Towards the end of the XenServer 5.6 ("Midnight Ride") release we added support for CPU masking features in modern Intel and AMD CPUs. This work was prioritized to help address the pain customers have reported in expanding their XenServer resource pools over time. Unfortunately, between finishing Midnight Ride, the long-pole work around our integration of Open vSwitch and Distributed Virtual Switching, and the push to get "Cowley" (XenServer 5.6 Feature Pack 1) into beta release it's taken more time than we hoped to get the supporting collateral for the CPU masking features put together.
So I'm happy to post that we've published the first set of supported CPU combinations on the XenServer Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) and a Understanding Heterogeneous Pools in XenServer 5.6 Knowledge Base article that details how CPU masking support is implemented in XenServer, related changes to how CPUs are assessed for compatibility at pool join time, and how to determine compatibility of any particular set of CPUs.
Finally, because of the very large range of possible CPU combinations a key aspect to this support is that anyone can certify their own combinations using the new Heterogeneous Pools self-test kit. Once certified Citrix will add the combination to the HCL.
[Carl Fischer]
Showing posts with label xenserver. Show all posts
Showing posts with label xenserver. Show all posts
Monday, November 08, 2010
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Release XenServer 5.6
Dynamic Memory Control. Let's say you have a few XenServer hosts. You need to spin up some more VMs, but your VMs are configured to use all available resource pool memory. However, you know that some of the existing VMs aren't using all the physical memory you've allocated. With XenServer 5.6, you can set memory ranges for VMs so that you can squeeze the physical memory used for existing VMs in order to let new ones on. If you find that one or more VMs operating near the lower limit requires more memory, you can increase the minimum level on the fly without rebooting.
Role-Based Administration and Audit. You're the primary XenServer administrator. You have a junior admin that you want to provide a lower level of access within XenCenter so that they can start/stop/reboot/snapshot VMs without either 1. bothering you to do it for them all the time, or 2. Giving them full access to the XenCenter console where they have access to networking and storage configurations. If that junior admin deletes a VM, you'll have an audit trail with a record of this change, and when it was performed.
Heterogeneous Pools. Let's say you have a pool of 5 XenServer hosts, which run on year-old hardware with Intel Xeon 5400 processors. Now you buy a couple of new servers, which have new Intel Xeon 5500 processors. With XenServer you can join them to the same pool and enable XenMotion, HA, Shared Storage, and Workload Balancing. In the past, you could "force join" the newer servers to the existing pool, but you'd have to be careful not to XenMotion between different processor types. This feature works with Intel processors with "Flex Migrate" capability and AMD processors with "Extended Migration" features. Note that live migration between Intel and AMD does not work. We've added a new section on the HCL with the tested configurations. Those that aren't listed can be added by running through the Citrix Ready XenServer hardware test kit.
Memory Snapshots and one-click revert. In addition to disk snapshots for backup, now you can snapshot the live running state of a VM. In previous versions of XenServer, reverting to your snapshot was a multi-step process that was not ideal. Now you just click "revert" in the snapshot manager.
Dynamic Workload Balancing with Power Management. If you have a XenApp farm running 24x7,there is quite a bit of power wasted by those servers during nights and weekends when only a handful of users are accessing applications. Workload balancing can be scheduled to consolidate all of your idle XenApp servers on as few hosts as possible while powering off the newly vacated XenServer hosts. In the morning or after a weekend, those machines will power on and the VMs will be redistributed to handle the load. Additionally, Workload Balancing includes a fully-automated mode with some new configuration options. Example: if you have some VMs that you don't want moving around, simply start those VMs on a specific host and exclude that host from WLB computations.
Increased scalability. We've doubled support limits for logical processors and memory to 64 and 256 GB, respectively. Up to 16 NICs per host are supported as well.
Updated Support for Provisioning Services (PVS). PVS 5.6 has been updated, and includes a helpful new vDisk imaging wizard. XenCenter is now more aware of PVS boot scenarios, namely through "boot from network" options in the new VM setup wizard. One thing we'd like people to try (call it a "Tech Preview") is streaming of XenServer bits themselves, in addition to VMs. The eventual goal here is to greatly simplify management of XenServer updates and upgrades, just as PVS has done for XenApp and XenDesktop VMs.
Enhanced XenCenter. Did you run the XenDesktop setup wizard incorrectly and create a bunch of VMs that you now need to delete? Use the multi-select feature, right-click, and select "delete." Need to start or shutdown a bunch of VMs at the same time? Another good use for the multi-select option. Other useful additions include one-step "VM move" (powered down) from array to array. Try right mouse clicking on a custom template and select "Instant VM from template." You won't be prompted to accept all the defaults, which you probably click right through anyway.
Enhanced support for iSCSI arrays with multi-IQN / IP configuration. DataCore SANMelody is an example of an iSCSI array that advertises multiple IQNs with multiple IP addresses. With 5.6, we aim to make the setup of XenServer with SANMelody arrays much easier with the wildcard IQN scan option.
OEM edition simplification. We used to assist with the creation of HP and Dell-specific versions of XenServer, which they shipped onboard their servers. This had some issues. One key example: though "Update" releases were made available for OEM editions, individual hotfixes were not. No more. Now we have one set of bits and HP and Dell apply hardware specific "supplementary packs" which contain their management agents and other hardware-specific components. You can also support BIOS locking if you have an OEM version of Windows that you want to run as a virtual machine on your XenServer host.
Advanced Edition. HA, Dynamic Memory Control, Alerting, and Performance History for $1,000 per server. Note: for a full list of the features in each edition (including Free) see here:
Server-based pricing. This isn't "new" per se, however it's starting to matter a lot more when you compare costs of XenServer and vSphere on some of the latest servers. Dell R815 and HP DL385 G7 servers now ship with 12-core Opteron 6000 processors. The problem for VMware customers is that they won't allow you to run vSphere Standard or Enterprise Edition on those servers. In other words, VMware hates Moore's Law. With XenServer, we don't care how many cores or sockets the server has; you pay the same price with any configuration. Citrix loves Moore's Law.
Initial SR-IOV platform support for NetScaler VPX. If you've got a server with an Intel SR-IOV capable NIC, you will soon be able to achieve near line-speed network performance to a XenServer virtual machine. Initial tests within Citrix have shown ~ 108 Gbps of aggregate bandwidth to a NetScaler VPX virtual machine. Note that the real benefit of this will arrive when we have a version of the NetScaler VPX that can use this platform capability (later this year).
StorageLink Site Recovery. You've got a secondary site where you want to replicate all your virtual machines in case disaster strikes your primary site. StorageLink Site Recovery simplifies the process of setting up this replication and recovering virtual machines in the DR site. Check the StorageLink HCL for arrays that initially support Site Recovery.
Citrix License Server integration. Paid versions of XenServer now require a Citrix License Server. Here's what you need to know:
1. The Free version of XenServer continues to use the file-based activation process, so a license server isn't required if you are using Free XenServer.
2. Unlike with prior versions of XenServer, licensing is enforced. Before you upgrade any existing 5.x systems to 5.6, verify that you have the right number of licenses allocated to you via your mycitrix.com account. Note that there is a 30 day grace period after an upgrade, which gives you plenty of time to get your License Server set up.
3. In addition to the existing Windows-based License Server, we're making a License Server virtual appliance available as well. Just import it, run through a short configuration, and use a browser to upload your license files.
For more information on 5.6 licensing, see CTX125301.
Was anything removed from the product in 5.6?
Not much. The legacy Linux P2V tool in the installer is gone, though it wasn't of much use any more since it only worked for very old distros. We've also dropped Debian Etch (4.0) support since it no longer receives security updates. Those of you who look closely might find that the new "Demo Linux VM" template is, shall we say, eerily similar to Debian Etch. It's not recommended for production use, and we have this solely because so many of you told us you liked the built-in Linux distro for testing and demonstration purposes.
What's not available quite yet?
While nearly everything in XenServer 5.6 is available today, a couple of things have yet to be posted:
* Citrix License Server Virtual Appliance. If you don't already have a Citrix License Server running in your environment, you may want to wait to upgrade until this virtual appliance is available. It will be posted no later than June 30.
* Updated Lab Manager. This will be available by June 4.
And though we're shipping XenServer 5.6 today, we've already started work on the next couple of releases. Stay tuned for more on "Project Cowley" and "Project Boston."
Role-Based Administration and Audit. You're the primary XenServer administrator. You have a junior admin that you want to provide a lower level of access within XenCenter so that they can start/stop/reboot/snapshot VMs without either 1. bothering you to do it for them all the time, or 2. Giving them full access to the XenCenter console where they have access to networking and storage configurations. If that junior admin deletes a VM, you'll have an audit trail with a record of this change, and when it was performed.
Heterogeneous Pools. Let's say you have a pool of 5 XenServer hosts, which run on year-old hardware with Intel Xeon 5400 processors. Now you buy a couple of new servers, which have new Intel Xeon 5500 processors. With XenServer you can join them to the same pool and enable XenMotion, HA, Shared Storage, and Workload Balancing. In the past, you could "force join" the newer servers to the existing pool, but you'd have to be careful not to XenMotion between different processor types. This feature works with Intel processors with "Flex Migrate" capability and AMD processors with "Extended Migration" features. Note that live migration between Intel and AMD does not work. We've added a new section on the HCL with the tested configurations. Those that aren't listed can be added by running through the Citrix Ready XenServer hardware test kit.
Memory Snapshots and one-click revert. In addition to disk snapshots for backup, now you can snapshot the live running state of a VM. In previous versions of XenServer, reverting to your snapshot was a multi-step process that was not ideal. Now you just click "revert" in the snapshot manager.
Dynamic Workload Balancing with Power Management. If you have a XenApp farm running 24x7,there is quite a bit of power wasted by those servers during nights and weekends when only a handful of users are accessing applications. Workload balancing can be scheduled to consolidate all of your idle XenApp servers on as few hosts as possible while powering off the newly vacated XenServer hosts. In the morning or after a weekend, those machines will power on and the VMs will be redistributed to handle the load. Additionally, Workload Balancing includes a fully-automated mode with some new configuration options. Example: if you have some VMs that you don't want moving around, simply start those VMs on a specific host and exclude that host from WLB computations.
Increased scalability. We've doubled support limits for logical processors and memory to 64 and 256 GB, respectively. Up to 16 NICs per host are supported as well.
Updated Support for Provisioning Services (PVS). PVS 5.6 has been updated, and includes a helpful new vDisk imaging wizard. XenCenter is now more aware of PVS boot scenarios, namely through "boot from network" options in the new VM setup wizard. One thing we'd like people to try (call it a "Tech Preview") is streaming of XenServer bits themselves, in addition to VMs. The eventual goal here is to greatly simplify management of XenServer updates and upgrades, just as PVS has done for XenApp and XenDesktop VMs.
Enhanced XenCenter. Did you run the XenDesktop setup wizard incorrectly and create a bunch of VMs that you now need to delete? Use the multi-select feature, right-click, and select "delete." Need to start or shutdown a bunch of VMs at the same time? Another good use for the multi-select option. Other useful additions include one-step "VM move" (powered down) from array to array. Try right mouse clicking on a custom template and select "Instant VM from template." You won't be prompted to accept all the defaults, which you probably click right through anyway.
Enhanced support for iSCSI arrays with multi-IQN / IP configuration. DataCore SANMelody is an example of an iSCSI array that advertises multiple IQNs with multiple IP addresses. With 5.6, we aim to make the setup of XenServer with SANMelody arrays much easier with the wildcard IQN scan option.
OEM edition simplification. We used to assist with the creation of HP and Dell-specific versions of XenServer, which they shipped onboard their servers. This had some issues. One key example: though "Update" releases were made available for OEM editions, individual hotfixes were not. No more. Now we have one set of bits and HP and Dell apply hardware specific "supplementary packs" which contain their management agents and other hardware-specific components. You can also support BIOS locking if you have an OEM version of Windows that you want to run as a virtual machine on your XenServer host.
Advanced Edition. HA, Dynamic Memory Control, Alerting, and Performance History for $1,000 per server. Note: for a full list of the features in each edition (including Free) see here:
Server-based pricing. This isn't "new" per se, however it's starting to matter a lot more when you compare costs of XenServer and vSphere on some of the latest servers. Dell R815 and HP DL385 G7 servers now ship with 12-core Opteron 6000 processors. The problem for VMware customers is that they won't allow you to run vSphere Standard or Enterprise Edition on those servers. In other words, VMware hates Moore's Law. With XenServer, we don't care how many cores or sockets the server has; you pay the same price with any configuration. Citrix loves Moore's Law.
Initial SR-IOV platform support for NetScaler VPX. If you've got a server with an Intel SR-IOV capable NIC, you will soon be able to achieve near line-speed network performance to a XenServer virtual machine. Initial tests within Citrix have shown ~ 108 Gbps of aggregate bandwidth to a NetScaler VPX virtual machine. Note that the real benefit of this will arrive when we have a version of the NetScaler VPX that can use this platform capability (later this year).
StorageLink Site Recovery. You've got a secondary site where you want to replicate all your virtual machines in case disaster strikes your primary site. StorageLink Site Recovery simplifies the process of setting up this replication and recovering virtual machines in the DR site. Check the StorageLink HCL for arrays that initially support Site Recovery.
Citrix License Server integration. Paid versions of XenServer now require a Citrix License Server. Here's what you need to know:
1. The Free version of XenServer continues to use the file-based activation process, so a license server isn't required if you are using Free XenServer.
2. Unlike with prior versions of XenServer, licensing is enforced. Before you upgrade any existing 5.x systems to 5.6, verify that you have the right number of licenses allocated to you via your mycitrix.com account. Note that there is a 30 day grace period after an upgrade, which gives you plenty of time to get your License Server set up.
3. In addition to the existing Windows-based License Server, we're making a License Server virtual appliance available as well. Just import it, run through a short configuration, and use a browser to upload your license files.
For more information on 5.6 licensing, see CTX125301.
Was anything removed from the product in 5.6?
Not much. The legacy Linux P2V tool in the installer is gone, though it wasn't of much use any more since it only worked for very old distros. We've also dropped Debian Etch (4.0) support since it no longer receives security updates. Those of you who look closely might find that the new "Demo Linux VM" template is, shall we say, eerily similar to Debian Etch. It's not recommended for production use, and we have this solely because so many of you told us you liked the built-in Linux distro for testing and demonstration purposes.
What's not available quite yet?
While nearly everything in XenServer 5.6 is available today, a couple of things have yet to be posted:
* Citrix License Server Virtual Appliance. If you don't already have a Citrix License Server running in your environment, you may want to wait to upgrade until this virtual appliance is available. It will be posted no later than June 30.
* Updated Lab Manager. This will be available by June 4.
And though we're shipping XenServer 5.6 today, we've already started work on the next couple of releases. Stay tuned for more on "Project Cowley" and "Project Boston."
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Crisis? What crisis? -- Venceremos la crisis!
Crisis? What Crisis?
1975, A&M records, Supertramp
Crisis
1983, EMI Int'l, Mike Oldfield
Crisis
2009, VMware Inc. @ Q1 earnings call: 12.6% decline in license revenue
Venceremos la crisis!
2008, Alan García @ APEC economic forum
2009, Citrix Systems, @ Q1 earnings call: 150% YOY growth in XenServer business
1975, A&M records, Supertramp
Crisis
1983, EMI Int'l, Mike Oldfield
Crisis
2009, VMware Inc. @ Q1 earnings call: 12.6% decline in license revenue
Venceremos la crisis!
2008, Alan García @ APEC economic forum
2009, Citrix Systems, @ Q1 earnings call: 150% YOY growth in XenServer business
Storage Link explained at technical level
Peter Benoit, engineering director for StorageLink and his 57' deep dive video (45mb) with Barry.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Here's to George -- XenServer 5.5 is arriving
As announced here the public beta version of XenServer 'George' 5.5 is available.
Please find it at here!
Please find it at here!
Monday, April 20, 2009
xen to the power of two
Oracle surprises with a $7.1bn offer for Sun. The first thought might not be virtualization, but a second should be virtualization. After Citrix XenServer (11%) Sun's Hypervisor (7%) is the second Xen-based Hypervisor in production [NetIQ, Aug 08]. OracleVM will increase the percentage a bit.
What's the result?
VMware (56%) faces strong xen competitors:
- Citrix XenServer, outperforming VI3.5 41% (Tolly) to 100% (IBM/Trost); Sales up 40% in Q4 according the Q4 earnings call
- Oracle/Sun, the most prominent company denying OracleDB support on virtualization platforms except the Xen-based OracleVM; ready to distribute a JeOS-like OracleDB turnkey solution.
- XenCloud, Xen based clouds in production at Amazon, Google et all
What'll happen to VirtualBox? Ready to be merged with hosted Xen? ;-)
What's the result?
VMware (56%) faces strong xen competitors:
- Citrix XenServer, outperforming VI3.5 41% (Tolly) to 100% (IBM/Trost); Sales up 40% in Q4 according the Q4 earnings call
- Oracle/Sun, the most prominent company denying OracleDB support on virtualization platforms except the Xen-based OracleVM; ready to distribute a JeOS-like OracleDB turnkey solution.
- XenCloud, Xen based clouds in production at Amazon, Google et all
Just one more thing
What'll happen to VirtualBox? Ready to be merged with hosted Xen? ;-)
Friday, April 17, 2009
TNG George: The next generation of XenServer
Carl Fischer posted the announcement for beta for the next release of XenServer:
Project George contains several highly-requested new features:
- Active Directory integration. Specify the AD domain to use for authentication by the pool and use your AD credentials to connect to the pool via XenCenter and ssh. You control which AD users/groups are allowed access.
- Workload balancing. Guest and host performance metrics are used to create star ratings for individual VM placement and balancing recommendations for resource pools to achieve optimal performance.
- LVHD. Fast cloning and snapshots are now supported on all SR types through integration of our software VHD stack and LVM-based Storage Repositories (SRs).
- StorageLink integration. CLI-only support for a new StorageLink Gateway SR that adds native standards-based support for HP MSA, HP EVA, EMC Clariion, and NetApp storage arrays over iSCSI and Fibre Channel with automated initiator/fabric/array management.
- Expanded guest OS support. RHEL 5.3, Debian Lenny, and SLES 11 Linux guests.
- Enhanced beta problem reporting system. We've deployed an enhanced problem reporting system for use with the George beta. The forums will still be used for discussion but issues with the product can now be reported via a Jira-based ticketing system that supports designating issues as public or private. No more having to FTP your Server Status Reports (aka bug-tools)!
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
The return of performance comparisons: 'XenServer vs. VMware'
Tolly Group just released their benchmark findings in the endless performance discussion. This time test methology and findings were approved by VMW, so it's no longer XenServer vs BrandX.
The bottom line: XenServer 5 outperforms VMware ESX 3.5 Update 3 by 41%.
[https://dl.getdropbox.com/u/17477/TollyGroup_XenServer_vs_VMware_%20Apr2009.pdf]
The bottom line: XenServer 5 outperforms VMware ESX 3.5 Update 3 by 41%.
[https://dl.getdropbox.com/u/17477/TollyGroup_XenServer_vs_VMware_%20Apr2009.pdf]
Sunday, April 12, 2009
XenConvert 2 with OVF support
Citrix just released a tech preview of XenConvert.
Highlights:
- OVF support
- V2V Integration
Find it at
MyCitrix Downloads -> Citrix XenServer/Essentials -> Betas/Tech Previews
or here
Highlights:
- OVF support
- V2V Integration
Find it at
MyCitrix Downloads -> Citrix XenServer/Essentials -> Betas/Tech Previews
or here
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Citrix Xen and Open
three things to consider:
(1) Citrix/XenSource delivers roughly 66% (stats since xen 3.0 release)of the Xen hypervisor code check ins and employs amongst others the project maintainer.
(2) The added value to the hypervisor or engine to stay with that analogy comes through Citrix unique management infrastructure (which is not OSS) as well Citrix partners (HP, Dell, Microsoft, NetApp, Equallogic, Marathon, VMlogix, ...) and ecosystem (Marathon, Vizioncore, Symantec, ...). The management infrastructure is received well even in the linux community (e.g. Linux-Magazin, 03/09, http://www.linux-magazin.de/heft_abo/ausgaben/2009/03). In case you prefer CLI instead of GUI, compare 'xm' and 'xe help -all' commands
(3) The Xen hypervisor is the key to all major products: XenServer, XenClient, XenDesktop and Citrix Computing Cloud (C3, XenServer paired w/NetScaler, WANscaler and Edgeside) - even XenApp, with XenServer being the best platform to harbour the former presentation server product. The largest production clouds are already based on Xen hypervisor. Even Terremark on stage w/ Paul Maritz utilizes xen based EC2 infrastructure (you could see the EC2 reference during their keynote demo).
Back to bullet number #1, Citrix is #1 sponsor of the xen project.
(1) Citrix/XenSource delivers roughly 66% (stats since xen 3.0 release)of the Xen hypervisor code check ins and employs amongst others the project maintainer.
(2) The added value to the hypervisor or engine to stay with that analogy comes through Citrix unique management infrastructure (which is not OSS) as well Citrix partners (HP, Dell, Microsoft, NetApp, Equallogic, Marathon, VMlogix, ...) and ecosystem (Marathon, Vizioncore, Symantec, ...). The management infrastructure is received well even in the linux community (e.g. Linux-Magazin, 03/09, http://www.linux-magazin.de/heft_abo/ausgaben/2009/03). In case you prefer CLI instead of GUI, compare 'xm' and 'xe help -all' commands
(3) The Xen hypervisor is the key to all major products: XenServer, XenClient, XenDesktop and Citrix Computing Cloud (C3, XenServer paired w/NetScaler, WANscaler and Edgeside) - even XenApp, with XenServer being the best platform to harbour the former presentation server product. The largest production clouds are already based on Xen hypervisor. Even Terremark on stage w/ Paul Maritz utilizes xen based EC2 infrastructure (you could see the EC2 reference during their keynote demo).
Back to bullet number #1, Citrix is #1 sponsor of the xen project.
Monday, February 23, 2009
XenServer free of cost
Enterprise class virtualization with key features for free: Citrix announces free version of XenServer with Live Migration (XenMotion) capabilities:
http://www.citrix.com/English/NE/news/news.asp?newsID=1687130
http://www.citrix.com/English/NE/news/news.asp?newsID=1687130
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)