What’s new
Our goal is to deliver new features and product updates to XenServer 8 customers as soon as they are ready. New releases provide more value, so there’s no reason to delay updates. Through the XenServer 8 release stream, we deliver updates incrementally in waves to help ensure product quality and maximize availability. For more information, see XenServer 8 overview.
For a list of the latest updates available for your Early Access or Normal pools, see the following pages:
Note that these pages do not list all changes in the Early Access and Normal channel, just a subset. For the full set of changes available, see the information in the XenCenter Updates view.
What’s new since Citrix Hypervisor 8.2 Cumulative Update 1
XenServer is back
We are once again releasing our product under the XenServer brand. For more information, see the XenServer website.
As a part of this change, some of the other names and terms used in our product and our documentation are changing:
| Old term | New term | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Citrix Hypervisor | XenServer | |
| XenCenter x.x.x | XenCenter YYYY.x.x | The XenCenter version format has changed to be independent of the XenServer version. The new version format for XenCenter is year.major_version.minor_version. |
| Citrix VM Tools (previously XenServer PV Tools) | XenServer VM Tools | |
| Pool master | Pool coordinator | The main host in a pool is now referred to as the pool coordinator in the documentation and in XenCenter. The older term is still in use in some xe CLI commands and in the management API. |
| Pool slave | Pool supporter | The subordinate hosts in a pool are now referred to as the pool supporters or supporting hosts in the documentation and in XenCenter. The older term is still in use in some xe CLI commands and in the management API. |
| Master password | Main password |
Frequent and easy-to-apply updates
In XenServer 8, the way we release updates to you has changed. A regular delivery of updates are made available, enabling you to benefit from a more efficient release process that delivers new features and bug fixes at a faster cadence than was previously possible. Use XenCenter to apply these updates to your XenServer hosts and pools at a time that is convenient to you.
- We make frequent updates available for XenServer 8 in our secure CDN.
- In XenCenter, see when updates are available for your pool.
- Using XenCenter, initiate the process of applying updates to your XenServer pool.
For more information, see Apply updates to your XenServer hosts.
Changes to licensing
The following features, which in previous versions were restricted to Premium Edition customers or those using XenServer for free with their Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops or Citrix DaaS license, are now available to all users:
- Automated updates to the Windows VM drivers
- Automated updates to the Management Agent
- Live patching
- XenServer Conversion Manager
Trial Edition
You can now try XenServer 8 for free with Trial Edition. The Trial Edition lets you try Premium Edition features, but in a restricted size pool of up to 3 hosts. During the XenServer 8 preview period, Trial Edition also includes access to functional and security updates from the XenServer 8 release stream. However, after XenServer 8 goes from preview status to general availability, updates are no longer available to Trial Edition users. For more information about the different editions of XenServer, see Licensing and XenServer editions.
Windows 11 and vTPM support
Windows 11 is now supported on XenServer.
This feature also includes support for vTPMs. You can create and attach a vTPM to a Windows 10 or Windows 11 VM. For more information, see Windows VMs.
XenServer Conversion Manager 8.3.0
XenServer Conversion Manager 8.3.0 - the latest version of the XenServer Conversion Manager virtual appliance - converts VMs in parallel, allowing you to migrate your entire VMware environment to XenServer quickly and efficiently. You can now convert VMs running the latest versions of VMware and we have also added support for VMs running the latest Windows and Linux guest operating systems.
For more information on how to use the XenServer Conversion Manager, see Convert VMware workloads.
Changes to guest operating system support
For the full list of supported guest operating systems in XenServer 8, see Guest operating system support.
Added
XenServer 8 now supports the following new guests:
- Debian Bullseye 11 (32-bit)
- Debian Bullseye 11 (64-bit)
- Ubuntu 22.04 (64-bit)
- Windows 11 (64-bit)
Removed
XenServer 8 no longer supports the following guests:
- Debian Jessie 8 (32-bit)
- Debian Jessie 8 (64-bit)
- Debian Stretch 9 (32-bit)
- Debian Stretch 9 (64-bit)
- Ubuntu 16.04 (32-bit)
- Ubuntu 16.04 (64-bit)
- CoreOS
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP3, 12 SP4 (64-bit)
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP3 (64-bit)
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3 (64-bit)
- CentOS 8 (64-bit)
- Windows 10 (32-bit)
Deprecated
The following guests are deprecated in XenServer 8:
- Ubuntu 18.04 (64-bit)
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP4 (64-bit)
Improvements to GFS2
Some restrictions on using GFS2 SRs with Citrix Machine Creation Services have been removed.
- You can now use MCS full clone VMs with GFS2 SRs.
- You can now use multiple GFS2 SRs in the same MCS catalog.
For more information about using GFS2 SRs, see Thin-provisioned shared GFS2 block storage.
Certificate verification
The certificate verification feature ensures that all TLS communication endpoints on the management network verify the certificates used to identity their peers before transmitting confidential data.
Certificate verification is enabled by default on fresh installations of XenServer 8 and later. If you upgrade from an earlier version of XenServer or Citrix Hypervisor, certificate verification is not enabled automatically and you must enable it. XenCenter prompts you to enable certificate verification the next time you connect to the upgraded pool.
For more information, see Certificate verification.
Restrict use of port 80
To improve security, XenServer 8 now allows you to close TCP port 80 on the management interface and exclusively use HTTPS over port 443 to communicate with XenServer. However, before closing port 80, check whether all your API clients (Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops in particular) can use HTTPS over port 443.
By default, port 80 is still open. However, all internal connections for VM migration now use HTTPS over port 443 by default.
For more information about how to close port 80, see Restrict use of port 80.
Migration stream compression
The migration stream compression feature enables you to speed up the memory transfer on slow networks when live migrating a VM by compressing the data stream between the hosts. Enable it from XenCenter or the xe CLI. For more information, see Pool Properties - Advanced and Pool parameters.
Winbind replaces PBIS
Winbind has replaced PBIS for authenticating Active Directory (AD) users with the AD server and to encrypt communications with the AD server. This replacement happens automatically when you upgrade. In the unlikely case that external authentication does not work after you upgrade to XenServer 8, leave the AD domain and rejoin it.
There are some minor differences in behavior as a result of this change:
-
When using the command
xe pool-enable-external-authto join a domain, the parameterconfig:disable_modulesis now ignored. This parameter is specific to PBIS. -
For the command
xe pool-enable-external-auth, the parameterconfig:ounow supports either of the following formats when specifying a multiple layer OU:config:ou=a/b/corconfig:ou=c,ou=b,ou=a. -
Winbind automatically updates the machine account password every 14 days or as specified by the configuration option
winbind_machine_pwd_timeout. -
Winbind does not support the following scenarios:
- Space at the beginning or end of a domain user or domain group name.
- Domain user names that contain 64 characters or more.
- Domain user names that include any of the special characters +<>”=/%@:,;`
- Domain group names that include any of the special characters ,;`
For more information, see Winbind.
Integrated PVS-Accelerator
In previous releases of XenServer or Citrix Hypervisor, the PVS-Accelerator was provided as a supplemental pack. The PVS-Accelerator is now included in the base XenServer installation. The behavior of the PVS-Accelerator is otherwise unchanged and you must configure it before use.
For more information about the PVS-Accelerator, see PVS-Accelerator.
Network boot a VM over IPv6
You can now network boot a VM over an IPv6 network. This feature is only supported for UEFI VMs, not BIOS VMs.
Removed features
The following features are no longer supported in XenServer:
- Legacy partition layout
- Health Check
- Measured Boot Supplemental Pack
- Demo Linux virtual appliance
Changes to third-party components
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.
The following Broadcom binaries are no longer included in the XenServer installation:
- elxocmcore
- elxocmcorelibs
- hbaapiwrapper
To download these binaries from the Broadcom Emulex download page, complete the following steps:
- Go to the Management Software & Tools section.
- Download the Emulex HBA Manager Core Application Kit (CLI) for Citrix XenServer.
The following Marvell command line binaries are no longer included in the XenServer installation:
- QConvergeConsole CLI for Citrix (QCC)
- QCS
To download QCC from the Marvell QLogic download page, complete the following steps:
- Select the Adapters tab.
- In the left panel, choose the type of adapter.
- In the middle panel, choose the model of your adapter.
- In the right panel, choose Citrix Hypervisor.
- Click Go. You are redirected to a page with the available downloads.
- Download the QConvergeConsole CLI for Citrix (QCC).
To install this application, follow the instructions in the QConvergeConsole Command Line Utility User’s Guide.
Compatability notes
In this preview, XenServer 8 is compatible with the following components:
- The latest version of the XenServer VM Tools for Windows
- The latest version of the XenServer VM Tools for Linux
- The latest version of the Workload Balancing virtual appliance
- The latest version of the XenServer Conversion Manager virtual appliance
These components are available on the XenServer Downloads page.