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Citrix XenServer Technical Overview. Marc Trouard-Riolle Systems Engineer, XenServer EMEA. Simple Deployment and Installation. Leverages x64 Intel VT or AMD-V processors Supports broad range of servers Even runs on desktops and notebooks Quick product installer CD- and network-based install
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Citrix XenServerTechnical Overview Marc Trouard-RiolleSystems Engineer, XenServer EMEA
Simple Deployment and Installation • Leverages x64 Intel VT or AMD-V processors • Supports broad range of servers • Even runs on desktops and notebooks • Quick product installer • CD- and network-based install • Quite literally “10 minutes to Xen” • Broad hardware support • Uses industry-standard Linux drivers
Extensive Storage Support • Supports broad range storage • IDE • SATA • SCSI • SAS • DAS • Fibre Channel • iSCSI • NFS
Networking Capabilities • Physical networking • Uses standard Linux network drivers • Packets move between guests and drivers quickly • Virtual networking • XenServer acts as “virtual” L2 switch • Supports multiple virtual network interfaces per guest • Support both internal and external networks • VLAN and QoS
XenCenter Console Single point of administration Manage VMs from anywhere Multiple servers Included with XenServer (no charge)
Server Provisioning Create a virtual image of a server’s workload: operating system, application engine and application Virtualize Stream the workload image on-demand to virtual and bare-metal servers Stream A Virtualize Store Stream Store the virtual imageon network storage Stream the virtual imageto servers Virtualize server workload image Store Store the virtual workload image on network storage
B C A How Provisioning Changes the Model Silo One Provisioning Server (streaming service) Silo Two Networkstorage Silo Three Servers are configured for network boot. Disks optionally removed.
B C A How Provisioning Changes the Model Silo One Provisioning Server (streaming service) Silo Two Networkstorage Silo Three Servers are rebooted. OS and workloads are streamed from a service on the network.
Provision Physical and Virtual Servers A Xen Hypervisor B OS and workloads are streamed from network storage Virtualized Server Provisioning Server (streaming service) Network Storage With provisioning only a small number of images are required Physical Server
Where does come from? • Xen community led by Citrix • Fastest time to market for new hardware and new features • Major active contributors: IBM, Intel, HP, AMD, RedHat, and Novell Citrix/ XenSource Intel IBM # of check-ins
What’s so great about • It’s robust • Native 64-bit hypervisor • Runs on bare metal • Best performing virtualization • It’s widely-deployed • Tens of thousands of organizations have deployed Xen • It’s advanced • Optimized for hardware-assisted virtualization and paravirtualization • It’s trusted • Open, resilient Xen security framework
Understanding vs. XenServer • XenServer incorporates open source Xen hypervisor • Enhancements by Citrix go back into the community • Xen and XenServer are constantly evolving = + +
Legacy Virtualization Architectures Legacy Hypervisor UserApps UserApps Slow, expensive software emulation layer HALT SAFE HALT Hardware
Relies on “enlightened” operating systems Kernel and I/O paths know they are being virtualized Cooperation provides best performance Paravirtualization XenServer UserApps UserApps Paravirtualized guests makes high-speed calls directly to the hypervisor HALT HYPERCALL Hardware
Hardware-Assisted Virtualization XenServer • Hardware-assist allows high performance without emulation UserApps UserApps HALT Other guests benefit from hardware-accelerated call translation HALT HYPERCALL VT/AMD-V Hardware
Understanding the Hardware Component Hardware layer contains the physical server components, including memory, CPU and storage
Understanding the Hypervisor Component Xen hypervisor is a thin layer of software that runs right on top of the hardware
Understanding the Domain 0 Component Domain 0 is a Linux VM that manages the network and storage I/O of all guest VMs
Understanding Architectural Components The Xen hypervisor and Domain 0 manage physical server resources among virtual machines
Understanding the Linux VM Component Linux VMs include paravirtualized kernels and drivers
Understanding the Windows VM Component Windows VMs use paravirtualized drivers to access storage and network resources through Domain 0
Next Steps • Download XenServer Express Edition for free • Download XenServer Enterprise Edition 30-day Trial www.citrix.com/xenserver