight need Advanced (reporting less than one hour) or Premium (unlimited reporting); the API gateway needs Premium or Advanced; most other features (inventory, StyleBooks, configuration jobs, SSL certificate management, RBAC) are marked as needing no particular edition.[2] The on-prem table adds that integration with Citrix Director needs a Premium Director licence.[1]
As a licence server, Console holds licence files or LAS entitlements. Licences issued to a Console server are bound to its host ID, and assigning them to a different Console server is restricted; if two Consoles form a high availability pair, licence files applied on the primary are synchronised to the secondary.[1] The default licence server port is 27000 and the vendor daemon port 7279, and Console can act as a forward HTTP proxy to the licensing portal.[8] Role-based access control can limit who sees the LAS feature and which instances a given administrator can license.[8] Applying Flexed licences to Console 14.1-12.34 or later bundles unlimited Console VIPs for analytics.[8] NetScaler documents that Console software can manage Pooled capacity licences without a Console licence, so a Console deployment may exist only to hold pools.[11]
The telemetry programme
NetScaler describes its telemetry programme as a required data collection programme under which customers upload the licence and feature usage data needed to remain compliant with their maintenance and support licence obligations.[4] The Console on-prem documentation states that Citrix collects basic licence telemetry and deployment and feature usage telemetry “for its legitimate interests, including license compliance”, and that existing Console customers “must ensure to be compliant” with the programme.[3]
There are two modes:
- Automated collection. Enabled by default after upgrading to 14.1-25.56 or later (or 13.1-53.22 or later). Console makes an outbound connection and uploads telemetry automatically; the customer must only keep the endpoint URLs reachable. For Console service the programme is enabled automatically from 14.1-28.x and the upload happens every 24 hours.[3][4]
- Manual collection. Used only where the automated mode is disabled. The customer downloads the data from the telemetry home page in Console on-prem and completes the first upload to the Console service within 30 days; later uploads must be done every 90 days.[3]
In either mode “data upload is required to remain compliant”; optional telemetry may be disabled, but the required licence compliance and feature usage data must be provided.[3] The compliance test is simple: the number of days since the last successful upload must not be greater than 90 days.[3] The consequence is contractual: Citrix “may suspend or terminate your Citrix Support for non-compliance of these requirements without liability, in addition to any other remedies”, except where prohibited by law or regulation.[3] The LAS workflow shows a red or green telemetry status indicator on the licence management page, with red indicating potential telemetry non-compliance and licensing impacts.[9]
The programme has a technical footprint that administrators noticed. Builds 14.1-25.56 and 13.1-53.22 pushed an AppFlow feature and a telemetry metrics profile to managed instances; from 14.1-43.x and 13.1-57.x, Console stops pushing the configuration and removes the metrics profile if present. Telemetry also writes a Gateway telemetry server line to /nsconfig/.telemetry.conf for instances with VPN virtual servers (port 5140) and runs read-only scripts over SSH on port 22.[3][4] Information such as email addresses, user names and IP addresses is hashed at the source with one-way algorithms and used for logical asset matching only.[3] Citrix required customers to move to the telemetry-capable Console build within three months from 18 June 2024.[3] For a software asset manager the implication is that NetScaler holds its own usage view of every managed instance, and that unmanaged instances (not added to Console) are the ones outside this view.
Contract documents
NetScaler products are contracted under the Cloud Software Group End User Agreement, version 2.5 on the date read, together with the Business Unit Terms. The Agreement is between the customer and the Cloud Software Group business unit that enters the Order. Business Unit Terms add product-specific terms, and the Citrix Business Unit Terms are stated to “apply to the Citrix and NetScaler Business Units”; they point to the product terms on citrix.com.[5][6] In a conflict the order of precedence is an Order, then the Business Unit Terms, then the End User Agreement, and the Business Unit Terms, Service Descriptions, Maintenance terms and other incorporated documents may be updated without notice, the customer’s continued use constituting acceptance.[5]
Use rights and restrictions
The software licence is “limited, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, non-exclusive, worldwide” to install, run, access and use the Number of Units during the Term solely for internal business purposes.[5] Section 2.7 prohibits, among other things, making more copies than required, using unlicensed versions or products not listed in an Order, allowing anyone other than Authorized Users to use the products, sublicensing or distributing, reverse engineering, using embedded components stand-alone, marketing or reselling the products and using them for competitive benchmarking unless permitted by law.[5] The Business Unit Terms qualify the sharing restriction: if the Order, product terms or Use Level permit it, Citrix Business Unit products may be commercially shared with third parties, used to provide processing services or used to support the customer’s own service offerings.[6] That is the clause a managed service provider or hosting provider reading NetScaler terms should locate.
Reports, audit and termination
On written request, the customer must certify in a Deployment Report the Number of Units deployed. If the parties agree a renewal, the number stated becomes the basis of the new Subscription, and the company has no obligation to offer a renewal if the report is not provided.[5] The audit clause lets the company and its independent auditors audit compliance, at the company’s expense and on 10 days’ notice at reasonable times, during the term of any Order and for one year after it ends; the customer must provide systems, personnel, records and information, and if material noncompliance is found must reimburse the reasonable costs of the audit, without affecting termination rights or the right to payment for use in excess of the Number of Units.[5] On termination use must stop immediately and the customer may be required to certify de-installation of all deployed Units.[5]
Transfers, M&A and governing law
The customer may not assign its rights or delegate its duties without prior written consent. During a Subscription Term the right to deploy does not extend to an Extraordinary Corporate Event: users, divisions or entities added or divested through an acquisition or merger may not use the Products until added by signed written amendment.[5] Customers entering the Agreement from EU member countries, the United Kingdom, Norway, Switzerland, Japan, India or Australia are governed by Irish law and courts; otherwise Florida law applies with exclusive venue in Broward County, and the non-prevailing party pays the prevailing party’s reasonable costs including attorney’s fees.[5]
Maintenance
Under the Business Unit Terms maintenance (also called Customer Success Services) requires active maintenance for 100% of a customer’s licences, the “All-in Rule”, and benefits may not be extended to licences without active maintenance.[6] The product terms say software maintenance is included with NetScaler fixed-term, Pooled Capacity and Self-Managed subscriptions, while hardware maintenance must be purchased separately for MPX, SDX and zero-capacity hardware.[7] NetScaler’s pricing page states that hardware includes RMA hardware support for the lifetime of the device.[10] See Citrix Customer Success Services for the support programme and Citrix End User Agreement for the same agreement as applied to Citrix products.
Practical checklist
For NetScaler, an asset manager should confirm the Console estate (which instances are managed), the date of the last successful telemetry upload, whether the Console blob refresh is current (see the LAS article), the Order and Business Unit Terms in force at the time of purchase, and whether the customer has received a Deployment Report request or audit notice. Evidence in these areas maps to the NetScaler telemetry program row and to the contract rules in the NetScaler catalog.
Out of scope
This article does not cover the Cloud Services Terms for hosted Console service operation, the Data Processing Addendum or the Security Exhibit, which the End User Agreement incorporates by reference, nor Cloud Software Group’s other business units.