Citrix has announced XenServer 6.5, their newest release of the company’s commercial virtualization platform based on the open-source Xen Project hypervisor. With the update, XenServer now offers a full 64-bit kernel architecture, which allows customers to leverage the latest hardware and OS platforms, and supports enterprise-grade networking, storage and workload management.
Citrix has announced XenServer 6.5, their newest release of the company’s commercial virtualization platform based on the open-source Xen Project hypervisor. With the update, XenServer now offers a full 64-bit kernel architecture, which allows customers to leverage the latest hardware and OS platforms, and supports enterprise-grade networking, storage and workload management.
XenServer also supports Intel Trusted Execution Technology (Intel TXT), offering tamper detection of the hypervisor, which prevents applications from running on a machine that may be compromised. Version 6.5 now has asset tagging to enable workload geo-tagging, providing users with the ability to restrict workloads in a particular location for security reasons. XenServer further extends the company’s GPU virtualization capabilities supporting NVIDIA GRID vGPU technology, indicating that it delivers a 50 percent increase in server density for delivering high-end 3D graphics applications in virtual desktops.
The new 64-bit kernel architecture features significant improvements in networking and storage performance, providing customers with a virtualization platform for running new and existing workloads in their workspace and datacenter environments. The new release also re-introduces enterprise-class features for workload balancing (WLB) and distributed virtual switch controllers (DVSC).
Official update notes are as follows:
XenServer 6.5 introduces many architectural improvements which aim to improve overall performance and removes a number of scalability limitations in XenServer 6.2.
- 64-bit Control Domain Linux Kernel
- The new 64-bit Control Domain (Dom0) enables XenServer to accommodate many more PCI devices per host (NICs, GPUs, and so on), and allows the use of devices that are 64-bit only (including many Solid State Drive solutions).
- New Xen Project Hypervisor v4.4
- XenServer 6.5 includes the latest Xen Project hypervisor available; v4.4 delivers many improvements. It vastly increases the number of virtual event channels available for Dom0, from 1023 to 131071, which translates into a correspondingly larger number of attached virtual devices.
- Re-introduction and Improvements to Workload Balancing
- XenServer 6.5 sees the return of the WorkLoad Balancing (WLB) virtual appliance. WLB gives system administrators deep insight into system performance, allowing infrastructure optimization.
- Distribute Virtual Switch Controller – new version included and deprecation rescinded
- The Distributed Virtual Switch Controller (DVSC) is fully supported within XenServer 6.5 and the deprecation notice issued at 6.2 is rescinded.
- Newly Supported Guests
- Support is added for the following new guests:
- Ubuntu 14.04
- SLES 11 SP3 and SLES 12
- CentOS 5.10, 5.11, 6.5, and 7.0
- RedHat 5.10, 5.11, 6.5, and 7.0
- Oracle Linux 5.10, 5.11, 6.5, and 7.0
- Oracle UEK 6.x
XenServer 6.5 Full Release Notes
