What’s new in XenServer 5

XenServer 5 – Highlights Enhanced Guest Support

Business Continuity Automated High availability Automatic VM restart (based on priority) Administered from within XenCenter Fail-over capacity planning and reports Improved disaster recovery Scheduled backup of virtual machine metadata in conjunction with remote mirroring for easy site migration NIC bonding Active/Active NIC bonding for better performance and availability Local HA Remote DR Redundant Networking XenServer XenServer XenServer XenServer

Automated High availability

Automatic VM restart (based on priority)

Administered from within XenCenter

Fail-over capacity planning and reports

Improved disaster recovery

Scheduled backup of virtual machine metadata in conjunction with remote mirroring for easy site migration

NIC bonding

Active/Active NIC bonding for better performance and availability

XenCenter Manageability & Usability Upgrades Tagging and Searching Built-in and customizable searches Unique metadata tagging Performance Monitoring Persistent, trend data with customizable graphs Data is replicated within a resource pool Alerts Instant VM or host alerts for CPU, Network and Disk Usage Configurable thresholds, duration, intervals

Tagging and Searching

Built-in and customizable searches

Unique metadata tagging

Performance Monitoring

Persistent, trend data with customizable graphs

Data is replicated within a resource pool

Alerts

Instant VM or host alerts for CPU, Network and Disk Usage

Configurable thresholds, duration, intervals

Broader Guest Support Windows Windows Server 2008 64-bit & 32-bit Windows Server 2003 32-bit SP0, SP1, SP2, R2; 64-bit SP2 Windows Small Business Server 2003 32-bit SP0, SP1, SP2, R2 Windows XP 32-bit SP 2, SP3 Windows 2000 32-bit SP 4 Windows Vista 32-bit SP 1 Linux Red Hat Enterprise Linux 32-bit 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 4.7 , 5.0, 5.1, 5.2 ; 64-bit 5.0, 5.1, 5.2 Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 32-bit 9 SP2, SP3, SP4 ; 10 SP1; 64-bit 10 SP1, SP2 CentOS 32-bit 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 5.0, 5.1 , 5.2 ; 64-bit 5.0, 5.1, 5.2 Oracle Enterprise Linux 64-bit & 32-bit 5.0, 5.1 Debian sarge (3.1), etch (4.0) Microsoft Virtualization Validation Program Microsoft Virtualization Validation Program Microsoft Virtualization Validation Program Microsoft Virtualization Validation Program Microsoft Virtualization Validation Program Microsoft Virtualization Validation Program Microsoft Virtualization Validation Program Microsoft Virtualization Validation Program Microsoft Virtualization Validation Program Microsoft Virtualization Validation Program Microsoft Virtualization Validation Program Microsoft Virtualization Validation Program

Windows

Windows Server 2008 64-bit & 32-bit

Windows Server 2003 32-bit SP0, SP1, SP2, R2; 64-bit SP2

Windows Small Business Server 2003 32-bit SP0, SP1, SP2, R2

Windows XP 32-bit SP 2, SP3

Windows 2000 32-bit SP 4

Windows Vista 32-bit SP 1

Linux

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 32-bit 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 4.7 , 5.0, 5.1, 5.2 ; 64-bit 5.0, 5.1, 5.2

Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 32-bit 9 SP2, SP3, SP4 ; 10 SP1; 64-bit 10 SP1, SP2

CentOS 32-bit 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 5.0, 5.1 , 5.2 ; 64-bit 5.0, 5.1, 5.2

Oracle Enterprise Linux 64-bit & 32-bit 5.0, 5.1

Debian sarge (3.1), etch (4.0)

XenConvert – P2V Conversions What is it? Feature of XenServer 5 Stand-alone Wizard Interface Enables the conversion of a physical server or desktop workload into a virtual machine (VM) What formats does it support? Conversion to a XenServer ready VM (XVA) which can be imported into XenCenter Conversion to a Microsoft Virtual Hard Drive VM (VHD) Conversion to a VHD compatible with Provisioning Server 5 XenServer

What is it?

Feature of XenServer 5

Stand-alone Wizard Interface

Enables the conversion of a physical server or desktop workload into a virtual machine (VM)

What formats does it support?

Conversion to a XenServer ready VM (XVA) which can be imported into XenCenter

Conversion to a Microsoft Virtual Hard Drive VM (VHD)

Conversion to a VHD compatible with Provisioning Server 5

Storage Infrastructure Enhancements XenServer Adapter for Dell EqualLogic Supports fast-cloning, disk snapshotting support, LUN-per-VDI Storage snapshots Manual or scripted disk snapshots for backup/recovery of Windows virtual machines Available for NetApp and Dell EqualLogic storage repositories Fibre channel & iSCSI multi-path I/O FC and iSCSI multipath support in XenCenter Broader storage support Support for 8GB FC HBA’s from Qlogic and Emulex More certified storage components on the HCL

XenServer Adapter for Dell EqualLogic

Supports fast-cloning, disk snapshotting support, LUN-per-VDI

Storage snapshots

Manual or scripted disk snapshots for backup/recovery of Windows virtual machines

Available for NetApp and Dell EqualLogic storage repositories

Fibre channel & iSCSI multi-path I/O

FC and iSCSI multipath support in XenCenter

Broader storage support

Support for 8GB FC HBA’s from Qlogic and Emulex

More certified storage components on the HCL

Performance Enhancements Further improved XenApp performance Improvements to Xen shadow page-table handling for better memory management Updated paravirtualization drivers in Citrix tools Windows Server 2008 “enlightenments” Improved performance across all Windows applications (by as much as 30% on applications such as XenApp, SQL Server and Biztalk). Improved host performance Faster Xen Hypervisor 3.2 Control Domain performance tuning Updated enterprise hardware drivers Resource Pool scalability VHD-based performance tuning

Further improved XenApp performance

Improvements to Xen shadow page-table handling for better memory management

Updated paravirtualization drivers in Citrix tools

Windows Server 2008 “enlightenments”

Improved performance across all Windows applications (by as much as 30% on applications such as XenApp, SQL Server and Biztalk).

Improved host performance

Faster Xen Hypervisor 3.2

Control Domain performance tuning

Updated enterprise hardware drivers

Resource Pool scalability

VHD-based performance tuning

Dynamic Workload Streaming (Provisioning) Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Snap-In Role-based administration Based on Active Directory group membership Windows Server 2008 Support (32-bit & 64-bit) including Hyper-V to bare metal servers Microsoft Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) support Lets you leverage third-party tools (such as virus scanners, patch management, backup) that support VHD. Microsoft SQL Server Integration SQL Server Express ships with the product Stream Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V A A

Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Snap-In

Role-based administration

Based on Active Directory group membership

Windows Server 2008 Support

(32-bit & 64-bit) including Hyper-V to bare metal servers

Microsoft Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) support

Lets you leverage third-party tools (such as virus scanners, patch management, backup) that support VHD.

Microsoft SQL Server Integration

SQL Server Express ships with the product