Why Choose Xen For Your Cloud?

Why Choose Xen For Your Cloud? Todd Deshane Build an Open Source Cloud Day - Boston December 9, 2011

Who am I?● Xen.org Technology Evangelist● Involvement with Xen started in 2003 as graduate student● Co-author of research paper: ○ "Xen and the Art of Repeated Research" ○ USENIX 2004● Co-author of the "Running Xen" book● XCP/cloud integrator and tester

Outline● Xen in the cloud history● Xen architecture and security benefits● XCP● Project Kronos

Xen (in the Cloud) History

Global Public Computing"This dissertation proposes a new distributed computingparadigm, termed global public computing, which allows anyuser to run any code anywhere. Such platforms pricecomputing resources, and ultimately charge users for resourcesconsumed." - Evangelos Kotsovinos, PhD dissertation, 2004

Xen (in the Cloud) History

Xen Architecture

Xen Architectural Security Advantages● Small, clean, disaggregatable trusted computing base ○ Xen hypervisor (guest scheduling, virtual hardware abstraction) ○ Management/control domain can be broken up into multiple domains ○ Driver domains can isolate hardware functions (e.g. network or storage driver domains)● Well-defined trusted computing base ○ Need only trust hypervisor and compartmentalized management, control, and driver domains ○ No extra services in hypervisor layer ○ Full OS not needed (as is with type-2 hypervisor)

Xen Cloud Platform (XCP)● Open source version of Citrix XenServer ○ http://wiki.xen.org/wiki/XCP/XenServer_Feature_Matrix● Enterprise-ready server virtualization and cloud platform● Built-in support and templates for Windows and Linux guests● Datacenter and cloud-ready management API ○ XenAPI (XAPI) is fully open source ○ CloudStack and OpenStack integration● Open vSwitch support built-in

XCP Architecture

Xen API (XAPI)● VM lifecycle: live snapshots, checkpoint, migration● Resource pools: live relocation, auto configuration, disaster recovery● Flexible storage, networking, and power management● Event tracking: progress, notification● Upgrade and patching capabilities● Real-time performance monitoring and alerting

XAPI Class Diagram

Open vSwitch● Software switch, similar to: ○ VMware vNetwork Distributed Switch ○ Cisco Nexus 1000V.● Distribution agnostic. Plugs right into Linux kernel.● Reuses existing Linux kernel networking subsystems.● Backwards-compatible with traditional userspace tools.● Free and Open Source http://openvswitch.org/

Why use Open vSwitch with Cloud?● Multi-tenancy● Automated control● Monitoring and QoS

XCP Management Options● xe is tab-completable, XAPI frontend command line tool● Desktop GUIs ○ Citrix XenCenter (Windows-only) ○ OpenXenManager (open source cross-platform XenCenter clone)● Web interfaces ○ Xen VNC Proxy (XVP) ■ lightweight VM console only ■ user access control to VMs (multi-tenancy) ○ XenWebManager (web-based clone of OpenXenManager● XCP Ecosystem: http://wiki.xen.org/xenwiki/XCP_Projects

OpenXenManager

Xen VNC Proxy (XVP)

XCP and Cloud Orchestration Tools● XCP and OpenStack● XCP and CloudStack● XCP and OpenNebula

XCP and OpenStack First commercial OpenStack cloud (Internap): XCP-based

XCP and CloudStack

XCP and OpenNebula

Project Kronos● Port of XCPs XAPI toolstack to Debian and Ubuntu dom0● Gives users the ability to install Debian or Ubuntu, then apt-get install xcp-xapi● Provides Xen users with the option of using the same API and toolstack that XCP and XenServer provide● Early adopters can try new changes to the XAPI before they get released in mainstream XCP and XenServer versions● Now much easier to build tools outside of an SDK VM

Project Kronos Overview

Project Kronos OverviewXen API (XAPI) Hypervisor

XCP vs. Project KronosXCP Project KronosPros Pros ● Isolation of cloud VM ● Simple install ● Security properties ● Flexibility ● Pre-package + appliance ● Simpler overallCons Cons ● Slightly more complex ● Less isolation ● Less flexible ● Cloud node is a potential entry point to Dom0

Summary● Xen has many great advantages for cloud use● Xen is widely used in the cloud● XAPI cloud-ready for use with cloud orchestration ○ fully open source● XCP and Project Kronos provide flexibility and choice

Thank You!

Why Choose Xen For Your Cloud?

by Todd Deshane on Dec 15, 2011

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Why Choose Xen For Your Cloud? — Presentation Transcript