XenServer

[wesleyw]

I've got two xenservers and I want the virtual machines on them to be available to migrate over even if the xenserver they are running on has fallen over as this is not the case at the moment how do I set this up? I'm expecting Ric will have a good answer for this


Wes

[Hightower]

I'm not an expert - but I think it sounds like you need a SAN

[glennda]

Yeah, Im not sure if Citrix have got a live migration tool, but either way you definatly need a san, here we are using ESXI, but instead of paying for Vmotion, we just have the partitions on the san visable to other "nodes" so if one box goes off, we just simply boot the VM up on another box, there is no way that i know of to do it without a SAN tho

[powdarrmonkey]

there is no way that i know of to do it without a SAN tho

There isn't.

[glennda]

There isn't.

didn't think there was!!

[j17sparky]

Openfiler — Openfiler - Open Source Storage Management Appliance

[wesleyw]

I've got a Sun SAN 7110 that it's using for the storage but where do I go to set it so that Xenserver 1 can see Xenserver 2's VM's when it's not online?

Wes

[teejay]

As far as I recall, the HA stuff is in the paid for version, not the free version. You can do a live move from one server to the other, but not automatically on failover. May be slightly wrong with that as it's been a few months since I played with Xen as we went down the VMWare ESX route.

[glennda]

the way we have it set up is

Different Partions for different types of servers, one for DC's etc, one for the File server, one for admin stuff (sims etc),

then all the nodes can see all of the partitions, but are only running the a few of the vm's that we have on each box, then as soon as one box die we just remote console it, and find the VM file and boot it up.

This is with esxi, but it is pretty similar way to set it up on xen i think (can't remember to much as didnt play with it for that long!)

[Soulfish]

If you want to be able to see a VM from more than one server both physical servers need to be in the same resource pool

[wesleyw]

yeah they are both in the same pool by the looks of it if the other server is off all I have to do is double click the broken one and the VMs that are invisible initially suddenyl appear below in the resource pool. I don't want automatic like migration at present just this ability.


Wes

[cookie_monster]

You will need a SAN and the processors of the two servers need to be very similar or the migrate will fail. I'm pretty sure that you can't use HA to automatically move the VM's without the paid for version. With the free version you can migrate them if you notice that a VMs performance is degrading or you want to turn off some hardware.

Q: Can you XenMotion a VM between an Intel and AMD system?

A: No. You can only XenMotion a VM between systems with the same processor manufacturer and type.

Q: Does XenMotion require you to have the same exact configurations for your server systems?

A: While you do need to have the same type of processor in each system, other configurations can differ. You can have different amounts of memory, different storage controllers, and different network controllers in each system.

EDIT

Tell a lie Xenmotion is now included with the free versionbut you will still need a SAN.

Secondarily, Citrix is giving away for free with XenServer a remarkable number of enterprise features, including the enterprise console to manage multiple hosts (XenCenter), the VM live migration (XenMotion) technology, the resource sharing (Resource Pools) technology and the enterprise storage management technology.

http://www.virtualization.info/2009/...xencenter.html

[dhicks]

I've got two xenservers and I want the virtual machines on them to be available to migrate over even if the xenserver they are running on has fallen over

Mirror the volumes you are using for the VM disks with DRBD:

DRBD:What is DRBD

This does mean having to have enough disk space / performance on each server for each VM, and DRBD works best over a dedicated network connection, but disks and extra network cards are cheap these days.

--
David Hicks

[Ric_]

Did you get this sorted?

You simply add both servers to the same resource pool. Add some shared storage (best using NFS off of a 7110) and make sure your VM is moved onto the shared storage.

Now you will be able to drag the VM from one server to the other in XenCenter using the magic that is XenMotion!