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In a previous post, I embedded a presentation (thanks to SlideShare.net) that briefly reviewed the new server virtualization features of Citrix XenServer 5.
This next embedded presentation dives down into more technical detail for each of the new features.
You can find much more information at www.XenServer5.com.
One of the many new features of XenServer 5 is advanced integration with Storage Infrastructure. The Citrix XenServer Adapter for Dell EqualLogic integrates server and storage functionality on a single management interface and delegates tasks according to each platform's core strengths.
As an integrated virtualization solution, XenServer and EqualLogic allows you to maintain high operating efficiency by delegating such advanced capabilities as Thin Provisioning, Fast Cloning, and Automated Snapshots to the EqualLogic SAN. Thin Provisioning helps IT administrators control costs by dedicating only the storage capacity needed in the short term, and maintaining unallocated storage in a common pool for later use by applications or user groups as disk resources are actually consumed. Fast Cloning lets storage administrators create copies of entire volumes as a background process, without disrupting network operations.
Once created, clones can be used to accelerate the provisioning and deployment of standardized VMs, as well as to test new applications, configurations or procedures. Snapshots are efficient captures of storage volumes that can be created without disrupting network operations, for use in backing up or testing data. In addition, XenServer supports iSCSI multipath I/O (MPIO) and simplified disaster recovery, two strategic tools for improving business continuity even in the event of network failures or other outages. MPIO support allows multiple network paths — e.g., separate subnetworks or VLANS — for both the SAN arrays and the virtualization servers,
as a means of both improving performance and safeguarding against Ethernet switch failures or other network problems. Disaster recovery tools apply snapshot and fast cloning technologies to the processes of initial VM placement, the real-time
movement of VMs via XenMotion, and automatic high availability.
Achmad Chadran of Dell Equallogic blogged about this integration from VMWorld
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the integration module goes even further, by:
- Streamlining the VM provisioning process all the way through the creation and assignment of virtual disk drives
- Relieving XenServer resources from having to perform burdensome storage tasks
- Taking storage technology further out of its traditional "black arts" realm and into a more business-focused IT culture
After you try out this integration with your own implementation of Dell Equallogic, you will understand why Achmad says this is a "very cool piece of engineering".
Peter Blum put together an excellent overview video that demonstrates this new integration with Dell EqualLogic.
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http://www.equallogic.com/partners/CitrixDemo/xenserver_equallogic_demo_controller.swf
Citrix XenServer 5 allows you to take full advantage of all the powerful features of your storage hardware.
Virtual Storage Management in XenServer 5
Here are some screen shots of the new Storage Wizard -
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Visit XenServer5.com to learn more and download the free XenServer 5 Express. You can watch a recored webinar on Virtual Storage management in XenServer 5 here.
As part of the XenServer 5 release, several new features have been added to XenCenter.
Here is a brief summary of the new XenCenter 5 features -
- Powerful, Self-healing Management Architecture
Unlike other management consoles, XenCenter distributes management data across servers in a resource pool to ensure there is no single point of management failure. If a management server should fail, any other server in the pool can take over the management role.
- Search, Sort and Tag
User-defined grouping and metadata tags allows simple, powerful searching and sorting capabilities across virtual machines, hosts and resource pools based on custom fields to help administrators easily identify and manage virtual infrastructure.
- Performance Monitoring and Trending
XenServer adds new enhanced performance monitoring, reporting and alerting dashboards that make it easy for IT professionals to see both real-time and historical views of virtual machines and physical host performance over long periods of time with virtually no storage or performance overhead.
- Physical to Virtual
Use the new XenConvert feature to move existing physical server workloads to XenServer virtual infrastructure in no time with. Tools are also available to convert other virtual machines to run on XenServer.
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Visit XenServer5.com to see video demos of the new XenCenter and the other new features of XenServer 5.
One of the new features of XenServer 5 is High Availability. Check out these screen shots to get a close up view of how to configure High availability in XenServer 5.
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You can find much more information at www.XenServer5.com.