In today's IT world, virtualization is an essential element of modern data centers. Organizations seek efficient, flexible, and cost-effective solutions to manage infrastructure effectively. Among the many available tools, one of the most promising is XCP-ng – an open virtualization platform that serves as an excellent alternative to commercial solutions. Let’s take a closer look at this tool, its functionalities, benefits, and implementation methods.

What is XCP-ng?

XCP-ng (Xen Cloud Platform - next generation) is an open-source virtualization platform based on the popular Xen hypervisor. It emerged as an extension of the XenServer project after Citrix restricted the functionality of its free version of the software. XCP-ng offers a fully-featured environment for managing virtual machines (VMs) without the high costs of licensing.

The project is developed by an active community and supported by Vates, ensuring stability, regular updates, and high-level technical support.

Source: XCP-ng

Key features of XCP-ng

• Full support for server virtualization: XCP-ng enables the creation and management of virtual machines running various operating systems, such as Linux, Windows, and BSD.
• Management via XOA (Xen Orchestra): Offers an intuitive web interface, task automation, monitoring, backups, and many other functions.
• Support for advanced features: Includes live migration, snapshots, data replication, hardware acceleration (Intel VT-x, AMD-V), and network and storage resource management.
• Security: The Xen hypervisor is renowned for its high level of security. XCP-ng inherits these traits, offering virtual machine isolation and advanced access control mechanisms.
• Scalability and flexibility: The platform works well in both small environments and large data centers, allowing for scaling as the organization’s needs grow.

Advantages of XCP-ng

• Open-source code (open source license): No licensing fees and the ability to modify the code according to organizational needs provide a significant advantage over commercial competitors.
• Active community: A large and engaged community of users and developers ensures rapid problem-solving, experience sharing, and best practices.
• Compatibility with DevOps tools: The platform integrates with popular DevOps tools such as Ansible, Terraform, and Kubernetes.
• High performance and scalability: XCP-ng provides a stable and efficient virtualization environment suitable for both small businesses and large data centers.
• Support for various operating systems: Allows running virtual machines with multiple operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and BSD.
• Advanced management features: Built-in tools for live migration, clustering (high availability), and snapshots enhance IT environment management flexibility.
• Compatibility with Citrix Hypervisor: Due to its shared history with XenServer, XCP-ng maintains full compatibility with Citrix Hypervisor, simplifying migration and integration with existing solutions.
• Strong emphasis on security and regular updates: The platform ensures security updates and patches, providing a safe and reliable virtualization environment.
• Management ecosystem: Integration with tools like Xen Orchestra enables intuitive virtual infrastructure management via a web browser.

Source: XCP-ng

How to implement XCP-ng?

Installing XCP-ng may seem relatively simple – download the installation image from the project website and run it on a server. The installer will guide you step-by-step through the configuration of basic parameters.

However, to fully leverage the platform's capabilities, it’s essential to ensure optimal configuration and implement best practices. Setting up Xen Orchestra (XOA) provides full access to management and monitoring features, but incorrect settings may lead to performance or security issues.

Therefore, instead of going it alone, it's worth trusting the experienced engineers at Hawatel. Their knowledge and expertise ensure a smooth XCP-ng deployment and that the entire infrastructure is configured according to the highest standards.

User support

XCP-ng offers several levels of support:

• Online community: XCP-ng forum, GitHub group, and communication channels (e.g., Slack, Discord).
• Commercial support: Vates offers professional support services for businesses.
• Documentation: Detailed documentation and guides available on the project’s official website.

Summary

XCP-ng is a powerful, flexible, and open-source virtualization solution that can effectively compete with commercial platforms. It offers a full suite of features necessary for managing a modern IT environment while maintaining low costs and a high level of security. With community support and Vates' backing, XCP-ng is a worthy choice for organizations seeking a stable and continuously developed virtualization solution.