@olivierlambert I think some kind of registration would be a great idea. I'd also love some kind of way to kick back to you guys for the excellent work you've put into these products that's not a subscription. XCP-NG + XO have let me span my home lab from my basement into a rented office space and into a dedicated box.

I don't generate revenue so a subscription for this would be out of budget, I'd love to kick back something for the work you guys have put in. While not a perfect example, something like Untangle's home license at $50 / $150 per year depending on features would help fill in the gap.

Keeping a registration option to remove the nag in lab environments would still be a nice have

Intel Xeon CPU E5-1620 v4 on a
Supermicro SYS-5018R-WR

/xtf-runner selftest -q --host
Combined test results:
test-hvm32-selftest                      SUCCESS
test-hvm32pae-selftest                   SUCCESS
test-hvm32pse-selftest                   SUCCESS
test-hvm64-selftest                      SUCCESS
test-pv64-selftest                       SUCCESS

./xtf-runner -aqq --host
Combined test results:
test-hvm32-umip                          SKIP
test-hvm64-umip                          SKIP
test-pv64-xsa-167                        SKIP
test-pv64-xsa-182                        SKIP

/usr/libexec/xen/bin/test-cpu-policy
CPU Policy unit tests
Testing CPU vendor identification:
Testing CPUID serialise success:
Testing CPUID deserialise failure:
Testing CPUID out-of-range clearing:
Testing MSR serialise success:
Testing MSR deserialise failure:
Testing policy compatibility success:
Testing policy compatibility failure:
Done: all ok

@vsaad that might be your limit. Those old PERC cards aren't particularly performant unfortunately.

You could try passing the whole device through to the VM: https://forums.lawrencesystems.com/t/xenserver-hard-drive-whole-disk-passthrough-with-xcp-ng/3433

That might help, but I'm not sure if that method still works.

You should be able to go to the network tab for the VM, click the network it's currently connected to, and then change it to the new one. If you have the management tools installed this can be done live, otherwise you'd need to shut the VM down.

I've been running TrueNAS for hypervisor storage since version 9, it has been rock solid since. I cannot say quite the same about SCALE (though this was alpha).

If you just want storage and no extra services, go core, it'll do everything you need it to do. If you decide you need more, it's easier to go from Core -> Scale than the other way around.

@encryptblockr

The issue with tools right now is dependent on the version of Ubuntu you use. My cloud-init uses Ubuntu's cloud image, but it's 20.04 so I can apt-get the tools. Once the tools hit the repos you can simply add this to your cloud-init template on Xen Orchestra and they install.

package_update: true
packages:
  - xe-guest-utilities
package_upgrade: true

Echoing Oliver's statement, my basic cloud-init took me probably a full week on and off to get exactly how I wanted it to, but has worked flawlessly sense.

If you want to delve into a DIY cloud-init image, this was useful for me when fixing my template and may be of use:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exeuvgPxd-E

Intel Xeon CPU E5-1620 v4 on a
Supermicro SYS-5018R-WR

/xtf-runner selftest -q --host
Combined test results:
test-hvm32-selftest                      SUCCESS
test-hvm32pae-selftest                   SUCCESS
test-hvm32pse-selftest                   SUCCESS
test-hvm64-selftest                      SUCCESS
test-pv64-selftest                       SUCCESS

./xtf-runner -aqq --host
Combined test results:
test-hvm32-umip                          SKIP
test-hvm64-umip                          SKIP
test-pv64-xsa-167                        SKIP
test-pv64-xsa-182                        SKIP

/usr/libexec/xen/bin/test-cpu-policy
CPU Policy unit tests
Testing CPU vendor identification:
Testing CPUID serialise success:
Testing CPUID deserialise failure:
Testing CPUID out-of-range clearing:
Testing MSR serialise success:
Testing MSR deserialise failure:
Testing policy compatibility success:
Testing policy compatibility failure:
Done: all ok

@olivierlambert is this going to be the suggestion going forward? I currently install xe-guest-utilities during deployment with cloud-init to reduce time to VM creation.

@Kajetan321 So you're looking for a cross-pool ISO store if I'm reading this right?

@Kajetan321 You should be able to create a new SR in the Xen Orchestra GUI.

New -> Storage -> NFS ISO

Even though you're attaching it to a single host it'll be available on the pool just like an NFS SR for VMs. You might need to go to the SR itself in Home -> Storage -> SR-> Hosts and then manually connect it

You should be able to go to the network tab for the VM, click the network it's currently connected to, and then change it to the new one. If you have the management tools installed this can be done live, otherwise you'd need to shut the VM down.

@mauzilla My R720XD came with the rear drives, they were optional from Dell during configuration so I try to get them included already when possible. You can grab the parts and install them yourself too.

They used to be a bit more expensive, looks like $50 now: https://www.ebay.com/itm/174894761780

They're "R720xd rear flex bays" if you wanted to look for them on not ebay, make sure if comes with the cables. I believe the cables run from the backplane to the rear flex bay on the R720.

@vsaad that might be your limit. Those old PERC cards aren't particularly performant unfortunately.

You could try passing the whole device through to the VM: https://forums.lawrencesystems.com/t/xenserver-hard-drive-whole-disk-passthrough-with-xcp-ng/3433

That might help, but I'm not sure if that method still works.

I would uninstall the XCP-NG tools, reboot, then install Citrix's tools, then reboot again.

Then try running something like Crystal Disk Mark against the second drive.

If you don't have GB you'll be limited to pretty much 10MB/s per client even with bonding. Bonding won't increase the speed to a single client, but would let you serve 3 clients at 10MB/s each.

Do you have an extra PCI slot? You could get a GB NIC pretty cheaply.

I use these, they do require a free login from Citrix: https://fileservice.citrix.com/download/secured/support/article/CTX235403/downloads/citrix-vm-tools-9.2.3.zip

Did you use these? https://github.com/xcp-ng/win-pv-drivers/releases

@vsaad Awesome, thank you! Wanted to make sure that was the case.

Did you install the Management Agent? If so, which did you use?

Personally I've found Citrix's to be the most performant.