Citrix XenServer Enterprise Edition is a powerful platform managing virtualization as a flexible aggregated pool of compute and storage resources, for dynamic managed virtualization environments for the enterprise. A dedicated virtualization platform based on the Xen hypervisor, Citrix XenServer Enterprise Edition v4 delivers an open, proven and supported solution for server virtualization.

With Citrix XenServer Enterprise Edition, you can:

• Consolidate existing server infrastructure into a dynamic pool of resources
• Streamline software development and testing with instant server cloning and restoration
• Simplify IT testing of patches, new applications and operating systems
• Simplify server provisioning by building a virtual machine once and deploying it multiple times
• Evaluate software in ready-to-run virtual machines without installation and configuration
• Move legacy operating systems and applications to newer hardware as virtual machines
• Simplify disaster recovery and business continuity plans by creating a uniform platform between multiple locations
• Demo complex multi-tier software setups using a single machine

10 Minutes to Xen

The product is easily installed using either a CD or network based installation and delivers the performance, security and openness of the Xen technology for x86 server virtualization. You can then easily create an unlimited number of virtual machines. We even include all the tools you need to get virtualized right away.

Supports Standard Hardware and Drivers

Citrix XenServer fully utilizes the benefits of hardware assisted virtualization on both Intel® VT platforms and AMD® Virtualization (AMD-V™) platforms via Xen paravirtualization. This hardware support provides exceptional performance and response times that closely rival non-virtualized speeds.

Citrix XenServer leverages standard Linux device drivers for the broadest hardware support of any virtualization platform.

• Supports wide variety of local storage including IDE, SATA, SCSI, and SAS direct attached storage and more
• Supports Fiber Channel based SANs with boot from SAN for diskless blades
• Supports shared storage on iSCSI based SANs and NFS NAS filers

Built to Scale

Citrix XenServer Enterprise Edition is built from the ground up with 64-bit support and the industry's largest CPU and memory limits for virtualization. It can handle up to 32 sockets and up to 128 GB of RAM, and allows each virtual machine up to 32GB of RAM.

Windows and Linux Guest Support

Citrix XenServer Enterprise Edition can easily handle an urestricted number of both Windows and Linux guest operating systems. Windows support includes Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000 Server. Linux support includes Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, and Debian Sarge and Etch. See the product datasheet for details on exact versions supported. Windows guests require Intel VT or AMD-V x86-based hardware.

Based on Industry-Standard Open Source Xen

Citrix XenServer is based upon the industry standard Open Source Xen 3.1 hypervisor, which was created and is maintained by the Citrix XenServer Team. This open source software "engine" is a proven, rapidly evolving industry standard with broad support from virtually all the major hardware and software vendors.

Blazing Fast Performance

The advanced paravirtualization architecture of the Citrix XenServer virtualization platform offers near “bare-metal” performance on almost any x86 server.

• Minimal software footprint dedicated to running virtual machines
• Built to fully leverage Intel and AMD virtualization assist technology for near bare metal speed
• Drivers provide high speed I/O for enhanced disk and network performance

Powerful Resource Management

To guarantee that compute power is directed to the most essential workloads that require them, Citrix XenServer Enterprise Edition allows administrators to set quality-of-service (QoS) priorities and levels for CPU utilization as well as disk and network bandwidth.

XenCenter Multi-Server Multi-Pool Management

Citrix XenServer includes XenCenter, a powerful graphical virtualization management interface that runs on any Windows desktop machine - no dedicated system is required to use its powerful unified management capabilities. When used with Enterprise Edition, it offers:

• Full lifecycle management for all your virtual machines from creation, starting and stopping, to reboot, and uninstalls
• Interfaces for creating new virtual machines from original sources or from network repositories, and for cloning them from pre-configured templates for efficient buildout of virtual infrastructure
• Ability to suspend and resume virtual machines on the fly
• XenMotion management for live relocation
• Global resource pool configuration
• Integrated configuration of virtual storage repositories and networking
• Real time and trended graphing of virtual machine and total server performance metrics including CPU, memory, plus disk and network I/O
• Controls to adjust virtual machine resource allocation as demands change

Citrix XenServer also supports a powerful Command Line Interface that runs locally or remotely for easy integration with your existing tools and scripts, and XenAPI for integration with management tools.

Enhanced Serviceability

Citrix XenServer makes it easy for users to collect information required to assist with support and problem resolution, and to send it directly to Citrix support. Integrated hotfix management allows users to keep the software up-to-date easily.