What’s new in XenCenter
XenCenter is updated independently of the version of XenServer or Citrix Hypervisor. To remain supported, ensure that you are using the latest XenCenter version.
Note:
Unless otherwise specified, the XenCenter articles apply to both XenServer and Citrix Hypervisor releases, even if only XenServer is explicitly mentioned.
You can download XenCenter YYYY.x.x from the XenServer downloads page.
After installing a version of XenCenter YYYY.x.x, you can receive further updates to XenCenter automatically. For more information, see Updating XenCenter.
What’s new in 2024.4.0
Released Dec 05, 2024
This update contains the following new features:
-
(Preview) Citrix Integration. Connect XenCenter to the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops environment to see information about Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops machines and sessions hosted in your XenServer pool. For more information, see Citrix Integration (preview).
-
(XenServer 8) Offline Updates for XenServer. Use this feature to update air-gapped servers, join a host to an existing pool that’s at a higher level of updates, or better manage your update testing before production rollout. For more information, see Manual updates.
-
Improved VM conversion. Together, XenCenter 2024.4.0 and Conversion Manager virtual appliance 8.4.0 enable you to automatically uninstall VMware Tools and install the XenServer VM Tools in the converted VM. For XenServer 8 only, this release also adds support for Windows 11 VMs for conversion. For more information, see Conversion Manager - What’s New.
This update contains the following improvements:
- Quick Create VMs from snapshots. The Quick Create option is now also available for snapshots.
Fixed issues in 2024.4.0
- When using XenCenter to change the DNS settings, the IP config on the pool can change without warning. (CA-389459)
- The Active Directory domain check when adding a host to a pool can incorrectly fail. This failure is caused by the check being case-sensitive. (CA-399256)
- When creating VMs or importing XVAs, XenCenter allows selection of host or pool with unavailable SRs. (CA-359985)
- The Exit Maintenance Mode dialog offers to restore VMs it did not shut down, suspend or evacuate. (CA-311142)
- After resizing the main panel in XenCenter, long pool or server names can obscure the licensing or log in information. (CA-399240)
- While applying hotfixes to a Citrix Hypervisor 8.2 Cumulative Update 1 pool or server, if you select to shutdown VMs from the pre-checks panel, the shutdown operation can report an error even though it succeeds. (CA-389409)
- Not all VMs are restored when XenCenter brings a host out of maintenance mode. (CA-400059, CA-400930)
- Miscellaneous user experience issues. (CA-400057, CA-401369, CA-375830, CA-393494)
Known issues in 2024.4.0
- If you are managing a large number of hosts and pools with XenCenter 2024.3.0 or later, you might see high CPU usage and experience lag in the XenCenter UI. (CA-391284)
- After a standalone host is rebooted, including when it’s rebooted after applying updates, the host’s General Tab does not display the status of the system correctly. We recommend that you refresh the host’s General Tab by clicking on a different object and back on the host, or by disconnecting and reconnecting.
- Changing the font size or dpi on the computer on which XenCenter is running can result in the user interface appearing incorrectly. The default font size is 96 dpi; Windows 10 refers to this font size as 100%. (CA-45514) (CAR-1940)
- In XenCenter, when you attempt to import an OVF package or a disk image from a folder containing a hash character (#) in its name, the import fails with a null reference exception. (CA-368918)
- When attempting to run XenCenter from the command line while XenCenter is already running, any arguments with whitespace characters must be wrapped in both double and single quotes: “‘example’”. (CA-389317)
-
If more than one instance of XenCenter is attempting to install multiple updates on a pool, a host might fail to install with the error: “The update has already been applied to this server. The server will be skipped.” This error causes the whole update process to stop. (CA-359814)
To workaround this issue:
- Ensure that no other XenCenter instance is in the process of updating the pool.
- Refresh the update list in the Notifications > Updates panel.
- Start the update from the beginning.
- If you update a host and a pool separately before joining the host to the pool, XenCenter might display a yellow down arrow on the host, incorrectly suggesting an abnormal pool status. (CA-403101)
Earlier releases
This section lists features in previous releases along with their fixed issues. These earlier releases are superseded by the latest version of XenCenter. Update to the latest version of XenCenter when it is available.
XenCenter 2024.3.1
What’s new
Released Oct 10, 2024
This update contains the following new feature:
- For Windows VMs, custom templates, or snapshots, you can now manage I/O driver updates for XenServer VM Tools through Windows Update in the New VM wizard in XenCenter. For details on enabling I/O driver updates through Windows Update, see Overview of VM creation steps.
Fixed issues
- If a VM’s
has-vendor-devicefield is set to true and you then convert the VM into a template or a snapshot, XenCenter fails to retain this value, causing new VMs created from the template or snapshot to have an incorrecthas-vendor-devicevalue. (CA-391310) - During a silent installation of XenCenter, the installer fails to remove the previous version because the sequence that detects existing installations only runs during standard UI installations. (CA-399231)
- When managing large numbers of Citrix Hypervisor 8.2 CU1 hosts in XenCenter, you might encounter GUI performance issues, including high CPU usage and occasional UI freezes. (CA-397980)
- Using XenCenter 2024.1.0 or later to set or edit a custom field with a value for an object causes any values in the object’s
other_configto be deleted. This issue can cause unexpected behavior depending on the object and your environment. We strongly recommend that you do not add or edit custom field values. (CA-397587) - For XenServer 8 pools, when the VM Groups feature is disabled or unlicensed, some elements and menu options are incorrectly shown in XenCenter. (CA-396046)
- In the Pre-checks panel of the Install Update wizard, an info pop-up states that there are pending tasks to complete for snapshots, although this guidance should only ever be applicable to VMs. (CA-395739)
- When performing a Rolling Pool Upgrade in XenCenter, the Rolling Pool Upgrade wizard’s final page incorrectly displays 24-hour log timestamps as 12-hour time. (CA-393819)
- When viewing your pool or host, the licensing information does not display correctly if your license has expired. (CA-392951)
- In XenCenter 2024.1.0, the Properties pane of your pool or VM occasionally stops rendering correctly. (CA-389831)
- When a host is offline, the shared storage is reported as broken even though all the active hosts are correctly connected to the shared storage. (CA-353531)
XenCenter 2024.3.0
What’s new
Released Aug 22, 2024
This update contains the following new feature:
-
(XenServer 8) You can now assign your VMs to anti-affinity placement groups that are started on hosts in your pool according to the following anti-affinity placement rules:
- No single host is the only place all VMs in a particular group are running.
- The count of VMs within the group for each host is as even as possible.
When a VM in one of these groups is started or evacuated from a host, XenServer chooses to place the VM on a host that enables the VM group to follow these rules as closely as possible.
For more information, see Manage VM groups.
This update contains the following improvements:
- (XenServer 8) XenCenter now supports using IPMI for host power on. For more information, see Configuring Host Power On.
- XenCenter shows a warning if you attempt to create a GFS2 SR on a thin-provisioned LUN. This configuration is not recommended and can cause you to run out of space. For more information, see Thin-provisioned shared GFS2 block storage.
Fixed issues
- If you connect to the same XenServer pool with multiple instances of XenCenter, neither XenCenter shows available updates. To attempt to work around this issue, you can disconnect and reconnect XenCenter from the pool. (CA-389319)
- If you select multiple VMs in the Resources pane, the actions available from the VM menu and the actions available on the context menu are inconsistent. (CA-61207)
- Some shortcut keys in the context menu are not unique. (CA-395822)
- Inaccurate information can sometimes be displayed in the Boot Options panel for a VM. (CA-396230)
- When you select multiple items in the Organization or Infrastructure views and then switch between these views, your selections are lost. (CA-391372)
- After Aug 17, 2024, automated updates to XenCenter 2024.2.1 stopped working. This failure is caused by an expired certificate. Automated updates have now resumed with the XenCenter 2024.3.0 release.
XenCenter 2024.2.1
What’s new
Released Jul 09, 2024
This update includes the following improvements:
- Added information to the XenCenter installation wizard stating that the current installation removes all previous versions of the XenCenter application from your device.
- Improved the Conversion Manager wizard to display a warning before starting the conversion process if your VMware ESXi/vCenter VMs are running guest operating systems that are not supported for conversion.
- Removed the VM Recovery Mode feature.
Fixed issues
- On Citrix Hypervisor 8.2 Cumulative Update 1 hosts, when attempting to apply a hotfix through automated updates, XenCenter incorrectly shows the warning “The license is deprecated and may revert to Trial Edition if updates are applied”. (XSI-1676)
- When performing actions related to Workload Balancing (such as connecting, pausing, or resuming), XenCenter might fail to show the correct state of the Workload Balancing appliance. (XSI-1674)
- You are unable to migrate a VM to another host using XenCenter 2024.2.0 if the Workload Balancing virtual appliance is offline.
XenCenter 2024.2.0
What’s new
Released Jun 06, 2024
Note:
- XenCenter 2024.2.0 is required to receive production support with Citrix Hypervisor 8.2 Cumulative Update 1 and XenServer 8.
Upgrade notes:
- XenCenter 2024.2.0 supersedes earlier versions of XenCenter, including XenCenter 8.2.x. When you install XenCenter 2024.2.0, it removes other versions of XenCenter on your system.
- If XenCenter 2024.2.0 is the first version of XenCenter with a version format YYYY.x.x that you have installed on your system, it imports your server list from any instance of XenCenter 8.2.x on the system. Passwords are not imported.
-
If you already have a version of XenCenter YYYY.x.x installed in parallel with XenCenter 8.2.x, this version does not import your server list from XenCenter 8.2.x. To migrate your server list from XenCenter 8.2.x, complete the following steps in order:
- Export your data from XenCenter 8.2.x. Go to File > Export Server List.
- Install XenCenter 2024.2.0.
- Import your data into XenCenter 2024.2.0. Go to File > Import Server List.
For more information, see Exporting and Importing a List of Managed Servers.
This update contains the following new features:
-
(XenServer 8) Import a VHDX or AVHDX disk image as a VM: You can now import a VHDX/AVHDX file into a pool or specific host as a VM. VHDX is an improved version of the VHD format that provides better performance, fault tolerance, and data protection features in addition to a larger capacity. For information on how to use the XenCenter Import wizard to import a VHDX/AVHDX file, see Import Disk Images.
If you are a Citrix customer, you can also use this feature to migrate your VMs from VMware to XenServer. As part of its software streaming technology, Citrix Provisioning stores a shared disk image (vDisk) as a VHDX/AVHDX file. By using the XenCenter Import wizard to import a VHDX/AVHDX file, you can easily migrate your vDisk from VMware to XenServer. For more information, see Migrating from VMware.
-
Close TCP port 80 for a pool’s management interface by using XenCenter. For more information, see Change Pool Properties.
You can also view the status of port 80 for a pool or server in its General tab in the Management Interface section.
This update includes the following improvements:
- XenCenter lists the make and model of the host hardware on the host’s General tab.
- Improvements to display of licensing information.
- Improvements to branding information in the New Conversion wizard.
- Improvements to NIC labelling. The “FCoE Capable” column is renamed to “Software FCoE Capable”.
- Improvements to error handling and threading in the Conversion Manager wizard.
- Improvements to error handling in the Copy VM wizard.
- Improvements to error handling in the New VM wizard.
- XFS file system type now listed in XenCenter.
Fixed issues
- Some updates that do not include guidance about update tasks are not displayed in the By update view. To see these updates, you can look in the By server view.
- Customers with a Standard Edition license are not able to do GPU Pass-through to a Windows VM through XenCenter.
- In XenCenter 2024.1.0, when you create a new folder it does not appear until you disconnect and reconnect to the modified pool. Also, when a folder is deleted it remains visible until you reconnect.
- Importing dynamic VHDs results in an error.
- Sometimes, the License Manager can assign a non-selected licence and refuse to release the license.
XenCenter 2024.1.0
What’s new
Released Mar 06, 2024
Note:
You must be using this version XenCenter or later before applying updates released after Mar 06, 2024 to your XenServer pool. Always install the latest version of XenCenter.
This update contains the following new features:
-
(XenServer 8) Improved update guidance: We’ve added more nuanced guidance for the tasks that are performed as part of updates. These changes are designed to minimize the disruption to your VMs that these update tasks might cause. Tasks are categorized into Mandatory, Recommended, Full-effectiveness, and Live patch. These categorizations enable you to judge whether a update task that might cause downtime or minor disruption for your hosts or VMs is necessary for your environment and risk profile. For more information, see Updating your XenServer hosts.
-
(XenServer 8) SNMP: You can now use SNMP and any NMS of your choosing to remotely monitor resources consumed by XenServer. With this feature, you can also configure traps to monitor your XenServer hosts, which are agent-initiated messages that alert the NMS that a specific event has occurred in XenServer. For more information, see Monitoring host and dom0 resources with SNMP.
-
Changes to licensing: If you used XenServer 8 during its public preview phase with a Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops license, this license is now deprecated and will not be supported with XenServer 8 in future. XenCenter now alerts you that this license is deprecated and prevents you from upgrading from Citrix Hypervisor 8.2 CU1 to XenServer 8 until you apply a XenServer Premium Edition license to your hosts.
To run Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops workloads on your XenServer pool, you require a XenServer Premium Edition license. For information about getting a license, see the XenServer website.
XenServer is now an entitlement of the Citrix for Private Cloud, Citrix Universal Hybrid Multi-Cloud, Citrix Universal MSP, and Citrix Platform License subscriptions for running your Citrix workloads. Read more.
This update includes the following improvements:
- The Advanced Options panel has been removed from VM Properties. This panel contained obsolete options that are no longer required.
- In the Virtual Interface Properties pane, XenCenter now shows the QoS limit in MBit/s.
- Units shown in XenCenter have been corrected to reflect accurately the base of the unit (1000 or 1024). Wherever the unit is calculated with multiples of 1024, XenCenter displays kiB, MiB, GiB, TiB, and so on. Wherever the unit is calculated with multiples of 1000, XenCenter displays kB, MB, GB, TB, and so on.
- Usability improvements to the VM Export Wizard.
- XenCenter now shows the object’s UUID on the Properties Dialog > General tab for all objects accessible through XenCenter.
Fixed issues
- Previously, XenCenter allowed you to rolling pool upgrade your hosts to the same version they are currently running, which left the pool in a broken state. XenCenter now prevents this behavior.
- Sometimes, in the VM Snapshot Schedule Properties dialog, the Snapshot Schedule panel doesn’t load. (CA-387186)
- XenCenter can incorrectly allow an upgrade to proceed when there are failed pre-checks. (CA-386488)
- Sometimes, VMs are not restored to their original host after exiting maintenance mode. (CA-387197)
- Updates are not made availble to users on Standard Edition. (CA-389235)
- XenCenter does not prompt you to save your connection state on first opening. (CA-380853)
- When pinned to the taskbar, the XenCenter taskbar icon disappears after a XenCenter update. (CA-379341)
- XenCenter does not preserve the power state when exporting a suspended VM as an XVA. (CA-368247)
- XenCenter incorrectly blocks pool operators from importing appliances and VM admins from exporting appliances. (CA-389487)
XenCenter 2023.4.0
What’s new
Released Dec 04, 2023
This update contains the following improvements:
-
(XenServer 8) Monitor host and dom0 resources with NRPE In XenServer 8, users with the Pool Admin role can use any third-party monitoring tool that supports Nagios Remote Plugin Executor (NRPE) to monitor host and dom0 resources. For more information on how to configure NRPE, see Monitoring host and dom0 resources with NRPE.
-
(XenServer 8) Support for 64 vCPUs XenCenter can now support up to 64 virtual CPUs on a Linux or Windows VM.
-
If you select the Click here to create a DVD drive option, you are now prompted to confirm whether you want to create a new DVD drive.
This update contains the following behavior changes:
- In XenCenter, the performance graph showing the average CPU for a VM has been removed.
Fixed issues
- When applying updates to hosts by using the ‘Install Updates’ wizard, if you pause WLB by using the wizard, XenCenter fails to automatically resume the running of WLB.
- You cannot live migrate a VM to the local storage of another host in the same XenServer pool.
- On the XenCenter Setup wizard, the Launch XenCenter on exiting the Setup wizard checkbox disappeared.
Known issues
- When updating from 2023.4.0 to a later version of XenCenter, you encounter an error if you attempt to Download XenCenter source code.
XenCenter 2023.3.2
What’s new
Released Oct 05, 2023
Fixed issues
- In pools with GFS2 SRs, using XenCenter to generate a server status report (SSR) can fail. (CA-375900)
- If you attempt to load a performance graph on a XenServer host after attempting to load a performance graph on a host with 100% CPU usage, the graph has trouble rendering. (CA-376887)
- XenCenter can fail to start due to a file naming issue in third party software. (CA-382850)
XenCenter 2023.3.1
What’s new
Released Aug 24, 2023
-
(XenServer 8) A delivery of regular updates to XenServer 8 is made available through XenCenter, allowing you to benefit from a more efficient release process that delivers new features and bug fixes at a faster cadence than was previously possible. For more information, see Update your hosts.
-
XenCenter updates can be downloaded and applied from within the UI. For more information, see Update XenCenter.
-
You can use XenCenter to manage your XenServer 8 non-production environments.
-
PuTTY is no longer bundled with XenCenter. To launch an SSH console to a XenServer host by using XenCenter, you must install an external SSH console tool and ensure that XenCenter is configured to use it. For more information, see Configure XenCenter to use an external SSH console.
Fixed issues
This update includes fixes for the following issues:
-
On Windows 10 (1903 and later) VMs, there can be a delay of a few minutes after installing the XenServer VM Tools before the Switch to Remote Desktop option is available in XenCenter. You can restart the toolstack to make this option appear immediately. (CA-322672)
-
XenCenter gives an invalid error when you attempt to create multiple VM disks totalling > 2 TB. (XSI-1467)
XenCenter 8.2.7
For more information, see XenCenter 8.2.7.