A lot of my NetScaler configurations are done at NetScaler Command Line Interface (CLI). Bye doing this I am sure that I remember to set all the parameters of a service or other stuff.

But do you know about the “history” command?

This will display the lasted command used in NetScaler CLI. Here is an example:

Be aware that when you use CLI, that you never type password in the CLI command as other users can see this.

Here I created a local NetScaler user at CLI, and this is what are displayed in that history:

A better way is to use the -password when creating or changing password for a user. Like this:

When using the -password option, this is what is displayed in the history:

I think that Citrix is wrong when writing the CLI commands in some of their articles, like this one:

https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX224027

The god thing is that the history is pr. user list. With the nsread user I can’t see the CLI commands done by the nsroot:

Unforcedly it is not possible to clear the history list in NetScaler kernel mode, as discussed here:

https://discussions.citrix.com/topic/386456-clearing-cli-history-security-concerns/

 

My college Allan has blogged about history issue with PowerShell, see his blog here:

https://www.virtual-allan.com/powershell-command-history/

 

Conclution

Well the NetScaler CLI is powerful and is god to use. Another benefit of using the NetScaler CLI is that you will soon be abled to read the full NetScaler configuration file (ns.conf)

As I wrote in this blog just be aware of the history and avoided using password in CLI commands.

Maybe Citrix will consider making a command to clear the history list.