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If you're reading this, you already know the news: XenServer, our enterprise virtual infrastructure platform is now free (including resource pooling and live relo), and we have announced Citrix Essentials for XenServer, and Citrix Essentials for Hyper-V as our virtualization management portfolio that offers a rich set of automated functions that drive the compatible virtualization layers beneath - the free Hyper-V hypervisor from Microsoft, and the free XenServer Enterprise virtual infrastructure platform from Citrix. Finally, and most importanly, we announced a powerful go-to-market roadmap with Microsoft.
Response to our announcements has been extremely positive, from our partner Microsoft to our channel partners and resellers, and many many customers and users. There are the expected nay-sayers too, but someone had to drink the only thing that you get free from our competitor - VMware koolaid.
That said, I wanted to explain why we've made this change and why it is so important for Citrix and the XenServer crew:
- Times are tough, and they are probably going to get tougher. Now is a good time to dramatically ease the cost of adoption of virtualization, and a good time for Citrix to make a very significant contribution to the well-being of its customers.
- There are about a million servers running XenApp / Terminal Services. With the incredible work that the XenServer team has put in optimizing for this workload, we can state with great confidence that just about every one of those workloads is a good candidate for consolidation. We want to help our customers save money and gain agility. Including XenServer as a supported component of the XenApp product, and therefore as an entitlement for our 220,000+ XenApp customers is the best way to accelerate this trend.
- The Xen footprint in the enterprise to date has been predominantly delivered as a component in Enterprise Linux. But the Linux management tools for Xen are pretty weak or non-existent. We want anyone using Xen in Linux in the enterprise to start using XenServer instead. You'll get better performance, greater reliability and fantastic management, with full Linux and WIndows support, absolutely free
- We know that when we get into deals head to head with VMware, we tend to win. XenServer's reputation for performance, ease of use and functionality at an incredible price, has led us to victory recently in major enterprise accounts such as Tesco PLC, where XenServer runs complex mission critical software systems. To grow the XenServer business faster, we want to get more value to customers, sooner, and get them to demand fulfillment of the upgrade functions in Citrix Essentials, in a more scaleable fashion. Hence, having the complete resource pooling, shared storage and dynamic infrastructure control in the free platform allows us to make the product that much more compelling out of the box, and encourages customers to want to purchase both support and additional features
- There is a wealth of cloud/MSP vendors that today use Xen in Linux to virtualize their infrastructures and enable them to become VM-agile. There is no reason why every such cloud should not use XenServer, and in so doing also offer hosted Windows VMs, with all the features of dynamic hot-plugging etc.
- Simplifying the XenServer product line with XenServer and Essentials allows us to develop a powerful market partnership with Microsoft for server virtualization - framing a key aspect of our ongoing partnership in virtualization
That's about it really. Changing the dynamics, adjusting to the reality of the market. Aiming to win more share with a direct appeal to our end cutomer, and strong value propositions for our channel partners to deliver.
See you in Cannes
Comments (82)
Feb 23, 2009
Anonymous says:
Simon, while this is a significant move on your side, I do have some concerns. ...Simon, while this is a significant move on your side, I do have some concerns.
1. Are you getting into a price war as the only strategy to counter VMware? Isn't continued price war a death spiral?
2. How do you plan to fund XenServer R&D in the long term if the product is pretty much given away?
3. XenServer was already cheaper compared to VMware. Yet there wasn't much traction if I understand correctly. You claim often that XenServer is pretty heavily deployed, yet XenServer and related products brought in a combined revenue of ~$9mil last quarter for Citrix (I think it's ~$7mil actually...). So the numbers don't reflect your claims. So why do you think making it a bit cheaper is going to help now?
Again, kudos for not hesitating to change things. But I should say I have my concerns.
Disclosure: I am VMware user and a fan. But I have my respect for Xen.
Feb 23, 2009
Simon Crosby says:
No, this isn't a price war. This is about changing the dynamic of delivery...No, this isn't a price war. This is about changing the dynamic of delivery of the product to market. VMware is very well established. What we know is that when our product is in use by a customer or when we get a fair shake at a head to head competition and the customer uses the product, we have a better than even chance of winning, based on overall architecture, value proposition and features. We're doing this to get the product to the customer, so that when the evaluation happens and a decision is made, we are already represented by virtue of having a free product. If we are in use by the customer when the "buy more virtual infrastructure" decision is made, we have a dramatically higher chance of accelerating our growth. Then the customer will pull our value propositions through the channel, delivering a rich stream of value-added and support SKU revenue.
Simon
Feb 23, 2009
Anonymous says:
1) wow. thanks for doing this. i need to get Xen going at home now! 2) i ap...1) wow. thanks for doing this. i need to get Xen going at home now!
2) i appreciate what you are saying when you say, "Then the customer will pull our value propositions through the channel, delivering a rich stream of value-added and support SKU revenue." but i gotta let you know you are slipping off into Business Speak OverKill.
many thanks for everybody's hard work on Xen.
Feb 23, 2009
Anonymous says:
(ugh, posting it hard.)(ugh, posting it hard.)
Jul 22
Daniel Smith says:
Thanks for that guide - not exactly a smooth run unless you have a pretty good u...Thanks for that guide - not exactly a smooth run unless you have a pretty good u\idea about what you are doing and what to expect credit card.
Sun's virtualBox is, on the other hand really quite simple - I had it up and running with nary an idea as to what I was doing in Ubuntu to run XP in about 30mins - had a few problems going the other way round XP hosting Ubuntu but even then it was pretty easy. Also: 600mb - jeez thats a bit hefty - virtual box is 62mb!
Feb 23, 2009
Anonymous says:
Very smart move, if you think in the VDI market JoseVery smart move, if you think in the VDI market
Jose
Feb 23, 2009
Anonymous says:
When will XenServer available for free?When will XenServer available for free?
Feb 23, 2009
Anonymous says:
What will happen for companies who just purchased one or more licenses then turn...What will happen for companies who just purchased one or more licenses then turn around and read this news.
Feb 23, 2009
Anonymous says:
My company has purchased this license less than a month ago, so I hope so reimbu...My company has purchased this license less than a month ago, so I hope so reimbursement (at least in the form of other licensed products) will be offered.
Feb 23, 2009
Anonymous says:
I'm guessing the software/product is free...if you want support it looks like yo...I'm guessing the software/product is free...if you want support it looks like you still need to purchase licenses (sounds likes Sun's model).
quote (emphasis mine):If we are in use by the customer when the "buy more virtual infrastructure" decision is made, we have a dramatically higher chance of accelerating our growth. Then the customer will pull our value propositions through the channel, delivering a rich stream ofvalue-added and support SKU revenue.
Feb 23, 2009
Roger Klorese says:
And you don't need to purchase LICENSES -- just service calls.And you don't need to purchase LICENSES -- just service calls.
Feb 23, 2009
Roger Klorese says:
If you've licensed Citrix XenServer, Enterprise Edition or Platinum Edition: you...If you've licensed Citrix XenServer, Enterprise Edition or Platinum Edition: your license entitlement will carry over to Citrix Essentials for XenServer, same edition -- which will give you the same features you have today, as well as new features in upcoming releases. (Remember that the new free XenServer does not include high availability, advanced StorageLink storage integration, persistent performance management, or monitoring -- which continue in Enterprise Edition and Platinum Edition -- or dynamic provisioning services -- which continue in Platinum Edition.)
Feb 23, 2009
Anonymous says:
While the Essentials product looks intriguing, do you plan to offer customers al...While the Essentials product looks intriguing, do you plan to offer customers alternative remediation for a recent purchase of XenServer that, if you have no need for the Essentials feature set, is essentially a sunk cost?
Anonymous replies:
Feb 24, 2009
Roger Klorese says:
Contact your sales rep.Contact your sales rep.
Feb 23, 2009
Anonymous says:
Also, What happens with Companies that have purchased the Subscription Advantage...Also, What happens with Companies that have purchased the Subscription Advantage?
Feb 23, 2009
Roger Klorese says:
Your SA for Enterprise Edition continues onto Citrix Essentials, Enterprise Edit...Your SA for Enterprise Edition continues onto Citrix Essentials, Enterprise Edition. Your SA for Platinum Edition continues onto Citrix Essentials, Platinum Edition.
Feb 23, 2009
Anonymous says:
Immediate access is not happening for me. Just going 'round and 'round with the ...Immediate access is not happening for me. Just going 'round and 'round with the @#$%@$ form.
Feb 23, 2009
Roger Klorese says:
Are you using Safari, by any chance? I just figured out that it cuts off t...Are you using Safari, by any chance? I just figured out that it cuts off two of the form questions and so puts it back up again - but the error message is on the cut-off part too...
Even if you submit from another browser, parts of the infrastructure seem to be overloaded -- we're investigating.
Feb 23, 2009
Anonymous says:
Free as in beer, or free as in freedom?Free as in beer, or free as in freedom?
Feb 23, 2009
Anonymous says:
Indeed it would be nice to see some OCaml XenD sourceIndeed it would be nice to see some OCaml XenD source
Feb 23, 2009
Anonymous says:
While I am excited to see that XenServer is free, and I'm excited to try it, I a...While I am excited to see that XenServer is free, and I'm excited to try it, I am unimpressed by how Citrix is handling this. After being asked for a pile of information, I was told the download server were overwhelmed. In the day and age of inexpensive CDNs this is pretty pathetic. It's hard to see as anything other than a ploy to build a sales lead database.
Feb 23, 2009
Anonymous says:
The italicized "immediate access" just adds insult to injuryThe italicized "immediate access" just adds insult to injury
Feb 23, 2009
Roger Klorese says:
The software is currently export-classified such that we must gather contact inf...The software is currently export-classified such that we must gather contact information and do sanctioned-party checking before we can allow it to be downloaded. (Bet you didn't know that just checking if the country is legal for export is not sufficient.)
So unfortunately the servers doing the sanctioned party export check seem to be what's overloaded -- and those aren't ours. We're investigating, and apologize deeply for the inconvenience. (We are of course interested in upsell leads, but that's not the only reason we're doing this.)
And, yes, we understand the irony of "immediate access."
Feb 23, 2009
Anonymous says:
Nice cover story. With no verification your system accepts gibberish as va...Nice cover story. With no verification your system accepts gibberish as valid responses. How does that protect exports? You could easily pull the same data with a GEOIP query to stop unauthorized downloads without harassing your potential customers for sales information. I have never understood how companies think that unwanted aggressive sales activities actually sell their products? We either want to buy it or not!
Feb 24, 2009
Roger Klorese says:
Sorry, but looking for logic in export control is barking up the wrong tree.&nbs...Sorry, but looking for logic in export control is barking up the wrong tree. I can't tell you how much time I and others have spent being forced to integrate this name/organization/country checking into our process -- and, yes, I've raised the "do you think Osama bin Laden is going to sign up as "Bin Laden, Al Qaeda, Caves of Kandahar" objection.
We are seeking to reclassify XenServer so we don't have to gather this data at download time. We will continue to gather it in a post-install activation process, with mail-back assurance, and you will then be able to label us as scummy lead-trolling marketeers.
(Seriously, there's a lot more to it for most organizations than "we either want to buy it or not" -- where sales staff and sales engineers can help people who do want to buy it do so sooner, or convince their organizations to do it. If sales didn't work, every company would just have a team of low-end clerks sit by the phones, or just a web store. But that works for a very small audience -- for the rest, leads and follow-up are how companies do business.)
Feb 23, 2009
Anonymous says:
I had Citrix onsite to do a XenApp design and they even said after looking at ou...I had Citrix onsite to do a XenApp design and they even said after looking at our VMware environment that their product could not match the sheer performance and management abilities. And impressed that we had our entire Citrix archtiecture running on VMWare without performance loss. So much for marketing to the consumer.
XenServer still has a very long way to go to match VMware's capabilities
Feb 23, 2009
Anonymous says:
Awesome news! Citrix are really taking the lead in the commercial virtualiza...Awesome news! Citrix are really taking the lead in the commercial virtualization space with this move. (I say commercial to distinguish with the OSS variants of Xen, UML, OpenVZ and other tools). We have been an (OSS) Xen and OpenVZ shop for a number of years, but we are now in the process of moving to Xenserver as our base platform. This just makes our justification even easier. The Xenserver monitoring / management tools are fantastic (though I would like to see a non .NET version, oh well!) and it makes deployment just a point-and-shoot affair - easier than the command line model.
Throwing in live motion and the rest just made it all the more compelling. Well done Citrix.
Feb 23, 2009
Anonymous says:
Any chance of leaning on Microsoft to provide the full and complete Terminal Ser...Any chance of leaning on Microsoft to provide the full and complete Terminal Services (both server and client) documentation? (FWIW, I did have an idea of porting ReactOS, the GPL reimplementation of NT, to s/390 at one stage, but to do it properly, I would've needed to do Terminal Services via 3270, and that wasn't possible at that time - Terminal Services being proprietary, and rdesktop/xrdp only implements a subset.)
Feb 23, 2009
Anonymous says:
Will you be supporting virtualization of Apple's OS X server product like VMWare...Will you be supporting virtualization of Apple's OS X server product like VMWare and Parallels? That would be all I need to adopt this product.
Thanks!
Feb 23, 2009
Anonymous says:
I suspect we may be missing the point. Citrix: Is Citrix making their virtualiz...I suspect we may be missing the point.
Citrix:
Is Citrix making their virtualization software free because they are positioning themselves better to compete with VMware or are they more concerned about positioning themselves to get out of Microsofts way?
I don't believe it's relevant that Microsofts HyperV is inferior to a real Hyper Visor. The point is Citrix thinks they can make more money siding with Microsoft and eating the left overs than they will directly competing with VMware.
Microsoft:
The benefit for Microsoft is that they can provide a more mature product while they are developing/marketing their solution. The relationship makes HyperV look more valuable than it is, giving Microsoft the time to make it as valuable as it appears. The whole while people are not comparing the immature HyperV to the very mature VMWare.
Feb 23, 2009
Anonymous says:
Anyone that's been in IT for over 10 years knows that maturity is only part of t...Anyone that's been in IT for over 10 years knows that maturity is only part of the game. There was this extremely mature, better and more secure product from this company called Novell. If you can't remember the jokes when this thing called "Active Directory" came out, then you haven't experienced what we all did. You're just using the file system that was there when you got into IT.
LOL....pr do you remember when that junk called Linux came out? Now, EVERYONE runs some flavor of Linux today. I think VMWare products absolutely rock, but to hinge your whole existence on one hypervisor is scary. Citrix and Microsoft are trying to get you to look past the simplicity and demand more. Just my thoughts
Feb 23, 2009
Anonymous says:
I know you probably live in a world insulated from reality. Nobody uses No...I know you probably live in a world insulated from reality. Nobody uses Novell anymore. In fact not many people really did to begin with. It was junk then and ancient junk now.
As for hinging an entire existance on a hypervisor many businesses do it. With redundant hardware and technologies like vmotion hypervisors are more reliable than physical hardware. Factor in that most servers idle a lot you have a lot more CPU power dedicated to the individual VM's if you dedicate your resources well enough. With a well configured SAN you can swap out servers without even rebooting your VM's.
Many webhosting companies and CDN's are entirely virtual.
In our enviroment if its x86 it has a bare metal hypervisor of some sort running on it. If it's mission critical it's clustered and running on higher end hardware such as a dedicated Sun machine or an IBM midrange.
Feb 24, 2009
Anonymous says:
"I know you probably live in a world insulated from reality. Nobody uses N..."I know you probably live in a world insulated from reality. Nobody uses Novell anymore. In fact not many people really did to begin with. It was junk then and ancient junk now. "
uh, that's exactly the point. vmware is novell in this analogy.
Feb 24, 2009
Anonymous says:
You both are about as fanboyish as you can find in a digg comment list. Novell ...You both are about as fanboyish as you can find in a digg comment list.
Novell was a fine product that worked more efficiently for years with far better stability than the equivalent Windows servers of the day. Have you ever read that story about the Novell server that ran for 8 years without a reboot and got plastered behind a wall? Microsoft can't touch that. IBM can but only for lots and lots of green. Unfortunately Novell seems to have fallen on rough times since the advent of Linux. I wouldn't recommend them today, but they have had a glorious past.
It's not good to compare VMware to Novell. VMware has always had a viable product. Their pre-Hyper-V technologies were slow, but they were/are the best thing out there considering features, stability and flexibility.
Disclaimer: I don't currently work for or use Novell's or VMware's products, but I have used them in the past along with Microsoft's and Citrix's. I'm not purposefully championing a competitor's product on here, I just wanted to bring some balance to the FUD.
Feb 24, 2009
Anonymous says:
I read that one about the Novell server plastered behind the wall. I have ...I read that one about the Novell server plastered behind the wall. I have a Window NT4 Server that also got "lost" in a data center shuffle under a desk and was retrieved last year. It had been running non-stop for nearly 9 years. Very little load, true, but then that story of the Novell server behind the wall never really got into how much load it had running on it too.
I think it has more to do with the hardware that it was on (Compaq = bullet-proof)
BTW, does anyone realize that VMware has an enterprise-class version of it's hypervisor for free as well: it's called ESXi and yes, it's pretty much the same as this "free" XenServer. Free unless you want actual functionality. Then you have to license the features such as VMotion, HA, DRS, etc.
Feb 24, 2009
Anonymous says:
Do you not understand the meaning of this article. It is stating that a new free...Do you not understand the meaning of this article. It is stating that a new free version of XenServer is now available. The comparison to ESXi is not comparable to the new free version of XenServer. As stated above the new version will allow for pooling, live migration, multiple server control through XenCenter and more, unlike ESXi which does not have those features.
And since you opened up the can on licensing, please compare the different licensing hierarchies for each product line and get back to me. VMWARE licenses every little method or function, its is a licensing managemnet nightmare. With Citrix you can buy once license that covers all or now get the free version that offers 80%+ of total features.
Feb 23, 2009
Anonymous says:
I think what really seals the deal in this announcement is that is the dept...I think what really seals the deal in this announcement is that is the depth of experience Citrix has in virtualization. Let's all remember that Citrix has been virtualizing the desktop for 20 years. I'm sure that many of you don't realize that Citrix is a 20 year company with its roots coming from a major HW vendor's R&D Dept. We all know that server consolidation (not virtualization) has become commoditized over the years with the free versions of hypervisors (and the free hosted one by a few other vendors). The real money is in the management components. Looking beyond HA and moving live machines, let's talk about real efforts, like deploying 100s or 1000s of VMs and saving on storage. Citrix has provisioning server that works in both the physical and virtual world. What about EdgeSight monitoring? Or running your connections through Netscalers/WANscalers? Citrix even gives a free SLL Gateway for people that want a cheap VPN connect.
Heck, we all know Google and eBay (and a tons of other major sites) use VMware, but we also know that they're front ending those web servers with Citrix Netscalers.
Focusing on the desktop and clients. The ICA client has absolutely dominated the industry. Nobody has even come close to touching the brilliance of this protocol!! As for management features that Xen Server has brought to the table via Xen Desktop, let's list the obvious one 1) Multi protocol 2) thousands and thousands of channels in the ICA just waiting to hold more Enterprise features 3) Password Management 4) EdgeSight monitor 5) Wan acceleration client 6) Easy Call 7) GoToAssist 8) and many many more features, the decade long optimization of remote printing.
So, why the rant on Desktop stuff? Isn't that what we're talking about? Enabling IT to get the datacenter under control to get the desktops under control? What good is a slick datacenter with the latest SAP build, if we didn't have desktops? Handing people basic tools for free to make the leap to "more expensive" management features is one way of doing it.
I love the power that Citrix put into peoples hands with this announcements. It shows that they have a lot more to offer the industry then just a hypervisor! Oh, and since Microsoft endorses Xen Desktop as their VDI solution for Hyper V, I could only wonder what support structure they will be putting around Xen Server.
Cheers Simon! This is a great effort by your team.
Feb 23, 2009
Anonymous says:
Do we get the source with the download? Can we actually build everything from ...Do we get the source with the download?
Can we actually build everything from the source or is this a head fake?
Are there any commercial library dependencies?
The Microsoft connection ... er ... concerns me. I've been in IT for over 20 years and have been fooled by MS on multiple occassions. Shame on you.
Feb 24, 2009
Anonymous says:
You don't get the VMWare or HyperV source either. This is free as in beer,...You don't get the VMWare or HyperV source either. This is free as in beer, not as in speech.
Feb 24, 2009
Anonymous says:
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For me to continue down the XEN path will depend on finding answers to the issues. I am not going to get blind sided or sucker punched by Microsoft AND/OR Citrix. If any part of the XEN solution is going to be Microsoft Windows dependant I will dump XEN like a hot potato.
Feb 24, 2009
Roger Klorese says:
If you want to run a roll-your-own or distro-centric Xen, you can continue to do...If you want to run a roll-your-own or distro-centric Xen, you can continue to do so, with no reliance on anything from Microsoft. Xen.org continuescto make a fully GPL- and BSD-licensed pool of sources that distros continue to integrate, and that a team from dozens of organizations contribute to. (Red Hat makes its own decisions.)
For users that want a cost-effective virtualization platform, potentially with advanced management services, we build XenServer complete with basic management, and Citrix Essentials for advanced management. But that in no way impinges on the open source offering, other than to help fund our development of it.
Feb 24, 2009
Anonymous says:
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You wrote:
"cost-effective virtualization platform, potentially with advanced management services, we build XenServer complete with basic management"
My problem is that the management tools is Microsoft dependant. Binding a great product like XEN and its management tools to Windows does not seem like the first price to me. Why risk losing a market segment who wants to support you by tying the management tools to Windows ?
There is tremendous good will towards XEN out there (Including myself) but I just don't see myself running windows to mange XEN. It might seem trivial but its a big deal to many people like myself.
Surely your not saying Microsoft makes XEN cost effective ? I am saying this with respect please don't take negative.
Feb 24, 2009
Anonymous says:
Can the .NET management tools run on non-Windows systems by using Mono.NET? If ...Can the .NET management tools run on non-Windows systems by using Mono.NET? If so, then they are not tied to Windows or Microsoft.
Feb 25, 2009
Roger Klorese says:
When we last made a serious attempt at Mono .NET, it wasn't up to 2.0 yet, and w...When we last made a serious attempt at Mono .NET, it wasn't up to 2.0 yet, and we made heavy use of 2.0 calls. Now I don't know if, as it's caught up, we've moved up to 3.5. It's definitely worth investigating, though.
Feb 25, 2009
Anonymous says:
Just FYI - running in Mono isn't good enough for at least many of us, if not mos...Just FYI - running in Mono isn't good enough for at least many of us, if not most. If we wanted that extra software bloat we'd just install windows somewhere.
Feb 23, 2009
Orion Blastar says:
What is the price difference per license compared to Microsoft Virtual Server an...What is the price difference per license compared to Microsoft Virtual Server and VMWare GX Server pricing?
Will this product be able to support HaikuOS, ReactOS, Amiga Research OS (AROS), eComStation, OSFree, as well as the more popular types of operating system such as Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7.0, Mac OSX, Linux, *BSD Unix, and even earlier versions of Windows and/or MS-DOS?
I deal with "Legacy Software" that supports old platforms or rewrites of old platforms like HaikuOS is the new BeOS, and AROS is the new AmigaOS, ReactOS is based on WINE and XP/2003 compatible, and eComStation and OSFree are OS/2 compatible. I think that the money is in writing software for these platforms and then emulating them via some virtual machine server so that they are portable and I don't want to have to pay a lot for a virtual machine license just to get technical support. I'd much rather provide the technical support myself, and pick the virtual machine server platform that has the lowest total cost of ownership.
I also support Windows as well, but most of the above operating systems (minus the eComstation) are free and open source operating systems that are just now being developed and run best under a virtual machine than natively due to lack of third party driver support.
Feb 23, 2009
Anonymous says:
This is going to give Xen the grease that it needed to really penetrate the host...This is going to give Xen the grease that it needed to really penetrate the hosting / IAAS industry. Good move, good timing, good luck!
Feb 24, 2009
Anonymous says:
i am installed xen server and traying it. Pretty good so far. thnks citrix.i am installed xen server and traying it. Pretty good so far. thnks citrix.
Feb 24, 2009
Anonymous says:
The Xen footprint in the enterprise to date has been predominantly delive...What? The Linux console management tools for Xen are miles ahead of XenServers. I'm an active XenServer user, and I must say that if I had to do it over again, I would look closer at alternatives, and maybe consider going with straight EL5 xen.
If you're a windows user, you're all set with a pretty console and lots of blinkenlights. If not you're pretty much screwed. The console tools are practically non-existent. Do you know what a pain in the rear it is to do ANYTHING from the console with the VMs? How many different tools you have to jump through to obtain unique identifiers to use in other tools command lines?
It's really pathetic that something which started out with such awesome capabilities at the command line has been completely stripped of them in favor of a windows-only management tool.
Feb 25, 2009
Roger Klorese says:
I don't know of a better Linux client for management of any implementation of Xe...I don't know of a better Linux client for management of any implementation of Xen. There are a few that are local or X11-based tools, but they are pretty limited and not client-server -- that is, they run on the managed machines. That's not an effective approach for the lights-out operation used for most servers. It may not be optimal for managing the system at its own pane of glass -- but who really does that for servers?!
Feb 25, 2009
Anonymous says:
There are lots of automated tools available for Xen which work quite well actual...There are lots of automated tools available for Xen which work quite well actually. Pointing and clicking is not the only way to manage a server. And anything you can do 'locally' you can do 'remotely' when combined with other tools. Clustered ssh tools, configuration management tools like puppet, etc.
But lets even just discuss sitting at your linux console and needing to access the console of a linux box running in a VM. On straight xen I can just type 'xm console <Domain>' and I'm looking at the console.
In XenServer I have to do an xe vm-list to get a list of all the uuids mapped to a given name, like so:
uuid ( RO) : 5dd0f9f8-22fd-4d63-a714-c418fd6954e5
name-label ( RW): Somehost
power-state ( RO): running
Then, I have to take that uuid, and lookup the domain id like so, 'xe vm-list params=dom-id uuid=5dd0f9f8-22fd-4d63-a714-c418fd6954e5':
dom-id ( RO) : 14
Then I can finally run the console command, /usr/lib/xen/bin/xenconsole 14
THAT is NOT what I would call decent management tools - particularly at that level. All of the other operations one might want to do at the command line (cloning, copying, setting up new storage) are just as overcomplicated and poorly designed. This makes doing any kind of command-line oriented management a pain in the rear. Everyone ends up having to write their own API to obtain the data they need to do the simplest of operations. That's ridiculous, and as long as you insiste on forcing everyone into YOUR way of doing things, into using your model for managing their network, you're going to have a hard time gaining any real penetration with a large segment of Systems Admins.
If I want to make four more instances of a particular image, I don't want to have to log into some windows box and load your tool and do the whole clicky-clicky thing and watch some progress bar run.
I want to define them in my configuration management tool, commit the change, and be done - but that's not a straightforward possibility.
Feb 24, 2009
Anonymous says:
I am looking forward to getting this set up and having a go, but why the.NET man...I am looking forward to getting this set up and having a go, but why the.NET management interface? If you had chosen Java or almost anything else then we could have used our platform of choice, or was this Microsoft's pound of flesh for letting you play with Hyper-V?
Feb 24, 2009
Anonymous says:
I am looking forward to getting this set up and having a go, but why the.NET man...I am looking forward to getting this set up and having a go, but why the.NET management interface? If you had chosen Java or almost anything else then we could have used our platform of choice, or was this Microsoft's pound of flesh for letting you play with Hyper-V?
The Windows-only way of doing things is a royal pain. Especially when it is not necessary.
Feb 25, 2009
Roger Klorese says:
We chose the .NET interface back when we were still at XenSource because we were...We chose the .NET interface back when we were still at XenSource because we were making a serious effort at getting Windows-only and Windows-mainly shops to use XenServer. (Recall that this is well before Hyper-V was shipping.)
Our original release had a Java UI. When we released version 4, there were such dramatic changes to the management APIs and the administrative architecture that we needed a total rewrite.
We broke the client landscape into three categories:
There are certainly issues with this assessment, especially now that we hope many Linux-centric users will adopt XenServer. But at the time, it looked like there were a lot of prospective customers who would only use a native Windows tool, and virtually none who would refuse to use one.
There are some non-Windows options (in addition to use of the xe CLI, which is remotable and can run on any Linux or Windows box, or your own integration with XenAPI). For one, you can do many lifecycle and monitoring operations from a user-contributed tool called XenCenterWeb. You can also look on citrix.com for partners who have management software that will control XenServer.
We hear people saying that the world is different and they want to manage from other desktops. We're happy to take and consider their input, and happier still if they choose to build interfaces using XenAPI.
Feb 25, 2009
Anonymous says:
I really want to use XEN ! So support for other desktops will be appreciate...I really want to use XEN ! So support for other desktops will be appreciated. Is there perhaps any time frames for Linux and other desktop support ?
Is there perhaps a way to partner / resell Citrix support to our customers ? We have built a good business pushing Linux / open source solutions. A XEN solution will enhance the value add tremendously !
Feb 26, 2009
Roger Klorese says:
There is no schedule for other console platforms, but it will certainly be raise...There is no schedule for other console platforms, but it will certainly be raised higher in the planning process.
Yes, you definitely can register at citrix.com to qualify as a Citrix Solution Adviser with a specialization in XenServer support.
Feb 24, 2009
Anonymous says:
no self respecting company will ever run Windows on datacenters (specially web 2...no self respecting company will ever run Windows on datacenters (specially web 2.0 companies ..........look at netcraft survey ) may its for small companies or where five 9's doesn't matter (like manufacturing ) ................I will never use a product which runs only on windows .............thanks but no thanks ............i luv my console...will use that for managing zen
Feb 24, 2009
Anonymous says:
"no self respecting company will ever run Windows on datacenters" Ummm, Microso..."no self respecting company will ever run Windows on datacenters"
Ummm, Microsoft's revenue figures say otherwise.....
Feb 24, 2009
aric aasgaard says:
While beta testing 2k8 server I figured MS was going to attempt to Novell Citrix...While beta testing 2k8 server I figured MS was going to attempt to Novell Citrix out with 2k8 terminal services remote apps and some sort of proprietary WPF shell skinning. I really like Xen and at first I was a little put off by Citrix taking an opensource project wrapping it in a webernet gui with a live CD and selling it. No offense but I had the feeling that if I spent the time I jerk off in a few months I could have made something as good as your initial offering. I hope they keep the Xen hypervisor separated so the community has input in development.
Citrix and Microsoft should make beautiful babies.
Feb 25, 2009
Anonymous says:
Hi, Please, Please, Please can some one fix the download form. I have spe...Hi,
Please, Please, Please can some one fix the download form. I have spent an hour or so this morning going around and around and around trying to get the form to submit. Tried IE and FF, still not working.....
Feb 25, 2009
Roger Klorese says:
When did this occur? We've had it working consistently -- are you ...When did this occur? We've had it working consistently -- are you getting a message, dropped back to the form page, or simply failing to submit?
Feb 25, 2009
Anonymous says:
^^ if you cant hack the dl form good luck getting xenserver working.^^ if you cant hack the dl form good luck getting xenserver working.
Feb 25, 2009
Anonymous says:
I just get back to the form again. I have the older version on XenServer, but I ...I just get back to the form again. I have the older version on XenServer, but I would like to test the new version.
We tried to monitor the virtual NICs via SNMP, but we had issues after the virtual machine was rebooted.
But I can't download the latest version, just get the form back again and again...
Feb 25, 2009
Anonymous says:
3.The Xen footprint in the enterprise to date has been predominantly delivered a...3.The Xen footprint in the enterprise to date has been predominantly delivered as a component in Enterprise Linux. But the Linux management tools for Xen are pretty weak or non-existent. We want anyone using Xen in Linux in the enterprise to start using XenServer instead. You'll get better performance, greater reliability and fantastic management, with full Linux and WIndows support, absolutely free
All I have to add is near the end of this sentence Windows is spelled with two capital letters.
Feb 25, 2009
Anonymous says:
Roger, From everyone here that is too proud and self important to say thank you...Roger,
From everyone here that is too proud and self important to say thank you...."thank you".
Guys, who gives a toss what their motive is? Obviously its a business decision. Everything is a business decision. At the end of the day we pay less for something we are already paying for. If you would feel better paying for it then I will give you my bank account details for you to deposit the money into. Alternatively you can say thank you and get on with your lives with a few extra coins in your pocket for a beer on Friday.
Have a good one.
Feb 26, 2009
Steve Copley says:
Simon and Roger, After reading some of these comments I can't help but fe...Simon and Roger,
After reading some of these comments I can't help but feel you should have left it without the ability. Why must people feel obliged to cry and complain about anything for free - especially those Linux supporters that bashed Microsoft for all those years.
We've endorsed and recommended XenServer to our clients since Citrix acquired XenSource. Even the Free Edition back then was enough to prove the virtualisation concept to make even the most hesitant people to take the first step into the virtual world. Having XenServer Enterprise available for free will encourage clients to stick with the product and pursue avenues not previously considered such as XenApp, and hopefully invest in additional servers to add redundancy to their network. No-one wants to spend money on backup systems, hopefully this will help.
All "sales" related conversations I've had with the Citrix team as part of a follow-up from the free download have always been glad to assist in any setup or configuration issues we've had (of which there were none), and never once pushed a sale aside from "If you need anything else, or assistance in planning an expansion to the setup, give us a call".
As far as a management interface for Linux, whats wrong with SSH? The XSConsole in some ways is faster and easier to use than the XenCenter
The service has been nothing but professional - as has the product, and this is everyones chance to take a look and see for themselves. Pass on our thanks to the Citrix team for taking an average hypervisor and turning it enterprise-grade. I stand by each and every one of our XenServer installations and appreciate how well they've performed in disaster recovery situations.
All the best!
Feb 26, 2009
Anonymous says:
Sure Microsoft has never abused their position. All that Anti trust cases is a f...Sure Microsoft has never abused their position. All that Anti trust cases is a figment of imagination.
Feb 26, 2009
Anonymous says:
Anti-trust is a farse. Why hasn't one been filed against Sony? Its all publicity...Anti-trust is a farse. Why hasn't one been filed against Sony? Its all publicity. I still get Internet Explorer and Windows Mail with Windows 7.
Feb 26, 2009
Roger Klorese says:
Thanks for your good thoughts, Steve. We appreciate it.Thanks for your good thoughts, Steve. We appreciate it.
Feb 26, 2009
Anonymous says:
Our company just purchased 2 Platinum Xenserver 5.0 licenses last month. Does th...Our company just purchased 2 Platinum Xenserver 5.0 licenses last month. Does this mean we just pissed away $9,000? What do your other paying customers think?
Feb 26, 2009
Roger Klorese says:
You're still getting lots of things with Platinum you wouldn't get with either E...You're still getting lots of things with Platinum you wouldn't get with either Enterprise or the new free XenServer... (more now, since you're entitled to lab management when it ships in March)
Feb 26, 2009
Anonymous says:
I'll now be looking at XenServer for virtualization. We're redesigning a small ...I'll now be looking at XenServer for virtualization. We're redesigning a small data center from the ground up, including network, storage, hardware & software stack. A free XenServer will definitely make us consider virtualization as an option.
VMWare is just way too expensive. We could just go with Xen, but the management tools are weak. I'm not sure what some users here are using as their Xen management tools that they consider better then Citrix's, please enlighten me.
Mar 06, 2009
Anonymous says:
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would ...I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Sarah
http://www.craigslistdecoded.info
Mar 06, 2009
Anonymous says:
Nice dig at VM Ware considering the years of price gouging and tiny incremental ...Nice dig at VM Ware considering the years of price gouging and tiny incremental upgrades designed to keep me drinking and paying for the Ditrix koolaid (subscription/maint.)...
Citrix, it does not matter what you do. Your dead to me. I am tired of your BS and overpricing. Years of dealing with half-baked Java driven management console. Loss of features that I did use and yet more features I don't care about. Normally a vendor would work with you but no, you got one pricelist for everyone and your only discounts are for volume. You NEVER cared about mid-size customers needs so FU.
I know (and am surprised) that there are a lot Citrix lovers but every chance I get to get Citrix off the farm is something I will do.
-c
Mar 30, 2009
Anonymous says:
Why are you saying that XenServer is free when it is not? That is misleading inf...Why are you saying that XenServer is free when it is not? That is misleading information. Once your temp license expires you have to buy it. Stop tricking people to buy XenServer. Either give it for free or sell it.
Apr 01, 2009
Anonymous says:
XenServer is 100% free. You do not have to buy it after the temp license expires...XenServer is 100% free. You do not have to buy it after the temp license expires. The license is free and unlimited. There was a trial version posted leading up the full release on March 30, so maybe that's what you were referring to, but if you go download it now, there are no restrictions whatsoever. The only thing you pay for is support (optional). If you want to add the more advanced virtualization management features (StorageLink, Lab Automation, Dynamic Provisioning, etc) you will pay for those, but the full virtual infrastructure product with multi-server management, live motion and the works is all free.
Apr 06, 2009
Simon Crosby says:
XenServer is truly 100% absolutely free. What you experienced was the fact...XenServer is truly 100% absolutely free. What you experienced was the fact that when we made the announcement on Feb 23 we had not yet completed the 100% free product, so if you downloaded in the meantime, you got the full Enterprise product with a limited license. You just need to change it to the current bits and you're good.
I'm sorry about the confusion, but we wanted to get free product out as soon as possible, and the license mechanism was the only way to do it. That said, you are 100% good to go.... for all time.
Apr 10, 2009
Peter Newman says:
Simon, My xenservers are in Nag mode about not being free and that they will ex...Simon,
My xenservers are in Nag mode about not being free and that they will expire in 13 days. So I spent time today working on them. NO where is there a place on the citrix public and mycityrix website to download a update file for the Lic. Sure there is the hoxfix 3 and I applied that but still have the problem that is stated above. and what I read on the website you are not 100% good for all time you have to re register it Every 12months.
Apr 10, 2009
Simon Crosby says:
The nagging results from the initial "free" offering being made with our then sh...The nagging results from the initial "free" offering being made with our then shipping Enterprise product SKU, and limiting the license so that you would have to download the replacement which is the 100% free XenServer. So you will have to drop in new bits, but unless I'm misinformed, that's simply the process of doing an automatic updgrade in XenServer and should result in zero VM downtime.
Yup, you have to register to use XenServer. We want to keep in touch with you so we can develop products that you want. I'd say that giving away ~$5,000 worth of software per server is a reasonable exchange. But you did just make me realize that we need a bulk "re-register" interface so that you don't have to do it per server, every year. That would be extremely tedious. Perhaps Roger can comment further on this....
Apr 10, 2009
Roger Klorese says:
The re-activation dialog IS a bulk interface -- all servers that your Xe...The re-activation dialog IS a bulk interface -- all servers that your XenCenter can see can ber activated in a single transaction, and one license key is shipped that is valid for all machines.
Jul 25
Anonymous says:
To the Guy that Said Microsoft Revenue numbers suggested that datacenters would ...To the Guy that Said Microsoft Revenue numbers suggested that datacenters would run windows in mass....
Linux is by far the better OS for 90% of anything a datacenter needs to run. I agree that windows is kinda trash if your doing REAL networking. Sure windows fine for 99% of people and i think that has the most to do with its revenue #'s and not its "value" to datacenters.
<a href="http://productreviewsby.me/ashley-madison-review/">Ashley Madison</a>
Jul 25
Anonymous says:
To the Guy that Said Microsoft Revenue numbers suggested that datacenters would ...To the Guy that Said Microsoft Revenue numbers suggested that datacenters would run windows in mass....
Linux is by far the better OS for 90% of anything a datacenter needs to run. I agree that windows is kinda trash if your doing REAL networking. Sure windows fine for 99% of people and i think that has the most to do with its revenue #'s and not its "value" to datacenters.
Ashley Madison
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