In an earlier post I mentioned that Citix were going to be releasing XenServer for free. The official release of this has now occured. Update 3, which was released from Citrix changes the licensing engine slightly allowing for the new free license to be applied. There is also an updated version for the XenCentre client.
You will need to applied these updates so that you can activate the new 12 month XenServer license.
To update your server first download the updates from http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX120619
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Using XenCentre select Tools and then Install New Updates
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Browse to the file XenServer-5.0.0-Update3.xsupdate
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Apply the update. Automatically works best. (you may also want to preempt the process and suspend or shutdown any running virtual machines)
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Once the update has been applied the XenServer will restart.
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Next close the XenCentre and run the XenCentre update file.
Note that the XenCentre client will still tell you that Hotfix 3 is available and needs to be applied. After the server reboots examine the host server general properties and you will see that Hotfix 3 has been applied. So just ignore the update notification until it is corrected by Citrix.
The next step required is to remove the old temporary license that you added when you first installed XenServer.
In XenCentre select the console tab.
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In the console type rm /etc/xensource/license. (make sure you have a copy of the file just in case)
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type xe-toolstack-restart
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In XenCentre click Tools, License Manager
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Select the server(s) you want to activate and click activate. Enter your details as appropriate and the activate. A new license file will be emailed to you.
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When you receive the file Click on Server, Install License Key and select the file you have just received.
Now the server license is valid for 12 months and you can get working on building your virtual infrastructure.
April 8th, 2009
That means that the “Free” XenServer is really a trial of twelve months?
What happens when the time is out?
I really like the Citrix XenServer, I find it better than VMware for my purposes, but I fear using it with real servers and when the 12 months are gone, having to pay a lot for keeping the work up …
April 8th, 2009
Thanks for the comment.
Currently what will happen is that at the end of your 12 month license you simply activate it again. Of course there is also a risk that Citrix will change this in the future. But in any respect. The express free version existed in some form before this full featured release.
I think we have seen that virtualization vendors will continue to offer a free product. If you really rely on it you would then buy the Essentials packages.
Citrix wants you to use XenServer, that is plain and simple. But Citrix makes its money from XenApp licensing. The new market of XenDeskop and desktop virtualization will gradually take over this in time.
Where as VMWare is really only good for Hardware Virtualization. They have other products, but people only use them because they are already using VMware.
Only the future will tell
Thanks again for contributing
April 11th, 2009
If the free license needs to be renewed every year, then what’s the big media hype being created about Xen Server being made avaliable for free ?
I mean Citrix, if tommorrow decides to charge for the license then we are kind of stuck. This aspect of licensing needs to be highlighted. As Javi has correctly pointed out this licensing is nothing but 12 months trail.
Why doesnt Citrix issue free licenses for say 15 years ?
April 11th, 2009
Maybe they will address this in the future.
But they are doing exactly what VMWare has been doing for the last few years with VMWare server. Where you have register every time you download a product or license.
As long as they don’t change the price in the future then it is ok. They are entitle to see who is still using the XenServer product.
April 12th, 2009
I think that the KEY phrase is this: “As long as they don’t change the price in the future then it is ok.”
VMware at least when you have a version, don’t make you to renew that license.
I know that using outdated software it’s a risk, but it could be mitigated by other ways, but the risk of using a software that now is free and tomorrow it’s so expensive that you can’t buy it, is worst.
I can’t afford the minimum license, so if they decide at the future the license not to be free, then I would have to move to another software.
I am considering using it anyway, because I know it’s Xen, and I think I could use the virtual machines at a pure CentOS distribution.
But I will test the OpenSource way too, because I want to asure my work.
April 12th, 2009
You are right.
If you have an ESX or Virtual Infrastructure license from VMWare you would not change to XenServer, not yet anyway. That $8000 USD needs to be justified.
If you were looking at a virtualization project right now, you would not look at VMWare if you can get software that is functionally the same for nothing.
XenServer was always cheaper than VMWare anyway. I don’t know about any other vendor prices.
If you didn’t need to host virtualized Windows Servers a pure Xen solution may be better anyway.
The bottom line is do what is right for you. Test every solution and make up your own mind.
Thanks again for contributing to the discussion.
April 30th, 2009
On the subject of the 12-month renewal, we do it to track current use and maintain contact addresses. I can’t swear that we will never stop shipping a free XenServer — never is a long time, and there’s no guarantee anyone will continue to ship anything. (I will say, though, that it is already showing the desired effect on our sales pipeline, so we’re unlikely to stop.) We will, however, say this: if we ever decide to drop the renewal process, we will make available a use-forever license to anyone using free XenServer.
April 30th, 2009
Roger
Thankyou for contributing to this post. I think your absolutely right. No one can promise a product will be free or a certain price for ever.
I think the offering of XenServer for free was a great move and will present some strong challenges to other corporations who only do server/hardware virtualization.
Thanks again.
May 4th, 2009
“We will, however, say this: if we ever decide to drop the renewal process, we will make available a use-forever license to anyone using free XenServer.” – that’s exactly the sort of promise I was hoping for, and means the free version can be trusted with important VMs in small deployments. Thank you!
May 4th, 2009
Thanks for the comment.
I agree. Now you can use the product with some certainty, for production workloads, without worrying about the license being pulled from you.