Difference between revisions of "XCP Overview"

From Xen
(Added first cut of this document)
 
(Features)
Line 61: Line 61:
   
 
=== Features ===
 
=== Features ===
  +
For a feature matrix, see [[XCP Release Features]].
   
 
=== Management Options ===
 
=== Management Options ===

Revision as of 14:42, 24 September 2012

What is XCP?

Xen Cloud Platform The Xen Cloud Platform (or XCP) is a turnkey virtualization solution that provides out-of-the box virtualization and cloud computing. XCP includes the Xen Hypervisor, the enterprise ready Xen API toolstack with functionality such as

  • the capability to manage pools of host systems
  • support for advanced storage repositories
  • support for mutli-tenancy
  • support for SLA guarantees
  • and detailed metrics for consumption based charging and more,

and pre-integrated network and disk functionality such as Open vSwitch.

XCP and XenServer

XenServer is Citrix' commercial distribution of XCP. XCP contains a subset of features of XenServer functionality: for a detailed comparison see XCP/XenServer Feature Comparison.

Flavours of XCP

XCP comes in two flavours:

  • XCP ISO : Installs like XenServer and comes with the same drivers as XenServer, is mostly the same code as XenServer and is based on a specific version of Xen and an optimized CentOS 5 Dom0 Kernel
  • XCP-XAPI Packages : These are XCP packages that are delivered in Linux distros (currently only Debian and Ubuntu 12.04 LTS or newer) and are installed via your host OS'es package manager

The table below compares the two flavours:

XCP ISO XCP-XAPI Packages
Black-box style appliance Linux packages (assemble your own system)
CentOS 5.x based Dom0 Most components provided by distro
Managed using XAPI Managed using XAPI
Supports most XenServer features Some restructions
Supports most storage repository (SR) types Limited set of shared SR types
Only works with supplied CentOS Dom 0 Support for Debian/Ubuntu host OS (plans for Fedora and other distros)
Hard to customize Easy to customize
Hard to build from source Easy to build from source

XAPI Toolstack and Command Line

One of the core differences between Xen and XCP is the XCP Toolstack (XAPI) and the commandline console (XE). For a general overview of toolstacks supportedf by Xen see the Xen Toolstack Overview.

Features

For a feature matrix, see XCP Release Features.

Management Options

Also See

Integration with Cloud Orchestration Stacks

Introduction to the XCP Architecture

Installation

XCP ISO

XCP-XAPI Packages

Getting Help!

Icon todo.png To Do:

Adapt this section

The Xen community are helpful and friendly people. We are here for you. There are several ways to get help and keep on top of what is going on!

  • Read News!
  • Read Documentation!
  • Contact other users, to ask the questions and discuss Xen, XCP or other Xen related projects

News Sources

Documentation

Documentation for projects hosted on Xen.org is available on the Xen Wiki. Our wiki is active and community maintained. It contains a lot of useful information and uses categories extensively to make it easy to find information. You may also want to check:

Mailing Lists

Search Mailing Lists All Xen.org mailing lists are archived using the MarkMail system at xen.markmail.org. Before you ask a question, it is worth checking whether somebody else has asked the question before

Main Mailing Lists Xen.org maintains a number of mailing lists for users of Xen, the Xen Cloud Platform and other projects. English is used by readers on this list.

  • xen-users is the list for technical support and discussions for the Xen hypervisor. If you are not sure where your question belongs start here!
  • xen-api is the list for technical support and discussions for the Xen Cloud Platform (XCP).
  • xen-arm is the list for technical support and discussions for the Xen ARM project.

IRC

Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a great way to connect with Xen community members in real time chat and for support.

  • ##xen is the channel for technical support and discussions for the Xen hypervisor. If you are not sure where your question belongs start here!
  • Check out our IRC page if you are not familiar with IRC.

Other places

There are a number of other places, where you can get help on Xen and XCP. For example:

Raising Bugs

If you find a bug, you can report bugs against Xen, or the Xen Cloud Platform. Before you raise a bug, please read Reporting Bugs against XCP!

Also See

Icon todo.png To Do:

Adapt this section

Installation

Release Information

Specialist Topics: Networking, Performance, Security, NUMA, VGA, ...

FAQs, HowTos, ...