1. XenServer and OpenStack
John Garbutt, Senior Software Developer, Citrix
@johngarbutt
27th September 2012

2. But Citrix does CloudStack?
… but still got 3 people full time on OpenStack

3. Why use Xen?
… because it was built for the Cloud!

4. History of Xen

5. We propose a system that can execute code supplied
by an untrusted user, yet can charge this user for all
resources consumed by the computation. Such
servers could be deployed at strategic locations
throughout the Internet
Xenoservers: Accounted execution of untrusted code
IEEE Hot Topics in Operating Systems VII
March 1999

6. Why use Xen today?
• Open Source with a large community and ecosystem
• Mature and “Cloud Proven”
ᵒAmazon, Rackspace and many others
• True Type 1 hypervisor
ᵒReduced TCB
ᵒBest security, isolation, performance, scalability mix
• Probably 10-12 Million OpenSource Users
ᵒe.g. 3 x people on Debian have used Xen in the last 30 days vs KVM
ᵒ12% of Ubuntu Servers hosted on Xen

7. “Type 1” vs “Type 2” Hypervisor

8. What is XenAPI?

9. Xen Terminology
Xen = virtual machine monitor
XenAPI = API to manage Xen
XAPI = XenAPI deamon
Dom0 = trusted management VM
DomU = untrusted guest VM

10. 5
3
2
1
4

11. How can I get started?
Xen Cloud Platform (XCP) Citrix XenServer
• Includes Xen and XAPI • Includes Xen and XAPI
• Supported by Xen Community • Fully Supported by Citrix
• Fully OpenSource • Free edition
• xcp-xapi package ᵒWindows VMs
ᵒPool based Live Migration
ᵒDebian Wheezy & Ubuntu Precise
ᵒHopefully in Fedora soon
• http://xen.org/products/cloudxen.html http://citrix.com/xenserver/download

12. XenAPI with OpenStack?
… it’s what Rackspace use!

13. 2 3 4
1

14. How can I get started?

15. Getting Started
https://github.com/openstack-dev/devstack/blob/master/tools/xen
Install XenServer Run DevStack

16. Ideas for the Future
… help us choose and help us code?

17. Even Better Isolation
Look at Citrix XenClient XT

18. Where can I find out more?

19. Further Reading
• http://wiki.openstack.org/XenServer
• http://wiki.openstack.org/HypervisorSupportMatrix
• http://docs.openstack.org/trunk/openstack-compute/admin/content/introduction-
to-xen.html
• http://wiki.xen.org

20. Q&A

21. Work better. Live better.