Citrix XenServer

Citrix XenServer Overview

Deliver the Dynamic Datacenter

Citrix XenServer, a member of the Citrix Delivery Center product family, is the simplest and most effective way to virtualize servers and deliver dynamic data centers that are responsive to the ever-changing demands of business. Using Citrix XenServer, virtual server software companies can deploy high-performance virtual machines rapidly and easily, and manage them and their related storage and networking resources from a single easy-to-use management console.

The powerful provisioning capabilities now available in Citrix XenServer virtualization software makes it the only platform than can integrate the deployment and management of virtual and physical servers into a unified dynamic virtualized infrastructure - a flexible aggregated pool of computing and storage resources.

Unlock the Power of Server Virtualization
A thin software layer (known as the Xen hypervisor) runs directly on the hardware and provides an abstraction layer that allows each physical server to run one or more virtual servers, breaking the “hard-coding” that normally locks the operating system its applications to the underlying physical server.  Each virtual server appears to users and to management software as if it were a separate physical computer, but in fact, many virtual servers may share one physical server - the density of consolidation is limited only by available resources.

XenServer’s virtualization 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.

Citrix XenServer combines the performance, security, and openness of the Xen technology with XenCenter comprehensive management - yielding a platform perfect for rapid adoption of virtualization for server consolidation, software development and test, and business continuity.

Increased Agility at Lower Cost
With Citrix XenServer virtualization software, businesses can increase server and storage utilization, reducing costs of equipment, power, cooling, and real estate. Virtualization-powered consolidation enables businesses to decommission older systems that are expensive to support and prone to failure, replacing several of them with a single newer, more supportable, less power-hungry system.  

By combining servers and storage into resource pools that can be apportioned to the applications with the highest business need, IT operations can be aligned to changing demand and business priorities. With XenMotion, running virtual machines can be migrated to new servers with no service interruption, allowing essential workloads to get needed resources, and enable zero-downtime maintenance.

Easy to Deploy and Integrate
Citrix XenServer is installed directly on bare metal servers, requiring no dedicated host operating system. Open command-line (CLI) and programming (API) interfaces make it easy for vendors and enterprises to integrate virtualization with existing processes and management tools. The powerful provisioning capabilities make enterprise virtualization simpler and it’s possible to deliver new servers hosting new application services in minutes, with efficient use of storage resources.

Secure and Reliable
The centralization provided by Citrix XenServer - especially when combined with the optimized application delivery pipeline of the Citrix Delivery Center - leaves valuable data in the well-protected data center, rather than on the road or on open networks where it is more vulnerable to loss.  Internal networks and virtual firewalls can be used to make secure processes or back-end application tiers visible only to the systems that need access, rather than being open to the world.

Citrix XenServer’s management information is stored redundantly across managed servers, making the Resource Pool resilient in the face of failure of any one system. Workloads on a failed system can be restarted quickly on any other available server, dramatically reducing the downtime that can interfere with business. For planned maintenance, running virtual machines can be migrated to other physical servers without interruption of service - eliminating scheduled downtime.

XenServer - Features & Benefits

10 Minutes to Xen — Server Virtualization

Citrix XenServer™ software is easily installed using either a CD or network based installation and it delivers the performance, security and openness of the Xen technology for x86 server virtualization. You can then easily create an unlimited number of virtual machines. All the tools required to get virtualized right away are included.

Supports Standard Hardware and Drivers
Citrix XenServer virtual server software fully utilizes the benefits of hardware assisted virtualization on both Intel® VT platforms and AMD® Virtualization (AMD-V™) platforms via Xen paravirtualization. This hardware support provides exceptional performance and response times that closely rival non-virtualized speeds.

Citrix XenServer software leverages standard device drivers for broad storage and network hardware support.

• Supports wide variety of local storage including IDE, SATA, SCSI, and SAS direct attached storage and more
• Supports Fiber Channel based SANs with boot from SAN for diskless blades
• Supports shared storage on iSCSI  and Fibre Channel based SANs and NFS NAS filers

Windows and Linux Guest Support
Create Microsoft virtual servers and Linux virtual servers easily. All Editions (except the entry-level Express Edition) can easily handle an unrestricted number of both Windows and Linux guest operating systems. Windows support includes Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows 2000 Server. Linux support includes Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS, Oracle Enterprise Linux, Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, and Debian Sarge and Etch. (See the product specifications and documentation for details on exact versions supported.) Windows guests require Intel VT or AMD-V x86-based hardware.

Based on Industry-Standard Open Source Xen
Citrix XenServer is based upon the industry standard open source Xen hypervisor, the creators of which continue to enhance and maintain it at Citrix. This open source software “engine” is a proven, rapidly evolving industry standard with broad support from virtually all the major hardware and software vendors.

Blazing Fast Performance
The Citrix XenServer advanced virtualization architecture offers near-native “bare-metal” performance on almost any 64-bit x86 server. The product’s minimal software footprint enables the full power of the system to be dedicated to running virtual machines. Optimized guest drivers provide high speed I/O for enhanced disk and network performance.

Powerful Resource Management
To guarantee that compute power is directed to the most essential workloads that require them, Citrix XenServer Enterprise Edition allows administrators to set quality-of-service (QoS) priorities and levels for CPU utilization as well as disk and network bandwidth.

XenCenter Multi-Server Multi-Pool Management
All Citrix XenServer editions include XenCenter, a powerful graphical virtualization management interface that runs on any Windows desktop machine - no dedicated system is required to use its powerful unified management capabilities. It offers:

• Management of single servers (Express Edition) or multiple servers in one session
• Full lifecycle management for all your virtual machines from creation, starting and stopping, to reboot, and uninstalls
• Interfaces for creating new virtual machines from original sources or from network repositories, and for cloning them from pre-configured templates for efficient buildout of virtual infrastructure
• Ability to suspend and resume virtual machines on the fly
• XenMotion management for live relocation
• Global resource pool configuration
• Integrated configuration of virtual storage repositories and networking
• Real time and trended graphing of virtual machine and total server performance metrics including CPU, memory, plus disk and network I/O
• Controls to adjust virtual machine resource allocation as demands change

The Citrix XenServer software also supports a powerful Command Line Interface that runs locally or remotely for easy integration with your existing tools and scripts and XenAPI for integration with management tools.

Enhanced Serviceability
Citrix XenServer makes it easy for users to collect information required to assist with support and problem resolution and to send it directly to support staff. Integrated hotfix management allows users to easily keep the software up-to-date.