Archive/XCP FAQ General

What is XCP?

The Xen Cloud Platform (XCP) is an open source enterprise-ready server virtualization and cloud computing platform, delivering the Xen Hypervisor with support for a range of guest operating systems including Windows and Linux, network and storage support and management tools. XCP comes in two flavours:

• The XCP applicance (which is a single, tested installable ISO image) that comprises CentOS 5.5, Xen and many other components
• The XCP/XAPI components in Debian and Linux

Is XCP a operating with Xen hypervisor?

Aka is XCP like a VMware ESXi or Oracle VM? It doesn't need to setup a operating system. Is that right?

A: Yes, the XCP ISO is a distribution based on CentOS 5.5 and is ready to provide easy handling by XE. Look at this link.

How is XCP licensed?

XCP is Open Source, and is released under terms of the GNU General Public License v2.

What is XCP on Debian?

Debian contains the xcp-xapi and xcp-xe (see XE) packages, which makes XCP available as Debian package with Debian as Dom0. XCP on Debian contains the same components, than the XCP appliance, but it uses a different delivery model which gives the user more flexibility. See:

• Project Kronos
• XCP toolstack on a Debian-based distribution

How do I use XCP with OpenStack ?

XCP OpenStack provides instructions on how to set up OpenStack with XCP.

What management tools can I use with XCP?

XCP Management Tools lists different management tool choices. You may also want to check out:

• XenCenter compatibility fixes for XCP 1.0 and 1.1
• Install the management CLI on a separate Linux box

Can I use XCP with Ubuntu?

Yes. You may want to check out the following articles

• Installing Ubuntu guests on XCP
• Ubuntu grub problems, PV boot configuration
• Setting up PCI passthrough on an Ubuntu 10.04 guest

How do I monitor Dom0's running XCP?

You may want to check the following articles

• Installing Nagios NRPE on XCP dom0 for monitoring
• Installing NUT on XCP dom0 for UPS power management

Can I install XCP to a USB drive / SD Card

Yes, but you'll have to repack the initrd with USB support. See this tutorial.

But be advised, at least XCP 1.6 has issues using an USB device (no matter if internal SD or external usb key), that causes the XCP Host to lose it's rootfs after 1-2 Days of runtime (obviously depending on the Workload). I tested 2 Brands of SD (Kingston and Samsung), as well as Kingston USB Key, same things. This has to be checked. (Hardware tested: HP Proliant DL360p Gen8)

Can I install XCP from USB drive / SD Card

Yes, but you'll have to prepare a Bootable USB Stick for this. A tool confirmed working for this is tool. Download the Program the rest is quite self-explanatory.

How can I rebuild XCP?

We want to make it easier to rebuild XCP. Please read the following proposal Making XCP easy to build and send feedback to xen-api@lists.xen.org.