XenClient or what does XCI stand for?

Don't guess - second source it:

- type I xen vmm
- xen client initiative (xci) @ xen.org
- Graphics pass thru
- Direct-I/O a.k.a. Intel VT-d

Roaring XenServer

The Porsche of hypervisors? XenServer. [...] It outperformed Hyper-V and ESX in most categories.

You'll notice that we also did a separate test with ESX, using memory overcommit to determine the effect on performance. [...] so we felt it would be valuable to show you the performance hit on your datacenter while it's in use.

Keep in mind that Rick, the author, is a confirmed VMware man, and uses ESX extensively on his production network.

[Keith Ward -- http://virtualizationreview.com/blogs/weblog.aspx?blog=3556]

to commoditize or not?

After a few suggestions from the virtualization community to either drop Xen VMM for Hyper-V or to build tools on top of vmkernel let's hear yet another proposal

(1) acknowledging vrc's (http://www.virtualrealitycheck.net/) performance studies showing xenserver kernel outperforming vmkernel with xenapp workload and hypervisor scalability

(2) reinforming SAP's choice for XenServer easily doubling workload compared to physical machines (SAP XenServer/XenApp case study).


(3) saluting the growing number of partners in the Xen(Server) ecosystem: Intel, HP, Dell, NetApp, DataCore, Symantec, Vizioncore, Fujitsu-Siemens ...

(4) confirming Xen-kernel to be the foundation of XenServer, XenDesktop, XenClient, Xen Cloud C3, Hosted Xen et all

(5) embracing Xen communities development efforts


isn't it time for VMware to drop vmkernel in favor of xen-kernel?

(a) there were claims that binary translation (BT) is better than paravirtualization(PV). who has adopted vmi and paravirt_ops respectively

(b) We've seen corporate proof that PV performs better than BT -- pickup up here

(c) independent consultants prove better performance of Xen(Server) kernel

(d) Paul claimed they have 2.500 people in R&D. From a business perspective wouldn't it make sense to leverage the xen hypervisor development community and focus in house development on management tools?

type Xen VMM

Thanks Ian and Keir for showing a Xen based type II hypervisor derived from the type I.
Coming to you for OSX and Win. Less than 1000 lines of code.

CitrixWorld?

Nice little catch here from one of the conference attendees

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.

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

XenServer 5 in the press

Jan 14, 2009, Professional Computing


Jan 12, 2009, Network Computing

Virtualization 2008 Slide Set

Here are the slides from highload++ in Moscow:

http://www.slideshare.net/highload/xenserver-highload-frank-kohler-presentation

HighLoad++ speaking engagement

Конференция разработчиков
высоконагруженных систем

I've been asked to do the keynote presentation at HighLoad++ conference in Moscow. The conference will be held in the conference center Infoprostranstvo 6 and 7 October.

More information at http://www.highload.ru

Gold for XenServer

Recently I've done a review of XenServer (Enterprise 4) finally rating it enterprise ready.

Others have picked up the story ;)



Virtualization for Linux servers category
No IT award for 2007 would be complete without acknowledging virtualization, and SearchEnterpriseLinux.com's Products of the Year is no exception. Taking the Gold is virtualization up-and-comer Citrix Systems XenServer Enterprise Edition 4.0, which it acquired from XenSource this summer, making it a credible alternative to more established virtualization platforms, such VMware Virtual Infrastructure 3. [searchenterpriselinux.com]

CRN: easy-to-use, feature-rich offering

Interview: Virtualization integrated into the OS

PROFOSS Raphaël Bauduin did an interview with me about virtualization

Why integrate virtualisation in the Operating System?
The acceptance of virtualization is growing every day. IDC already predicts a penetration of 48% (currently: 22%) for virtual servers in India in 2008. Using virtualization required noticable skill until recently. The growing number of users requires more automation mechanisms and simpler tools. As users are not as skilled as specialists interfaces and tools need to be integrated seamless and in an ergonomic way. Away from server and data center centric point of view we think about desktops, mobile, embedded and smart devices or real time systems. There's growing demand for virtualization bringing encapsulation and isolation to their respective functions. Consumer devices will need integrated virtualization.

Is virtualisation a security feature or a security risk for an OS provider?
Virtualization offers encapsulation and isolation for applications and their environments. From that point of view it is regarded a security feature since there are bluescreens and freezes. Having consolidated multiple servers and applications to a single box on the other hand makes this virtual host a more attractive target for an attack. Next to applications optimized for virtual environments we'll see environments with reduced complexity optimized to operate as a virtual host allowing only backup and system management agents next to the virtual machine monitor. The first generation of embedded hypervisors following that direction is delivered to the market.

Are management tools also to be integrated in the OS, or will this stay separated?
Tools for basic management (e.g. to start or delete virtual machines) are already integrated. We will see more functionality (HA/DR capabilities, inter host communication, etc.) in those tools. On the other hand classic management tools from the big players are not virtualization centric but focusing on business logic and processes. Those solutions are becoming aware of virtual environments more and more allowing management functions similar to those part of the virtualization offering. The next generation of tools from virtualization vendors will incorporate more functions aimed at business logic and processes due to the fact that virtualization is becoming mainstream. Yet we cannot immediately expect functionality offered by management specialists with experience accrued over decades.

Now that SUSE integrates Xen, are other choices like for example Linux-VServer still available to system administrators?
Technically it is possible to integrate some virtualization and emulation solutions, like e.g. linux/390 on z/VM on hercules on VMware, Xen on ESX, OpenVZ or Linux VServer as SUSE Xen guest. Yet we cannot expect top performance in such heterogenous environments and this would not be recommended for production use at the moment. The smaller the environment and the number of applications respectively it would make sense to combine the best from different virtualization approaches. That would require that solutions are aware of each other and have a communication interface to omit concurrent use of the very same resources typically meaning congestions.

As virtualised environments become so easy to deploy, isn't there a risk of over-virtualisation?
Virtualization brings more value and reliability to those environments. Administrators will have to weigh options and choose appropiate quality of service for a deployment. In terms of higher numbers of virtual instances management tools will evolve as well: We already see lifecycle functions in some tools. It's not unlikely to see an 'end-of-life' tag for a vm used for testing applications or temporary workforces. As well I could think of virtual machine monitors checking security, patch level, etc. prior to starting the virtual environment.
Is integrating Xen in the OS the first step to a situation where each application runs isolated in its own environment?
In IT Operations it is a classic principle for decades to isolate applications. Xen virtualization in the distribution will encourage administrators to apply that principle to more applications and services. Virtualization mangement tools will bring more automation features for virtual machines, their lifecycle and adaption of business processes. The more automation we have, the more applications will have dedicated execution environments.

Xen 3.2 available for download

Folks,

We're pleased to announce the official release of Xen 3.2.0!

This has been a while coming, and represents the culmination of a lot of
work to improve architectural cleanliness 'under the hood', while also
providing a range of new user-visible features including:

- Xen Security Modules (XSM)
- ACPI S3 suspend-to-RAM support for the host system
- Preliminary PCI pass-through support (using appropriate Intel or AMD
I/O-virtualisation hardware)
- Preliminary support for a wider range of bootloaders in fully virtualised
(HVM) guests, using full emulation of x86 'real mode'.
- Faster emulation of standard (non-super) VGA modes for HVM guests
- Configurable timer modes for HVM guests, depending on how the guest OS
manages time-keeping
- Many other changes and enhancements across all supported machine
architectures


Download here!

Integrating Xen into the OS (SUSE Linux)

Frank will be speaking at PROFOSS in Brussels january 22/23.

a question of support

Nov 10 brought the 3rd revision of MSFT support statements for virtual environments.

This part (though commonly unknown) seems unchanged:

For Microsoft Premier-level support customers running non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software from vendors with which Microsoft does not have an established support relationship that covers virtualization solutions, Microsoft will use commercially reasonable efforts to investigate potential issues with Microsoft software running together with non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software. As part of that investigation, Microsoft may require the issue to be reproduced independently from the non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software. Where issues are confirmed to be unrelated to the non-Microsoft hardware
virtualization software, Microsoft will support its software in a manner that is consistent with support provided when that software is not running together with non-Microsoft hardware irtualization software.

While this reflects the MSFT/Novell collaboration:

Microsoft will jointly support certain non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software from vendors with which Microsoft has established a support relationship that covers virtualization solutions. This joint support will include coordinating with the vendor to investigate support issues.

[Microsoft Knowledge Base: 944987]

Performance binary translations vs. paravirtualization

Richard McDougall (former DE at Sun, now Chief Performance Architect @VMware) published a detailed article on performance in VMware's corporate blogs.

Interesting to find: "In a recent study, the performance of Oracle 10g R2 using the Swingbench online transaction processing workload on a paravirtualized Linux guest shows a moderate gain of 10% when using paravirtualized CPU interfaces."

Xen 3.1.2 available

a bugfix release in the Xen 3.1 series.


The source repository is available using mercurial

Previewing next home server virtualization

VMware Server Version 2 (Build 63231)



preliminary notes:

Install:
- linux: easy (after a small complain that Server Version 1 .0x is newer)
- win: IIS is no longer needed, the webUI looks like tomcat/AJAX
- win: drivers not signed (again)

Management:
- now VI3-ish
- 14 MB plugin for Firefox

Misc:
- Virtual hardware version is 6

- File Browser currently only allows default locations. E.g. if ISOs are stored in /iso you're unable to browse to that location (this reminds me of ESX Version 1.x)

- Server takes notice of moved configurations and reacts with a requester: did you copy or move your VM (instead of UUID behaviour earlier)

Oracle goes XEN

With Oracle ignoring virtualization for a long time and technology advancing I always considered a dementi of a dementi a question of time. Well folks, here we go, here goes Oracle to XEN. What a success for the XEN project, which was started in 2003.

What a giant step for mankind virtualization. This is the anticipated step towards application stacks and Mendel's Just enough OS. OS vendors time to wake up, now it's you looking for deals with app vendors.

What's next and who, SAP? :-)



Here's a quick glance at the management capabilities (called OVS Oracle Virtualization Suite). Looks ergonomic and intuitive. Let me spend a bit more time with the real thing.

Yet another question remaining: how does Oracle manage to triple performanceefficiency of Xen (Oracle uses Xen 3.1.1 bits)? Parts of it can be explained via the JeOS concept, yet ...

beyond one's own nose

MS Distinguished Engineer Eric Traut demonstrated MinWin (version 7 windows spinoff) recently:


numbers are impressive:

- 25 megs on disk
- 40 megs in RAM
- only 100 files
- including http server