A technical demonstration of the new Citrix XenServer 6.5 for your infrastructure.

1. Citrix XenServer Master Class
February 10, 2015
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2. What’s New in Citrix XenServer 6.5 - Master Class
Feb. 2015
Valerie DiMartino - @Valdim98
Senior Product Marketing Manager, Citrix Cloud
Marc Trouard-Riolle - @xenserver, @mtrouardriolle
Senior Product Marketing Manager, Citrix XenServer
Enzo Raso - @enzoraso
Senior Product Manager, Citrix XenServer
Andrew Halley - @Andrew_Halley
Dir. Product Development, Citrix XenServer

3. Tweet about this session
@Citrix & @CitrixXenServer
@XenServer

4. 5
Agenda
• Overview
• XenServer 6.5 Packaging/Licensing
• What’s new in XenServer 6.5
• In-Memory Cache/Workload Balancing Reports and
Login VSI/scalability/vGPU Demos
• XenCenter view/configuration and vGPU Demo
• Quiz & Prize Giveaway

5. Overview of Citrix XenServer
Marc Trouard-Riolle
Sr. Product Marketing Manager, Citrix XenServer
@XenServer, @mtrouardriolle

6. 7
Citrix Products discussed
– Citrix XenServer
– Citrix XenApp, XenDesktop & NetScaler
Key Takeaways
– XenServer delivers a highly performing, scalable virtualized infrastructure for
server, desktop and cloud workloads
– Product offers market-leading features & performance
– Customer-proven production deployments driving real-world businesses
– Solutions offers best value for lowest desktop virtualization TCO
Session Summary

7. 9
Leveraging Multiple Hypervisors
Source: Info-Tech Research Group; N = 71
1% 3%
7%
31%
58%
How many server virtualization
vendors are you using?
5 4 3 2 1
41%
32%
9%
9%
4% 5%
What pair of vendors
are you using?
VMware/Citrix
VMware/Microsoft
VMware/Oracle
Microsoft/Oracle
Oracle/Red Hat
Microsoft/Red Hat
71%
20%
7% 2%What vendor are
you using?
VMware
Microsoft
Citrix
Red Hat

8. 10
Understanding Architectural Components
The Xen Project hypervisor and control domain (dom0) manage
physical server resources among virtual machines

9. 11
Understanding the Domain 0 Component
Domain 0 (dom0) is a compact specialized system VM that manages the host,
pools of hosts and network and storage I/O for all guest VMs

10. 12
Understanding the Linux VM Component
Linux VMs include paravirtualized kernels and drivers

11. 13
Understanding the Windows VM Component
Windows VMs use paravirtualized drivers to access storage and network
resources through Domain 0

12. 14
Why Customers Virtualize with XenServer?
• Innovative, market leading virtualization
• Best TCO for virtualized apps & desktops
• High consolidation CAPEX & OPEX savings
• Per-CPU socket pricing
Affordable
3
• Enterprise-class features (XenMotion, HA, WLB,
Storage XenMotion, vGPU, Read-Cache)
• Optimize resources with zero-downtime
• Desktop and cloud optimized for high density
• Usage specific optimizations
Performance
2
• Ease of installation & configuration
• No single points of failure
• Manage thousands of servers
Ease of Use
1

13. 15
“XenServer Inside” with NetScaler SDX
Complete tenant isolation
Complete independence
Optimized network

14. Licensing & Packaging

15. 17
XenServer v6.5 Product Packaging and Pricing
Automated, integrated, and production-ready
small to medium sized enterprises
For automated enterprise-wide virtual
environments
Free downloadable via XenServer.org
Enterprise-ready features with community
support
$1250
/CPU
$625
/CPU
FREE
XenServer
Enterprise Edition
Included
in XA/XD
Available to XA/XD license holders: with
improved scale, performance and best TCO!
XenServer
Standard Edition
XenApp/XenDesktop
Entitlements
XenServer
Free

16. 18
Comprehensive virtualization
platform for desktop, data
center and cloud workloads
Citrix XenServer 6.5
Enterprise Edition
($1250/socket)
• Includes all current XenServer
features
• Default upgrade path from
XenServer 6.2
• In-Memory Read-Cache
• Workload Balancing (WLB)
• Measured-Boot & Asset
Tagging (Intel TXT)
• vGPU with NVIDIA GRID
• vSphere Conversion Manager
Basic Commercial Server
Virtualization
Citrix XenServer 6.5
Standard Edition
($625/socket)
• Full 64-bit kernel architecture
• Live Migration & Storage
XenMotion
• Latest XD/XA & CloudPlatform
support
• NVIDIA & AMD GPU Pass-thru
• Standard Citrix commercial
support to xenserver.org
distribution
SE-to-EE Upgrade
($780 per socket)
XenServer License Upgrades

17. 19
XenServer License Conversions
Customers running older XenServer license types:
Customer Rescinds
New Per-CPU XenServer 6.5
Enterprise License
CXS 6.2 SP1 (per socket) n/a (no license swap)
CXS 6.2 (per socket) n/a (no license swap)
XS 6.1, Platinum (per server) 1:2 (server:socket)
XS 6.1, Enterprise (per server) 1:2 (server:socket)
XS 6.1, Advanced (per server) 1:2 (server:socket)
XS 6.0.2 CC (per server) 1:2 (server:socket)

18. 20
XenServer v6.5 Product Features
XenServer Editions XenApp/XenDesktop Entitlements
Standard Enterprise All Editions Platinum
64-bit Hypervisor & 64-bit Control Domain ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Multi Server Management with XenCenter GUI ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Active Directory Integration & Role-Based Administration and Control (RBAC) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Dynamic Memory Control (DMC) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Live Memory VM Snapshot and Revert ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Live VM Migration with XenMotion ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Mixed Resource Pools with CPU Masking ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Hotfix Deployment via XenCenter ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
VMware vSphere Conversion Utility ✓ ✓ ✓
Dynamic Workload Balancing & Audit Reporting (WLB) ✓ ✓ ✓
Export Pool Resource List ✓ ✓
Host Failure Protection with High Availability (HA) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Site Recovery Manager ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Bridge Based Networking ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Basic Network Security Groups ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Open Virtual Switch (OVS) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Distributed Virtual Switch Controller (DVSC) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Live VM Migration with Storage XenMotion and Shared Nothing Migrations ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Intellicache Storage Optimization ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
In-Memory Read Caching ✓ ✓
GPU Pass-through ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Graphics Processor Virtualization (vGPU) ✓ ✓ ✓
Measured Boot and Asset-tagging with Intel TXT ✓ ✓ ✓
Product Edition Feature Matrix
XenServer v6.5 Licensing FAQ: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX141511

19. What’s new in XenServer 6.5?
Enzo Raso
Senior Product Manager, Citrix XenServer

20. 22
Industry-leading, fully open source virtualization platform
Supports datacenter, cloud and desktop virtualization
infrastructures
Runs 40% of Citrix XenDesktop deployments
Runs 60% of Citrix CloudPlatform deployments
The power behind Citrix NetScaler SDX
750,000+ hosts
Running the world’s largest public and private clouds
Over 1 million downloads
Powered by Xen Project hypervisor

21. 23
XenServer Evolution
Clearwater addressed scale
Clearwater SP1 created vGPU
Creedence unlocks 64bit, vGPU scale and performance

22. 24
x64
Fully 64-bit Platform
• Citrix XenServer now accommodates many more devices per host (network
cards, GPUs…)
• Allows use of devices that are 64-bit only (including PCIe SSD)
• Allows more Dom0 memory (enabling more VMs to be run per host)
• Supports the latest servers from all OEMs (64-bit mode becoming “default”
configuration)

23. 96 vGPUs per Host
Photo by nvidia.corporation, CC-by-NC-ND-licensed

24. Speeding it Up: Performance

25. 27
Interhost Aggregate Network Throughput
XS 6.2
XS 6.5
3 Gb/s
25 Gb/s
VM
XenServer Host
VM
VM VM
VM
VM
VM
VM
XenServer Host
Measurements taken on Dell PowerEdge R720 (2 x Xeon E5-2643 v2), Mellanox MT27500 NIC
800% Faster

26. 28
Average Latency of Many Short-Lived Network Flows
XS 6.2
XS 6.5
VM
XenServer Host
VM
VM VM
VM
VM
VM
VM
XenServer Host
Measurements used apachebench concurrently in 64 pairs of VMs on two hosts, with OVS
1600% Faster
800 ms
50 ms

27. 29
Aggregate Storage Read Throughput
XS 6.2
XS 6.5
2.2 GB/s
9.9 GB/s
Measurements taken on Dell PowerEdge R720 (2 x Xeon E5-2643 v2)
400% Faster
SSD
XenServer Host
VM
VM
VM
VM

28. Boot storms and antivirus scans can kill your storage
In-Memory Read Caching

29. 31
Reducing Boot Storm IOPS

30. 32
Reducing Boot Storm IOPS

31. 33
Dom0
RAM
Local Disk
New Memory-Based Caching

32. 34
Dom0
Memory
Cache
Caching Hierarchy & Caching Non-Persistent Writes
Intellicache

33. Easier navigation, improved UX for searches,
centralised notification & vCPU configuration
XenCenter Improvements

34. 36

35. 37

36. 38

37. 39
Setting vCPUs per Socket

38. There’s More

39. 41
Workload Balancing: It’s Back!
Workload Balancing (WLB) retired in
XenServer 6.2, Back in XenServer 6.5
Generate performance monitoring
reports
Alert administrators to system hot spots
Automatically place workloads based
on historic data
Dynamically move workloads based on
CPU, storage & network load

40. 42
Ubuntu 14.04
SLES 11 SP3 & SLES 12
Debian 7.2 “Jessie”
CentOS 5.10, 6.5, 7.0
Red Hat 5.10, 6.5, 7.0
Oracle Linux 5.10, 6.x
Oracle UEK 6.x
New Guest Operating Systems Plus LTS

41. 43
UNMAP support
Delete and reclaim space used by VDIs
Enables better use of array-based thin provisioning
Online dynamic LUN resizing without
having to restart VMs

42. 44
Maintenance Improvements
Decouple device driver versions from kernel build versions
(where possible)
New device drivers included in service packs where required
Minimization of host reboots to reduce number of VM
migrations
Avoid reverting to obsolete device drivers

43. 45
Converged Infrastructure

44. Audience Poll…

46. Demos
Andrew Halley
Dir. Product Development, Citrix XenServer

47. 51
Scaling higher and working faster with XS 6.5
Technical examples and demonstrations

48. 52
Scaling higher and working faster with XS 6.5
Improvements under the hood
Performance :
• Networking and storage improvements :
- How and why?
• Improving bootstorms
• Improving end-user performance at scale
Scalability :
• VM density
• vGPU density and performance
• XenCenter
• Status reports
Having seen some of the performance
and scalability improvements – we’re
now going to look a little under the
hood and how these affect you – as a
sys. admin. or user – and also your
end-users

49. 53
Networking Performance – how and why?
Generic Receive Offload support – 200% increase in VM
receive performance
Move to grant mapping (not grant copy) – 200% increase in
aggregate throughput, by saving Dom0 CPU resources
Improved IPv6 guest performance

50. 54
Storage Improvements
Support for tapdisk3 – up to 100% increase in read performance
SRs running out of space handled more robustly (e.g. snapshot coalesce)
Disk IO errors reported in XenCenter
Increasing supported limit of total number of virtual disks per host
V
D
I block
layer
dom0 VM
syscall / etc
device
driver
B
D
kernel space
user space
block
layer
xen’s blkif
protocol
block
layerblktap2
ta
p
libaio
aio syscalls
libc
blkfr
ont
tapdisk user proc.
blkback

51. 55
XenServer 6.2
with tapdisk2
XenServer 6.5
with tapdisk3

52. 56
Highlights of XenServer XenServer 6.5 Performance Improvements for XD/XA
Bootstorm data transferred lower is better
XS 6.2
XS 6.5
18.0 GB
0.7 GB = -96%
VM
VM
VM
VM
XenServer
NFS
Bootstorm duration lower is better
XS 6.2
XS 6.5
470 s
140 s = -70%
VM
VM
VM
VM
XenServer
NFS
Measurements were taken on various hardware in representative configurations. Measurements made on other hardware or in other configurations may differ.
XenServer
VM
VM
VM
VM
VM
VM
VM
VM
XenServer
XS 6.2
XS 6.5
3 Gb/s
25 Gb/s = +700%
Aggregate storage read throughput higher is better
VM
VM
VM
VM
XenServer
SSD
XS 6.2
XS 6.5
2.2 GB/s
9.9 GB/s
= +350%
XS 6.2
XS 6.5
2.8 GB/s
7.8 GB/s = +175%
VM
VM
VM
VM
XenServer
SSD
Aggregate network throughput higher is better
Aggregate storage write throughput higher is better
Booting a large number of VMs is significantly quicker in XS 6.5
due to the read-caching feature.
The read-caching feature significantly reduces the IOPS hitting the
storage array when VMs share a common base image.
XS 6.5 brings many improvements relating to network throughput.
For example, the capacity for a large number of VMs to send or
receive data at a high throughput has been significantly improved.
The new, optimized storage datapath in XS 6.5 enables aggregate
throughput to scale much better with a large number of VMs. This
allows a large number of VMs to sustain I/O at a significantly
higher rate, for both reads and writes.
vGPU scalability higher is better
XS 6.2
XS 6.5
64
96 = +50%
VM VM VM VM
XenServer
The number of VMs that can share a GPU has increased in XS
6.5. This will reduce TCO for deployments using vGPU-enabled
VMs.
GPU

53. ……running with just 2Gb dom0 memory, and the
improvements in VM boot and login times for a test
lab of just 10 VM's are staggering!!
90 secs down to 22 seconds boot, and 120 secs
down to 20 seconds login, not to mention drastically
improved app launch times…….
The Login VSI benchmark
• Login VSI is a benchmark that measures the scalability of a hypervisor
platform
• This is measured in terms of the number of VMs it can run at an
acceptable level of performance

54. 58
number of VMs running the Login VSI 3.5 medium workload
numberofVMsrunningatan
acceptablelevelofperformance
XenServer 6.0.2
handles up to 120
VMs
XenServer 6.1
handles up to
165 VMs
XenServer 6.2
Handles up to
350 VMs
XenServer 6.5
still going strong
with 500 VMs

55. XenCenter demo 1 :
500 VMs running Windows 7 SP1 on a single host

56. 60
VM index
VMresponsiveness(loweris
better)
XenServer 6.2
running 375 VMs
some VMs
experience
performance
XenServer 6.5
running 500
VMs
every single VM
is
super-
responsive
Running 500 VMs on a single host – user experience

57. Bootstorm demo:

58. 62
Moved to one netback thread (in Dom0) per virtual network interface:
load now spread evenly across Dom0 vCPUs
Upgraded to Open vSwitch (OVS) 2.1: support for megaflows
(wildcarding to have one rule capture multiple flows)
Photo by Claus Rebler, CC-by-SA-licensed

59. 63

60. 64
Impact of these improvements on sys-admins and end-users
Bootstorm enhancements
Bootstorms occur at important points in the
admin or end-users :
• Start of the working day when many users start
desktop of VDI sessions
• Completing updates or upgrades when getting back
online is vital to minimise downtimes
Results shown are comparing bootstorms
between XS 6.2 SP1 and XS 6.5 :
• 125 x Windows 7 – 2GB VMs
• 4 x AMD Opteron CPUs with 512 GB RAM
Number of VMs boote
Time in seconds
XS 6.5
XS 6.2 SP1

61. 65
300% Improvement in VM Boot Time

62. 66
What this means for the end user – is the opportunity for greater VM densities
with real-life usability, responsiveness and performance on suitably scaled
hardware
+ XS 6.5 is 3 times faster and smoother
Impact of these improvements on sys-admins and end-users
Summary of results

63. 67
Scaling in other ways
Graphics virtualisation
We’re used to virtualising cpu, memory, networking and storage
Graphics has fast become the new frontier

64. 68

65. 69
Even Greater vGPU Density and performance
Up to 50% increase in vGPU-enabled users per host (64 to 96)
Support for more physical GPUs per host
Citrix XenServer will scale as hardware grows
Support of new NVIDIA vGPU types
(32 x K120Q per K1 card, 16 x K220Q per K2 card)
Benefits of fully 64-bit platform other performance enhancements

66. 70
NVIDIA Kepler GPU
NVIDIA Kernel
Module
VNC
Server
Mapped
Guest VRAM
NVIDIA
Plugins
HDX Pro
3D
PCI
NVIDIA Client
Driver
Xen
Hypervisor
Domain 0 Windows
Guest
Domain
ICAVNC
Mapped
Guest VRAM
Guest VRAM
On-Board
VRAM
IO
Emulation
vGPU Device
Model Process
QEMU
Process
Socket
Interface
Framebuffer
(Guest RAM)
XenServer
VGX
Integration
Register
Access
Client driver uses ‘fast’
DMA interface to prepare
guest framebuffer for HDX
Pro
GPU command
stream passed by
DMA from guest
RAM
Plugin DMAs on-board
VRAM to guest VRAM
so VNC can display
console
Could use V4V to
allow vGPU and
QEMU to run in
separate domains

67. 71
GPU Virtualization (vGPU)
Superior to software-based API Intercept implementations of GPU virtualization
such as Microsoft RemoteFX and VMware vSGA
XenServer’s vGPU solution supports all levels of DirectX and OpenGL
Photo by nvidia.corporation, CC-by-NC-ND-licensed

68. XenCenter demo 2 :
96 vGPU enable VMs running Windows 7 SP1 on a single host

69. 73

70. XenCenter demo 3 :
Using operation and audit log reports & query

71. 75
Configuration limits: XenServer 6.2 vs 6.5
Per-VM scalability limits more is better
VM
...
VM
...
Host
...
Host
VM VM ... VM
Host
VM VM
...
VM
Per-host scalability limits more is better
RAM per VM
RAM per host
Running VMs per host VBDs per host
pCPUs per host
vCPUs per VM
Host
...
Multipathed LUNs per host
Host
...

72. 76
x
Summary – XS as a fully 64-bit Platform
Hence – XS 6.5 not only gives more vGPUs VMs it also makes them 10-30% faster
• Depending on benchmark selected
In general XS 6.5 delivers a more responsive system with performant VMs
delivered faster and more smoothly to your users
Architecturally more powerful and built
for future expansion and growth

73. Audience Poll…

74. 78

75. Summary & Quiz

76. 82
Citrix Products discussed
– Citrix XenServer
– Citrix XenApp, XenDesktop & NetScaler
Key Takeaways
– XenServer delivers a highly performing, scalable virtualized infrastructure for
server, desktop and cloud workloads
– Product offers market-leading features & performance
– Customer-proven production deployments driving real-world businesses
– Solutions offers best value for lowest desktop virtualization TCO
Session Summary

77. 83
Resources
• Case Studies: http://www.citrix.com/customers.html
• XenServer v6.5 release notes found here
• XenServer v6.5 configuration maximums document found here
• Technical XenServer FAQ found here
• Licensing FAQ found here
• Download: http://www.citrix.com/products/xenserver/try.html
• Master Class recording: In a follow-up email
Follow us on Social Media - @CitrixXenServer, @XenServer

78. 84
Giveaway Prize
What feature of Citrix XenServer does
reporting/monitoring?
Workload Balancing!

79. 85
WORK BETTER. LIVE BETTER.