NetScaler Pooled capacity

Last published : Sep 21, 2026
Important:
File-based licensing system (also referred to as manually managed entitlements), traditionally used for activating various on-premises components, will be End of Life (EOL) on April 15, 2026. License Activation Service (LAS) is the next generation technology for product activations across the suite of Citrix products. LAS will be the only way to activate and license NetScaler instances after April 15, 2026, supporting NetScaler Flexed licenses (CPL/UHMC), legacy NetScaler Pooled licenses, and NetScaler Fixed term Bandwidth licenses. To remain supported, your NetScaler and NetScaler Console deployments must be on a LAS compatible version.
The minimum required NetScaler® versions that are LAS compatible are:
  • NetScaler ADCs: 14.1-51.x, 13.1-60.x, 13.1-37.246 (FIPS), 14.1-66.68 (FIPS)
  • NetScaler SVM: 14.1-51.x, 13.1-60.x
  • NetScaler Console Service: Supported from early September 2025.
  • NetScaler Console on-prem: 14.1-51.x
    Note: LAS support for Console on-prem is from release 14.1-51.x onwards. However, file-based licensing is deprecated as of April 15 2026 from Console on-prem releases 14.1-51.x onwards and 13.1-60.x onwards. If you upgrade to Console on-prem release 14.1-51.x or release 13.1-60.x or later, you can continue using file-based licensing until 15th April 2026. However you must upgrade to Console on-prem release 14.1-51.x or later, and switch to LAS before 15th April 2026 because Console on-prem 13.1 does not support LAS.
All the other forms of legacy NetScaler licenses such as Pooled vCPU, CICO, perpetual will not be supported with LAS. NetScaler instances leveraging perpetual licenses without an active maintenance will become unlicensed upon upgrade to the above mentioned software versions.
LAS-based licenses may not be available to customers where prohibited by law or regulations.
If you have questions or concerns, contact Customer Care. Citrix may limit or suspend your Citrix Maintenance for non-compliance with these requirements without liability in addition to any other remedies Citrix may have at law or equity. These requirements don’t apply where prohibited by law or regulation.
NetScaler Pooled capacity allows you to share bandwidth or instance licenses across different NetScaler form factors. For virtual CPU subscription-based instances, you can share virtual CPU license across instances. Use this Pooled capacity for the instances that are in the data center or public clouds. When an instance no longer requires the resources, it checks the allocated capacity back into the common pool. Reuse the released capacity to other NetScaler instances that need resources.
You can use Pooled licensing to maximize the bandwidth utilization by ensuring the necessary bandwidth allocation to an instance and not more than its need. Increase or decrease the bandwidth allocated to an instance at run time without affecting the traffic. With the Pooled capacity licenses, you can automate the instance provisioning.
Related information

How NetScaler Pooled capacity licensing works

NetScaler Pooled capacity has the following components:
  • NetScaler instances, which can be categorized into:
    • Zero-capacity hardware
    • Standalone NetScaler VPX instances or NetScaler CPX instances or NetScaler BLX instances
  • Bandwidth pool
  • Instance pool
  • NetScaler Console configured as a license server

Zero-capacity hardware

When managed through NetScaler Pooled capacity, MPX and SDX instances are referred to as "zero-capacity hardware" because these instances cannot function until they check resources out of the bandwidth and instance pools. Thus, these platforms are also referred to as MPX-Z, and SDX-Z appliances.
Zero-capacity hardware requires a platform license to be able to check out bandwidth and an instance license from the common pool.
Note
  • Instance license subscription is not required for MPX instances. See table 1 in this page for supported Pooled capacity for MPX and SDX instances. See table 5 for license requirements for different MPX and SDX form factors.
  • The zero capacity license installation works the same way as other NetScaler local licenses. For more information about how to obtain and install a zero capacity license, see Licensing guide for NetScaler.

Manage and install platform licenses

You must install a platform license manually, by using the hardware serial number or the license access code. After a platform license is installed, it is locked to the hardware and cannot be shared across NetScaler hardware instances on demand. However, you can manually move the platform license to another NetScaler hardware instance.
NetScaler MPX instances running the NetScaler software release 11.1 build 54.14 or later and NetScaler SDX instances running 11.1 build 58.13 or later support NetScaler Pooled capacity. For more information, see Table 1. Supported Pooled capacity for MPX and SDX instances.

Standalone NetScaler VPX instances

NetScaler VPX instances running NetScaler software release 11.1 Build 54.14 and later on the following hypervisors supports Pooled capacity:
  • VMware ESX 6.0
  • Citrix Hypervisor™
  • Linux KVM
NetScaler VPX instances running NetScaler software release 12.0 Build 51.24 and later on the following hypervisors and cloud platforms supports Pooled capacity:
  • Microsoft Hyper-V
  • AWS
  • Microsoft Azure
  • Google Cloud
NetScaler VPX instances running NetScaler software release 13.0 and 13.1 (all versions) on the following hypervisors and cloud platforms support Pooled capacity:
  • VMware ESX 6.0
  • Citrix Hypervisor
  • Linux KVM
  • Microsoft Hyper-V
  • AWS
  • Microsoft Azure
  • Google Cloud
Note
To enable communication between NetScaler Console and Microsoft Azure or AWS, an IPSEC tunnel has to be configured. For more information, see Add NetScaler VPX Instances Deployed in Cloud to NetScaler Console. Unlike zero-capacity hardware, NetScaler VPX does not require a platform license. To process traffic, it must check out bandwidth and an instance license from the pool.

Standalone NetScaler CPX instances

NetScaler CPX instances deployed on a Docker host support Pooled capacity. Unlike zero-capacity hardware, NetScaler CPX does not require a platform license. A single NetScaler CPX instance consuming up to 1 Gbps throughput checks-out only 1 instance and no bandwidth from the license pool. For example, consider that you have 20 NetScaler CPX instances with a 20 Gbps bandwidth pool. If one of the NetScaler CPX instances consumes 500 Mbps throughput, the bandwidth pool remains 20 Gbps for the remaining 19 NetScaler CPX instances.
If the same NetScaler CPX instance starts to consume 1500 Mbps throughput, the bandwidth pool has 19.5 Gbps for the remaining 19 NetScaler CPX instances.
For pool licensing, you can add more bandwidth only in multiples of 10 Mbps.

Standalone NetScaler BLX instances

NetScaler BLX instances support Pooled capacity licenses. A NetScaler BLX instance does not require a platform license. To process traffic, a NetScaler BLX instance must check out bandwidth and an instance license from the pool.

Bandwidth Pool

The bandwidth pool is the total bandwidth that can be shared by NetScaler instances, both physical and virtual. The bandwidth pool comprises separate pools for each software edition (Standard, Advanced, and Premium). A given NetScaler instance cannot have bandwidth from different pools checked out concurrently. The bandwidth pool from which it can check out bandwidth depends on its software edition for which it is licensed.

Instance pool

The instance pool defines the number of NetScaler VPX instances or NetScaler CPX instances or NetScaler BLX instances that can be managed through NetScaler Pooled capacity or the number of NetScaler VPX instances in an SDX-Z instance.
When checked out from the pool, a license unlocks the MPX-Z, SDX-Z, VPX, NetScaler CPX, and NetScaler BLX instance's resources, including CPUs/PEs, SSL cores, packets per second, and bandwidth.
Note
The Management Service of an SDX-Z does not consume an instance.

NetScaler Console license server

NetScaler Pooled capacity uses NetScaler Console configured as a license server to manage Pooled capacity licenses: bandwidth pool licenses and instance pool licenses. You can use the NetScaler Console software to manage Pooled capacity licenses without an NetScaler Console license.
When checking out licenses from bandwidth and instance pool, NetScaler form factor and hardware model number on a zero-capacity hardware determines
  • The minimum bandwidth and the number of instances that a NetScaler instance must check out before being functional.
  • The maximum bandwidth and the number of instances that a NetScaler can check out.
  • The minimum bandwidth unit for each bandwidth check-out. The minimum bandwidth unit is the smallest unit of bandwidth that a NetScaler has to check out from a pool. Any check-out must be an integer multiple of the minimum bandwidth unit. For example, if the minimum bandwidth unit of a NetScaler is 1 Gbps, 1000 Mbps can be checked out, but not 200 Mbps or 150.5 Gbps. The minimum bandwidth unit is different from the minimum bandwidth requirement. A NetScaler instance can only operate after it is licensed with at least the minimum bandwidth. Once the minimum bandwidth is met, the instance can check out more bandwidth with the minimum bandwidth unit.
Tables 1, 2, 3, and 4 summarize the maximum bandwidth/instances, minimum bandwidth/instances, and minimum bandwidth unit for all supported NetScaler instances. Table 5 summarizes the license requirement for different form factors for all supported NetScaler instances:

Table 1. Supported Pooled capacity for MPX and SDX instances

Product line Maximum bandwidth (Gbps) Minimum bandwidth (Gbps) Minimum instances Maximum instances Minimum bandwidth unit
MPX 5900Z 10 1 N/A N/A 1 Gbps
MPX 8900Z 30 5 NA NA 1 Gbps
MPX 9100Z 30 10 NA NA 1 Gbps
MPX 8900Z FIPS 33 5 NA NA 1 Gbps
MPX 14000Z series 100 20 NA NA 1 Gbps
MPX 14000Z 40G series 100 20 N/A N/A 1 Gbps
MPX 14000Z FIPS series 100 20 N/A N/A 1 Gbps
MPX 14000Z 40S series 100 20 N/A N/A 1 Gbps
MPX 15000Z series 120 20 N/A N/A 1 Gbps
MPX 15000Z FIPS series 120 20 N/A N/A 1 Gbps
MPX 15000Z 50G series 120 20 N/A N/A 1 Gbps
MPX 16000Z series 200 30 N/A N/A 1 Gbps
MPX 22000Z series 120 40 N/A N/A 1 Gbps
MPX 24000Z series 150 100 N/A N/A 1 Gbps
MPX 25000Z 40G 200 100 N/A N/A 1 Gbps
MPX 25000ZA 200 100 N/A N/A 1 Gbps
MPX 26000Z series 200 100 N/A N/A 1 Gbps
MPX 26000Z 100G series 200 100 N/A N/A 1 Gbps
MPX 26000Z 50S series 200 100 N/A N/A 1 Gbps
SDX 8900Z 30 10 1 7 1 Gbps
SDX 9100Z 95 20 1 7 1 Gbps
SDX 14000Z series 100 10 1 25 1 Gbps
SDX 14000Z 40G series 100 1 2 25 1 Gbps
SDX 14000Z 40S series 100 20 1 25 1 Gbps
SDX 14000Z FIPS series 100 10 1 25 1 Gbps
SDX 15000Z 50G 120 10 1 55 1 Gbps
SDX 15000Z 120 10 1 55 1 Gbps
SDX 16000Z series 200 15 1 55 1 Gbps
SDX 22000Z series 120 20 1 80 1 Gbps
SDX 25000Z 40G 200 50 1 115 1 Gbps
SDX 25000ZA 200 50 1 115 1 Gbps
SDX 26000Z 100G 200 50 1 115 1 Gbps
SDX 26000Z 200 50 1 115 1 Gbps
SDX 26000Z 50S 200 50 1 115 1 Gbps
SDX 24000Z series 150 50 1 80 1 Gbps
Note
The minimum bandwidth and instances are applicable to SDX instances running the following releases and higher: 11.1 64.x, 12.0 63.x, 12.1 54.x, and 13.0 41.x.
The minimum purchase quantity is different from the minimum system requirement.

Table 2. Supported Pooled capacity for NetScaler CPX instances

Product line Maximum bandwidth (Gbps) Minimum bandwidth (Mbps) Minimum instances Maximum instances Minimum bandwidth unit
CPX 10 10 1 1 10 Mbps

Table 3. Supported Pooled capacity for NetScaler VPX instances on Hypervisors and Cloud services

Hypervisor/Cloud Service Maximum bandwidth (Gbps) Minimum bandwidth (Mbps) Minimum instances Maximum instances Minimum bandwidth unit
Citrix Hypervisor 40 Gbps 10 Mbps 1 1 10 Mbps
VMware ESXI 100 Gbps 10 Mbps 1 1 10 Mbps
Linux KVM 100 Gbps 10 Mbps 1 1 10 Mbps
Microsoft Hyper-V 3 Gbps 10 Mbps 1 1 10 Mbps
AWS 30 Gbps 10 Mbps 1 1 10 Mbps
Azure 10 Gbps 10 Mbps 1 1 10 Mbps
Google Cloud 10 Gbps 10 Mbps 1 1 10 Mbps
Note
The minimum purchase quantity is different from the minimum system requirement.

Table 4. Supported Pooled capacity for NetScaler BLX instances

Product line Maximum bandwidth (Gbps) Minimum bandwidth (Mbps) Minimum instances Maximum instances Minimum bandwidth unit
BLX 100 10 1 1 10 Mbps

Table 5. License requirement for different form factors

Product line Zero Capacity Hardware Purchase Bandwidth and Edition Subscription Instance Subscription
MPX License required License required -
SDX License required License required License required
VPX - License required License required
CPX - - License required
BLX - License required License required