Three years after the formation of branch 7.x, Citrix platform release () is designed to organize management of virtualization server infrastructure based on the Xen hypervisor. XenServer allows for rapid deployment of server and workstation virtualization systems, offering tools for centralized management of an unlimited number of servers and virtual machines.
Prior to the release of 7.4, XenServer was distributed as an open project, but then the publication of new code was restricted and the project transformed into a proprietary product, Citrix Hypervisor, with a free version available as Express Edition. in terms of functionality and available for after registration. For example, the cluster size for Express Edition is limited to 3 nodes, and it does not include features for fault tolerance, Active Directory integration, role-based access control (RBAC), dynamic memory management (DMC, D), hot patching, automatic update installation, live storage migration, and GPU pass-through and virtualization.
At the same time, a number of XenServer components continue to be developed separately with . In response to the changing nature of the product, the community founded the project , which is a free replacement for XenServer that restores features excluded from the free version of XenServer.
Key features of XenServer include the ability to group multiple servers into a pool (cluster), high availability (HA) support, snapshot capabilities, and shared resource utilization via XenMotion technology. Live migration of virtual machines is supported between cluster hosts and between different clusters/separate hosts (without shared storage), as well as live migration of VM disks between storages. The platform can operate with a large number of storage systems and features a simple and intuitive interface for installation and administration. The system can be managed using XenCenter (DotNet), command line, or OpenXenManager (Python).
Key XenServer 8:
- The installation images have been updated to the CentOS 7.5 package base. The Linux kernel 4.19 and the hypervisor are now used ;
- memory allocation algorithm for the management domain (Dom0): by default, 1 GB + 5% of the current RAM size is allocated, but no more than 8 GB.
- Templates have been added for use on guest systems for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15, CentOS 7.6, Oracle Linux 7.6, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6, Scientific Linux 7.6, CentOS 6.10, Oracle Linux 6.10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.10, Scientific Linux 6.10, and Windows Server 2019.
- Support for guest system templates has been discontinued: Debian 6 Squeeze,
Ubuntu 12.04, Asianux Server 4.2, 4.4, 4.5, NeoKylin Linux Security OS 5, Linx Linux 6, Linx Linux 8, GreatTurbo Enterprise Server 12, Yinhe Kylin 4, and older versions of Windows. - Drivers have been updated and hardware support has been expanded. This includes support for Xeon processors 82xx, 62xx, 52xx, 42xx, and 32xx CascadeLake-SP.
- Experimental support for guest system booting in UEFI mode has been added.
- The Premium Edition now allows for the creation of virtual disk images (VDI) larger than 2 TB, and implements support for disk and memory snapshots for virtual machines with vGPU.
Source: opennet.ru
