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

[john]

Well I tried to upgrade, and fresh install, my DL360 G6 and it failed misrably, weird errors, which change time after time so not good Nothing logs either from and no nice error codes to help, sometimes it says the CDs duff, sometimes it says it failed to install with an unknown error and sometimes its just completely random!

[localzuk]

I installed my first 5.6 machine today, and it went flawlessly. It was a fresh install on a DL360 G5. Odd that you should have so many issues!

[john]

I installed my first 5.6 machine today, and it went flawlessly. It was a fresh install on a DL360 G5. Odd that you should have so many issues!

 

The Citrix site shows its certified for 5.6 as well, and HP haven't got any new BIOS's or Firmwares out for it (I did check the other day and they were all the current versions) so it is very weird. I checked the disk by upgrading the Citrix on my test ML110 and it upgraded fine, verified the media fine and all was good so it is incredibly weird.

 

Will have to spend some more time on it as I need to get cracking on my new LAN