NetScaler ADC configuration history

This article will demonstrate how to view the Citrix NetScaler ADC configuration history and compare it with the current running configuration.

You may need to review the ADC configuration commit history for any number of reasons including but not limited to an unexpected commit that reverted or overrode a specific configuration or in the event of a cutover to a new product, a stale copy of the configuration may have changed from what was used early on in the project. If this is the case, either review the commit history as demonstrated in this article or just give the product engineer of the new product an updated copy of the config and you will be on your way.

To view the configuration history on the NetScaler ADC, perform the following steps:

1. ssh into the ADC device
2. Type shell and press enter
3. Now that you have a linux shell on the ADC device you can diff the configuration history logs.

diff /nsconfig/ns.conf /nsconfig/ns.conf.0
diff /nsconfig/ns.conf /nsconfig/ns.conf.1
diff /nsconfig/ns.conf /nsconfig/ns.conf.2
diff /nsconfig/ns.conf /nsconfig/ns.conf.3
diff /nsconfig/ns.conf /nsconfig/ns.conf.4
diff /nsconfig/ns.conf /nsconfig/ns.conf.5

The results of the diff will show you what has changed in each commit. The file has a last modified date to tell you when the changes were made. Use the diff any different number of ways with the files and the file order based on which versions you wish to compare.

Conclusion – NetScaler ADC configuration history

This article has demonstrated how to view and compare the commit history of a NetScaler ADC configuration. Let us know in the comments if you have any questions or would like to see more ADC examples. In our opinion, it would be ideal if Citrix would include a commit history similar to that of version control systems such as git. Alternatively, you may version your NetScaler config history in git. In fact, we recommend you do just that. The file you would be versioning is /nsconfig/ns.conf.