Xen Cloud Platform Project

Open source software to build private and public clouds

The Xen Cloud Platform (XCP) is an open source enterprise-ready server virtualization and cloud computing platform, delivering the Xen Hypervisor with support for a range of guest operating systems including Windows® and Linux® network and storage support, management tools in a single, tested installable image, which is also called XCP appliance.

XCP addresses the needs of cloud providers, hosting services and data centers by combining the isolation and multi-tenancy capabilities of the Xen hypervisor with enhanced security, storage and network virtualization technologies to offer a rich set of virtual infrastructure cloud services. The platform also address user requirements for security, availability, performance and isolation across both private and public clouds.

XCP consolidates server workloads, enables savings in power, cooling, and management costs and thus contributing to environmentally sustainable computing, an increased ability to adapt to ever-changing IT environments, an optimized use of existing hardware, and an improved level of IT reliability. See case studies for detailed Xen user studies or our eco-system map for vendors, products, projects, services and research.

Project Kronos

Project Kronos is an initiative to port the XenAPI toolstack to Debian and Ubuntu in order to deliver all packages that are needed to run XCP, via Debian and Ubuntu package managers. In a nutshell, all you will need to do get the latest version of Xen, the XenAPI toolstack and other components delivered in XCP is to execute "apt-get install xapi".

Project Kronos extends the delivery model of XCP and provides a number of benefits. It will make it easier to keep on top of new XCP versions, while providing the same functionality as the XCP appliance. It will give early adopters the chance to try out changes and new features of XCP before they get released in the XCP appliance. We expect that other Linux distributions will follow after Debian and Ubuntu. For more detailed plans, see the XCP Roadmap.

License

XCP was originally derived from Citrix XenServer. Today, the XCP code is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL2) and is available at no charge in both source and binary format. XCP is, and always will be, open sourced, uniting the industry and the Xen ecosystem to speed the adoption of virtualization and cloud technologies and actively works with open source and open standards to help solve challenges in cloud mobility.

XCP in detail

XAPI or XenAPI is a management stack implemented in OCaml that configures and controls Xen-enabled hosts and resource pools and co-ordinates resources within the pool. XAPI exposes the XenAPI interface. XAPI Lib: is a set of libraries and utilities implemented in OCaml. Control Interfaces: XCP contains the XE command line tool to control Xen virtual machines and resource pools. A wide range of graphical user interfaces that work with XCP have been created by open source projects and commercial vendors. Xen Hypervisor: XCP contains the Xen Hypervisor. Dom0 privileged domain including support for network, storage and drivers: XCP contains the Dom0 Linux kernel including drivers, rich virtual networking capabilities via Open vSwitch and support for cloud storage infrastructures. Guest Operating Systems: the XCP binary distribution is delivered with a wide range of Linux and Windows guests. Check out the release notes for a complete list.