What's new Citrix XenServer 5.6 and Citrix Provisioning Service 5.6

The 5.6 Series
What‘s new

Thomas Krampe

1

Overview

06/06/10 © 2010 Thomas Krampe
2

Overview

Citrix already released two new Versions of XenServer and
Provisioning Services with the Version Number 5.6.

So, let‘s talk about the new features, the lost features and the still
missing features of both products.

2

Introducing XenServer 5.6

XenServer •  2x greater scalability
•  XenCenter administrative improvements
Free •  Platform improvements for XenDesktop

•  Role-Based Administration & Audit
XenServer •  Live Memory Snapshot and revert
Enterprise •  Dynamic Workload Balancing & Power Management
•  Heterogeneous Pools (Flex Migration)

XenServer •  StorageLink – Site Recovery
Platinum •  Lab Self-Service Portal

3

Introducing XenServer 5.6

XenServer •  2x greater scalability
•  XenCenter administrative improvements
Free •  Platform improvements for XenDesktop

•  Dynamic Memory Control
XenServer •  High Availability
Advanced •  Alerts and Performance History

•  Role-Based Administration & Audit
XenServer •  Live Memory Snapshot and revert
Enterprise •  Dynamic Workload Balancing & Power Management
•  Heterogeneous Pools (Flex Migration)

XenServer •  StorageLink – Site Recovery
Platinum •  Lab Self-Service Portal

3

Citrix Licensing Server (“V6”) Integration

- Same License Server as for other Citrix products
- Tighter enforcement
- Runs on virtual appliance or Windows

4

Citrix Licensing Server (“V6”) Integration

- Same License Server as for other Citrix products
- Tighter enforcement
- Runs on virtual appliance or Windows

Note: Free XenServer activation process does not change

4

Enhanced Performance and Scale

- Increased scalability by 2x
- Memory support per host has been doubled to 256 GB
- The number logical processors has been doubled to 64 per host

- Enhanced network performance
- 16 NICs per host has been certiﬁed

- Increased VM Density for XenDesktop
- Up to 130 Windows XP guests per host has been documented
- Auto-adjusting Dom0 memory conﬁguration to support kind of scale

- Initial SR-IOV NIC Support
- Enabled bandwidth for certain workloads like NetScaler VPX to be
increased. We can get throughput of up to 108 Gbps

5

Dynamic Memory Control (DMC)

- Ability to over-commit RAM resources
- Allow memory adjustment while VM is running
- Can increase number of VMs per host

6

Role-Based Administration

- Delegation and control within Resource Pool
- Assigned to Active Directory users or groups
- Audit logging via Workload Reports

7

Live Memory Snapshot and Rollback

- XenCenter support for live VM snapshot and revert (incl. RAM)
- One-click Revert
- Snapshot branches

8

Dynamic Workload Balancing

- Guided VM placement
- Automated VM load balancing
- Power-on/off hosts as needed
- Utilization Reporting

9

Integrated StorageLink

- Fully leverage existing Storage Assets
- Reduces Storage Needs
- Accelerates Deployment
- Uniﬁes Storage Management Processes

10

StorageLink Site Recovery

Snapshot-based
Remote Mirroring Staging/Testing

New
•  Remote Mirroring of Storage Assets
for Disaster Recovery
•  Simplified replication configuration
•  Backup Site DR Enablement

StorageLink Site Recovery simpliﬁes the process of setting up this
replication and recovering virtual machines in the DR site. Check
the StorageLink HCL for arrays that initially support Site Recovery.

11

Storage Systems Supported with StorageLink

System / Vendor
DataCore
Dell EqualLogic
EMC CLARiiON
GreenBytes
HP Enterprise Virtual Array „EVA“ (SMI-S)
HP Modular Smart Array „MSA“
HP P4000 Series „Lefthand SAN/iQ“
IBM N Series
NetApp
Nexenta Storage Adapter

12

Guest Support Updates

- Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2
- RHEL, CentOS, Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.4 & 5.5 support
- SLES 10 SP3
- Addition of “Demo Linux VM” built-in template

13

Heterogeneous Pools

- Heterogeneous CPUs within a Pool
- XenMotion, HA, Shared Storage, and Workload Balancing possible
- Works with
- Intel processors with"Flex Migrate" capability
- AMD processors with "Extended Migration" features

Note that live migration between Intel and AMD does not work.

14

Enhanced support for iSCSI arrays with multi-IQN

DataCore SANmelody is an example of an iSCSI array that
advertises multiple IQNs with multiple IP addresses. With
XenServer 5.6, the setup with SANMelody arrays is much easier
with the wildcard IQN scan option.

15

Enhanced XenCenter

- New multi-select feature
- One-step "VM move" from array to array (powered down)
- Instant VM from template feature

16

Updated Support for Provisioning Services

XenCenter is now more aware of PVS boot scenarios, namely
through "boot from network" options in the new VM setup wizard.

One more thing Citrix like people to try (call it a "Tech Preview") is
streaming of XenServer bits themselves, in addition to VMs.

Something more about this Tech Preview on the following PVS Slides.

17

Server-based pricing

Edition Price / Server

XenServer FREE FREE (What else)

XenServer Advanced US$ 1.000,00

XenServer Enterprise US$ 2.500,00

XenServer Platinium US$ 5.000,00

XenServer Advanced US$ 30,00 / month
for Cloud Provider

18

What‘s gone and what‘s still missing

19


What‘s gone?
- The legacy Linux P2V tool in the installer
- The Debian Etch (4.0) Template

19


What‘s gone?

What‘s still missing?
- Citrix License Server Virtual Appliance (June 30th.)
- Updated Lab Manager (should be available today)
- Support for Jumbo Frames
- FCoE Support
- Support for Ubuntu / Debian 64-bit
- GPU Support (some kind like remoteFX)

19


What‘s gone?

What‘s still missing?
- Citrix License Server Virtual Appliance (June 30th.)
- Updated Lab Manager (should be available today)
- Support for Jumbo Frames
- FCoE Support
- Support for Ubuntu / Debian 64-bit
- GPU Support (some kind like remoteFX)

Stay tuned for more on "Project Cowley" and "Project Boston."

19

Introducing Provisioning Services 5.6

Imaging Wizard Simplifies and automates end-to-end vDisk creation process.

Ability to leverage a SQL Server database that has been setup in a
DB Mirroring Support
mirrored configuration.

Ability to create an answer file to expedite deployment of Provisioning
Silent Configuration
Services Hosts.

Provides a mechanism to place a Provisioning Services host into
Improved vDisk Store Creation “maintenance mode,” automatically moving streaming sessions to other
hosts in the farm.

Device Auto-Add Wizard New wizard makes it easier to set-up Device AutoAdd.

Integrates management of vDisk LUNs into the Provisioning Services
Store Management Wizard
Management Console.

Jumbo Packet Support Improves performance in 10G network

Cross-Forest AD Support Ability to deploy Provisioning Services Farms across multiple AD Forests.

Ability to stream XenServer hosts in private and standard image modes
XenServer Host Streaming
(Non-supported technology preview).

20

Imaging Wizard

21

Imaging Wizard

- Imaging Wizard is run from a device on which the Provisioning
Services client software has been installed.

- Start by entering the connection information for the Provisioning
Services farm to which this image is to be added.

21

Imaging Wizard

Note that the list of stores
will be based on the access
level of the user and
selected server.

22

Imaging Wizard

If you wish to create a new vDisk, the wizard will prompt for the
vDisk name, store location, and type.

Note that the list of stores
will be based on the access
level of the user and
selected server.

22

Imaging Wizard

23

Imaging Wizard

If you wish to re-image an existing vDisk you will be given a list of
disks to chose from, based on the access level of the user and
selected server.

23

Imaging Wizard

24

Imaging Wizard

Next you will be able to deﬁne the number and size of the logical
volumes to be created on the vDisk.

24

Imaging Wizard

25

Imaging Wizard

If you wish to add the target device to the Provisioning Services
farm, you can do so from the Imaging Wizard itself.

25

Imaging Wizard

26

Imaging Wizard

As a ﬁnal step you have the option to run the Optimizer tool prior
to creation of the vDisk and device record.

26


27


- Ability to connect to a MS SQL Server database that has been set
up in a mirrored conﬁguration.

- Provisioning Services now uses native SQL client so DB failover is
automatic

27

Silent Conﬁguration Support

# This is a sample file
UserName=BIGCOjoeuser
UserName2=janesmith
Database=1

# Network
StreamNetworkAdapterIP=10.204.4.53
IpcPortBase=6890
IpcPortCount=20
SoapPort=54321
BootstrapFile=C:Documents and SettingsAll UsersApplication Data
CitrixProvisioningServicesTftpbootARDBP32.BIN
LS1=10.10.10.2,0.0.0.0,0.0.0.0,6910
NoStartServices=1
28

Silent Configuration Support

- Run Configuration Wizard run once to create database and
answer file.

- Use answer file to automate configuration of subsequent hosts.

# This is a sample file
UserName=BIGCOjoeuser
UserName2=janesmith
Database=1

# Network
StreamNetworkAdapterIP=10.204.4.53
IpcPortBase=6890
IpcPortCount=20
SoapPort=54321
BootstrapFile=C:Documents and SettingsAll UsersApplication Data
CitrixProvisioningServicesTftpbootARDBP32.BIN
LS1=10.10.10.2,0.0.0.0,0.0.0.0,6910
NoStartServices=1
28

Improved vDisk Store Creation

29

Improved vDisk Store Creation

- New ability to validate vDisk store paths.

- Clicking Validate button on the Store Properties dialog displays
new Validate Store Properties dialog.

29

Device Auto-Add Wizard

30

Device Auto-Add Wizard

- New wizard makes it
easier to conﬁgure auto-
add for a farm, site, or
device collection.

- Wizard guides you
through the process of
selecting the desired target
device to act as a template.

30


31


- New wizard allows you to leverage the Read-Only vDisk Store
capability without having to go to the command line on each
server.

- Stores are marked as “managed” during the creation process.

- Toggle store between Read-only and Maintenance mode and
select server for vDisk maintenance (server maintains write access
to store volume).

- Store cannot be placed in maintenance mode if there are active
vDisk connections.

31

Enhanced AD Support

32

Enhanced AD Support

- AD integration was has been enhanced.

- Provisioning Services now supports deployment in multi-forest
environments.

- The following slide show supported conﬁgurations

32

Enhanced AD Support

Szenario Supported

PVS and vDisk store in parent domain, targets in child
yes
domains, single forest

PVS and vDisk store in a child domain, targets in different
yes
child domains, single forest

PVS and vDisk store in on forest, targets in forests yes

PVS and vDisk store in on forest, targets in forests in testing

PVS and vDisk store in on forest, targets in forests in testing

33

Subnet Affinity

34

Subnet Affinity

- The load balancing algorithm will now consider the network on
which the request was received and select the IP address of the
server on that same network.

- If there is not a matching network then it is assumed that
networks are routed and round-robin is used to select the IP
address.

34

Load Balancing

35

Load Balancing

Power Rating
A user deﬁned constant indicating the relative level of the power of a server
to service PVS devices. All other constraints being equal, a server with a
power rating of 2.0 should service twice as many devices as a server with a
power rating of 1.0.

Load Factor
A normalized count of devices assigned to a server. The count is
normalized by dividing the device count by the server “Power rating”.

Fair Load
The relative load a server should share for a given vDisk and device set as
determined by the relative power ratings of all servers involved. Automatic
load balancing approximately every 10 minutes

35

Jumbo Packet Support

36

Jumbo Packet Support

- Now supported on a per server basis.
- Console changed for Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU)
- PVS server maximum MTU: The lowest MTU of all PVS server
network adapter Ethernet MTU.
- PVS client maximum MTU: The MTU of currently active network
adapter that binds to BNNS. When NIC failover occurs, new NIC
MTU is exchanged during reconnect.
- In PVS client preboot, PXE/TFTP/UNDI(int13) do not support
jumbo packets.

36

Other New Features

37

Other New Features

- New inter-process communications channel
- New method for PVS components and servers to communicate
with each other.
- Wake-on-LAN in distributed environment is „fixed‟
- Additional ports opened

- License Server Validation
- Ability to check license server version from Configuration Wizard
- New Disk Properties context menu
- View disk file properties.

- Port Blocker has been removed
- Deprecated in 5.1 SP 2

37

XenServer Host Streaming Technology Preview

38

XenServer Host Streaming Technology Preview

- Standard and private image mode streaming of diskless
XenServer hosts.

- Non-supported technology preview. Supported implementation
planned for Q4 2010.

- Citrix need your ideas and feedback!

38

XenServer Host Streaming: Architecture

39

XenServer Host Streaming: Architecture

- General architecture XS host is retained.

- Two kernel drivers:
- Proprietary module which implements the PVS protocol
- Public module which implements the GPL glue between the
proprietary module and the kernel

- Both drivers interact with the SCSI subsystem as a SCSI LLD to
register a SCSI disk and redirect access to it over the network to
the PVS server

- Initial ram disk image handles boot time

- User space magic is carried out by several scripts

39

XenServer Host Streaming: Installation

40

XenServer Host Streaming: Installation

- Installation is done in text mode and into a hardcoded path.

- eth0 must not be designated as the management interface or
support a VLAN.

- During installation, eth0 is removed from under the control of
XenServer and allocated to PVS exclusively.

- Original boot loader, extlinux, is retained.

- PVS specific entry is created in the boot loader configuration
file and is selected as the default boot option.

40

XenServer Host Streaming: Imaging

41

XenServer Host Streaming: Imaging

- Like the installation, imaging is also done in text mode.

- As a result, partitions “/boot” and “/” are created.

- The native boot loader, extlinux, is not carried over to the virtual
disk. Instead, the GRUB boot loader is used.

- Personalization is attained through a startup script a symbolic
link to which is added in runlevel 3.

- A custom initrd, which contains needed drivers and startup
scripts, is created on the virtual disk.

41

XenServer Host Streaming: Personalization

42


- Needed because each XenServer instance is tied to the hardware
on which it is installed.

- Performed before XAPI is running.

- Data is injected directly into the XenServer database and
several other configuration files.

- Methods used to personalize a XenServer instance entail:
- Patching of the last six bytes of some UUIDs with the MAC of the
PVS interface
- Removal of any references to local storage
- Updates of network configuration files with MACs of
corresponding interfaces

42


43


- Files affected are:
- /etc/xensource-inventory
- /var/xapi/state.db
- /etc/sysconﬁg/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth<N>

- Values affected are:
- installation UUID
- dom0 UUID
- host name, host UUID and host reference UUID
- pool UUID and pool reference UUID
- MAC addresses of all PIFs found in the Xen Server database
- all references the local physical block device (PBD)

43

Kernel Dump

44

Kernel Dump

Since Windows 7, 2008 and Vista it‘s no longer restrict pagefile
to system partition so dump file can reside anywhere.

http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX123642

44

Contact Informations

For questions / suggestions after the Pubforum:

thomas.krampe@visionapp.de
More informations online:

www.thomas-krampe.com
in german only

Slides are available after the Pubforum at:

45

Contact Informations

For questions / suggestions after the Pubforum:

thomas.krampe@visionapp.de
Or this weekend at the Bar on a night-out trip to Frankfurt.

More informations online:

www.thomas-krampe.com
in german only

Slides are available after the Pubforum at:

45

Questions

46

Questions

Cheers

46

What's new Citrix XenServer 5.6 and Citrix Provisioning Service 5.6

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Editor's Notes