Xen Cloud PlatformBuild a Cloud Day – May 2013
What is XCP?
XCP = Xen Cloud Platform
Open Source Citrix’s XenServer Announced in 2009 Built from XenServer until XCP 1.5 XenServer 6.1 built from XCP 1.6
Datacenter and cloud-ready API
Complete virtualization stack Automation Resource pooling Event management
Impact of XenServer
• Free XenServer Impact• 1,000,000+ downloads
• 500,000+ servers activated
• 150,000+ unique organizations
• > 50% of Fortune 500 run XenServer
“Look closely at Citrix as an alternative to VMware. [Citrix] offers many of the same features as VMware with more flexibility and a lower price.”
- Info-Tech Research Group, 2011
Magic Quadrant “Leader" – noted for features and price/performance- Gartner, 2011
Leveraging Multiple Hypervisors
Source: Info-Tech Research Group; N = 71
1%3% 7%
31%58%
How many server virtualizationvendors are you using?
5 4 3 2 1
41%
32%
9%
9%
5% 5%
What pair of vendorsare you using?
VMware/CitrixVMware/MicrosoftVMware/OracleMicrosoft/OracleOracle/Red HatMicrosoft/Red Hat
71%
20%
7%
2%What vendor are you using?
VMware
Microsoft
Citrix
Red Hat
• Many organizations leverage a combination of VMware, for advanced management of critical workloads and apps, and Citrix or Microsoft for cost savings in non-critical systems.
• Microsoft can also bring high performance for Microsoft apps like Exchange or SharePoint.
• Citrix XenServer is often utilized to support Citrix’s XenDesktop.
The Benefits
• When possible, ensure one of your solutions can manage the other for day-to-day management tasks like live migration & P2V.
• Microsoft & Citrix can manage VMware and each other.
• VMware is beginning to offer management of Microsoft VMs.
The Challenges
A more open Xen a stronger XenServer
• Xen is a Linux Foundation Collaborative Projectᵒ http://xenproject.org
• Supported by industry pillarsᵒ Amazon, Cisco, Google, Intel
• Why the Linux Foundation?ᵒ Provide a trusted and neutral governance model
• What about XenServer?ᵒ XenServer will see accelerated growthᵒ XenServer continues to power XenDesktop, CloudPlatform and NetScaler
What’s so Great About Xen?
• It’s robustᵒ Native 64-bit hypervisorᵒ Runs on bare metalᵒ Directly leverages CPU hardware for virtualization
• It’s widely-deployedᵒ Tens of thousands of organizations have deployed Xen
• It’s advancedᵒ Optimized for hardware-assisted virtualization and paravirtualization
• It’s trustedᵒ Open, resilient Xen security framework
• It’s part of mainline Linux
Understanding Architectural Components
The Xen hypervisor and control domain (dom0) manage physical server resources among virtual machines
Understanding the Domain 0 Component
Domain 0 is a compact specialized Linux VM that manages the network and storage I/O of all guest VMs … and isn’t the XenServer hypervisor
Understanding the Linux VM Component
Linux VMs include paravirtualized kernels and drivers, and Xen is part of Mainline Linux 3.0
Understanding the Windows VM Component
Windows VMs use paravirtualized drivers to access storage and network resources through Domain 0
Core Management
XenCenter – Simple XCP Management
• Single pane of management glass
• Manage XenServer hostsᵒ Start/Stop VMs
• Manage XenServer resource poolsᵒ Shared storage
ᵒ Shared networking
• Configure advanced featuresᵒ HA, WLB, Reporting, Alerting
• Configure updates
Management Architecture Comparison
“The Other Guys”
Traditional ManagementArchitecture
Single backend management server
Xen Cloud Platform
DistributedManagement Architecture
Clustered management layer
Cloud Centric Features
XenMotion Live VM Migration
XenServerXenServerXenServer
Shared Storage
XenServer Pool
• Migrates VM disks from any storage type to any other storage typeᵒ Local, DAS, iSCSI, FC
• Supports cross pool migrationᵒ Requires compatible CPUs
• Encrypted Migration model
• Specify management interface for optimal performance
Live Storage XenMotion
XenServer Hypervisor
VDI(s)
Live Virtual
Machine
Heterogeneous Resource Pools
Safe Live Migrations
Feature 5
Virtual Machine
Older CPU
Feature 1
Feature 2
Feature 3
Feature 4
XenServer 1
Newer CPU
Feature 1
Feature 2
Feature 3
Feature 4
XenServer 2
Mixed Processor Pools
Memory Overcommit
• Feature name: Dynamic Memory Control
• Ability to over-commit RAM resources
• VMs operate in a compressed or balanced mode within set range
• Allow memory settings to be adjusted while VM is running
• Can increase number of VMs per host
High Availability
• Automatically monitors hosts and VMs
• Easily configured within XenCenter
• Relies on Shared Storageᵒ iSCSI, NFS, HBA
• Reports failure capacity for DR planning purposes
Cost Effective VM Densities
• Supporting VMs with up to:ᵒ 16 vCPU per VMᵒ 128GB Memory per VM
• Supporting hosts with up to:ᵒ 1TB Physical RAMᵒ 160 logical processors
• Yielding up to 150 Desktop images per host
• Cisco Validated Design for XenServer on UCS
Distributed Virtual Network Switching
• Virtual Switchᵒ Open source: www.openvswitch.orgᵒ Provides a rich layer 2 feature setᵒ Cross host internal networksᵒ Rich traffic monitoring optionsᵒ ovs 1.4 compliant
• DVS Controllerᵒ Virtual applianceᵒ Web-based GUIᵒ Can manage multiple poolsᵒ Can exist within pool it manages
VM
VM
VM
VM
VM
Switch Policies and Live Migration
VM
VM
VM
VM
Linux VM1• Allow all traffic
Linux VM2• Allow SSH on eth0• Allow HTTP on eth1
Windows VM• Allow RDP and deny HTTP
Linux VM1• Allow all traffic
Linux VM2• Allow SSH on eth0• Allow HTTP on eth1
Windows VM• Allow RDP and deny HTTP
SAP VM• Allow only SAP traffic• RSPAN to VLAN 26
Windows VM• Allow all traffic
Linux VM• Allow SSH on eth0• Allow HTTP on eth1
Windows VM• Allow all traffic
SAP VM• Allow only SAP traffic• RSPAN to VLAN 26
Linux VM• Allow SSH on eth0• Allow HTTP on eth1
VM
NetScaler SDX – Powered by XenServer
• Complete tenant isolation
• Complete independence
• Partitions within instances
• Optimized network: 50+ Gbps
• Runs default XenServer 6
vSphere 5.1 and XCP 1.6 Quick Comparison
Feature XCP vSphere EditionHypervisor high availability Yes StandardNetFlow Yes Enterprise PlusCentralized network management Yes Enterprise PlusDistributed virtual network switching Yes Enterprise Plus with Cisco Nexus 1000vStorage live migration Yes StandardSerial port aggregation Not Available StandardOptimized for desktop workloads Yes Desktop Edition is repackaged
Enterprise Plus
Licensing Free Processor based
Getting involved with XCP
• Download it and use it
• http://lists.xen.org/xen-api
• https://github.com/xen-org
• https://launchpad.net/xcp
Work better. Live better.