Xen / XCP / XAPI Overview

From Xen
Icon Info.png NOTE: XCP is deprecated. It was the open source equivalent to XenServer, but now XenServer is open source as well. People interested in XCP should be exploring the open source XenServer instead, as XCP is no longer updated. For Xenserver, go to xenserver.org.


This table gives a high level overview of the different high-level features of Xen, XCP and XCP-XAPI packages in Linux (Debian & Ubuntu) (also see Project Zeus (for Fedora)).

Description Xen XCP XCP-XAPI packages in Linux
Hypervisor latest lagging as in latest Linux distro
Dom0 OS See Dom0_Kernels_for_Xen CentOS (5.7 in XCP 1.6) See Debian, Ubuntu and Fedora
Dom0 32 and 64 bits 32 bits 32 and 64 bits
Linux 3 PVOPS Dom0 Yes No Yes
Toolstack XM (deprecated), XL, libvirt XAPI with XE Same as XCP
Features Xen Feature List Xen Feature List and XCP Feature List Xen Feature List and XCP Feature List
Storage, Network, Drivers Build and get yourself Integrated with Open vSwitch, multiple storage types & drivers Get them yourself (only core components are provided)
Configurations Everything Constrained by XAPI Same as XCP
Usage Model Do it yourself Shrink wrapped and tested Do it yourself
Distribution Source code or via host Linux or Unix distributions Delivered as ISO on xen.org Via host Linux or Unix distributions


Also see some interesting videos on the subject.