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XenServer Dedicated Server

Quick, Simple, and Scalable XenServer Dedicated Servers

What Is a XenServer Dedicated Server?

A XenServer dedicated server from Steadfast Networks will give your organization the benefits of one of the industry’s top virtual-machine monitors, or hypervisors. With Citrix Xen, you can install and use multiple operating systems on the same piece of hardware at the same time.

When a computer runs XenServer hypervisor, it has three main components. The first, obviously, is XenServer hypervisor itself. The second is Domain 0; this is the privileged domain that manages all other applications and operating systems on the hardware. Domain 0 has direct access to the actual system hardware. And finally, the third component is Multiple DomainU. The “U” stands for unprivileged, and DomainU includes all components that have no direct access to the hardware, such as disk, memory, and so on. One of the main benefits of Citrix Xen is that it is “neutral” and can therefore use a number of different operating systems as Domain0, including BSD, Solaris, and Linux.

Guest operating systems (basically, anything that isn’t Domain0) can be used by XenServer in one of two ways. The first is called paravirtualization. This technique makes the operating system aware that it is running via a hypervisor instead of through the hardware and allows it to modify itself to accommodate for this unusual situation. The second technique is called a Hardware Virtual Machine (HVM). Operating systems that run as HVMs have no idea that they are running via hypervisor. To run operating systems in this way, you need special hardware. Windows can only be run as an HVM.

XenServer users also love that it utilizes a “thin hypervisor” model that keeps it from draining too many system resources or taking up much space on the server. XenServer only eats up 2MB of space, and doesn’t employ any device drivers. Instead, it gets its functionality from service domains and keeps guests and domains isolated.

How Can I Get a XenServer Dedicated Server from Steadfast Networks?

Steadfast Networks customers can lease a XenServer dedicated server in the same way they can lease any other server from us. Starting at just $79.95/month, we offer servers with basic management. Fully managed servers with Zenoss monitoring and PCI/HIPAA compliance start at $159.95/month. XenServer Advanced is available for an additional $100/month.

All of our servers are located in our data centers in downtown Chicago, and our courteous and knowledgeable staff members are on-site 24/7 to answer your questions and provide you with excellent service.

What Are the System Requirements for a XenServer Dedicated Server

XenServer supports a variety of processors – x86, x86-64, Itanium, Power PC, and ARM. Because of this, it can run on a number of different computing devices and supports several different Domain0 operating systems, such as including BSD, Solaris, and Linux.

XenServer itself only requires 2MB of space, but the system you use needs to be able to support whatever other applications and operating systems you wish to use. Steadfast Networks’ base dedicated servers are Dual Core Atom servers with Atom 330 1.6Ghz processors, a 500 GB hard drive, and 2 GB of RAM.

Tips, Tricks, and Documentation for a XenServer Dedicated Server

Documentation is available on the Citrix Xen website, and is cleverly divided into useful information for Citrix Xen beginners, users, and developers. The site also offers FAQs, Tutorials, and How-Tos.