Introducing XenServer

Stephen Rice (Lead Software Engineer)

June 2010
Agenda

• What is server virtualization?

• What benefits does it have?
• Citrix XenServer in detail
• Taking a look at the feature list
 Server virtualization enables
multiple virtual machines to run
on a single physical server.
Q. What can you run as a virtual machine?
Almost any operating system you want.

• Windows (XP, Vista, 7, 2000, 2003, 2008…)

• Linux (RHEL, SLES, Debian, Centos, Oracle…)
• Many more community supported guests
What does a virtual machine need?

• CPU, Memory
• Disks (storage) Shared Storage

• Networks

Pool
 zzz

Non Virtual
zzz
Virtualization
Benefits of Virtualization

• Server consolidation
• Failure recovery
• Security and sandboxing
• Resource balancing
• Backup, restore and clone
• Simple management
Benefits of Virtualization

• Server consolidation • Server power consumption

• Server cooling costs
• Space requirements
• Hardware maintenance costs
Benefits of Virtualization

• Failure recovery • High availability

• Snapshot and restore
Benefits of Virtualization

• Security and sandboxing • Malicious code

• Legacy testing
• Upgrade preview
Benefits of Virtualization

• Resource balancing • Consolidate in periods of low demand

• Spread out for periods of high demand
• Monitor and adapt to changing requirements
Benefits of Virtualization

• Backup, restore and clone • Rapid deployment of new setups

• Extend existing capabilities
• Simplify staging to production transition
Benefits of Virtualization

• Simple management • Manage workloads from a single console

• Organizational tools
• At a glance status reports
Benefits of Virtualization

• Server consolidation
• Failure recovery
• Security and sandboxing
• Resource balancing
• Backup, restore and clone
• Simple management
Citrix XenServer in detail
Hardware
Normal Server
Single operating system that has
direct access to the underlying
hardware.
OS Hypervisor Hypervisor
Hardware Hardware
Type 2 Hypervisor Type 1 Hypervisor
Host OS has access to the hardware Hypervisor controls access to the
and runs a hypervisor which manages hardware for all guests VMs.
the VMs.
• E.g. XenServer, VMWare ESXi
• E.g. VMWare Server
• ‘Bare metal’ performance
• Security and performance trade off
Citrix XenServer in detail

• Open source Xen / Open source XenServer

• Privileged VM called Domain 0
• Gives commands to the hypervisor
• Coordinates networking/storage
• Communicates with external clients
• XenCenter, Workload Balancing Server, Active
Directory e.t.c
Citrix XenServer compared to Vmware ESXi

• Established server virtualization company

• Extra server to manage database (Single POF)

ESXi
• Binary translation performance cost
ESXi ESXi
• Mature feature list

vCenter • High cost

Citrix XenServer compared to Vmware ESXi

Master

• Each server keeps a copy of the database

• Any server elected as master

Xen Xen Xen • Free, pay only for enterprise features

Server Server Server
• Free, stateless thin management client
XenCenter management console

• Graphical interface
• VM console access
• Component integration
• Plugins and SDKs
Software development kit for XenServer

• XML-RPC based
• Libraries and examples for Java, C#, C, Python, PowerShell
• XenCenter uses C# bindings
• http://community.citrix.com/display/xs/Download+SDKs
• Open source licensing
• Backwards compatible
SleepyLabs example

• 24 hour project using C# XenServer bindings

• Ask the VMs politely to turn off
• Knock them out if they don’t
• Turn off all slaves first before the master
• Allow the user to set which VMs should wake
Message
board
example
Hello world
example
What else might you need?
High availability

• Safety while you sleep

• Automatically migrates VMs
• Guarantees protection
• Master failover
Dynamic memory control

• Specify a memory range for VMs

• Squeezes and inflates memory
• Overcommit to run more VMs
Workload balancing

• Monitors VM resource use

• Recommends VM migrations
• Maximum performance
• Maximum density
• Automatic or manual
Role based access control

• Integrates with active directory

• Specify a role per user
• Roles restrict users feature access
Snapshot and revert

• Snapshot disks and memory

• Revert to any point in tree
• Running VM
Summary
 • Save money: power, space, maintenance cost
•

Free!
Simple management: XenCenter
• Live migration: resource management, maintenance
• Easy deployment: templates, cloning
• Develop: SDK, open source

$1k / • High availability for VMs during server failures

• Dynamic memory control
XenServer • Performance alerts with long term reporting

• Workload balancing
$2.5k / • Role based access control
• Live memory snapshots
XenServer • More...
 Also free...
Citrix Tshirts, come see me afterwards
stephen.rice@eu.citrix.com