XenServer 7.3 Release

momurda

https://xenserver.org/blog/entry/announcing-the-availability-of-xenserver-7-3.html
This one is huge
New Features in XenServer 7.3

The following is a list of the features and functionality introduced in XenServer 7.3:

Enhanced security for Windows virtual machines by support for Bromium Secure Platform
Changed Block Tracking API (for enhanced backups)
New and expanded guest OS support
Support for VLAN tagging on management and storage network interfaces
IGMP snooping for IPv4 multicast support
SMB v3.0 for ISO storage repositories (SRs)
Improvements to XenServer Conversion Manager
Localization for Email Performance Alerts
Support for BIOS Asset Tags
Citrix Director integration
Enablement for XenDesktop Tablet Mode (enables Windows 10 Continuum experience in virtualized desktop environments)

Perhaps a bit late. But this is huge, hopefully Unitrends and other XS backup vendors(XO already had this) gets their software uptodate for the new backup possibilities.

scottalanmiller

It's big, but in two ways. The BIGGEST news is that a ton of core functionality has been ripped out of the base version. To most of us, XenServer just gave up and left the industry. It might seem like a big release, but almost no one pays for XenServer and telling their primary customer base that they hate them and don't want their business is a pretty big deal.

momurda

Then they do this
https://xenserver.org/blog/entry/xenserver-7-3-changes-to-the-free-edition.html
Oh Scott you beat me to it.

scottalanmiller

@momurda said in XenServer 7.3 Release:

Then they do this
https://xenserver.org/blog/entry/xenserver-7-3-changes-to-the-free-edition.html
Oh Scott you beat me to it.

It's in the Misc thread, it's been a pretty regular big of convo since yesterday.

scottalanmiller

The general take, and definitely my opinion, is that it's over. XS is off the table and no longer even worth discussing. Sad, but expected. The past year has been a steady decline.

scottalanmiller

Another question will be how this impacts XO and other players who have been banking on XS growing, rather than failing.

momurda

Most of the things they removed are meh, but Storage Motion, come on.

Dashrender

@scottalanmiller said in XenServer 7.3 Release:

but almost no one pays for XenServer and telling their primary customer base that they hate them and don't want their business is a pretty big deal.

Do they really have their 'business' if the user isn't paying anything?

Not that I don't agree that the product will likely see a significant reduction in deployment now.

scottalanmiller

@dashrender said in XenServer 7.3 Release:

@scottalanmiller said in XenServer 7.3 Release:

but almost no one pays for XenServer and telling their primary customer base that they hate them and don't want their business is a pretty big deal.

Do they really have their 'business' if the user isn't paying anything?

Yes, 100%, no question.

This is like saying Spiceworks or Red Hat don't have customers. Of course they do and they have big revenue.

scottalanmiller

@momurda said in XenServer 7.3 Release:

Most of the things they removed are meh, but Storage Motion, come on.

Yeah, that's just ridiculous. These are key features that everyone has for free. If you don't have stuff like this, you aren't even trying today.

scottalanmiller

Keep in mind, for those wondering, that the Free edition in no way means unsupported. The Free edition is the pipeline to getting support and users. People deploy Free, then pay for support later in many cases.

Removing the value of Free implies that they want to shut down the funnel so that they stop getting new customers.

Dashrender

@scottalanmiller said in XenServer 7.3 Release:

@momurda said in XenServer 7.3 Release:

Most of the things they removed are meh, but Storage Motion, come on.

Yeah, that's just ridiculous. These are key features that everyone has for free. If you don't have stuff like this, you aren't even trying today.

And by everyone - you now mean Hyper-V and KVM - who, if anyone, else?

The other two players I know of (ESXi and XS) don't have it free.

scottalanmiller

@dashrender said in XenServer 7.3 Release:

@scottalanmiller said in XenServer 7.3 Release:

@momurda said in XenServer 7.3 Release:

Most of the things they removed are meh, but Storage Motion, come on.

Yeah, that's just ridiculous. These are key features that everyone has for free. If you don't have stuff like this, you aren't even trying today.

And by everyone - you now mean Hyper-V and KVM - who, if anyone, else?

The other two players I know of (ESXi and XS) don't have it free.

Well if you look at hypervisors, rather than resulting products, then all the "in the game" players have it... KVM, Xen, and Hyper-V. Only ESXi lacks it, and we don't consider them a viable short lister.

Dashrender

@scottalanmiller said in XenServer 7.3 Release:

@dashrender said in XenServer 7.3 Release:

@scottalanmiller said in XenServer 7.3 Release:

@momurda said in XenServer 7.3 Release:

Most of the things they removed are meh, but Storage Motion, come on.

Yeah, that's just ridiculous. These are key features that everyone has for free. If you don't have stuff like this, you aren't even trying today.

And by everyone - you now mean Hyper-V and KVM - who, if anyone, else?

The other two players I know of (ESXi and XS) don't have it free.

Well if you look at hypervisors, rather than resulting products, then all the "in the game" players have it... KVM, Xen, and Hyper-V. Only ESXi lacks it, and we don't consider them a viable short lister.

And how viable is Xen for the SMB to use?

FATeknollogee

@momurda said in XenServer 7.3 Release:

Then they do this
https://xenserver.org/blog/entry/xenserver-7-3-changes-to-the-free-edition.html
Oh Scott you beat me to it.

This is just being silly for the sake of being silly.
Oh well, no lost sleep for me as I only have one more XS host

scottalanmiller

@dashrender said in XenServer 7.3 Release:

@scottalanmiller said in XenServer 7.3 Release:

@dashrender said in XenServer 7.3 Release:

@scottalanmiller said in XenServer 7.3 Release:

@momurda said in XenServer 7.3 Release:

Most of the things they removed are meh, but Storage Motion, come on.

Yeah, that's just ridiculous. These are key features that everyone has for free. If you don't have stuff like this, you aren't even trying today.

And by everyone - you now mean Hyper-V and KVM - who, if anyone, else?

The other two players I know of (ESXi and XS) don't have it free.

Well if you look at hypervisors, rather than resulting products, then all the "in the game" players have it... KVM, Xen, and Hyper-V. Only ESXi lacks it, and we don't consider them a viable short lister.

And how viable is Xen for the SMB to use?

Totally viable, what's the concern? It's free, it's simple last I looked. Just install openSuse Leap and away you go. There is even a GUI for deploying it.

scottalanmiller

@fateknollogee said in XenServer 7.3 Release:

@momurda said in XenServer 7.3 Release:

Then they do this
https://xenserver.org/blog/entry/xenserver-7-3-changes-to-the-free-edition.html
Oh Scott you beat me to it.

This is just being silly for the sake of being silly.
Oh well, no lost sleep for me as I only have one more XS host

Yup, we are definitely done. No purpose in even looking at it any more.

I think Citrix has pretty much lost their way across the board. Every product I've used from them seems to be garbage today. They've fallen so far.

stacksofplates

@dashrender said in XenServer 7.3 Release:

@scottalanmiller said in XenServer 7.3 Release:

@dashrender said in XenServer 7.3 Release:

@scottalanmiller said in XenServer 7.3 Release:

@momurda said in XenServer 7.3 Release:

Most of the things they removed are meh, but Storage Motion, come on.

Yeah, that's just ridiculous. These are key features that everyone has for free. If you don't have stuff like this, you aren't even trying today.

And by everyone - you now mean Hyper-V and KVM - who, if anyone, else?

The other two players I know of (ESXi and XS) don't have it free.

Well if you look at hypervisors, rather than resulting products, then all the "in the game" players have it... KVM, Xen, and Hyper-V. Only ESXi lacks it, and we don't consider them a viable short lister.

And how viable is Xen for the SMB to use?

You can manage it through libvirt just like KVM.

black3dynamite

I remembered reading about those who are XenApp or XenDesktop customers are also entitled to have XenServer. Now I wasn’t able to confirm if it’s standard or enterprise version.

scottalanmiller

@black3dynamite said in XenServer 7.3 Release:

I remembered reading about those who are XenApp or XenDesktop customers are also entitled to have XenServer. Now I wasn’t able to confirm if it’s standard or enterprise version.

Or maybe it was Free. Heaven only knows. But they are just paying for it already anyway. It's all just silly.