Microservice-based app delivery using NetScaler and Citrix Ingress Controller

Cloud-native applications are built to allow for continuous updating of code without affecting the user experience. A legacy application, on the other hand, requires a complete reload of the application because its parts are all intertwined, and the app has to be taken offline to be updated. Today, this type of interruption is unacceptable.

Cloud-native applications are written such that each part of the application is created in smaller chunks or containers. Because individual software engineering teams can maintain these containers, updating one container has less impact on the ability of a team to keep an application available. Software engineers can publish updated containers without taking the original container offline or affecting the application as a whole.

Containers add complexity in providing access to the intended audience. Kubernetes uses Ingress to control access to the services in a cluster, and the Ingress can provide load balancing, SSL termination, and name-based virtual hosting.

NetScaler is an industry-leading platform that provides traffic control functions such as load balancing and includes features that add security, monitoring, and controls to the inbound requests. Updating your NetScaler manually when new changes are made to the Kubernetes cluster would make it difficult to meet the automation and fast deployment needs of modern applications.

That’s where Citrix Ingress Controller and IP Address Management (IPAM) containers from NetScaler can help. Citrix Ingress Controller watches for changes on the Kubernetes cluster and automatically configures the NetScaler to provide access to the applications deployed as microservices. IPAM delivers the IP address needed, and Citrix Ingress Controller updates the NetScaler entities (services), ensuring users can access the application without interruption.

It’s quick, easy, and automated, just the way we like it!