Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) for Citrix Netscaler
Citrix Netscaler 2FA (Two-Factor Authentication) or Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is an additional layer of security in which a user or an organizational employee have to provide two factors to gain access to the Citrix Netscaler account. With Citrix Netscaler TFA being enabled, anyone trying to login to your Citrix Netscaler account from an unrecognized computer/device must provide additional authorization. Authentication starts with a user submitting his traditional username and password. Once the user successfully gets authenticated with the 1st step verification, configured 2FA (OTP over SMS, Push Notifications, Yubikey, TOTP, Google Authenticator etc) method prompts for 2nd-step verification. After successfully authenticating with both of the steps a user is granted with the access to the Citrix Netscaler account. This extra layer prevents the unauthorized person from accessing the resources even if cyber attackers get to know your credentials.
miniorange provides 15+ authentication methods and solutions for various use cases. It allows users and organizations to set up certain authentication and settings which includes password restrictions, restricting sign-in methods, as well as other security settings. miniorange also makes way for authentication apps that support Time-Based One-Time Password (TOTP) Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, Authy 2-Factor authentication app and our own miniorange Authenticator app.
Connect with External Source of Users
miniOrange provides user authentication from various external sources, which can be Directories (like ADFS, Microsoft Active Directory, Azure AD, OpenLDAP, Google, AWS Cognito etc), Identity Providers (like Shibboleth, Ping, Okta, OneLogin, KeyCloak), Databases (like MySQL, Maria DB, PostgreSQL) and many more.
miniOrange
Authenticator App
Google
Authenticator App
Authy 2-Factor
Authentication App
Microsoft
Authenticator App
Follow the Step-by-Step Guide given below for Citrix Netscaler Single Sign-On (SSO)
1. Configure Citrix Netscaler in miniOrange
- Login into miniOrange Admin Console.
- Go to Apps and click on Add Application button.

- In Choose Application Type click on Create App button in SAML/WS-FED application type.

- Search for Citrix Netscaler in the list, if you don't find Citrix Netscaler in the list then, search for custom and you can set up your application via Custom SAML App.

- In Basic Settings tab fill the following details:
Custom Application Name |
Citrix Netscaler Gateway |
SP Entity ID or Issuer |
This you will get from Citrix Netscaler Gateway, under Configure SAML tab |
ACS URL |
This you will get from Citrix Netscaler Gateway, under Configure SAML tab |

- Click Next, now in the Attribute Mapping configure the following attributes as shown in the image below.

- Click on Save.
Get IdP Metadata Details to upload to Citrix Netscaler Gateway:
- Go to Apps >> Manage Apps.
- Search for your app and click on the select in action menu against your app.
- Click on Metadata to get metadata details, which will be required later. Click on Link to see the IDP initiated SSO link for Citrix Netscaler Gateway.

- Here you will see 2 options, if you are setting up miniOrange as IDP copy the metadetails related to miniOrange, if you required to be authenticated via external IDP's (OKTA, AZURE AD, ADFS, ONELOGIN, GOOGLE APPS) you can get metadata from the 2nd Section as shown below.

- Keep SAML Login URL , SAML Logout URL and click on the Download Certificate button to download certificate which you will require in Step 2.
2. Configure SSO in Citrix Netscaler
- Login the Citrix NetScaler admin interface with admin rights
- Click on Configuration tab, select Traffic Management >> SSL >> Certificates.
- Note: If case if you are using Netscaler 11.1 then select Traffic Management >> SSL >> CACertificates >>Install.
- Enter identify name as Certificate-Key Pair Name.
- Click on the down arrow which is next to the Browse button to select local.
- Select the x.509 certificate which is downloaded in step 1.
- Click on Install.
- On Configuration page, select NetScaler Gateway >> Policies >> Authentication >> SAML >> Servers tab, then click on Add.
- In the Create Authentication SAML Server form, Enter Name IDP as certificate Name.
- Enter the value from Redirect URL as https://nssp2.example.com/cgi/samlauth
- Enter the value from Single Logout URL as https://nssp2.example.com/cgi/tmlogout
- Enter User Field ( Note: It should be Name ID untill another identifier is being used)
- Enter the certificate for your Gateway VIP as Signing Certificate Name.
- Enter your Gateway VIP URL as Issuer Name.
- In the Signature Algorithm section, select RSA-SHA256 as Signature Algorithm, SHA256 as Digest Method and POST as SAML Binding.
- Click on OK .
- Go back in the SAML section, select the Policies then click on Add.
- Now, add details, Enter Name as per your requirement.
- Click down menu and select your created Server Entry.
- Enter ns_true as the value of Expression.
- Click on OK.
- On the left side, select Virtual Servers below NetScaler Gateway section.
- Locate the virtual server to bind miniOrange SAML, Click on Edit.
- Under Authentication section and unlash any existing policies, after that close the Authentication sub-window.
- Go back in Virtual Server configuration screen, under the Authentication section, select plus (+) icon.
- Select SAML as Choose Policy and Primary as Choose Type then Click on Continue.
- Under the Policy Binding section, click on SAML policy which you created earlier.
- Click on the radial button which is in left and click on OK.
- Set the Priority as 100 and click on Bind.
- Go back to Virtual Server configuration screen and click on Done.
3. Configure 2FA for Citrix Netscaler
3.1: Enable 2FA for Users of Citrix Netscaler app
- To enable 2FA for Users of Citrix Netscaler application. Go to Policies >> App Authentication Policy
- Click on Edit against the configured application.

- Enable the Enable 2-Factor Authentication (MFA) option.

- Click on Save.
3.2: Configure 2FA for your Endusers
- To enable 2FA/MFA for endusers, go to 2-Factor Authentication >> 2FA Options For EndUsers.
- Select default Two-Factor authentication method for end users. Also, you can select particular 2FA methods, which you want to show on the end users dashboard.
- Once Done with the settings, click on Save to configure your 2FA settings.

3.3: Enduser 2FA Setup
- Login to End-User Dashboard using end user login URL.
- For Cloud Version: The login URL (branding url) which you have set.
- For On-Premise version: The login URL will be the same as of Admin Login URL.
- Select Setup 2FA from left panel. Then select any of the 2FA method available.
- For now, we have selected the SMS >> OTP OVER SMS as our 2FA method. You can explore the guide to setup other 2FA methods here.
- Enable the OTP over SMS if you have your phone number added under your profile section else click on Edit button.

- Enter you Phone Number along with the necessary country code and click on the SAVE button.

4. Test Citrix Netscaler 2FA
5. Adaptive Authentication with Citrix Netscaler
A. Restricting access to Citrix Netscaler with IP Blocking
B. Adaptive Authentication with Limiting number of devices.
Using Adaptive Authentication you can also restrict the number of devices the end user can access the Services on. You can allow end users to access services on a fixed no. of devices. The end users will be able to access services provided by us on this fixed no. of devices.
You can configure Adaptive Authentication with Device Restriction in following way
- Login to Self Service Console >> Adaptive Authentication.
- Add a Policy Name for your Adaptive Authentication Policy.
- Select your Action for behaviour Change and Challenge Type for user from the Action for behaviour Change Section.

- Scroll down to Device Configuration section and enable Allow User to Register Device option to allow users to register their devices.
- Enter the Number of Devices which are allowed to register in field next to Number of Device Registrations Allowed
- Choose Action if number of devices exceeded (This will override your setting for Action for Behaviour Change.)
- Challenge: The user needs to verify himself using any of the three methods mentioned in table in step 5.1
- Deny : Deny users access to the system
- Enable option Send email alerts to Users if number of Device registrations exceeded allowed count if you want to alert the user about no of devices exceeding the limit. Save the configuration.

C. Add Adaptive Authentication policy to Citrix Netscaler.
- Login to Self Service Console >> Policies.
- Click on Edit option for predefined SAML app policy.

- Set your application name in the Application and select password as Login Method.
- Enable Adaptive Authentication on Policy page and select the required restriction method as an option.
- From Select Login Policy dropdown select the policy we created in last step and click on save.

How to add a trusted Device
- When End-user log in to the self service console after the policy for device restriction is on, he is provided the option to add the current device as a trusted device.
External References
Our Other Identity & Access Management Products