IPSec / SSL VPN

Citrix Access Gateway: duplicate STA ID

René Jorissen on March 29, 2010 3 Comments • Tags: #access #authority #cag #citrix #duplicate #gateway #secure #sta #ticket

I received complains from a customers who wasn’t able to add two new Citrix servers to his Citrix Access Gateway configuration. He could successfully add the first Citrix server, but he couldn’t add the second Citrix server, because the first was overwritten by the second. I looked at the problem and noticed that both Citrix server were using the same STA Identifier.

After asking some question about the installation of the Citrix server, I discovered that the second Citrix server was a clone of the fist Citrix server. That is why both servers have the same STA Identifier. The STA ID from a Citrix server can be changed by altering the file CtxSta.config. By default a Citrix server has two CtxSta.config files, located at the following destinations (default installation):

  • C:\Program Files\Citrix\System32;
  • C:\Inetpub\Scripts;

I had to change the STA ID in the C:\Inetpub\Scripts directory, because IIS was used to share port 80 on the server. The CtxSta.config file contains a UID, like the example below:

[GlobalConfig]

UID=STAA3D2D2970C9C

TicketVersion=10

TicketTimeout=100000

MaxTickets=100000

LogLevel=0

MaxLogCount=10

MaxLogSize=20

LogDir=c:\inetpub\Scripts\

; Allowed Client IP addresses
; To change, substitute * with client IP addresses. Use ";" to seperate IP addresses/address ranges.
; To specify a range of IPs always use StartIP-EndIP.
; For example, AllowedClientIPList=192.168.1.1;10.8.1.12-10.8.1.18;123.1.2.3

AllowedClientIPList=*

; SSL only mode
; If set to on, only requests sent through HTTPS are accepted
SSLOnly=off

I changed the UID on the second server and restarted IIS. I tried to add the Citrix server to the Citrix Access Gateway, which is now possible with the new unique STA ID. The last step is adding the second Citrix server to the Citrix WebInterface (server farm & STA ID).

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René Jorissen

Co-owner and Solution Specialist at 4IP Solutions
René Jorissen works as Solution Specialist for 4IP in the Netherlands. Network Infrastructures are the primary focus. René works with equipment of multiple vendors, like Cisco, Aruba Networks, FortiNet, HP Networking, Juniper Networks, RSA SecurID, AeroHive, Microsoft and many more. René is Aruba Certified Edge Expert (ACEX #26), Aruba Certified Mobility Expert (ACMX #438), Aruba Certified ClearPass Expert (ACCX #725), Aruba Certified Design Expert (ACDX #760), CCNP R&S, FCNSP and Certified Ethical Hacker (CEF) certified. You can follow René on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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  1. Alessandro says:

    Thanks for this post!

    Can you just enter a random-ID? no need to let it be generatet by any tool or something like that?

  2. Hey Allessandro,

    I just changes a (few) number at random and it did the trick. There is no need to use to kind of tool or executable to generate the STA ID.

  3. Alessandro says:

    Hi René
    Thank you for your quick answer! I’ll try that!

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