StarWind Virtual SAN - Easy, Resilient, and Cost Effective
We have StarWind Virtual SAN deployed on a 2-node cluster to achieve the need for shared storage for our virtualization project. …
Overview
What is StarWind Virtual SAN?
StarWind Virtual SAN is software-defined storage for efficient storage and backup.
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Product Details
- About
- Competitors
- Tech Details
- Downloadables
- FAQs
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.
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StarWind Virtual SAN Video
StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN)
StarWind Virtual SAN Competitors
- VMware vSAN
- StorMagic SvSAN
- Microsoft S2D
StarWind Virtual SAN Technical Details
| Deployment Types | On-premise |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Windows, Linux |
| Mobile Application | No |
StarWind Virtual SAN Downloadables
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 Support Rating highest, with a score of 9.6.
The most common users of StarWind Virtual SAN are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
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Reviews and Ratings
(143)Attribute Ratings
Reviews
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March 21, 2024
It's a Winner!! for us
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We have been using a StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN) on two production locations with a Hyper-V Cluster for almost 7 years now in my current company but have 10 year of experience with the product. It has given us very good performance and we haven't had any issue with it in the past years. StarWind support is excellent, very fast and has very good knowledge of the StarWind and Hyper-V Cluster software. What we like best about it is that it's the only true two-node Hyper-V cluster solution that's available. On both production locations, we have a 2-node setup over 2 different server rooms. Our main goal was that we want to have all VM servers available on one Cluster host, in case of a disaster in one of our server rooms. Microsoft SSD (Storage Space Direct) always needs a 3rd witness (SMB or Cloud) but in ours a two-node solution this is not ideal. Direct connected fiber connections between the nodes makes everything fast and makes the chance of a Cluster split-brain fault less likely.
- True two node Hyper-V cluster solution.
- Performance.
- StarWind support will install and configure the software and also update it for you.
- Simplicity.
- none yet
- It easy to maintian with a small IT Team because of the great support of Starwind
- It's fast and doesn't need a third witness voor you cluster to work
- All VM can be running on one cluster host
3
Own IT staff, managing IT infrastructure for multiple locations of our company.
3
IT System/Network Administrators need all skills to support all kinds of IT software and IT Hardware of our company.
- Storage for our Hyper-V Cluster.
- Hardware is placed on multiple locations so fast sync is important.
- Performance.
- Support from vendor.
- Keep it simple.
- True Two-node HA cluster configuration (no 3rd witness needed).
- none
Yes
HP StoreVirtual SAN
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Usability
A 2-node HA cluster without 3rd party appliances.
We will not change the selection. We also checked Microsoft SDS for our new servers but StarWind matched more with our wishes.
- Third-party professional services
Vendor (StarWind) did the installation with our own in-house IT staff.
No
- none
- No Training
By Remotly viewing how the install it and with the help of there documentation you have a good idea how everything works
no
No - we have not done any customization to the interface
No - we have not done any custom code
no
Yes, because it the best way to do when you have third-party software.
No
They always get in contact after a couple of days after they implement the software.
- Installation is done with StarWind Support.
- Check the sync status.
- Iscsi target could be a little difficult if you never used it before
Yes, but I don't use it
Yes
Yes it was done by starwind support without any issues.
- keep everything up-to-date
- none
No
No
October 08, 2021
Excellent Solution
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
It is used in our organization for DR and HA for the VMWare Hosts. We use the VSAN feature in StarWind for the data availability across our networks.
- High availability.
- Performance.
- Gain 100% uptime and full fault tolerance.
- Cost-efficiency.
- Witness server improvement required.
- TTL value below 5ms very tough.
- Linux learning.
- Licensing is very much flexible.
- No add on payments required in future.
- Performance overrides the cost of the solution.
- StarWind Virtual Tape Library and StarWind SAN & NAS
The other products for VSAN in the market are very very expensive compared to StarWind VSAN solution, and when I used it on the trial for a month I decided to go with this solution as it is the best in performance and scalability.
3
IT and Security
2
Knowledge of SAN
- HA
- Data Scalability
- Performance
- DR
- Failover
- Migration
- Tape Library
- Backup
- Redundancy
No
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Product Reputation
- Prior Experience with the Product
Cost
I can test the evaluation again and proceed with the purchase.
- Implemented in-house
Yes
3 Phase
- Network
- Switching
- IP Mapping
- Firewall
- Data
- no training
It's easy to learn on [your] own after using it for few times.
No
No - we have not done any customization to the interface
No - we have not done any custom code
No
Yes, and it is the best support option from StarWind.
No
Last month when our data center was down due to a power issue, we switched to the secondary site with the StarWind.
- Failover
- Migration VM
- Web Interface
- Starwind Appliance
- Linux commands
- Networks in Starwind iSCSI
- VMware
- HP
- Veeam
It was done by [the] Starwind Support team.
- No
- No
- No
Yes
- File import/export
No
Not sure
Price and support.
No
No
- Not Upgraded
- Performance Improvement
Yes
Free to Paid