XenServer 5.6 - anyone upgraded from 5.5 yet?

[pete]

I'm tempted by the dynamic memory allocation and better snapshot functionality. Time to spin up a test host.

Release notes are here: CTX124972 - XenServer 5.6 Release Notes - Citrix Knowledge Center the only note in there that'll affect me is:

"When installing an update to a host through XenCenter, the update may fail if any VMs are set to auto-start on server boot. The workaround is to turn off auto-start in the VMs' properties before applying the update. [CA-41304]"

which is easy to workaround.

[irsprint84]

I thought about doing it this week but think I m going to wait till the summer

[imiddleton25]

I did on last week

wish I hadnt

Xencenter gets conection refused now

can ssh in though so started vms but its a pain

[EduTech]

I upgraded to 5.6 with no problems at all.. went through the upgrade and then upgraded XenCenter and connected back to the host and away i went

James.

[Ric_]

@imiddleton25: Make sure that you upgraded XenCenter.

I have upgraded 2 of my four XenServer hosts and both upgraded fine - insert CD, reboot server, enter, enter, enter... nice white splash screen

I've yet to upgrade my big boxes but there shouldn't be a problem.

[localzuk]

Planning to do this in a week or so. Any improvements are always appreciated by me!

[john]

@imiddleton25: Make sure that you upgraded XenCenter.

I have upgraded 2 of my four XenServer hosts and both upgraded fine - insert CD, reboot server, enter, enter, enter... nice white splash screen

I've yet to upgrade my big boxes but there shouldn't be a problem.

I thought you had 3 Xen hosts and they were all big super cored up AMD chips?

So things are sounding good which is good news I will upgrade mine then if no-ones screaming the world has ended

[Soulfish]

I'm planning on upgrading our Xen hosts at the start of the summer. After the hassle with the last service pack for 5.5 I thought I'd leave it a little while to make sure all the bugs are gone

[imiddleton25]

yes i had xen centre upgraded first then 2 days later xenserver

[SLMHC]

This thread over at the Citrix forums gives me pause. I think I'll wait a touch longer before jumping up.

[Ric_]

@john: I have 2x quad-processor, quad-core boxes sharing storage in a resource pool and then 2x dual-processor, dual-core boxes as stand alone hosts.

@SLMHC: I haven't noticed the mentioned performance loss but the VMs on my hosts are all Server 2008 R2 (running XenApp 6.0). I actually upgraded because I noticed a drop in performance after installing R2 and the upgrade has definitely resolved any issues.

[morganw]

Are there complications because of a change to the licensing system?
Does this now need a dedicated license server rather than just an import of the .lic file?

[SLMHC]

All of my current infrastructure is Win2k3, so it likely would affect me. I've got a XenApp RFP out right now for a 3 host (12 guest) roll out in the fall. The Citrix partner I worked with to build the RFP suggested Win2k3 and XenApp 5.x for stability reasons. I may have to urge for Win2k8R2 and XA6.0.

[SLMHC]

Are there complications because of a change to the licensing system?
Does this now need a dedicated license server rather than just an import of the .lic file?

I believe you do need a license server, but a VM is supposed to be available soon.

[localzuk]

Are there complications because of a change to the licensing system?
Does this now need a dedicated license server rather than just an import of the .lic file?

Only if you're running XenServer Advanced or above. Free users will not need a licensing server according to their documentation - CTX124972 - XenServer 5.6 Release Notes - Citrix Knowledge Center