Skip to main content
TrustRadius
StarWind Virtual SAN

StarWind Virtual SAN

Overview

What is StarWind Virtual SAN?

StarWind Virtual SAN is software-defined storage for efficient storage and backup.

Read more

Learn from top reviewers

Return to navigation

Product Details

What is StarWind Virtual SAN?

StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN) is presented by the vendor as a lightweight software-defined storage (SDS) for Enterprise ROBO, SMB & Edge that removes the need for physical storage. The solution is compatible with any hypervisor of choice, and is hardware-agnostic. The vendor invites users to integrate it into an existing infrastructure with minimum requirements, and enjoy constant uptime in a true 2-node scenario.

StarWind VSAN has no strict hardware compatibility lists (HCLs) and is licensed per node. A license unlocks access to all features upon purchase and differs only by capacity volume. The vendors promises customers get the chance to reduce their total cost of ownership (TCO) while receiving 99.9999% uptime. StarWind also helps with configuration, deployment, and migration.

StarWind Virtual SAN:

  • provides 90% of raw performance
  • squeezes 100% IOPS out of existing hardware
  • works on the iSCSI layer
  • “speaks” most uplink protocols, including NVMe-oF
  • works on top of Hardware or Software RAID (MDADM, ZFS)
  • does 2- or 3-way synchronous replication, and more.

The true 2-node solution is enabled through HeartBeat (no witness required). Thanks to “mirroring” of internal disks and flash between hypervisor servers, customers receive fault-tolerant storage. It’s scalable up and out, allowing users to introduce infrastructure changes without downtime or additional licensing costs.

StarWind Virtual SAN makes enterprise-level virtual shared storage accessible.

StarWind Virtual SAN Screenshots

Screenshot of StarWind Management ConsoleScreenshot of StarWind Management ConsoleScreenshot of StarWind Virtual SANScreenshot of StarWind Virtual SAN

StarWind Virtual SAN Video

StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN)

StarWind Virtual SAN Competitors

StarWind Virtual SAN Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise
Operating SystemsWindows, Linux
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

StarWind Virtual SAN is software-defined storage for efficient storage and backup.

VMware vSAN and StorMagic SvSAN are common alternatives for StarWind Virtual SAN.

Reviewers rate Usability highest, with a score of 9.7.

The most common users of StarWind Virtual SAN are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
Return to navigation

Comparisons

View all alternatives
Return to navigation

Reviews From Top Reviewers

(1-5 of 142)

A very reliable and cost-effective solution for a Hyperconverged Environment

Rating: 9 out of 10
July 23, 2024
EC
Vetted Review
Verified User
StarWind Virtual SAN
1 year of experience
  • StarWind Virtual SAN helps in reliably synchronizing in a 2-node cluster via a reliable heartbeat (384 days uptime so far)
  • Ample boost is provided through L1 (RAM) and L2 (SSD) Cache Partition with industry leading bandwidth
  • Fantastic Forum Support and even better mail support, as well as up-to-date documentation helped us in setting up StarWind Virtual SAN within 48 hours and bringing it online within 3 days after setup and initial full syncronization
  • Avoiding a full sync through its fast sync technology: When running maintenance on the cluster, StarWind Virtual SAN reliably synchronizes data in the background when e.g. restarting the service
  • Full utilization of our bandwidth: We use 2x 25GBit for Sync Interface and 2x 10GBit for end user interface and reach a file transfer performance of over 750MB/s through a Windows Fileserver VM
  • Scalable storage and easy implementation, even on the free version through powershell scripts. Rollout took under one day with 2 days of synchronization of 70TB over 25GBits
Cons
  • While StarWinds Documentation is well maintained and up to date, we wished that it was clearer in providing a clearer guideline in setting StarWind Virtual SAN up with a free license of the Management Console, resulting in a setup with the provided PowerShell templates. Though with the recent update, this got improved by a lot and as mentioned before, the Forum support is superb.

StarWind Virtual SAN

Rating: 10 out of 10
October 31, 2024
Vetted Review
Verified User
StarWind Virtual SAN
5 years of experience
  • Functionality
  • Fiability
  • Cost efective
Cons
  • I did't find any functional feature that I miss

Needed a SAN - StarWind fit the bill

Rating: 8 out of 10
March 27, 2024
DT
Vetted Review
Verified User
StarWind Virtual SAN
2 years of experience
  • Replication of data between 2 server rooms
  • 24/7 Support
  • Remote help when needed.
Cons
  • No real improvement required.

Exploring StarWind Virtual SAN as an iscsi Server Solution

Rating: 9 out of 10
May 27, 2024
Vetted Review
Verified User
StarWind Virtual SAN
5 years of experience
  • Lower time to market
  • Lower costs as compared to high-end hardware-based SAN systems
  • Validated stability, scalability and performance
  • Native support for HyperV, VMWare and KVM
Cons
  • One point for improvement is to increase the performance capabilities of the Windows-based executable, as compared to its Linux Controller Virtual Machine (CVM) equivalent.
  • Another point for improvement would be to incorporate a more granular Role-based access control system (RBAC) natively inside the software to allow for more granular administration.
  • Yet another point would be to achieve tighter integration and automation with cloud-based platforms, such as Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Return to navigation