For today’s IT teams, the number of end-user requests can be overwhelming — and extremely time-consuming. As a result, IT teams morph into tactical executors instead of being strategic stewards for the organization. However, by leveraging VMware vRealize Orchestrator to automate and streamline many of these requests, time is freed up for your team to focus more on strategic IT management and deployment.

To support the need to improve application management, Blue Medora has worked with Citrix to develop the Citrix NetScaler Plugin for VMware vRealize Orchestrator (vRO). The plugin enhances VMware’s vRO solution to extend workflow automation into Citrix NetScaler workloads, as well as other vRO plugins that you may be using.

In this blog post, we’ll cover the top use cases that the Citrix NetScaler Plugin from Blue Medora helps your team to simplify.

Automate the deployment and management of applications

In today’s digital era, applications are at the core of any organization — for some, essential to meeting their business objectives and even revenue goals. This increased reliance means that more applications deployed more frequently, snowballing application management and consuming your time.

The Citrix NetScaler Plugin for vRealize Orchestrator (vRO) from Blue Medora makes it easier to respond to these application requests. By streamlining provisioning, it enables your team to spend more time on strategic tasks — like risk management, migrations, and roadmap development and management.

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Figure 1: Example of setting your parameters for the Deploy L2 Cluster workflow with the Citrix NetScaler Plug-in from Blue Medora

Initiating a workflow, like the Deploy L2 Cluster workflow showcased above, requires minimal time. The Blue Medora Plug-in for Citrix NetScaler features a user-friendly user interface, including drop downs and default values, to create a wizard-like experience and offering clear insight and directions into the workflow process.

With the ability to automate VPX creation, configuration and deployment, for example, users can use workflows like “Get SDX Usage” to programmatically determine the best SDX to deploy the VPX to, rather than figuring that out manually, which consumes a significant amount of time and can result in errors.

Respond to bottlenecks faster

The increased number of applications can result in more issues for your team to respond to, which can also eat up a significant amount of time.

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Figure 2: Example of the Distribute Cluster Traffic workflow the Citrix NetScaler Plug-in from Blue Medora

With the Citrix NetScaler Plug-in for vRealize Orchestrator (vRO) from Blue Medora, simplify the automation process with a number of key features, including:

  • Use more than 10 out-of-the-box workflows to automate application lifecycle management and simplify troubleshooting
  • Access entire NITRO REST API in workflows and in any custom scripts/workflows written by users
  • Leverage the workflows from the vRO plug-in and integrate with vRealize Automation (vRA)

Because of the increased control and visibility into your Citrix NetScaler workflows and applications, you can ensure that bottlenecks don’t bring your environments to a screeching halt. In fact, you can see it in action here, Citrix NetScaler Plug-In for VMware vRealize Orchestrator.

Use a single console to manage infrastructure

If your organization could use a self-service portal, built on top of workflows to eliminate the need to provision environments manually, how would that improve efficiency and resource utilization?

This doesn’t have to be on your team’s wishlist — the Citrix NetScaler Plugin from Blue Medora enables you to see all the information that you need right in vRealize Orchestrator. In addition, you can leverage other plug-ins to truly enhance your vRO experience and simplify infrastructure management.

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Figure 3: Leverage the vRealize Orchestrator Command Center to streamline application management

With the Citrix NetScaler Plugin from Blue Medora, transform your IT operations and ensure their goals align with strategic business initiatives to meet end-user requirements, and in turn, drive towards key business objectives. Visit the Blue Medora Plug-ins for vRealize Orchestrator page to learn more and view the Citrix NetScaler Plugin for vRO on Blue Medora for a free trial.

This blog post was written by our guest, Lora Johnson, from Blue Medora. – ML

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