Implementing URL Redirection using NetScaler Responder Feature

Requirement:

You are migrating a web solution from old setup/server to a new setup/server, you will be publishing a new URL to access the solution from the new setup/server.  You want to automatically redirect any attempts to access through the old URL to the new URL.  You want users to see the OLD URL in the browser changed over to the NEW URL.

Its also, often a requirement in case of company merges where the purchased company want all access attempts to bought company web site to be redirected to the new company URL. 

Its also a requirement in case of Service Providers who would like to contact their customer Federation Services for getting the Authentication done from the customer side. This is often developed using Service Provider Initiated Single Sign On involving SAML protocol to authenticate with Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) on the customer DMZ zone.

You also require URL redirection in case of a Permanent service unavailability where you want user access to your service pages to reach another page where they have service available.

Solution:

You can achieve this requirement by enabling and implementing the Responder feature of the NetScaler.  The Responder does a HTTP redirect resulting in HTTP status code 302 Found (also appears as 302 Moved Temporarily) in trace during the redirection.

Implementation:

Enabling Responder feature in the NetScaler

Login to NetScaler as an admin user, navigate to Configuration page > System > Settings > Click on “Configure Advanced Features” under “Modes and Features”.  In the resulting page tick the Responder option in Configure Advanced Features as shown below:

Considerations by Example

Once you have the Responder feature enabled, you need to create Virtual Server, Service and Server objects, Responder Policies and Actions, and Bind them to the Virtual Server. 

To illustrate these actions, let consider below example requirement to be achieved with Responder policies:

1. Say your old web service was running on URL: http://www.mycorpsite.com/UKService/ 
2. The new URL of upgrade/migrated service is: http://www.UKService.mycorpsite.com/ 
3. You want all access to http://www.mycorpsite.com/UKService/  => (to reach) http://www.UKService.mycorpsite.com/
4. The New and OLD services are running on different web servers. Say,

1. OLD system (www.mycorpsite.com) is running on 192.168.1.131 web server whereas
2. NEW system (www.UKService.mycorpsite.com) is running on 192.168.1.141 web server

Lets get started with NetScaler and Responder Policies, Actions and their binding to achieve this.

Building NetScaler objects.

1. Create Server Objects by navigating to Configuration page > Traffic Management > Load Balancing > Servers > Click Add button specify a server name and respective IP Address as shown below

1. www.mycorpsite.com-SERVER => 192.168.1.131
2. www.UKService.mycorpsite.com-SERVER => 192.168.1.141
3. Sample Screenshot of www.mycorpsite.com-SERVER server object:

1. Create www.mycorpsite.com service object:

1. Specify service name as www.mycorpsite.com-SRV
2. Select Existing Server option and choose www.mycorpsite.com-SERVER (192.168.1.131) from drop down list.
3. Select HTTP as the Protocol from the drop down list
4. Specify the Port to be 80 (which is the default).
5. Click OK, in the resulting page Update the Monitor to be used

1. Under Monitors section click on “Service Load Balancing Monitor Binding” as shown below
2. In the resulting wizard, click on “Add Binding” > Click on the drop down list under Select Monitor section > Select http, from the list as shown below
3. Leave the Weight to default value “1” and Click on Bind button as shown below
4. Then click on Close, where you’ll see the Last Response as “Success – HTTP response code 200 received.” as shown below
5.  

1. Specify service name as www.UKService.mycorpsite.com-SRV
2. Select Existing Server option and choose www.UKService.mycorpsite.com-SERVER (192.168.1.141) from drop down list.
3. Select HTTP as the Protocol from the drop down list
4. Specify the Port to be 80 (which is the default).
5. Repeat the steps shown for www.mycorpsite.com service object to update the Monitor to HTTP

Sample screenshot of www.mycorpsite.com-SRV service object:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Resources:

1. List of HTTP status codes

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Filed under: Citrix, Networking Tagged: NetScaler, URL Management