Back in the Summer, I wrote about a hidden gem included in your XenApp/XenDesktop software license and maintenance contracts. That gem? Your Citrix XenServer entitlement to power your infrastructure; at no additional charge!

With XenServer 7 workload virtualization has never been easier!

Every edition of XenApp and XenDesktop entitles customers to use XenServer. And this XenServer entitlement isn’t to a specific XenServer edition either—all XenServer advanced features can be leveraged:

  • xs-xc-cis-stackGPU Virtualization (NVIDIA GRID vGPU & Intel GVT-g) for enhanced graphics
  • Direct Inspect APIs for secure VM protection against malware, hacking and viruses
  • Automated XenTools driver and agent updates via Microsoft Windows Update
  • VMware vSphere to XenServer conversion utilities to simplify migrations
  • Dynamic Workload Balancing (WLB) for automatic load balancing and reporting

This all sounds pretty good, right? But how do you get started?

The first step is to download the XenServer 7 ISO file from the Citrix.com website. To enable XenServer 7, just point your XenServer host(s) (or resource pools) to your existing XenApp/XenDesktop product licenses on the Citrix License Server – as with other Citrix components. For more operationally-oriented details there is Quick Start Guide and an Administrator’s Guide.

Next, view the short video we’ve put together that walks you through the base installation. The video includes pre-requisites, tips, recommendations on server configuration and background on the various installation options.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KimCy_VKaNg

With XenServer 7, you will find you have a highly capable, scalable and performant hypervisor to build upon. Amongst the many new features and capabilities, three stand out: our continued leadership and enhancements in GPU Virtualization with NVIDIA GRID and Intel GVT-g; second, our tighter Microsoft integration with automated Windows VM Driver Updates; third, and probably the most significant, Direct Inspect APIs – which coupled with 3rd party security software such as Bitdefender’s Hypervisor Introspection software, provide real-time attack detection and remediation for your XenApp VMs.

xs-features

On the right, you can see the new host maximums with XenServer 7. The Installation guide also has the maximums for VMs and Pools – both equally impressive in scale and performance.

Remember, if you are a XenApp or XenDesktop customer, XenServer 7 features and support are free! So, if you’re tired of paying the vtax, use your entitlement to XenServer, and enjoy all the features above and more.

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