The Xen open source virtualization project is out with the fourth
point release this year of its namesake Xen hypervisor.
Xen 3.0.4 may prove to be more visually appealing than its predecessors,
thanks to the inclusion of graphical frame buffer support for para-virtualised
guests. That support will further enable Xen users see their virtualized “guests” through a graphical interface, rather than using a command line interface to manage the different virtualized environments.
Among the improvements in Xen 3.0.4 is better support for SMP
(Symmetric Multi-Processors), and Linux ACPI (Advanced Configuration and
Power Interface)
Intel IA64 64 bit Itanium systems as well as IBM’s Power architecture also get improved support with the latest Xen release.
Open source Xen 3 is included in Linux distributions from Novell’s OpenSUSE
and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, as well as Red Hat’s Fedora Core distribution. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, expected in early 2007, will also include Xen.
Xen isn’t just for Linux though. Beyond just Linux, Xen 3.0.4 also provides
improved support for Windows.
XenSource is a sponsor of the Xen open source project, and a vendor of
commercial Xen solutions, including the XenEnterprise
suite . Earlier this year it lined up a deal with
Microsoft to develop interoperability between
Microsoft’s Windows Server virtualization and the open source Xen
hypervisor.
In November, XenSource released
XenEnterprise for Windows as a challenge to the dominance of VMware in
the Windows virtualization space.
With four point releases of Xen 3 in 2006, 2007 is likely to be an equally
busy year for new releases of Xen. In a mailing list posting announcing the
Xen 3.0.4 release, Xen developer Keir Fraser noted that 3.0.4 is an interim
release. Additional features, such as Hardware Virtualization Manager (HVM)
save and restore will be part of the Xen 3.0.5 release, which is expected in
early 2007.
While the Xen 3.0 release last year provided support for hardware
virtualization technology, including Intel’s VT-x virtualization technology
and the AMD Pacifica, Xen 3.0.4 offers more stabilization features.
