Citrix XenServerTechnical OverviewCitrix XenServerTechnical Overview
Marc Trouard-RiolleSystems Engineer, XenServer EMEAMarc Trouard-RiolleSystems Engineer, XenServer EMEA
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• 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
Simple Deployment and Installation
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Extensive Storage Support
• Supports broad range storage• IDE
• SATA
• SCSI
• SAS
• DAS
• Fibre Channel
• iSCSI
• NFS
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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
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XenCenter Console
• Single point of administration
• Manage VMs from anywhere
• Multiple servers• Included with
XenServer (no charge)
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Server Provisioning
Store the virtual workload image on network storageStore
Store
Store the virtual imageon network storage
Stream the workload image on-demand to virtual and bare-metal serversStream
Stream
Stream the virtual imageto servers
A
Create a virtual image of a server’s workload: operating system, application engine and applicationVirtualize
Virtualize
Virtualize server workload image
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Silo One
Silo Two
Silo Three
Servers are configured for network boot. Disks optionally removed.
Networkstorage
A
C
B
Provisioning Server(streaming service)
How Provisioning Changes the Model
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Silo One
Silo Two
Silo Three
Servers are rebooted. OS and workloads are streamed from a service on the network.
Networkstorage
A
C
B
How Provisioning Changes the Model
Provisioning Server(streaming service)
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With provisioning only a small number of images are required
Provisioning Server (streaming service)
Network Storage
Provision Physical and Virtual Servers
OS and workloads are streamed from network storage
Xen Hypervisor
B
A
Virtualized ServerVirtualized Server
Physical ServerPhysical Server
Xen HypervisorXen Hypervisor
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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
IBM
Intel
# of check-ins
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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
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Understanding vs. XenServer
• XenServer incorporates open source Xen hypervisor
• Enhancements by Citrix go back into the community
• Xen and XenServer are constantly evolving
XenServer ArchitectureXenServer Architecture
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Legacy Virtualization Architectures
UserAppsUserApps
UserAppsUserApps
HardwareHardware
HALT SAFE HALT
Legacy Hypervisor
Slow, expensive software emulation layer
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UserAppsUserApps
HardwareHardware
XenServer
Paravirtualized guests makes high-speed calls
directly to the hypervisor
Paravirtualization
• Relies on “enlightened” operating systems
• Kernel and I/O paths know they are being virtualized
• Cooperation provides best performance
UserAppsUserApps
HALTHYPERCALL
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Hardware-Assisted Virtualization
UserAppsUserApps
UserAppsUserApps
HardwareHardware
HALTHYPERCALL
HALT
XenServer
VT/AMD-V
Other guests benefit from hardware-accelerated call
translation
• Hardware-assist allows high performance without emulation
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Understanding the Hardware Component
Hardware layer contains the physical server components, including memory, CPU and storage
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Understanding the Hypervisor Component
Xen hypervisor is a thin layer of software that runs right on top of the hardware
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Understanding the Domain 0 Component
Domain 0 is a Linux VM that manages the network and storage I/O of all guest VMs
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Understanding Architectural Components
The Xen hypervisor and Domain 0 manage physical server resources among virtual machines
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Understanding the Linux VM Component
Linux VMs include paravirtualized kernels and drivers
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Understanding the Windows VM Component
Windows VMs use paravirtualized drivers to access storage and network resources through Domain 0
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Next Steps
• Download XenServer Express Edition for free
• Download XenServer Enterprise Edition 30-day Trial
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