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James Bulpin XenServer CTO
Xen Project User Summit - Xen, XenServer, and XAPI: What’s the Difference?
@JamesBulpin
Russell Pavlicek Xen Project Evangelist
@RCPavlicek
• Linux author/evangelist/speaker since 1995
• Formerly FOSS columnist for Infoworld, Processor, panelist on The Linux Show webcast, speaker at ~50 FOSS conferences
• Xen Project Evangelist hired by Citrix in January 2013
• Xen user/admin/integrator/ tester since 2004
• XenSource startup veteran
• Leads Citrix XenServer technical strategy
About the Speakers...
Russ James
• …until you ask them
• Some days, it seems there is more confusion about the naming conventions than about the software
• When some people talk about “Xen”, they mean “Xen Project”, but others mean “XenServer”, and yet others “XAPI”
• It is time to clear up the confusion
The Problem: Everyone Knows What Xen Is...
• The Leading Open Source Hypervisor
• Open Source – now and always!
• A Linux Foundation Collaborative Project since April 2013
• Celebrating its 10th anniversary
• Home for several subproject teams
What is the Xen Project?
Xen Project: A Short History
• The Xen Hypervisor: the main game
• PVOPS: (not technically a subproject, but…) allows Linux to run paravirtualized on a hypervisor (Xen, VMware VMI, …)
• The Xen ARM Hypervisor: branching into new architecture
• XAPI Project: more on this later
• Mirage OS: focused appliances built on a specialized library operating system (in incubation)
The Xen Project Subproject Teams
Xen Hypervisor: The Crux of the Xen Project
• Type 1 Hypervisor: Does not run in the kernel
• VMs compete with other VMs for resources, not with processes
• Architecture emphasizes security • Uses toolstacks for Control Domain
to talk to Hypervisor • Default is XL (improved on XM) • Libvirt/VIRSH option • No native GUI
Xen Project Corporate Members
Is your company listed here? Should it be? If you are heavily invested in Xen, consider project membership.
• Nexus of information regarding the Xen Project
• Newly revamped and revised in April 2013
• Access to Articles, Blogs, Wiki, Q&A, Mailing Lists, etc.
• New monthly newsletter with highlights from the community
• Sign up for the website and newsletter today, if you haven’t already!
XenProject.org: The Hub of Information
Xen Project Mascot
Because a cute panda is a terrible thing to waste
• A distribution of Xen, the XAPI toolstack, Linux and other components
• A “shrink-wrapped”, ready to run, virtualization platform
• Builds on basic Xen virtualization to provide high level management:
Networking High availability
Storage Cluster management
User accounts Performance monitoring
If That’s Xen, What is XenServer?
• Started as “XenEnterprise”, a product of XenSource Inc.
– First released in 2006
– Initially a proprietary product built on top of the open-source Xen hypervisor
• Evolved into XenServer, a product of Citrix
– Now up to version 6.2 (released June 2013)
• Became an open-source project in 2013
XenServer – a brief history
Xen
Linux Kernel XAPI
Storage
Manager
XenServer
Tools (PV
drivers)
HA
CentOS 5.x
AD Integration
XenCenter
XenServer – previously
Transfer VM
CIM Server
Qemu
Proprietary
OSS, public dev
Key:
OSS, non-public dev
Xen
Linux Kernel XAPI
Storage
Manager
XenServer
Tools (PV
drivers)
HA
CentOS 5.x
AD Integration
XenCenter
XenServer – after open sourcing
Proprietary
OSS
Key:
Transfer VM
CIM Server
Qemu
• A Citrix-led project
• Removing barriers to collaboration
• Roadmaps, designs and architectural plans discussed in the open
• All code is public; contributions via mailing list and Github pull requests
• More efficient ecosystem through access to design, code and developers
XenServer.org – the open-source project
#1 a set of components
– XenCenter UI
– Windows PV drivers
– HA daemon
– vncterm
– …
#2 an integration/distribution of components
– Choice of component versions
– Backporting of patches
– Configuration and tuning
– Packaging
– …
XenServer.org – two parts to it
But Xen and XAPI are Xen Project components so XenServer developers
contribute to those projects and the results are integrated and packaged into XenServer
• Citrix’s product release from the Open Source project code
• Made available to all for free
• Optional commercial support offering from Citrix
Citrix XenServer
• A toolstack for managing Xen system
– The xapi daemon and its friends; the “xe” CLI
• Works at a higher level than the Xen Project toolstack
– Clustering, storage/network management, host setup, …
• Open-sourced by Citrix in 2009
• Now part of the Xen Project in the Linux Foundation
• Useful for Xen users who want richer API-driven management (such as under OpenStack clouds)
So What is XAPI?
“Xen Cloud Platform” – an overloaded term
• Meaning 1: a synonym for XAPI (particularly for packaged versions)
• Meaning 2: XenServer-like binary ISOs
– Built to provide a distribution for xapi without non-FOSS XenServer pieces
– Provided a wider feature set than the free edition of Citrix XenServer which had certain features disabled
What is XCP?
• XCP and open-source XenServer will merge
– XenServer no longer disables features for non-paying users
• Users of XCP v1.6 are able to upgrade to XenServer
• XCP users will be getting a better deal than they had before
– No more delays to XCP releases
– Timely hotfixes that can be easily installed,
– A product that's even more open than it was before.
XCP (the ISO) is no more
And you thought this talk would be easy… ;)
And Now It Is QUIZ TIME!
Question: Xen, XenServer, or XAPI?
Answer: Xen (Xen Project Mascot)
Question: Xen, XenServer, or XAPI?
Answer: XenServer (XenCenter)
Question: Xen, XenCenter, or XAPI?
Answer: XenServer
Question: Xen, XenCenter, or XAPI?
Answer: Xen and XAPI
$ xe vdi-create \
name-label=LogDisk \
sr-uuid=6021e2b0-c72e-6e9e-01cc-ba3ed4f68be9 \
virtual-size=10GiB type=user
$ xe vbd-create device=2 type=Disk \
vm-uuid=d2f6e2cd-8a98-7e1c-7a46-f4dcff3b56ce \
vdi-uuid=cdd63557-89ad-4011-b638-e063f8b08298
$ xe vm-start vm=MyDHCPServer
Question: Xen, XenServer, or XAPI?
$ xe vdi-create \
name-label=LogDisk \
sr-uuid=6021e2b0-c72e-6e9e-01cc-ba3ed4f68be9 \
virtual-size=10GiB type=user
$ xe vbd-create device=2 type=Disk \
vm-uuid=d2f6e2cd-8a98-7e1c-7a46-f4dcff3b56ce \
vdi-uuid=cdd63557-89ad-4011-b638-e063f8b08298
$ xe vm-start vm=MyDHCPServer
Answer: XAPI (xe CLI)
# xl create -c /etc/xen/wheezy64
# xen-create-image \
--genpass=0 --memory=1024M --noswap --dhcp \
--password="xenroot" --pygrub --size=8G \
--vcpus=2 --arch=amd64 --bridge=virbr0 \
--hostname=wheezy64 --lvm=vms \
--mirror=http://cdn.debian.net/debian \
--install-method=debootstrap \
--dist=wheezy
Question: Xen, XenServer, or XAPI?
# xl create -c /etc/xen/wheezy64
# xen-create-image \
--genpass=0 --memory=1024M --noswap --dhcp \
--password="xenroot" --pygrub --size=8G \
--vcpus=2 --arch=amd64 --bridge=virbr0 \
--hostname=wheezy64 --lvm=vms \
--mirror=http://cdn.debian.net/debian \
--install-method=debootstrap \
--dist=wheezy
Answer: Xen (xl and command line utility)
Extra Credit: Xen, XenServer, or XAPI?
Answer: Trick Question!
Used by Xen and XenServer, but a separate project entirely!
Thank You!
Slides available under CC-BY-SA 3.0 From www.slideshare.net/xen_com_mgr
@RCPavlicek @JamesBulpin
@Xen_Org
• News: blog.XenProject.org
• Web: XenProject.org / www.XenServer.org – Help for IRC, Lists, …
– Stackoverflow-like Q&A
• Wiki: wiki.XenProject.org
• Presentations: slideshare.net/xen_com_mgr
• Videos: vimeo.com/channels/xen
