XenCenter

Licensing Overview

November 22, 2023

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Note:

XenCenter 2023.x.x is currently in preview and is not supported for production use. Note that any future references to production support apply only when XenCenter 2023.x.x and XenServer 8 go from preview status to general availability.

You can use XenCenter 2023.x.x to manage your XenServer 8 and Citrix Hypervisor 8.2 CU1 non-production environments. However, to manage your Citrix Hypervisor 8.2 CU1 production environment, use XenCenter 8.2.7. For more information, see the XenCenter 8.2.7 documentation.

You can install XenCenter 8.2.7 and XenCenter 2023.x.x on the same system. Installing XenCenter 2023.x.x does not overwrite your XenCenter 8.2.7 installation.

XenServer 8 is available in the following editions:

Trial Edition
Standard Edition
Premium Edition

The Standard Edition is our entry-level commercial offering. It includes a range of features that deliver a robust and high performing virtualization platform, but not the premium features offered by the Premium Edition. With Standard Edition, you can still benefit from the assurance of comprehensive Citrix Support and Maintenance.

The Premium Edition is our premium offering, optimized for both server, desktop and cloud workloads. In addition to the Standard Edition, the Premium Edition offers the following features:

-  Dynamic Workload Balancing
-  GPU virtualization with NVIDIA vGPU and Intel GVT-g
-  Thin provisioning for shared block storage devices
-  Support for SMB storage
-  Direct Inspect APIs
-  Export pool resource data
-  In-memory read caching
-  PVS-Accelerator
-  Enablement for Citrix Virtual Desktops tablet mode
-  Changed block tracking
-  IGMP snooping
-  USB pass-through
-  SR-IOV network support

Citrix Licensing

XenServer uses the same licensing process as other Citrix products and as such requires a valid license to be installed on a License Server. You can download the License Server from Citrix Licensing. After purchasing the license for your XenServer, you will receive a .LIC license access code. Install this license access code on either:

a Windows server running the Citrix License Server software
a Linux-based Citrix License Server Virtual Appliance

Important:

Citrix Hypervisor and XenServer require Citrix License Server 11.14 or higher.

When you assign a license to your XenServer host, XenServer contacts the specified Citrix License Server and requests a license for the specified servers. If successful, a license is checked out. The License Manager displays information about the license the hosts are licensed under.

When you request or apply licenses, information about the XenServer version and license type might be transmitted to Citrix. No other information relating to users, VMs, or the XenServer environment is collected or transmitted to Citrix. The limited information transmitted to Citrix during the licensing process is handled in accordance with the Citrix privacy policy. For more information, see Citrix privacy policy.

Licensing XenServer servers

XenServer does not support partial licensing, all servers in a pool must be licensed. If your XenServer pool contains servers that are licensed with different license types, the lowest license applies to the whole pool. Mixed pools of licensed and unlicensed hosts behave as if all hosts were unlicensed. For information on managing licenses in XenServer, see Managing XenServer Licenses.

Upgrades to the Premium Edition are available from the Standard edition. For detailed information about XenServer licensing, see Licensing. To upgrade or to buy a XenServer license, visit the Citrix website.

License expiry

XenCenter notifies you when your license is due to expire. Purchase a license before it expires. When your XenServer license expires:

XenCenter License Manager displays the status as Unlicensed.
You cannot access licensed features or receive Citrix Support for any server within the pool until you purchase another license.

License grace period

If your XenServer host cannot contact the License Server, the server lapses into a 30-day licensing grace period. During the grace period, XenServer licenses itself through cached information. The servers are allowed to continue operations as if they are still in communication with the License Server. The grace period is 30 days and when the grace period runs out, XenServer reverts to an unlicensed state. After communication is re-established between XenServer and the License Server, the grace period is reset.

The official version of this content is in English. Some of the Cloud Software Group documentation content is machine translated for your convenience only. Cloud Software Group has no control over machine-translated content, which may contain errors, inaccuracies or unsuitable language. No warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, is made as to the accuracy, reliability, suitability, or correctness of any translations made from the English original into any other language, or that your Cloud Software Group product or service conforms to any machine translated content, and any warranty provided under the applicable end user license agreement or terms of service, or any other agreement with Cloud Software Group, that the product or service conforms with any documentation shall not apply to the extent that such documentation has been machine translated. Cloud Software Group will not be held responsible for any damage or issues that may arise from using machine-translated content.

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Licensing Overview

November 22, 2023

Contributed by:

November 22, 2023

Contributed by:

Licensing Overview

Citrix Licensing

Licensing XenServer servers

License expiry

License grace period

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