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Why Choose Xen For Your Cloud?
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Todd Deshane Build an Open Source Cloud Day - Boston December 9, 2011 Why Choose Xen For Your Cloud?
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http://cloudstack.org/about-cloudstack/cloudstack-events/viewevent/29-build-an-open-source-cloud-day-boston.html XCP combines the Xen hypervisor with enhanced security, storage, and network virtualization technologies to offer a rich set of virtualinfrastructure cloud services. These XCP cloud services can be leveraged by cloud providers to enable isolation and multi-tenancy capabilities in their environments. XCP also provides the user requirements of security, availability, performance, and isolation for private and public cloud deployments.
Transcript of Why Choose Xen For Your Cloud?
Todd DeshaneBuild an Open Source Cloud Day - Boston
December 9, 2011
Why Choose Xen For Your Cloud?
Who am I?
● Xen.org Technology Evangelist
● Involvement with Xen started in 2003 as graduate student
● Co-author of research paper:○ "Xen and the Art of Repeated Research" ○ USENIX 2004
● Co-author of the "Running Xen" book
● XCP/cloud integrator and tester
Outline
● Xen in the cloud history
● Xen architecture and security benefits
● XCP
● Project Kronos
Xen (in the Cloud) History
Global Public Computing
"This dissertation proposes a new distributed computing paradigm, termed global public computing, which allows any user to run any code anywhere. Such platforms price computing resources, and ultimately charge users for resources consumed." - Evangelos Kotsovinos, PhD dissertation, 2004
Xen (in the Cloud) History
Xen Architecture
Xen Architectural Security Advantages
● Small, clean, disaggregatable trusted computing base○ Xen hypervisor (guest scheduling, virtual hardware
abstraction)○ Management/control domain can be broken up into
multiple domains○ Driver domains can isolate hardware functions (e.g.
network or storage driver domains)● Well-defined trusted computing base
○ Need only trust hypervisor and compartmentalized management, control, and driver domains
○ No extra services in hypervisor layer○ Full OS not needed (as is with type-2 hypervisor)
Xen Cloud Platform (XCP)
● Open source version of Citrix XenServer○ http://wiki.xen.org/wiki/XCP/XenServer_Feature_Matrix
● Enterprise-ready server virtualization and cloud platform
● Built-in support and templates for Windows and Linux guests
● Datacenter and cloud-ready management API○ XenAPI (XAPI) is fully open source○ CloudStack and OpenStack integration
● Open vSwitch support built-in
XCP Architecture
Xen API (XAPI)
● VM lifecycle: live snapshots, checkpoint, migration
● Resource pools: live relocation, auto configuration, disaster recovery
● Flexible storage, networking, and power management
● Event tracking: progress, notification
● Upgrade and patching capabilities
● Real-time performance monitoring and alerting
XAPI Class Diagram
Open vSwitch
● Software switch, similar to:○ VMware vNetwork Distributed Switch○ Cisco Nexus 1000V.
● Distribution agnostic. Plugs right into Linux kernel.
● Reuses existing Linux kernel networking subsystems.
● Backwards-compatible with traditional userspace tools.
● Free and Open Source http://openvswitch.org/
Why use Open vSwitch with Cloud?
● Multi-tenancy
● Automated control
● Monitoring and QoS
XCP Management Options
● xe is tab-completable, XAPI frontend command line tool● Desktop GUIs
○ Citrix XenCenter (Windows-only)○ OpenXenManager (open source cross-platform
XenCenter clone)● Web interfaces
○ Xen VNC Proxy (XVP) ■ lightweight VM console only■ user access control to VMs (multi-tenancy)
○ XenWebManager (web-based clone of OpenXenManager
● XCP Ecosystem: http://wiki.xen.org/xenwiki/XCP_Projects
OpenXenManager
Xen VNC Proxy (XVP)
Xen VNC Proxy (XVP)
XCP and Cloud Orchestration Tools
● XCP and OpenStack
● XCP and CloudStack
● XCP and OpenNebula
XCP and OpenStackFirst commercial OpenStack cloud (Internap): XCP-based
XCP and CloudStack
XCP and OpenNebula
Project Kronos
● Port of XCP's XAPI toolstack to Debian and Ubuntu dom0
● Gives users the ability to install Debian or Ubuntu, then apt-get install xcp-xapi
● Provides Xen users with the option of using the same API and toolstack that XCP and XenServer provide
● Early adopters can try new changes to the XAPI before they get released in mainstream XCP and XenServer versions
● Now much easier to build tools outside of an SDK VM
Project Kronos Overview
Project Kronos Overview
Hypervisor
Xen API (XAPI)
XCP vs. Project Kronos
XCP
Pros
● Isolation of cloud VM● Security properties● Pre-package + appliance
Cons
● Slightly more complex● Less flexible
Project Kronos
Pros
● Simple install● Flexibility● Simpler overall
Cons
● Less isolation● Cloud node is a potential
entry point to Dom0
Summary
● Xen has many great advantages for cloud use
● Xen is widely used in the cloud
● XAPI cloud-ready for use with cloud orchestration○ fully open source
● XCP and Project Kronos provide flexibility and choice
Thank You!
