Mick Huxley

Xen Client – First impressions

Yesterday I downloaded and installed Citrix Xen Client.  Xen Client is a desktop Hypervisor which allows virtual machines to be run on the bare metal without the need to first run up a full operating system.  This works in much the same as vSphere or Xen Server in the Data centre.

I should preface this post by noting that Xen Client is currently pre-release software and as such plays up a little.  My first installation attempt was on a Lenovo x201.  Whilst the install completed okay and the Hypervisor loads, the graphics drivers are missing and as such I was unable to load the GUI.  I had been warned during installation that the x201 was not on the Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) and rightly so it seems.

Running over to Citrix.com I noted that the x200 was on the HCL so I grabbed one from the desktop team and installed Xen Client again.  This time I was presented with a client screen.  The interface here is very simple.  Across the top of the screen are menus for the power controls, new VM’s, Settings, network adapters and battery metre.

Time to get rolling and fire up a VM.  The new VM menu presents 2 options.  The first is to download an image from the synchroniser (haven’t read much about this but believe it’s for central management of VM’s) and the other is to create a new VM.  Creating a new VM I was a little shocked at the lack of options.  Windows XP, Vista and 7 x86 only.  Clearly this is a pre-release item as there is a requirement for Intel-VT and VT-d for funky graphics.  Looks like Windows 7 it is.

I inserted the media, fired up the VM and was surprised at the speed both of Windows PE and also switching between the VM and the Hypervisor manager.  Following the install of Windows I was able to insert the Xen Client driver disc and add all of the Hypervisor drivers and tools.  I did note the following devices showed errors and had stopped.  The Multimedia Audio Device, Xen Client Display Driver and USB Root Hub.  Although Multimedia accepted there was a Citrix / Non Citrix equivalent that was working okay.  Next I connected a NIC and check I had network access. 

Finally I inserted my Optus 3G Express Card, it was found, software installed and able to connect to the Internet. 

Next time for a new VM so I assigned all remaining available memory and fire it up.  Next I’m looking at the ThinkPad POST.  Yep full system restart, once back up I leave 10MB of free Memory and fire up my “Windows XP” guest.  The Windows XP guest though has a Fedora 12 disc inserted and the OS installs and boots without failure.  I can then access the network and do all the things I would hope to do.  One option I did not whilst doing the Fedora install is the encrypt partition option.  This got be thinking.

I rebooted the host and entered the BIOS enabling the TPM.  Next reboot and fire up the Windows guest.  Unfortunately there is no sign of the TPM in the device manager and as such no chance of Bit Locker at this time.

Overall this has potential to be a game changer.  I can’t wait to get my hands on the desktop Hypervisor from VMware and really pull the two apart.  The ability to handle Hardware agnostic images, run multiple VM’s side by side at the desktop layer is exciting and opens up a number of possibilities.