This week Citrix announced thet XenServer will be given away free. Their aim is to promote the adoption of virtualization with their Enterprise-Class, Cloud Proven software. In fact nearly all Internet based virtualization is use Xen as the hypervisor.

What a brillant move by Citrix. Now organizations that want to adopt virtualization or just want to test the waters can do so without a massive outlay of cash on hypervisor licenses. Before yesterday I hadn’t even looked at the product simply because we already used some VMWare ESX servers. A free product that gives me more than I have already is certainly very enticing.

The biggest draw back I have seen with XenServer in the past was the requirement of processor virtualization support, such as Intel VT and AMD-v, if you wanted to host Microsoft Windows servers/workstations. This will only be an issue for old servers now as nearly all newer servers have this.

My first look at XenServer and XenCentre leaves me fairly impressed, it is simple and easy to install. If you have used VMWare ESX Server previously it takes a little while to workout where everything is.

The features of XenServer include:

  • Bare-Metal hypervisor
  • maximum of 8 vCPU
  • Supports Windows and Linux guests
  • Unlimited servers, vms, memory
  • P2V & V2V conversion
  • Share SAN and NAS
  • Centralised management
  • Live Motion
  • Virtual infrastructure patch management

And the list goes on. See here for the full list.

Citrix will then provide a package called essentials for XenServer that provides some addition features. If you need functionality over and above what is provided in XenServer you purchase/upgrade to Essentials.

Citrix Essentials will provide:

  • Automated lab management
  • Advanced storage integration
  • Dynamic provisioning services
  • Workflow orchestration
  • High Availability

Basically the functions that large enterprises would leveage off. What will this do to the competition? Not much in the short term. But I’d like to see the market uptake figures in 6 to 12 months.

I like what Citrix is trying to achieve here.