Xen users - Feb 2010 - Free Xen Server 5.5 - Any thoughts? Migration?

Hi everyone,

We currently run Xen 3.30 on Centos 5.2. We have a mix of Windows VMs
with the GPLPV drivers, Centos HVMs and Centos paravirt VMs. Using
Infiniband/OFED and DRBD too (These both seem to be possible to compile
and use on Xen Server 5.5).

Sorry for so many questions:
Is it likely I can use the existing VMs under Xen Server?
I noticed the "Free" license has a 1 year expiry, is it likely to
change
to being non-free?
Does Xen Center offer live migration?
Can I still use the xm live migration command?
If I upgrade Xenserver later on do I need to recompile DRBD and OFED (Do
upgrades always involve a kernel change?)


Thanks,

Rob

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On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 10:39:09AM -0000, Robert Dunkley
wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> 
> We currently run Xen 3.30 on Centos 5.2. We have a mix of Windows VMs
> with the GPLPV drivers, Centos HVMs and Centos paravirt VMs. Using
> Infiniband/OFED and DRBD too (These both seem to be possible to compile
> and use on Xen Server 5.5).
> 
> Sorry for so many questions:
> Is it likely I can use the existing VMs under Xen Server?
>
With some conversion work, yes.
> I noticed the "Free" license has a 1 year expiry, is it likely to
change
> to being non-free?
>
No idea.. you could also use XCP, which doesn''t have licensing
limitations
since it''s fully opensource.
> Does Xen Center offer live migration?
>
Yes.
> Can I still use the xm live migration command?
>
No, XenServer (and XCP) doesn''t have xm tools. 
They have a completely different management toolstack and api called
''xapi'',
which has ''xe'' cmdline tool for management.
> If I upgrade Xenserver later on do I need to recompile DRBD and OFED (Do
> upgrades always involve a kernel change?)
> 
Yeah.. using out-of-distribution stuff is always more painful.

You could try working with the XCP developers to get DRBD and OFED integrated
into
the product..

-- Pasi


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Hi,

Am Mittwoch, den 24.02.2010, 13:43 +0200 schrieb Pasi
Kärkkäinen:
> On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 10:39:09AM -0000, Robert Dunkley wrote:
> > Hi everyone,
> > 
> > We currently run Xen 3.30 on Centos 5.2. We have a mix of Windows VMs
> > with the GPLPV drivers, Centos HVMs and Centos paravirt VMs. Using
> > Infiniband/OFED and DRBD too (These both seem to be possible to
compile
> > and use on Xen Server 5.5).
> > 
> > Sorry for so many questions:
> > Is it likely I can use the existing VMs under Xen Server?
> >
> 
> With some conversion work, yes.
> 
> > I noticed the "Free" license has a 1 year expiry, is it
likely to change
> > to being non-free?
> >
> 
> No idea.. you could also use XCP, which doesn''t have licensing
limitations
> since it''s fully opensource.
Nope - you just need a new key - that all and free ;-)
> 
> > Does Xen Center offer live migration?
> >
> 
> Yes.
> 
> > Can I still use the xm live migration command?
> >
> 
> No, XenServer (and XCP) doesn''t have xm tools. 
> They have a completely different management toolstack and api called
''xapi'',
> which has ''xe'' cmdline tool for management.
> 
> > If I upgrade Xenserver later on do I need to recompile DRBD and OFED
(Do
> > upgrades always involve a kernel change?)
> > 
> 
> Yeah.. using out-of-distribution stuff is always more painful.
You can build them through the XS DDK. drbd works fine on XS 4.X and
5.X... 

just use rpmbuild

Never plaid with OFED, but FCoE works like a Charme on XS :-)

No Idea how this works with OFED but with FCoE i had to hack a script
down in /opt/xensourcen/sm...

> You could try working with the XCP developers to get DRBD and OFED
integrated into
> the product..
Any Infos about FCoE in XCP? Will this be available?
> 
> -- Pasi

thomas
> 
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> Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

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