Notes: The following configuration was employed on XenServer 6.0.2, but should work on XenServer 5.x as well The solution has not been rigorously tested and is not supported by Citrix. This article does not go into detail on how to use the Linux command line. Please refer to Linux documentation for further information if necessary. Background: As I started working with SR-IOV on XenServer I found some interesting nuances. ...

Read More

Notes: The following configuration was employed on XenServer 6.0.2, but should work on XenServer 5.x as well (really based on guest OS, not hypervisor version) The following was employed in a CentOS 5.8 VM. Due to version differences, implementing this on other versions of CentOS/RHEL may require modifications. The solution has not been rigorously tested and is not supported by Citrix. This article does not go into detail ...

Read More

When using multipathed IBM XIV storage with native XenServer storage functionality (LVHD via FC or iSCSI), the multipath driver may not balance the load across all paths properly. Background: By default, XenServer's multipath driver doesn't have a specific configuration for an IBM XIV array, and rather uses a generic configuration. This configuration does not properly identify the characteristics of the paths/LUNs and therefore does not load ...

Read More

Notes: The following configuration was employed on XenServer 6 and 6.0.2. I've also used previous versions of usb-redirector on instances of XenServer 5.x, but will not cover their installation. The solution has not been rigorously tested and is not supported by Citrix. This article does not go into detail on how to use the Linux command line. Please refer to Linux documentation for further information if necessary. Since ...

Read More

A number of the Citrix products (XenDesktop, Provisioning Server, etc.) are capable of utilizing a SQLExpress database to allow for a simple installation experience. Unfortunately, if your install gets whacked or you want to start over there isn't a simple, GUI way to delete the SQLExpress database in order to start over. Many people end up either installing, or using existing installs, of ...

Read More

Notes: The following configuration was employed on XenServer 5.6, but should be relevant to XenServer 5.6 FP1 as well. The solution has not been rigorously tested and is not supported by Citrix. This article does not go into detail on how to use the Linux command line. Please refer to Linux documentation for further information if necessary. Before increasing the LUN size, it's a good idea to gather some ...

Read More

One question I've been asked a number of times is, "How do I find my HBA WWNs with XenServer?" Typically, the easy answer is to use the HBA vendor's tools -- hbanyware for Emulex and scli (FC) or iscli (iSCSI) for QLogic. XenServer 5.6 FP1 shipped with a conflict between the kernel and the libraries required for hbanyware to run, and therefore hbanyware cannot be ...

Read More

In order to present a virtual machine's console in XenCenter, XenServer creates a VNC stream for each VM that is running on the server.  The VNC session is bound to the localhost address of the server (127.0.0.1) and is therefore not directly accessible from external VNC clients.  In this post I'll discuss a quick and dirty way to connect directly to the VM's console using ...

Read More

The Intel® Modular Server (IMS) integrates storage, computing, and networking to one system to simplify complex IT environments. It is a 6u chassis that can be configured with up to 6 compute nodes and includes an integrated SAS SAN. Background: By default, XenServer's multipath driver doesn't have a specific configuration for the IMS integrated SAS array, and rather uses a generic configuration. This configuration does not ...

Read More

When using multipathed 3PAR storage with native XenServer storage functionality (LVHD via FC or iSCSI), the multipath driver may not balance the load across all paths properly.  In a multi-host resource pool, it has been experienced that some hosts balance properly while other hosts do not, making the symptoms rather random.  The symptoms were identified by isolating a workload to use specific array-side ports and ...

Read More