Citrix has announced changes to XenServer 7.3 that can greatly impact users of the Free edition. The full post on XenServer.org explains the reasoning behind the changes, but since many people are not aware, I wanted to highlight the fact that these changes will be effective from 7.3 moving forward and that they can impact existing pools if you upgrade to 7.3.
The full list of features being removed from the Free version is below
- Dynamic Memory Control
- Xen Storage Motion
- Active Directory Integration
- Role Based Access Control
- High Availability
- GPU Pass-Through
- Site Recovery Manager (Disaster Recovery)
- XenCenter Rolling Pool Upgrade Wizard
- Maximum Pool Size Restricted To 3 Hosts (existing larger pools will continue to work, but no new host joins will be permitted)
If you upgrade a pool that is more than 3 hosts and a host dies, you will be unable to replace the host in that pool. If you are a non-profit user of the free edition, your are encouraged to contact David Cottingham to discuss a donation program of Standard Edition.