Blog posts tagged with 'xenserver'
Being a Sr. Architect within Citrix for almost a decade, I've been asked by more Citrix administrators than I could ever count, wanting to know if they should virtualize their XenApp environment. My typical response, which is common for a consultant, was "It depends." Unfortunately, this is not an easy yes or no question. XenApp is a unique beast in the delivery center. Users don't interact indirectly with a XenApp server like they do other systems (database, web, etc). Instead, users work on the servers directly. And if the servers have been designed appropriately, they should reach their memory limit or CPU limit.
Let's say, for example, your business is to write screenplays for "The Simpsons" and you have a set of XenApp servers hosting a single application for storyboarding. This application is critical to the business. On average, throughout the day, the CPU is 60% utilized and the memory is 80% utilized (4GB on Windows 2003 Server). What advantage would you gain by virtualizing this system? The hypervisor WILL take resources. Chances are slim you would be able to host a second virtual server on this physical system. In this case, I don't see where server virtualization fits. You could add more memory and additional CPU sockets, but you are spending more money just to try to save money. Of course there are some XenApp servers that are underutilized. Why? Was it an improper design? Or was there a business reason? With underutilized severs, we do have the opportunity to reduce the XenApp hardware footprint somewhat. But in my opinion, server virtualization is trying to solve a small problem in the XenApp world, consolidation. With proper hardware design, this can be mitigated. I have seen, based on my experience as a consultant and an administrator, the bigger challenge is management, availability and flexibility.
When I was an admin, we used to have a scripted build for our MetaFrame 1.0, 1.8 and XP servers. The scripts were very elegant and worked like a champ (I can say this because I wrote them), but they were a pain to maintain. Plus you had to take into account hardware changes, application modifications, etc. I've seen people go to cloning-like solutions, but you still have hardware configuration challenges, which I've seen some people end up with 10, 20 or even 50 different images. When it was time to patch those systems, the good times rolled (sarcasm). Server virtualization cloning has the same challenges, although hardware changes are mitigated by the hypervisor. Cloning in the virtualization world allows one to quickly get a system up and running, but does little for maintaining the images. Just in my own personal lab, I've got roughly 20 virtual images. And it seems like every time I turn on one virtual machine, there are new updates!!! We have all heard of DLL-hell, well new we have Patch-hell.
And we all love the server virtualization solution, even I do, which is why I'm writing this blog entry instead of preparing for my Synergy sessions or watching a good episode of The Simpsons without my boss catching me (Hope he doesn't read these). Everyone is talking about it as the next big thing, but we will continue to have tons of servers that are not virtualzed. Does that mean 2 solutions, 2 sets of images, 2 sets of tools based on your environment? When I think of that, I'm thankful I'm not an administrator. But this is where the story gets really interesting:
Provisioning Server integrated with XenServer, what a great concept. One image for multiple servers. And what's more, that one image can span virtual and physical servers. When I need to make an update to the app or OS, I update one image and reboot the servers. Time to rebuild the farm equals the time it takes to reboot the farm. I don't care if the server is physical or virtual, they are all the same to me. As I use this integrated solution more and more, I am impressed with the ease of maintenance.
But let's get back to the original question... If you now ask me if you should use server virtualization integrated with your XenApp environments, my answer has not changed... I will still say It Depends. But what I say next is to look at the bigger picture. Why do you want to virtualize? What are you trying to solve? What is wrong with your XenApp environment that you are looking at server virtualization? And I bet the more we look into it, we will end up with a challenge revolving around management, availability or flexibility. So I dare you to ask me, but be ready for a longer conversation, which will include some relevant Simpsons quips as well.
If you are interested on architectures, guidelines, implementation guides, then I encourage you to take a look at a set of materialsI've developed focused on the integration of XenServer and XenApp. If you think I'm totally on, let me know so I can show my boss how awesome I am, but I'm also game for a good discussion with differing viewpoints.
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Do you want to record some of the fun and interesting things you will see during Citrix Synergy conference and share it with your friends and colleagues? We will be handing out 5 flip cameras every day for 3 days (May 20, 2008 - May 22, 2008) that's 15 first come first serve people. All you have to do is record 1 or more video clips less than 5 min long and give the Flip video back to me. The flip video can record an hour of video. What is a Flip video camera? What series of the Flip Video will be given to winner? How do I sign up for the contest? What is the process for collecting and giving back the Flip video? |
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What are the rules for the contest?-
- No video from the keynote.
- No video from any breakout sessions.
- Ask customers/friends/colleagues to withhold their last name and company to protect them from legal liability.
- Do not Interview any Press or Analysts.
- The video clips have to be less than or around 5 minutes.
- Citrix may use these videos for promotion purposes and can decide not post a video if we find the content inappropriate.
Can you give me few examples of video clips to record?
You can record interesting XenApp or XenServer demos or partner product demonstration at the exhibit hall. You can interview your friends, colleagues or vendors and capture their view about the Synergy. Just be innovative and record fun, cool and informative videos. Show us Synergy through your eyes.
How will I recognize you at the registration desk?
Here is my picture. Click to enlarge.
How will I win a Flip Video?
I will upload all the videos to YouTube and tag them Citrix_Synergy08_flipcontest. The top 3 most viewed videos on YouTube will win the Flip Video. The contest will end on 6th of June 2008 at 6 PM EST.
I have a question not answered above where do I ask it?
Just post a comment on this blog post and I will get back to you
Nothing like seeing a product in action...
I could crank out dozen of posts but they would all be very superficial until I could actually show you guys this solution in action.
Instead of going down the written path alluding to the product's functionality, I will share with you a couple of demos showing some of the gained functionalities when OEMing the Xen hypervisor within the Dell PowerEdge servers.
Check out these two demos from XenSource.com:
Fast Virtual Machine Cloning Demo
Hot Add/Remove Resources Demo
cheers,
Gus Pinto
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This part we will understand more about the OEM relationship between Citrix and Dell including factory integration with Dell PowerEdge servers and OpenManage Systems Management software.
Instead of typing it away, I will share a video where Simon Crosby elaborates on this topic.
cheers,
Gus Pinto
Dell has recently announced it will integrate XenServer as the hypervisor for their PowerEdge line of servers. I have gathered some more information on how this will actually work out...
Dell factory will integrate Citrix XenServer into Dell PowerEdge platforms, Citrix and Dell provide a simpler deployment and management environment that speeds adoption of flexible, cost-saving server virtualization technology, making it the optimal choice for virtualization on Dell systems.
Highlights include:
- Quick Start-up - An embedded hypervisor and intuitive interface into Citrix XenServer Dell products ensure easy installation.
- OpenManage Integration - The only virtualization solution integrated with Dell OpenManage, Citrix XenServer management console allows users to monitor and manage physical and virtual machines from a single console, with simple drag and drop controls.
- High performance - With a thin layer of code, true 64-bit hypervisor architecture and full use of hardware virtualization optimization from Intel and AMD, Citrix.
cheers,
Gus Pinto
Follow Me
I recently upgraded my XenServers from 4.01 to 4.1 release. Overall the upgrade is easy. Simply pop in the CD and follow the instructions. All of virtual machines are preserved after the upgrade. It's a good practice to back up your vms before upgrade though.
Here are a few observations/tips I gathered from my upgrade exercise.
If you have multiple XenServers in a pool, I found that you may need to upgrade your master server first. The general tab of the server property will show you which server is the master server in the pool. I upgraded my slave machine first and couldn't use it without also upgrading the master machine in the pool.
Use the XenCenter that comes with XenServer 4.1 to connect to the upgraded servers. Older version of XenCenter may give you incorrect error messages.
For some reason, after upgrade, some of my windows virtual machines had one additional NIC added. As a result I couldn't boot them up. Removing the extra NIC solved my problem.
The new version of XenCenter has some nice small UI improvement. For example, it shows CPU memory usage on the general tab now.
Don't forget to upgrade your xenserver tools. Without upgrade, XenCenter won't display the ip address on the network tab for example.
I hope you find the information useful and I'd like to hear your experience with XenServer too.
Here is a screen shot of the new XenCenter. 
Simon Crosby, the Chief Technology Officer of the Virtualization and Management Division of Citrix, participates in a recurring podcast with Virtual Strategy Magazine called "10 Minutes to Xen"
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Here is a list of the topics discussed in the most recent edition -
VSM speaks with Simon Crosby, Chief Technology Officer, Citrix XenServer, about Citrix XenServer development and release of XenServer 4.1
Podcast Summary:
Length: 11:18
- Introduction
- Simon Crosby, Chief Technology Officer, Citrix XenServer (:10)
- New announcements and news about the release of XenServer 4.1 (:18)
- Citrix XenServer partnership with Netapp (2:13)
- XenServer 4.1 shipping now and available for download (5:35)
- Management of physical & virtual server environment from one location (6:30)
- Where XenServer stands now in the marketplace (8:03)
- Upcoming release of Microsoft hypervisor & how XenServer is working with Microsoft (9:20)
- For more information on Citrix XenServer (10:30)
- Close
You can listen the full podcast here.
The following Citrix virtualization white paper discusses how Citrix XenServer provides simple, economical server virtualization designed for easy implementation in any IT environment. From the simplicity of "10 Minutes to Xen" installation to a full range of complementary, best-of-breed solutions from independent solution providers, Citrix XenServer offers innovative, cost-effective solutions for application availability, business continuity, rapid provisioning, and end-to-end visibility and management across virtual and physical environments.
Adoption of virtualization is concentrated among large enterprises, while adoption by mid-sized companies has been much slower. For these companies, enterprise-focused virtualization solutions often present barriers including:
- fragmentation between new, virtualization-ready operating systems and legacy platforms running mission-critical applications
- application performance constrained by storage and network I/O on virtualized servers
- server and storage constraints imposed by virtualization platform providers
- security and resiliency concerns raised when multiple critical applications run on the same hardware
- implementation hurdles created by complex interdependencies and demanding installation protocols
- vendor lock-in issues, raising pricing and support risks many companies prefer to avoid
- application delivery constraints imposed at virtual/physical boundaries
Download the white paper here: Virtualization Everywhere
Check out this video excerpt from Citrix Summit 08 of Citrix Delivery Center and its amazingly fast and easy provisioning of application workloads to virtual and physical servers. Presented by Pete Downing and Brad Peterson.
Satori Group uses XenServer, XenApp or Citrix Access Essentials to simplify and streamline delivery of their solution to their customers using Citrix virtualization technologies. Nice implementation of the VADA concept.
"Working closely with Citrix and Microsoft, Satori Group developed a virtual appliance for delivering a complete application solution to customers. Virtual appliances are preinstalled, pre-configured, ready-to-run enterprise applications packaged with an operating system inside a virtual machine. In contrast, a virtual machine, by itself, does not include applications."
Full release: Satori Group Partners with Citrix to Create Virtual Appliances for Turnkey Application Delivery
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