Notice of Status Change Announcement for Netscaler Classic Policy Based Features and Functionalities

Citrix Systems, Inc. announces a Notice of Status Change (NSC) for Citrix ADC Classic policy-based features and functionalities.   The dates and milestones provided are in accordance with stated End of Life/End of Support policies for Citrix Systems, Inc.

Citrix ADC Features & Functionalities Affected

The features & functionalities affected by this announcement and their replacements are listed in Table 1 & 2 (below). The features & functionalities listed in the Feature Replacement column represent the migration path for these discontinued/deprecated features/functionalities.
 
Table 1. To convert classic policies to advanced policies for the following features and functionalities, reach out to NetScaler customer support
 

Feature Description	Deprecation Initiated	Feature Replacement
Citrix ADC features and its functionalities: - SureConnect (SC) Priority Queuing (PQ) HTTP Denial of Service Protection (HDoSP)	12.0.41.16	AppQoE
SPDY	12.0.41.16	HTTP/2
HTMLInjection	12.0.41.16	AppFlow with Client-Side Measurements

Table 2. Features & functionalities to be converted to advanced policies using NSPEPI tool
 

Feature Description	Deprecation Initiated	Feature Replacement
Filter	12.0.41.16	Responder (for ERRORCODE, or DROP or RESET on the request side), Rewrite (for ADD or CORRUPT, or DROP or RESET on the response side), or Content Switching (for FORWARD).
Q and S prefixes in Advanced expressions Example - add responder action ract respondwith "Q URL + Q.HEADER(\"abcd\")"	12.0.41.16	HTTP.REQ and HTTP.RES
Application Firewall Classic policy	12.0.41.16	Application Firewall Advanced policy
Compression Classic policy	12.0.41.16	Compression Advanced policy
Classic Cache Redirection policy	12.0.41.16	Advanced Cache Redirection policy
Content Switching Classic policy	12.0.41.16	Content Switching Advanced policy
SSL Classic policy	12.0.41.16	SSL Advanced policy
Pattern function in Rewrite action	12.0.56.20	-Search Rewrite action parameter
SYS.EVAL_CLASSIC_EXPR Classic function	12.0.41.16	Converting function to Advanced, replacing SYS.EVAL_CLASSIC_EXPR
Patclass	<12.0	Patset
BypassSafetyCheck parameter in rewrite action	<12.0	Removed
HTTP.REQ.BODY expression with no arguments	12.0.41.16	Provide the required body length needs to examine as argument
PolicyType Parameter in "set cmp parameter"		Change policytype to Advanced
Classic expression in LB rule	12.0.41.16	Advanced expression in LB rule
URL and Domain parameters in Content Switching policy		Content Switching Advanced policy

Table 3. Features & functionalities that continue to function for classic policies in 13.1 or later releases
 

Feature Description

Classic Named (policy) expression

Classic Audit SYSLOG policy

Classic Audit NSLOG policy

Classic AAA Pre-authentication policy

Authentication Local policy RADIUS Authentication policy LDAP Authentication policy Authentication Negotiate policy SAML Authentication policy Delegation Forms Authentication (DFA) policy  Web Authentication policy

Classic Authorization policy

Classic Traffic Management Session policy

Classic Tunnel Traffic policy

Classic VPN Traffic policy

Classic VPN Session policy

Trace Classic expression

Client Security expression

Recommendations for Customers

Citrix recommends that all Citrix ADC customers take steps to switch from the deprecated features & functionalities to the corresponding replacements suggested in Table 1 & 2 above. Customers can convert Classic policy expressions to Advanced policy expressions using nspepi tool.
You can download the NSPEPI and preconfig check tool from the public GitHub. For more information, see GitHub NEPEPI page and README page for detailed instructions to download, install, and use the tools. We recommend customers to use the tools available in GitHub for the most complete and up-to-date version.

We have anticipated some scenarios that customers might face due to this Change, and their respective resolutions. 
 
Table 4. Sample scenarios with respective resolutions.
 

Scenario	Resolution
I will be moving from a build where a feature mentioned in Table 2 is supported (example, Citrix ADC 11.0) to build where the feature is not supported (example, Citrix ADC 13.1).  What actions do I take?	Please use the above Table 2 for finding replacement feature of individual feature that is being removed.  Please use nspepi tool
I will be moving from a build where a feature mentioned in Table 2 is deprecated (example, Citrix ADC 12.0.56) to where a build where the feature is not supported (example, Citrix ADC 13.1).  What actions do I need to take?	Please use the above Table 2 for finding replacement feature of individual feature that is being removed.  Please use nspepi tool
How do I convert my existing Classic policy Expressions to Advance policy Expressions?	Please use nspepi tool
How do I convert mix of Classic policy Expressions & Advance policy Expressions to only Advance policy Expressions?	Please use nspepi tool
I am currently using a build on which a feature mentioned in Table 2 is supported and have no immediate plans of upgrade, how long will I have support for this feature?	Support will be provided as per current software support guidelines.
I am adding new deprecated configurations or modifying existing deprecated configs on the builds where Classic policy Expressions are deprecated (e.g. 12.0.56). What is recommended in this case?	We recommend not to use deprecated policies and expressions. Please use the above Table 1 & 2 for finding replacement feature of individual required feature.