The document discusses Citrix XenServer, a virtualization platform for hosting virtual machines and applications. It provides an overview of cloud computing and describes how XenServer enables server virtualization. Key features of XenServer include high performance, use of virtualization technologies, tools to improve I/O performance, and the XenAPI which allows creation of customizable configurations. The document also outlines various partners that work with XenServer and its role in enabling efficient use of hardware resources and simple administration.
Transforming datacenters into DELIVERY CENTERS…Offering tremendous flexibility and agility for IT to be an enabler of change for the BusinessNot only making it much easier to address key business initiatives – data security, compliance, business continuity – but also enabling the business to improve competitiveness and support growth initiatives – like branch expansion, outsourcing, and acquisition.And doing this with infrastructure that can be used over and over again to make users more productive as the business needs change…
XenServer allows you to install Windows 2000 SP4, Windows Server 2003 (32-/64- bit), Windows Server 2008 (32-/64- bit), or Windows XP SP2/SP3 into a VM. Installing Windows VMs on XenServer Host requires hardware virtualization support (Intel VT or AMD-V).For Linux refer to Chapter 4 in the XenServer Virtual Machine Installation GuideDistributions which use the same installation mechanism as Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (e.g. Fedora Core 6) might be successfully installed using the same template. However, this is not supported.Suse 10, RHEL 5.2, CentOS 5.2
New interactive graphing interface to display persistent performance statistics across resource pools.
One of the most common reasons for system failure is operator error through misconfiguration. XenServer now provides e-mail and XenCenter alerting for potentially dangerous configurations, for example when VM performance will be degraded or a resource pool is overcommitted with respect to high availability.
Support user-defined grouping and searching across VMs, hosts and resource pools, including defining custom fields and tags to identify resources.
Blue highlights changes in XenServer 5.0
Integrated disaster recovery to enable regular backups of virtual machine metadata. When combined with SAN storage replication, this provides a fast way to migrate entire resource pools to another physical site and continue running services with little interruption. It also permits the use of storage repositories which include all of the metadata for VMs installed on them, permitting a \"transportable VM\" model across resource pools
The Server Virtualization Validation Program (SVVP) is open to any vendor who delivers a virtualization machine solution that hosts Windows Server 2008, Windows 2000 Server Service Pack 4 and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 and subsequent service packs. The virtualization solution can either be hypervisor-based or a hosted solution. The program enables vendors to validate various configurations so that customers of Windows Server can receive technical support in virtualized environments. Customers with validated solutions will benefit from the support provided by Microsoft as a part of the regular Windows Server technical support framework.
Most datacenters are faced with exploding storage costs that is magnified with a general lack of tools necessary to manage server images throughout the environment. There also exists a need to be able to deliver server workloads on demand, and even treat their delivery as a service, with the ability to tie back to the business. In particular, environments such as web server farms, VDI or application virtualization with tools like XenApp are environments that can benefit greatly from the consolidation of similar server images for greater flexibility and more efficient storage management.Dynamic provisioning services reduces total cost of ownership and improves both manageability and business agility by virtualizing a datacenter server workload-–operating system, applications and configuration-–and streaming the workload on-demand to virtual or physical servers across the network. Servers remain stateless until they are streamed to; no software is preloaded or permanently loaded on the system maximizing flexibility of hardware resources. By delivering server workloads on-demand rather than deploying them on individual virtual or physical servers, IT administrators are able to:Simplify and streamline server management, while reducing software rollout risk.Ensure consistency by provisioning simultaneously from a single standard workload image. Increase IT responsiveness and agility by enabling capacity on-demand–-repurpose any server to do any job. Reduce utility costs and space needs by cutting the number of backup servers that are required.
Server virtualization provides for a great deal of flexibility, especially in environments such as labs for testing and development. However, it also presents a unique set of challenges. In order to keep up with increasing demands for faster testing and development cycles, organizations need a way to better manage virtualized resources within the lab:The need for faster testing and development cycles is often accompanied by more complex texting requirements with geometric growth in complexity of product versions, test configurations & combinations, resulting in error-prone multi-machine setupsAs virtualization is used more pervasively throughout the lab it becomes more and more difficult to deal with infrastructure sprawl and wasted resources As a result there is a need to track, control and share virtualization resources throughout labs and even across geographic sites and development centersCitrix automated lab management allows administrators to create and manage a common library of workload configurations and to rapidly provision them with a single mouse click. Self-service access to approved configurations enables multiple groups to deliver consistent virtual environments improving the efficiency and accuracy of moving application workloads through development and testing and into production while achieving significant savings in time, and hardware and storage costs. By automating and simplifying virtual lab environments, organizations achieve: Shorter testing and development cycles – Reduce time to market and IT response times by centralizing access to prebuilt production-like environments and utilizing advanced automation capabilities for self-service setup and tear down of approved virtual environments. Better quality – Improve stability and consistency by automating manual and error-prone build and test processes, maximizing test coverage and reducing time to detect and reproduce errors.Lower costs – Dramatically consolidate software and hardware resources, reducing sprawl and improving utilization across disparate teams.Increased productivity – Maximize collaboration and productivity of distributed development, test and support teams by making production-like environments visible and shareable across the enterprise.
Essentials for Hyper-V allows virtual machines to be run on either Hyper-V or XenServer hypervisors without modification. Easily migrate virtual machines from XenServer environments to Hyper-V for unparalleled IT flexibility. Hypervisor interoperability and migration is made possible with common virtual hard disk formats and common storage management tools across Hyper-V and XenServer environments, including the automation of storage resource configuration across hypervisor hosts.