Archived/Xen Project Release Features 4.0 to 4.3

__TOC__
Legend: 
* : Feature 
* : Partial 
* : Removed 
* For definitions of experimental, preview, supported and deprecated see here
== Overview ==
 	Xen 4.0 	Xen 4.1 	Xen 4.2 	Xen 4.3 	 	 	 	 	
Initial Release 	7 April 2010 	25 March 2011 	17 Sept 2012 	9 July 2013 	 	 	 	 	
Supported until 	???[ 21 ] 	???[ 21 ] 	???[ 21 ] 	Jan 2015 	 	 	 	 	
Security support until 	???[ 21 ] 	???[ 21 ] 	Sept 2015 	July 2016 	 	 	 	 	
Feature List 	 	 	FL 4.2 	FL 4.3 	 	 	 	 	
Release Notes 	RN 4.0 	RN 4.1 	RN 4.2 	RN 4.3 	 	 	 	 	
Supported Mainline Architectures for the hypervisor (Host) 	Supported Mainline Architectures for the hypervisor (Host)	Supported Mainline Architectures for the hypervisor (Host)	Supported Mainline Architectures for the hypervisor (Host)	Supported Mainline Architectures for the hypervisor (Host)	Supported Mainline Architectures for the hypervisor (Host)	Supported Mainline Architectures for the hypervisor (Host)	Supported Mainline Architectures for the hypervisor (Host)	Supported Mainline Architectures for the hypervisor (Host)	Supported Mainline Architectures for the hypervisor (Host)
IA-A32 	 	 	 	removed 	 	 	 	 	
X86-64 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Itanium (ia64) 	 	deprecated in this release 	deprecated 	removed 	 	 	 	 	
ARM v7 + Virtualization Extensions 	 	 	 	preview [ 6 ] 	 	 	 	 	
ARM v8 	 	 	 	preview [ 6 ] 	 	 	 	 	
Guest Types 	Guest Types 	Guest Types 	Guest Types 	Guest Types 	Guest Types 	Guest Types 	Guest Types 	Guest Types 	Guest Types
For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures
ParavirtualisedTraditional Xen Project PV guest 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
HVM Guest [ 1 ]Fully virtualised guest using hardware virtualisation extensions 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
PV-on-HVM Guest [ 1 ]Fully virtualised guest using PV extensions/drivers for improved performance	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
For ARM Architectures 	For ARM Architectures 	For ARM Architectures 	For ARM Architectures 	For ARM Architectures 	For ARM Architectures 	For ARM Architectures 	For ARM Architectures 	For ARM Architectures 	For ARM Architectures
ARM GuestOptimal combination of full virtualization and PV extensions 	 	 	 	preview [ 6 ] 	 	 	 	 	
== Limits ==
 	Xen 4.0 	Xen 4.1 	Xen 4.2 	Xen 4.3 	 	 	 	 	
Host Limits 	Host Limits 	Host Limits 	Host Limits 	Host Limits 	Host Limits 	Host Limits 	Host Limits 	Host Limits 	Host Limits
For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures
Physical CPUs 	128 [ 0 ] 	>255 	4095 	4095 	 	 	 	 	
Physical RAM 	1TB 	5TB 	5TB 	16TB 	 	 	 	 	
For ARM Architectures 	For ARM Architectures 	For ARM Architectures 	For ARM Architectures 	For ARM Architectures 	For ARM Architectures 	For ARM Architectures 	For ARM Architectures 	For ARM Architectures 	For ARM Architectures
Physical CPUs 	 	 	 	8 	 	 	 	 	
Physical RAM 	 	 	 	16GB 	 	 	 	 	
Guest Limits 	Guest Limits 	Guest Limits 	Guest Limits 	Guest Limits 	Guest Limits 	Guest Limits 	Guest Limits 	Guest Limits 	Guest Limits
X86 PV Guest Limits 	X86 PV Guest Limits 	X86 PV Guest Limits 	X86 PV Guest Limits 	X86 PV Guest Limits 	X86 PV Guest Limits 	X86 PV Guest Limits 	X86 PV Guest Limits 	X86 PV Guest Limits 	X86 PV Guest Limits
Virtual CPUs 	128 	>255 	512 	512 	 	 	 	 	
Virtual RAM 	512GB 	512GB 	512GB 	512GB 	 	 	 	 	
X86 HVM Guest Limits 	X86 HVM Guest Limits 	X86 HVM Guest Limits 	X86 HVM Guest Limits 	X86 HVM Guest Limits 	X86 HVM Guest Limits 	X86 HVM Guest Limits 	X86 HVM Guest Limits 	X86 HVM Guest Limits 	X86 HVM Guest Limits
Virtual CPUs 	128 	128 	128 	128 	 	 	 	 	
Virtual RAM 	1TB 	1TB 	1TB 	1TB 	 	 	 	 	
ARM Guest Limits 	ARM Guest Limits 	ARM Guest Limits 	ARM Guest Limits 	ARM Guest Limits 	ARM Guest Limits 	ARM Guest Limits 	ARM Guest Limits 	ARM Guest Limits 	ARM Guest Limits
Virtual CPUs 	 	 	 	8 	 	 	 	 	
Virtual RAM 	 	 	 	16GB 	 	 	 	 	
Number of event channels	Number of event channels	Number of event channels	Number of event channels	Number of event channels	Number of event channels	Number of event channels	Number of event channels	Number of event channels	Number of event channels
Event Channels 	1024/4096 	1024/4096 	1024/4096 	1024/4096 	 	 	 	 	
== Toolstack and Tools ==
 	Xen 4.0 	Xen 4.1 	Xen 4.2 	Xen 4.3 	 	 	 	 	
Toolstack 	Toolstack 	Toolstack 	Toolstack 	Toolstack 	Toolstack	Toolstack	Toolstack	Toolstack	Toolstack
Built-in 	Built-in 	Built-in 	Built-in 	Built-in 	Built-in 	Built-in 	Built-in 	Built-in 	Built-in
xend / xm 	 	 	deprecated in this release	deprecated 	 	 	 	 	
XL 	initial implementation	preview release	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Qemu based disk backend (qdisk) for XL 	 	[ 5 ] 	[ 5 ] 	[ 5 ] 	 	 	 	 	
XL Open vSwitch integration 	 	 	 	preview 	 	 	 	 	
3rd Party 	3rd Party 	3rd Party 	3rd Party 	3rd Party 	3rd Party	3rd Party	3rd Party	3rd Party	3rd Party
libvirt driver for XL 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Tooling 	Tooling 	Tooling 	Tooling 	Tooling 	Tooling 	Tooling 	Tooling 	Tooling 	Tooling
gdbsxdebugger to debug ELF guests 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
vPMUVirtual Performance Management Unit for HVM guests	[ 4 ] 	[ 4 ] 	[ 4 ] 	[ 4 ] 	 	 	 	 	
Serial console 	 	 	 	Add EHCI debug support	 	 	 	 	
xentraceperformance analysis 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
== Features ==
 	Xen 4.0 	Xen 4.1 	Xen 4.2 	Xen 4.3 	 	 	 	 	
Advanced Memory Management 	Advanced Memory Management 	Advanced Memory Management 	Advanced Memory Management 	Advanced Memory Management 	Advanced Memory Management 	Advanced Memory Management 	Advanced Memory Management 	Advanced Memory Management 	Advanced Memory Management
Memory Ballooning 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Memory Sharingallow sharing of identical pages between HVM guests 	preview 	preview 	preview [ 3 ] 	preview [ 3 ] 	 	 	 	 	
Memory Pagingallow pages belonging to HVM guests to be paged to disk 	preview 	preview 	preview [ 3 ] 	preview [ 3 ] 	 	 	 	 	
TMEM - Transcendent Memory 	experimental [ 2 ] 	experimental [ 2 ] 	experimental [ 2 ] 	experimental [ 2 ] 	 	 	 	 	
Resource Management 	Resource Management 	Resource Management 	Resource Management 	Resource Management 	Resource Management 	Resource Management 	Resource Management 	Resource Management 	Resource Management
Cpupooladvanced partitioning 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Credit 2 Schedulerdesigned for latency-sensitive workloads and very large systems. 	 	prototype 	prototype 	experimental 	 	 	 	 	
NUMA scheduler affinity 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Scalability 	Scalability 	Scalability 	Scalability 	Scalability 	Scalability 	Scalability 	Scalability 	Scalability 	Scalability
1GB/2MB super page support 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Deliver events to PVHVM guests using Xen event channels 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Fair locks (ticket-locks) 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
High Availability and Fault Tolerance 	High Availability and Fault Tolerance 	High Availability and Fault Tolerance 	High Availability and Fault Tolerance 	High Availability and Fault Tolerance 	High Availability and Fault Tolerance 	High Availability and Fault Tolerance 	High Availability and Fault Tolerance 	High Availability and Fault Tolerance 	High Availability and Fault Tolerance
Live Migration, Save & Restore 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Remus Fault Tolerance 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
X86 vMCEForward Machine Check Exceptions to Appropriate guests 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Network and Storage 	Network and Storage 	Network and Storage 	Network and Storage 	Network and Storage 	Network and Storage 	Network and Storage 	Network and Storage 	Network and Storage 	Network and Storage
Blktap2 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Online resize of virtual disks 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Security (also see this presentation or this document) 	Security (also see this presentation or this document)	Security (also see this presentation or this document)	Security (also see this presentation or this document)	Security (also see this presentation or this document)	Security (also see this presentation or this document)	Security (also see this presentation or this document)	Security (also see this presentation or this document)	Security (also see this presentation or this document)	Security (also see this presentation or this document)
Driver Domains 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Device Model Stub Domains 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Virtual Machine Introspection (Memaccess and VM Event APIs)enabling integration of 3rd party security solutions into Xen virtualized environments	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
XSM & FLASKmandatory access control policy providing fine-grained controls over Xen domains, similar to SELinux 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
XSM & FLASK support for IS_PRIV 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
vTPM Support 	 	 	 	updates and new functionality 	 	 	 	 	
== Interoperability / Hardware Support ==
 	Xen 4.0	Xen 4.1	Xen 4.2 	Xen 4.3 	 	 	 	 	
X86 	X86 	X86 	X86 	X86 	X86	X86	X86	X86	X86
X86 Nested VirtualisationRunning a hypervisor inside an HVM guest	 	 	experimental	experimental	 	 	 	 	
HVM PXE Stack (x86) 	gPXE 	iPXE 	iPXE 	iPXE 	 	 	 	 	
Physical CPU Hotplug 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Physical Memory Hotplug 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Support for PV kernels in bzImage format 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
PCI Passthrough 	 	 	 	[ 12 ] 	 	 	 	 	
X86 Advanced Vector eXtension (AVX) 	 	[ 4 ] 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
== Device Models and Virtual Firmware ==
 	Xen 4.0 	Xen 4.1 	Xen 4.2 	Xen 4.3 	 	 	 	 	
Device Models and Virtual Firmware for HVM guests 	Device Models and Virtual Firmware for HVM guests	Device Models and Virtual Firmware for HVM guests	Device Models and Virtual Firmware for HVM guests	Device Models and Virtual Firmware for HVM guests	Device Models and Virtual Firmware for HVM guests	Device Models and Virtual Firmware for HVM guests	Device Models and Virtual Firmware for HVM guests	Device Models and Virtual Firmware for HVM guests	Device Models and Virtual Firmware for HVM guests
For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures
Traditional Device ModelDevice emulator based on Xen fork of Qemu 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Qemu Upstream Device ModelDevice emulator based on upstream Qemu 	 	 	preview 	default, unless stubdomains are used 	 	 	 	 	
ROMBIOSBIOS used with traditional device model only 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
SeaBIOSBIOS used with upstream qemu device model and XL only 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
OVMF/TianocoreUEFI Firmware used with upstream qemu device model and XL only	 	 	experimental [ 4 ] 	experimental [ 4 ] 	 	 	 	 	
PV Bootloader support 	PV Bootloader support 	PV Bootloader support 	PV Bootloader support 	PV Bootloader support 	PV Bootloader support 	PV Bootloader support 	PV Bootloader support 	PV Bootloader support 	PV Bootloader support
For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures 	For X86 Architectures
PyGrub support for GRUB 2 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
PyGrub support for /boot on ext4 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
pvnetboot supportBootloader supporting network boot of PV guests 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
== Notes ==
[ 0 ] Compile time limit, can be increased
[ 1 ] Requires hardware virtualisation support
[ 2 ] Disabled by default (enable with hypervisor command line option). Not supported in production and doesn't have full security support
[ 3 ] Preview, due to limited tools support. Hypervisor side in good shape
[ 4 ] Disabled by default (enable with hypervisor command line option)
[ 5 ] Used as a fallback if blkback and/or blktap2 are not available
[ 6 ] See Xen ARM with Virtualization Extensions; basic functionality implemented; lack of real hardware to validate against
[ 12 ] Not yet supported on ARM; for a more detailed update on what is supported on ARM see here 
[ 21 ] Dates for historical releases have not be researched.
Category:Xen Category:Users Category:Fundamentals Category:Archived
Category:Xen 4.0
Category:Xen 4.1
Category:Xen 4.2
Category:Xen 4.3