Download Citrix XenServer 5.6 SP2

Citrix has for its virtualization environment XenServer released a new service pack with 5.6 SP2 as the version number. The virtualization environment is based on Xen and adds tools to expand its capabilities and simplify management. Citrix XenServer is free to use, but can be upgraded with a paid advanced, enterprise or platinum license. This includes options such as ha , dmc, rbac and provisioning services. The overview of the changes for this release is as follows:

Release Notes for Citrix XenServer 5.6 Service Pack 2

This document provides important information about the Citrix XenServer 5.6 Service Pack 2 Release. Documentation may be updated or changed after the initial release. Citrix suggests regularly visiting the XenServer 5.6 Service Pack 2 page on My Citrix to learn about updates. Customers will require a MyCitrix account to access this page. If you do not have an account, you can register on the My Citrix home page. Release notes for Windows and Linux Virtual Machines (VMs) are available in the Citrix XenServer 5.6 SP2 Virtual Machine Installation Guide.

New Features Since XenServer 5.6 Feature Pack 1

XenServer 5.6 Service Pack 2 includes number of new features and ongoing improvements, including:

• IntelliCache. Using XenServer with IntelliCache makes hosted Virtual Desktop Infrastructure deployments more cost-effective by enabling you to use a combination of shared storage and local storage. The load on the storage array is reduced and performance is enhanced. See the XenServer Service Pack 2 Installation Guide for more information on this feature.
• WorkLoad Balancing Installation Improvements. Choice of English or Japanese language available on installation screens.
• Local Storage Spans All Physical Volumes. When EXT local storage is used (eg when the Use thin provisioning is selected in the host installer), on a host containing multiple physical disks, the local Storage Repository (SR) now spans all the disks in a single LVM volume group.
• Reset-on-boot VM behavior. Disks with the on-boot option set to reset, is now available for disks in any type of SR. (Previously it was only available for disks in NFS and EXT SRs.)
• Block SCSI Generic Support. BSG support added enabling full compatibility with Emulex and QLogic management functionatility.
• Enhanced guest OS support. Support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.

Additional Fixes:

XenServer 5.6 Service Pack 2 also includes the following hotfixes to Feature Pack 1:

• Hotfix XS56EFP1006
• Hotfix XS56EFP1003
• Fixed CPU soft lockup issue in which hosts experiencing CPU-intensive workloads or running additional utilities within dom0 (such as Nagios Network Monitoring software or HP management utilities) become unresponsive and eventually crash. For more information see
• Fixed bug in xe-backup-metadata (used by xsconsole) preventing scheduled metadata backups from working correctly.

New Features Since XenServer 5.6:

XenServer 5.6 Service Pack 2 includes a number of new features and ongoing improvements, including:

• Distributed Virtual Switching. Provides distributed, fine-grained networking configuration and control policies, which increase visibility into XenServer virtual networks. Support for the vSwitch has been added as a post-install option on XenServer hosts, as well as a Controller for administration of multiple vSwitches and cross-server private networks.
• Jumbo Frames are now supported for storage networks when the vSwitch is used.
• VM Protection and Recovery. Configure scheduled snapshots and (optional) archive of virtual machines.
• Web Self Service. Provides browser-based access to selected virtual machines by delegated administrators.
• Boot from SAN with multipathing support. Boot XenServer hosts with HBAs from a SAN, with multipathing support.
• HA Restart Priority. Configure HA policies to restart specific VM(s) first.
• Enhanced XenCenter. Including StorageLink configuration entirely within XenCenter, workload reporting for VM utilization and chargeback.
• Improved MPP RDAC multipathing including path health reporting and alerting in XenCenter.
• Snapshot improvements. Improved reclamation of space after VM snapshots are deleted, even if the VM is running.
• Enhanced guest OS support for Windows 7 SP1, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, and Suse Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 11 SP1.
• Generic Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5.x support. RHEL / CentOS / Oracle Enterprise Linux versions 5.0 to 5.5 support with a generic RHEL 5 template.
• Brocade HBA and CNA drivers and command-line tools are included in XenServer.
• Provisioning Services improvements to Windows volume license (MAK and KMS) support.
• XenDesktop platform enhancements. Provides local host caching of VM images to reduce storage TCO for XenDesktop VDI deployments. (Note: these platform enhancements will be enabled by a future version of XenDesktop).