I usually recommend that customers wait when new products are released so that other early adopters such as your Partners and the community at large can find the bugs for the Vendor to fix. This recommendation is pretty much universal whether it be Microsoft, Citrix, VMware or any vendor.
Citrix announced a forthcoming patch next month for XenServer 6.1 and XenTools that should resolve issues that many customers may be experiencing. I have seen some of these errors in my testing and wanted to let you know that a fix was coming.
Citrix understands and acknowledges that some customers are experiencing intermittent Windows issues with XenTools in the XenServer 6.1 release. We understand this is frustrating for customers and we have been working hard to analyze, understand and resolve these issues.
We are in the final stages of preparing a Hotfix (XS61E005) for all XenServer 6.1 installations. This addresses the following known issues:
- Add PVS support in XS 6.1
- Resolve intermittent grey screen on Windows Server 2003
- Resolve intermittent blue screen on VM migration
- Resolve intermittent blue screen after attempting VM shutdown
- Reinstate support for VSS shadow copy services
This hotfix (XS61E005) has required a period of extensive testing to ensure that all known issues have been addressed, which has resulted in its release date being set for early January 2013.
If you are experiencing critical problems today with the tools shipped with 6.1 and you have a XenServer support contract, please raise a case with Citrix Technical Support. This will help the process of analysis and resolution for affected customers.
Further information on exact circumstances when these issues are seen and workarounds will follow shortly.
Again we apologize for the inconvenience caused to customers. We take quality very seriously in the XenServer team and understand some customers may have had their confidence in XenServer affected by these issues. We are addressing our processes to prevent any recurrence and ensure issues are raised earlier in the development process.
