Head, Network Design at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
Real User
Easy to manage with good load balancing and fair pricing
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is easy to work with and manage."
  • "The solution should be able to scale more effectively than it does."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution for load balancing and SSL offloading. It's mostly for load balancing, however, occasionally we use it for the SSL offloading and content switching.

What is most valuable?

The load balancing on the solution is excellent.

The fact that you can do content switching is very useful.

The pricing is pretty good.

The solution is easy to work with and manage.

It's cloud-ready and we can manage it both on-premises and on the cloud if we need to.

What needs improvement?

The multi-tenancy isn't ideal.

The solution should be able to scale more effectively than it does.

Technical support could be improved upon.

Recently, we tried to configure AAA authentification and we ran into some issues using the web-based GUI. When you are on the console it works, however, when you're on the web-based version when you log in with your AAA credentials, it's very very slow. That is something that we're beginning to see and something they need to address.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been using the solution for over six years at this point.

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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is okay. We haven't dealt with any bugs at all.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

A big requirement for us is to be able to scale for multi-tenancy, and this solution doesn't really provide for that. We're looking into another model that might be able to help us handle this.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is okay. However, they could still improve their services.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I've worked with F5 and found it hard to work with and manage, in comparison to Citrix.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was pretty straightforward. I wouldn't say that it was tedious due to the fact that the vendor who we got to assist us already had experience in deployment. They made it pretty easy. After the POC it was simple to deploy into the production environment.

We have less than 20 engineers that are working with and maintaining the product.

What about the implementation team?

Our vendor helped us deploy the solution. They made the process pretty efficient and we were satisfied with eh results.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution offers quite good value for money. For the amount you pay, you get a fairly robust product.

What other advice do I have?

We're just customers.

I would recommend this solution to other organizations as it's quite easy to use. There's so much that you can do, compared to F5, for example. With F5, you have to do a lot of tweaking to be able to achieve certain things. 

With Citrix, due to the infrastructure, we run very very easily. We run on ECA infrastructure and it's a great thing. It's very very straightforward. With F5, it's not as good. 

That said, it has some flaws that need to be corrected.

On a scale of one to ten, I would rate it at an 8.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Senior Server Administrator at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
A flexible product with a good VPN and easy-to-use load balancing capabilities
Pros and Cons
  • "I find all of it to be valuable, because of the flexibility that is built into this product."
  • "There are certain features that are very useful and Citrix makes you pay a bit more for them."

What is our primary use case?

We are using Citrix ADC as a VPN appliance, and use it as a load balancer for a few different services.

How has it helped my organization?

We have a custom application that we use, and we were able to port it over from a legacy system into the ADC.

What is most valuable?

I find all of it to be valuable, because of the flexibility that is built into this product.

If we need an on-premises load balancer, it's easy enough to spin those up here an there and the VPN seems to be pretty solid as well.

What needs improvement?

The licensing model that Citrix employs need to be improved. There are specific features that we like but are not available at our licensing level.

There are certain features that are very useful and Citrix makes you pay a bit more for them. I think that they should be included as default features.

In the next release, I would like to have the ability to inspect the SSL payload. It should be included by default.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Citrix ADC for almost a year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's a stable product and I haven't found any issues with it. It's been working well for us this entire time.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is not really applicable in our case. We have moved towards the cloud.

I don't believe that we plan to scale on-premises any further.

We have approximately 500 users in the company who are using this solution.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is good. We have reached out a couple of times and they were able to assist us quickly, even on the weekend.

I would rate technical support a nine out of ten.

It depends on who you get, there are some who want to redirect you to professional services. Once you get them on board, their service is good.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously, we used Juniper VPN. The hardware was older.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was fairly complex. There is a bit of a learning curve.

What about the implementation team?

We worked with professional services during our deployment.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It's an expensive product but it works well.

What other advice do I have?

My advice to anyone who is looking at implementing Citrix ADC is if they need flexibility, it's a stable product. It's one of the better appliances that I have used, even in a virtual environment, it's working great. I can recommend it.

I would rate Citrix ADC a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
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Programator at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Top 20
A highly stable tool that offers two-factor authentication
Pros and Cons
  • "It is a very stable solution."
  • "Currently, it is not easy to use the configuration capabilities of the product."

What is our primary use case?

I use Citrix NetScaler in my company for mostly two-factor authentication.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of the solution is the two-factor authentication.

What needs improvement?

From an improvement perspective, the tool should be made easier in the area of the configuration capabilities that it provides to users. Currently, it is not easy to use the configuration capabilities of the product.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Citrix NetScaler for a month. I use the solution's latest version.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a very stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is a scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

Around 100 employees in my company use the product.

How was the initial setup?

The product's initial setup phase was easy.

I did not do the product's installation. My colleagues managed the product's installation phase.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.

What other advice do I have?

I don't know about the maintenance part of the solution since the server we use in our company is operated from some other location.

The global server load balancing feature of Citrix NetScaler has improved our company's application availability.

I can recommend the product to those who plan to use it.

I rate the overall tool a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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PeerSpot user
Founder at ASSISTA
Real User
Top 20
Effective firewall, highly scalable, and useful load balancing
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of Citrix ADC are load balancing and application firewall."
  • "Overall the price of Citrix ADC could be more competitive."

What is our primary use case?

We are using Citrix ADC for SSL offloads and security, secure remote access, loads balancing, and application firewall, web application firewall.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of Citrix ADC are load balancing and application firewall.

What needs improvement?

Overall the price of Citrix ADC could be more competitive.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Citrix ADC for approximately 10 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability of Citrix ADC is good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Citrix ADC is highly scalable. You can upgrade it and put increase the bandwidth or add more security features. You can start from the basic standard version, up to the Platinum version.

How was the initial setup?

Citrix ADC's initial setup was simple. The full process took approximately a half-day.

What about the implementation team?

We did the implementation of Citrix ADC in-house because we have the Citrix consultancy services for our customers. They utilize our services on-premise, and in-house. However, typically, the end-user customers, for private/public cloud,  have to have some deep technical knowledge. It's not for every IT person to implement. That's why the consulting team is needed to implement these kinds of solutions because they're very sensitive and high critical position in terms of application firewall, et cetera.

We have one person who handles the support of our Citrix ADC. For our customers, we use one person for their support.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Citrix ADC could improve the price and make it less expensive, other competitors have a better prices. This would allow Citrix ADC to keep dominating the market.

What other advice do I have?

It is a very good solution.

I rate Citrix ADC a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Rizwan Chishti - PeerSpot reviewer
Techinal Solution Manager/ Hybrid Cloud Enterprise Architect at Kyndryl
Real User
Top 10
Robust and stable product
Pros and Cons
  • "The best feature of Citrix is its track record of stability in its features."
  • "An area for improvement would be the difficulty in finding information about standard licensing costs over the internet. They should provide some reference prices on the net to be quickly referred to."

What is our primary use case?

My primary use case is for disaster recovery.

What is most valuable?

The best feature of Citrix is its track record of stability in its features.

What needs improvement?

An area for improvement would be the difficulty in finding information about standard licensing costs over the internet. They should provide some reference prices on the net to be quickly referred to. I would also like to see virtualization of the ad systems in the next release.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Citrix is a pretty robust and stable product. It has an edge because it's more stable than other solutions like Avaya and VMWare.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution is scalable.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution as eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Enterprise Server and Storage Administrator at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
A flexible, agile, and robust solution with easy implementation
Pros and Cons
  • "Its flexibility, agility, and robustness are the most valuable. Its management and implementation are also quite easy."
  • "Citrix ADC can be really complex. It isn't very simple like some other appliances that I've worked with. You need a lot of skill and experience to manage it. I'm not talking about a year or two. You need at least four years to understand it very well. It is not that easy to learn. They should make it a lot simpler for users to understand the management of it. They can also provide some additional training. The material they have on the site is not sufficient enough for you to understand how to manage it. Their training is expensive, and not everyone has the funds and experience for it. Citrix isn't very popular around these parts of the world. So, it can use some more marketing, sales, enlightenment, and advertisement. These could bring more market for them. Basically, there are just a few companies that really go for Citrix. Most of the companies go for VMware because they marketed themselves more than Citrix. There isn't much difference between Citrix and VMware. VMware is a little more robust than Citrix. Citrix has focused more on desktops rather than server virtualization, and that's the advantage VMware has over Citrix. Citrix also needs to educate and inform users about the infrastructure that is supported with a version. Currently, if the customers don't look at the datasheet, they might miss this important information."

What is our primary use case?

We basically use it for money transactions, important call centers, and cash centers.

What is most valuable?

Its flexibility, agility, and robustness are the most valuable. Its management and implementation are also quite easy.

What needs improvement?

Citrix ADC can be really complex. It isn't very simple like some other appliances that I've worked with. You need a lot of skill and experience to manage it. I'm not talking about a year or two. You need at least four years to understand it very well. It is not that easy to learn. They should make it a lot simpler for users to understand the management of it. They can also provide some additional training. The material they have on the site is not sufficient enough for you to understand how to manage it. Their training is expensive, and not everyone has the funds and experience for it.

Citrix isn't very popular around these parts of the world. So, it can use some more marketing, sales, enlightenment, and advertisement. These could bring more market for them. Basically, there are just a few companies that really go for Citrix. Most of the companies go for VMware because they marketed themselves more than Citrix. There isn't much difference between Citrix and VMware. VMware is a little more robust than Citrix. Citrix has focused more on desktops rather than server virtualization, and that's the advantage VMware has over Citrix.

Citrix also needs to educate and inform users about the infrastructure that is supported with a version. Currently, if the customers don't look at the datasheet, they might miss this important information.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

If you don't go and search for information in the datasheet and confirm which infrastructure is compatible with Citrix, it might blow up in your face. Citrix needs to work on this. They need to educate more and put more data to inform that not all infrastructure can go with this version of Citrix. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is highly scalable. We have 1,000 users currently, and we have plans to increase its usage.

How are customer service and technical support?

I am not sure if we have technical support from Citrix. If your version is out of date, you do not get any support from Citrix, even if you've been a loyal customer for a decade. That's a loophole, and there is no grace period for their licenses once they're expired. They should work on that and at least give you a grace period of 90 days or 60 days prior to renewing your licenses with them. We had some problems not long ago and needed their support, but because of the version we were running back then, they denied any support, and we ran into some productivity problems and service downtime as a whole.

How was the initial setup?

For me, it is easy, but other people might see it as complex.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It is very pricey, but we get it. If you need the best, money shouldn't be a problem.

What other advice do I have?

You need to understand the infrastructure first before delving into it. If you don't have proper knowledge about it, you might run into problems while managing it. Not everyone has the skill to manage Citrix ADC. So, I advise everyone to get proper training and education before implementing it. It is very important.

I would rate Citrix ADC a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Network Support Officer at Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc
Real User
A stable and lightweight gateway for application delivery
Pros and Cons
  • "My customers have told me that the performance of this solution is good."
  • "I would like to see multifactor authentication added to this solution to improve the security."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use of this solution is application delivery. It provides access.

This solution is a gateway to the public cloud.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of this solution is that it is very light. Once you log in, you have your applications delivered. It is not heavy over the internet or the web.

My customers have told me that the performance of this solution is good.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see multifactor authentication added to this solution to improve the security.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using this solution for three or four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

In terms of stability, this solution is quite good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

There are some things that I am not fully clear about when it comes to the physical appliance because I have not used it before. Currently, I am using the virtual appliance and it is scalable.

We have approximately one hundred users. We have no plans to increase usage at this time.

How are customer service and technical support?

My consultant handles the first level of technical support for me.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have not tried other solutions.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of this solution is not complex. I think that it's quite simple.

The deployment takes approximately one or two days.

What about the implementation team?

I have a consultant who handles the deployment of this solution for me.

What other advice do I have?

We have the option of configuring the workspace or the receiver for clients to connect, or they can use the URL option and then login. I prefer using the URL that is on the web.

This is a solution that I have used for years and I recommend it.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Head, Network Design at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
Real User
A robust and easy-to-use solution for load balancing and context switching
Pros and Cons
  • "The load balancing feature and the fact that you can do context switching in the WAF are the most valuable. We majorly use it for load balancing, but we also use it for context switching in the WAF. It is also robust and very easy to work with and manage."
  • "They can improve the scalability and the multi-tenancy feature. We recently tried to configure an authentication, and we ran into some issues while using the web-based GUI. It was very slow when you log in with your credentials in the web-based GUI. Each time we clicked on the menu, it tried to do the authentication. It works properly in the console."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for load balancing.

What is most valuable?

The load balancing feature and the fact that you can do context switching in the WAF are the most valuable. We majorly use it for load balancing, but we also use it for context switching in the WAF. It is also robust and very easy to work with and manage.

What needs improvement?

They can improve the scalability and the multi-tenancy feature. 

We recently tried to configure an authentication, and we ran into some issues while using the web-based GUI. It was very slow when you log in with your credentials in the web-based GUI. Each time we clicked on the menu, it tried to do the authentication. It works properly in the console. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Citrix ADC for six years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Its scalability is not good enough. We can't scale the model that we have to the one that is used for multi-tenancy. We need mobile multi-tenancy. Scalability is a big requirement for us. That's why we are looking at a different model.

How are customer service and technical support?

Their technical support has been okay. It is fine, but it can be improved.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have used an F5 solution. In F5, you have to do a lot of coding and scripting to be able to achieve certain things. Citrix is very straightforward because of the infrastructure that we run. It is very easy to spin up services. F5 is not straightforward.

How was the initial setup?

I wouldn't say that it was tedious. It was pretty much straightforward for us.

What about the implementation team?

We had a vendor who was experienced in deploying this solution. After the POC, it was easy for us to deploy this solution. We have less than 20 engineers to maintain this solution.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We get value for money. Its price is fair. I don't think it is overpriced. 

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution. It is cloud-ready. It can be deployed on the cloud as well as on-premises. 

I would rate Citrix ADC an eight out of ten. There are some flaws that need to be corrected.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Citrix NetScaler Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Citrix NetScaler Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.