Citrix XenServer

XS LogoEnterprise class, free Virtualization Solution

Citrix XenServer™ is the only enterprise-class, cloud-proven server virtualization platform that delivers the critical features of live migration and centralized multi-server management at no cost. XenServer is an open and powerful server virtualization solution that radically reduces datacenter costs by transforming static and complex datacenter environments into more dynamic, easy to manage IT service delivery centers. XenServer is powered by the industry-standard Xen® hypervisor, and created by the inventors of Xen.

Introducing Citrix XenServer 5.5

What is Xen?  Xen is a unique open source technology invented by a team at the University of Cambridge and developed cooperatively by the world’s best engineers at over 20 of the most innovative datacentre solution vendors. With Xen server virtualization and desktop virtualization solutions, a thin software layer (known as the Xen hypervisor) is installed directly on the hardware, or bare metal, and is thereby inserted between the server’s hardware and the operating system. This provides an abstraction layer that allows each physical server to run one or more virtual machines, effectively decoupling the operating system and its applications from the underlying physical server. Xen’s paravirtualization technology is widely acknowledged as the fastest and most secure virtualization software in the industry and is enhanced by taking full advantage of the latest Intel® VT and AMD-V™ hardware virtualization assist capabilities. The Xen hypervisor is exceptionally lean-– about 50,000 lines of code-–which translates to extremely low overhead and near-native performance for guests.

Features & Benefits

Easy setup and administration - Citrix XenServer™ can be installed and ready to run virtualized workloads and deliver the benefits of server consolidation in just a few minutes (the ten minutes to Xen experience). It has a unique management architecture that eliminates single points of failure. IT staff can manage hundreds of virtual machines easily with the included XenCenter centralised management console that installs on any Windows® desktop with only four megabytes of storage.

Bare-metal performance - Built on the open-source Xen® hypervisor, XenServer’s compact architecture has the lowest overhead of any server virtualization solution, offering near bare metal performance.

serverIntegrated storage architecture - Unlike other server virtualization products that are built on closed proprietary systems, the open storage APIs in XenServer allow customers to leverage advanced functions such as snapshotting, cloning, replication, de-duplication and provisioning in their existing storage systems.  This unique approach allows customers to fully leverage all the capabilities of their existing datacentre infrastructure rather than deploying and managing an entirely new set of tools and people that apply only to their virtual servers.

Open architecture - The foundation that powers the open architecture of XenServer is the popular Xen hypervisor.  By incorporating the latest Xen hypervisor, XenServer benefits from the innovation, security and validation of hundreds of leading system developers from over 50 companies, including the world’s largest server and microprocessor manufacturers.

XenMotion - Get your weekends back by managing and maintaining your physical hardware during business hours. The live migration functionality of XenMotion™ can migrate virtual machines to other physical hardware with zero downtime, allowing you to patch and update your machines without your users ever knowing.

XenCenter centralised management - XenCenter delivers scalable setup and administration to XenServer environments, with intuitive controls and easy-to-use wizards for advanced network and storage configuration.  Unlike other management consoles, XenCenter distributes management data across servers in a resource pool to ensure there is no single point of management failure.  

Citrix EssentialsUpgrade to Citrix Essentials - XenServer can be upgraded in place to take advantage of the advanced server virtualization management capabilities of Citrix Essentials.  IT organisations can enhance their operations and application delivery dramatically with the addition of capabilities such as:

  • Automated lab management - reducing testing and development cycles
  • Advanced storage integration with leading storage platforms using Citrix StorageLink
  • Dynamic provisioning services - streaming workloads on demand
  • Workflow orchestration - easy-to-use, graphical interface for workflow composition
  • High availability - enables simple, automated failover of virtual workloads
  • Workload balancing - intelligently places and rebalances virtual workloads

The Next Steps

To find out more about Citrix XenServer contact Maywood Solutions today to discuss our range of evaluation and packaged proof-of-concept professional services designed to accelerate the adoption of virtual infrastructure.  Citrix XenServer is free to download and use, so click here to download the software and start virtualizing today.