Citrix XenClient is a type 1 hypervisor (bare metal) and can run in stand alone mode without the back end Citrix XenClient Synchronizer. This is build on the 64 bit open source technology used with XenServer and you can run multiple virtual desktops simultaneously. Different VMs are completely secure isolation from each other and are hardware independent VM. A named call Service VM Architecture has been develop for extensibility.

XenClient provide a good end user interaction and advanced security for your devices and you data. With centralized security policies you can for example allow one user to run a VM for 4 days in a offline mode and if the suer doesn’t connect on internet the VM will be shutdown until the user is able to connect and authenticate to request more time.

The XenClient SDK should be available in 2011

The Citrix Receiver for Xenclient is the first Service VM for XenClient. Using Citrix Receiver for XenClient provide a very simple user interface to access, create and configure VM locally. You can very easily switch between local VMs.

Synchronizer for XenClient is the backend to manage XenClient and manages centralized delivery of VMs. It also provide a full time backup & rapid recovery with a smart backup delta data. You can remote kill VMs and manage local policy controls with Citrix Synchronizer for XenClient.

A bit of architecture : XenClient is based on a very thin piece of code taken and shared with XenServer. This is a linux control Domain and you will use paravirtualized drivers as well as being able to allow direct access to hardware for a specific VM. The XenClient user interface is Receiver for XenClient.

Flexible Virtualization Architecture, as mention above, disks, networks devices, USB and graphics devices are virtualized and ensure VM portability. You have also a selective passthrough, 3D Graphic Direct, Intel AMR Direct : Mix and match : You can give Direct access to GPU to a specific VM, same for storage and network separately (?) to confirm.

Synchronizer for XenClient Architecture : Synchronizer will be provide as a XenServer image and will be up and running within 10 minutes (Merchandising Server like cli wizard). The admin interface is web based (https) and authentication can remain local or being linked with an Active Directory. VM delivery and administration are using a single network port, https (443)

Scalability : 10 users is ok, need to test more to know more…

Future : XenDeskop integration is plan

Tips : Control shift +T  to have a shell window poping up and then you can check local VMs (.VHD) in there >> /storage/disks/

Citrix Synergy 2010 : Peter Blum

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• Case : Lian Li PC-V351B
• Power Supply : Silverstone Nightjar ST45NF – 450W
• MotherBoard : Asus Maximus II Gene
• Cpu : Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q9550
• Ram : G.Skill Extreme Series MQ 4x4096Mo PC6400 Dual Channel CAS6
• Video : PNY Quadro NVS 295 PCI-E 16x (for another workstation #XD4)
• Hard Drive : Seagate Barracuda ES.2 S-ATA – 1000 Go – 32 Mo (x2)

I think it should work fine, just some question remains : The network adapter on the Asus motherboard might not be compatible with XenServer and I choose two hard drive to build a RAID 1 but I’m affraid XenServer won’t be able to recognize the sata RAID controller. So we’ll see… If anyone have an experience with this material, please let me know !

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My first step was to download all iso files and XenCenter 5.5, the I began with and upgrade of XenCenter, and the problem I had once everything was install, that didn’t work… The XenCenter console disn’t show up, the I choose to uninstall everything and delete the folder in “c:\program files\Citrix\XenCenter” and proceed the setup again. It did the trick.

Then I was able to use this console to shutdown all the virtual computers, and then you can watch this quikc video to check what’s happen during an upgrade of XenServer, it’s quite simple but if you don’t have the opportunity to see it at least you’ll know how it looks like.

(Please open the article to see the flash file or player.)

Today I had to add two 500Gb SATAu hard drive to my XenServer. Plug this two hot plug drive in this Dell 2950 III was the easy part, configure the new RAID1 in the Perc 6i controller wasn’t so easy… This bios is very annoying and after 2 hours we found the good menu and where to create the new volume…

Once this step done, and after 16Gb of memory more, XenServer started without any problem, the drive wasn’t available through the XenCenter so I though I had to mount it or something like that.

So here comes the few steps to add a local storage to your XenServer 5.5 :

Type : fdisk -l

you’ll see the list of all volumes and hard drives, then :

Type : pvcreate /dev/sdb

sdb is my new volume

and then to configure it as a local storage :

Type : xe sr-create type=lvm content-type=user device-config:device=/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-SATA_ST3320620AS_5QF7QZZL name-label=”LOCAL SR”

scsi-SATA_ST3320620AS_5QF7QZZL is the name of my volume, you’ll have to change this value with your own, and name-label is the name you want to give to your local storage.

and this is it !

Remark : If your XenServer is a pool, you need to put it off, follow above steps and put back the XenServer in your pool.

They key to use are simple, forget your mouse, and use Tab, Space, Arrows and Enter.

Edit 17 April 2009 : I’ve add the “normal” installation, and if you want to try to install Citrix XenServer 5 on a VMWare, you have to configure the CPU emulation this way :

Click on continue reading to watch the video

(Please open the article to see the flash file or player.)

If you’re reading this, you already know the news: XenServer, our enterprise virtual infrastructure platform is now free (including resource pooling and live relo), and we have announced Citrix Essentials for XenServer, and Citrix Essentials for Hyper-V as our virtualization management portfolio that offers a rich set of automated functions that drive the compatible virtualization layers beneath – the free Hyper-V hypervisor from Microsoft, and the free XenServer Enterprise virtual infrastructure platform from Citrix.  Finally, and most importanly, we announced a powerful go-to-market roadmap with Microsoft.

Response to our announcements has been extremely positive, from our partner Microsoft to our channel partners and resellers, and many many customers and users.  There are the expected nay-sayers too, but someone had to drink the only thing that you get free from our competitor – VMware koolaid.

more on http://community.citrix.com/blogs/citrite/simoncr/2009/02/23/Free%2C+as+in+Virtual+Infrastructure